I’ve made some wonderful recipes this summer, but I haven’t used my grill for any of them. The horror! I feel like I need to make up for this oversight, and that means the big daddy of grilling: steak. I combed through my Pinterest boards to find a tempting grilled steak recipe and came up with this Bourbon Marinated Grilled Flank Steak. Not only is it a steak, it’s a giant 1.5-pound steak and it’s soaked in bourbon. If that doesn’t make up for mot grilling until now, I don’t know what will!
One of the easiest and most flavorful marinades for steak EVER! Despite the soy sauce, this is not an Asian dish — the bourbon and brown sugar, shine through!
The Ingredients
This recipe calls for 1.5 pounds of flank steak, so that was at the top of my shopping list. I found a 2-pound flank steak for $14.99 a pound. It sounds like a lot, but it’s not too bad when you realize it serves six. Thinking of it as $5 per serving makes it sound reasonable.
Next up was the bourbon. I didn’t have to shop for that, but I did peruse my bar cabinet. We had a bottle of Jim Beam, the brand suggested in the recipe, so that’s what I used in the marinade.
I had a few other things on hand like brown sugar, spices, and olive oil. I also had tamari, so I used that instead of soy sauce since I prefer it. That left me to shop for fresh thyme and garlic. Easy!
The Process
You know I love an easy recipe, and this Bourbon Marinated Grilled Flank Steak was about as easy as they come. Here’s how my time was spent:
- 10 minutes to prep
- 10 minutes to cook
- 5 minutes to rest
- 25 minutes total (not including time to marinate)
The marinade was the bulk of the work for this recipe, but it really was simple to make. I added all the ingredients to a mixing bowl, whisked them to mix well, then poured the marinade over the steak.
The flank steak was way too big for a ziplock bag, so I used a 9'x13' baking dish to marinate it. My dish comes with a lid, so it worked out very well. I did have to flip the steak a few times, but it wasn’t much trouble. I just flipped it whenever I opened the refrigerator over the next 24 hours.
Grilling my Bourbon Marinated Grilled Flank Steak was so easy! All I had to do was preheat the grill (for about 10 minutes), dab the steak with a paper towel, and grill for 5 minutes per side. Then I let it rest for another 5 minutes and carved it into thin strips to serve.
You might ask why I dried the steak. That’s because moisture creates steam, and steam prevents a good sear. Tip: A dry steak (or any cut of meat) sears better on the outside, keeping the inside juicy.
