Buttermilk steak marinates your steak in a flavorful bath of buttermilk, garlic, rosemary and pepper for a tender and delicious supper.
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Why we love this recipe
It’s all about the buttermilk! One of my favorite recipes is this one for buttermilk grilled chicken, and I’ve gotten lots of emails from folks telling me it’s now their favorite way to make grilled chicken too, because it is So Dang Tender.
(It gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling to know that there’s a nice big posse of folks all united in their love of buttermilk grilled chicken.)
A nice long soak in buttermilk is going to turn your steak delectably tender, and if you throw a few more ingredients in with the buttermilk, you can add even more flavor!
Anyway, I figured what’s good for the chicken might be good for the steak as well. It couldn’t hurt to try, right? Yep. It definitely didn’t hurt.
What is buttermilk?
Don’t be scared, but buttermilk is actually milk that has been fermented, which means that lactic acid has been added to milk to give it the thick, slightly sour taste and texture that is buttermilk.
It’s similar to the way yogurt is made, and like yogurt it is actually pretty good for you!
It’s loaded with good probiotics, and while it might not be something you want to drink straight from the carton, it is an amazing, tenderizing ingredient for everything from pancakes to, yep, buttermilk steak!
In the case of this steak, the buttermilk joins forces with some rosemary and garlic to serve up the tenderest steak ever.
And by rosemary I mean the fresh stuff. It’s glorious!
Ingredients you need
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Steak: I usually go for a flank steak for this recipe, but other cuts such as top round, skirt steak, bottom round and top round will all work. They all have a robust flavor, but need to be marinated to break down some of the tough fibers inside.
- Buttermilk: You can use either regular or low-fat. Look for it near the cream and milk in your dairy section.
Here’s how you make this recipe
STEP 1: Mix up some buttermilk, a few cloves of mashed up garlic and some rosemary stalks that you have rolled between your hands until they are crushed and the aroma of rosemary oil is wafting through your kitchen.
STEP 2: Grind in a generous amount of pepper, pour everything into a zippered plastic bag, pop in your steak, put it in the fridge and go about your day for the next 8 hours or so.
STEP 3: When suppertime rolls around, fire up the grill, pop the steak on the grill (discarding the marinade) and grill over high heat for four to five minutes per side, which makes the steak come out on the medium rare side.
Pro Tip: The best way to check to see if your steak is done is with a meat thermometer. Rare is about 125 degrees, medium rare is 135, medium is 145 and well done is 155 – 160.
If you like yours rarer, take it down by a minute per side – if you like it more well done, leave in on for a minute or two more per side.
STEP 4: Now comes the hard part. Put it on a cutting board, put some foil over it, and leave it alone for at least 5 minutes.
I know you want to dig right in, but if you do all those delicious steak juices are going to run right out onto your cutting board. If you let it rest, a lot of them will stay inside the steak where you want them.
Has it been five minutes? Okay, slice!
Recipe FAQs
You can if it is a Rosemary Emergency, but I promise that using fresh rosemary will take the flavor to a whole new level. You can usually find bunches of fresh rosemary right in the produce section.
You bet! The longer you marinate, the better.
If your steak is thicker than one inch, close the grill (this will intensify the heat and help cook the inside of the steak while the outside sears). If it is thinner than one inch, keep that top open, especially if you are aiming for rare or medium rare.
You bet! Use your heaviest skillet (cast iron is best) on the highest heat. And make sure you turn on your stove vent so you don’t have to cook to the sound of your fire alarm!
Leave your question in the comments section below and I promise to answer pronto!
Want to round out your meal?
I love a side of baked mashed potatoes with this steak – they can be prepared ahead of time and popped in the oven when the grill goes on.
A cherry tomato and green bean salad is always perfect, especially when those veggies are in season. And how about some chocolate chess pie for dessert?
Other steak recipes we love
Could you leave us some stars?
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section.
PrintButtermilk Steak
Marinate your steak in this glorious bath of buttermilk, garlic, rosemary and pepper for a tender and delicious barbecued supper. Buttermilk steak for the win!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Marinating Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- One 1 1/2 to 2 pound steak (flank, skirt and top round steak all work well for this recipe)
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, rolled between your palms to crush the leaves
- Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Combine buttermilk, garlic and rosemary. Grind in a generous amount of pepper. Pour into a zippered plastic bag.
- Add the steak to the bag, seal and turn it over a few times to make sure the steak is coated. Place in fridge for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
- Heat grill to high. Grill steak for 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare.
- Transfer steak to cutting board, cover with foil and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
-
- Steak: I usually go for a flank steak for this recipe, but other cuts such as top round, skirt steak, bottom round and top round will all work. They all have a robust flavor, but need to be marinated to break down some of the tough fibers inside.
