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Throughout the month, I find myself mainly cooking chicken, turkey or vegetarian dishes for dinner; however, every now and then, I get a major craving for a good steak. When that craving comes around, this recipe for Marinated Skirt Steak is my go to dish. Flavorful skirt steak is marinated in olive oil, thyme, rosemary, bay, garlic and whole peppercorns. Pan-seared then finished in the oven, the steaks are moist, tender and packed with flavor. Continue reading for the recipe.

Marinated Skirt Steak
Adapted from Thomas Keller’s ad hoc at home.
Ingredients
For the marinade:
- 3 sprigs of thyme
- 1 long sprig of rosemary
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 ½ teaspoons black peppercorns
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed with skins left on
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the steaks:
- 24 ounces skirt steak (approximately 4 steaks)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Canola oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 sprigs of thyme
- 2 garlic cloves, smashed with skins left on
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add 3 sprigs of thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, peppercorns, 3 cloves smashed garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer for 1 minute, then remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
- Place skirt steaks in a large, shallow dish and cover with the marinade. Cover the dish and marinate for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator (or up to 1 day). Turn the steaks in the marinade half way through the waiting time.
- 30 minutes before you are ready to cook the steaks, remove the meat from the marinade and let sit at room temperature. Pat the meat dry with paper towels and season both sides with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Discard the marinade.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Have a rimmed baking sheet ready.
- In a large, heavy bottomed frying pan, heat a small dab of canola oil over high heat. When the oil starts to shimmer and glisten, swirl it around the pan then add half of the steaks. Quickly brown the first side (about 1 minute). Flip the steaks and add 1 tablespoon of butter, 2 sprigs of thyme and 1 smashed garlic clove. Brown the second side, basting the whole time (another minute). Transfer the meat to the baking sheet and spoon over the butter, garlic and thyme. Carefully, wipe your frying pan clean with a paper towel and repeat the same process with the other steaks.
- Place the baking sheet into the oven and cook for 8 to 10 minutes (depending on how done you like your steaks). Remove from the oven and let the steaks rest for about 10 minutes in a warm spot.
Tried this recipe?Tag @brandiego on Instagram so I can check it out!
Lisa~Korean American Mommy says
This looks like something my husband would love!
Sarah @ Oc2Seattle.com says
You have me totally craving steak now! Looking forward to trying this 🙂
kateiscooking says
Too funny – I marinated a tenderloin this morning in the same stuff plus some red wine. We’re going to serve it with a five onion sauce and a blue cheese sauce.
Kim-Liv Life says
We also do not do steak very often, but when we do it is frequently skirt or flank. I usually grill, but this would work nicely on one of those chilly or rare rainy San Diego days!!
Thanks for sharing this one!
Amy @ Whisk & Whimsy says
Your post is particularly timely as I have some skirt in the fridge and was contemplating having it ‘steak style’ (I usually buy beef skirt for asian stir fries), but not entirely sure where to start. Thank you for the inspiration!
x amy
eatgreek.net says
I just love it! it looks excellent!!!!!! 😀
Brandon Matzek says
@kateiscooking Oooo, red wine sounds like a delicious addition!
@Kim Definitely a good cold weather dish. It has been *chilly* recently!!
@Amy You’re welcome! Let me know how it turns out.
Jean says
This steak looks wonderful, especially after all the poultry we’ve been eaten this week. I don’t do beef too much either but when that craving comes, this would definitely hit the spot. Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Anna's Table says
Great idea adding the garlic and fresh thyme near the end for extra flavour.
Kristi Rimkus says
We found a new butcher that sells the most amazing steaks. I think this recipe will do his meat justice!
thoma says
the name itself is cute. i’ve never done a steak and this looks like a feasible recipe. i think i’ll try it new year coz my husband loves steaks.
Sandra says
Skirt steak is one of the most underrated cuts on the market. Great recipe!
Liz says
Gosh, that looks fabulous!!! I can’t readily find skirt steak but I know the marinade would be outstanding with flank steak. We’ll continue grilling till we get snow, so I hope I can try this soon but over a charcoal fire vs. the oven. Thanks for the inspiration 🙂
Tina says
That looks so good. Drool worthy. I just printed out the recipe!
brenda says
anyone have good ideas of sides to go with this protein? serve this over a bed of greens? suggestions?
Biz says
So glad I found this recipe – I accidentally bought skirt steak instead of flank steak and I was like “what the f_ck am I going to do with that?!” Looks delicious.
Brandon Matzek says
@Liz Flap meat is a more common cut of beef found in grocery stores. You could use that instead of skirt steak.
@brenda When I am planning side dishes, I always like to have one starchy type thing (roasted potatoes, rice, quinoa, cous cous) and one vegetable (salad, steamed broccoli, roasted asparagus). I recently posted a recipe for Golden Brussels Sprouts. These little nuggets are a perfect side for this steak.
@Biz Hahaha, well I am glad I could help!
Brenna says
Just used your technique to cook a skirt steak–turned out great, thanks!
scloin says
Love Skirt Steak. If you have leftover steak, it is excellent the next day wrapped in a tortilla shell with cheese-onion-spinach- basically anything you have in your fridge.
Belinda says
Wow I’m going through your archives – wish I had found you long ago! We’re packing up to move to Colorado, this marinated skirt steak will fit right in there, I think I’ll make it for our official “welcome to CO” dinner! Thank you for sharing your amazing talent! OXO!
Brandon Matzek says
Excellent!! Thanks Belinda, and good luck with the move. Colorado is beautiful!