-
- Buttermilk: You can use either regular or low-fat. Look for it near the cream and milk in your dairy section.
Kevin Brockschmitt says
Can you pre-marinade then freeze to conserve time for meals?
You can! I would recommend freezing it in the marinade (rather than marinating and discarding the marinade and then freezing) for maximum flavor and tenderness.
Jared Scofield says
Your internal doneness temps are way off. Medium rare steaks should be pulled at 125 from the heat to rest for 10 minutes, they’ll increase to 130, i.e. medium rare temp. If you let the internals go as high as this recipe says, you’ll be eating overcooked steaks.
Hey Jared! Thanks for checking in. I did a little more research on this, and while I think we are still not totally on the same page about temperature, I did take my ranges down a little bit so we are closer! Thanks for your input – I appreciate it! :)
Kate says
Do you rinse off the buttermilk before grilling ?
Hi there fellow Kate! You don’t – just pop it right on the grill. :)
Kelly says
Thank you for this! I like to make salad dressing that only calls for a little buttermilk and I always feel bad wasting the rest of the buttermilk. This recipe is genius! No more wasted buttermilk!
Hi Kelly and you are so welcome! The other thing I love making with leftover buttermilk is fresh ricotta cheese – it is so easy and so delicious! Here’s how: https://www.framedcooks.com/how-to-make-fresh-ricotta/
Bill says
Just curious but no salt?
Hi Bill! I like to let folks put on their own salt when I serve it up. But you can absolutely add salt to the buttermilk marinade if you want to – I would suggest a couple of teaspoons. Thanks for checking in on this! :)
Viking steaks says
Boom this was fantastic. I did a 2.5 inch thick tenderloin for 24 hours. Popped it in a 425 oven in a pre heated hot iron skillet until 130 internal and then pulled it. Rested for 15 minutes then seared in bacon fat for 2 minutes per side. Big scoop of blur cheese and bingo. Super tender snd just melts in the mouth. Thanks for the buttermilk tip, usually I just do garlic, rosemary and pepper for a wet marinade and do it all on the stove top in an iron skillet but the buttermilk I decided to put it on the oven first and I was not disappointed 😀
Well hurray! This comment made my day – so glad you like this buttermilk version. And thanks for the info on how you cook the steak – super helpful and delicious sounding! :)
Lindsey says
Can I cook this in the oven?
Hi Lindsey and sorry to be so long responding – we had a bit of a family emergency this week. As for your question, I’ve never made it in the oven, but here is a great article from the folks at The Kitchn about how to do it (the answer is yes!) – hope this helps! https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-cook-flank-steak-in-the-oven-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-219428
John L. Miller says
I plan to milk marinade a 3.5# sirloin about 1 3/4″ thick. If I have to wait 3 or 4 days before grilling would this be too much.
Hi John! As long as you keep it in the fridge that should be fine…I wouldn’t recommend longer than 3 days though. Happy grilling!
Gregory Bowman says
I worked under a young, gifted Chef here in Portland, Oregon. We marinated whole Tri-tips in 5 gallon buckets of Buttermilk marinade. (For a wedding of 200+) After “grill-marking ” them on a huge outdoor grill we slow- roasted them whole in the convection ovens. Delicious! Fast forward to today. I lucked into some marked down petite sirloin and looked up your recipe for a good but simple Buttermilk marinade! I’ll let you know. BTW, anyone should be able to make expensive recipes taste great. The real test is what you can do at less than $3. per meal! Just my opinion. My steak is @ $3. per lb.
Hi Gregory and thanks for all this great background! I’ll look forward to hearing how this buttermilk marinade works for you – I also have a chicken recipe that calls for a buttermilk and rosemary marinade that I LOVE! Fingers crossed! :)
Ryan says
Hi Kate, That looks delicious. Let me try it for me. Awesome!
Thanks Ryan – hope you love it!
Matt says
You never slice a steak before serving it. What’s the point of cooking a juicy steak & then resting it only to cut it into thin slivers so that it cools quickly & all of the juices leak out? I’ve never been able to understand this American obsession with destroying a good steak by slicing it into slivers before serving it instead of leaving it whole so that it stays warm & the juices remain where they belong; inside the steak instead of in a puddle at the bottom of the plate. Here in Australia we leave our steaks whole. If you served an Australian a pre sliced steak anywhere they’d tell you to take it back, redo it & leave it whole because grown adults grew out of needing someone to cut their food into little pieces for them when they were toddlers.
Graham Onions says
Its kind of really tempting me to make the dish and try it
BBQgrills says
delicious! this is really insane and amazing!
alex says
I appreciate your recipe. I buttermilk chicken steak.