How to Grill a Steak: A Creative Cook’s Guide

For grill lovers, whole cuts, like steak or filet, remain the iconic dish. As the barbecue season fast approaches, steaks are set to dominate menus throughout the continent! Whether you are a steak purist or enjoy experimenting in the kitchen, check out some creative techniques for how to grill the perfect, juicy, and irresistibly mouthwatering steak. So, fire up the grill, and let’s get creative!

How to Grill a Steak on a Barbecue

Charcoal grills impart a richer, smokier taste to your steak, owing to the increased smoke produced when the fat of the meat drips onto the coals. This process causes vapors to rise and condense on the meat, enhancing its flavor.

If you’re using a charcoal grill, a surefire way to get creative is by experimenting with different types of charcoal. For example, hardwood lump charcoal and briquettes (a compressed block of coal dust) have different burn speeds, with the former burning more quickly and at a higher temperature. Hardwood lump charcoal is favored by grill enthusiasts for its high quality, purity, and practical advantages.

Try experimenting with fire zones for your perfect steak! Divide your grill into a red hot side and a less hot side. For perfectly seared steak, use the hot side to sear and the cooler side to finish cooking the inside without burning the outside. When using coal, move the charcoal with tongs to create a slope, making one side hotter than the other. This hotter side is where you’ll sear the steak.

Grilling steak on a gas grill often lends the meat a subtler smoky flavor compared to charcoal grilling – as gas grills employ metal plates or lava rocks to absorb heat, producing less smoke. 

If you are looking to obtain the intense smokiness of a charcoal grill in a gas grill, we recommend using liquid smoke when seasoning the meat! Liquid smoke can also be used on new-meat* like our signature Redefine Beef Flank.

How to Grill a Steak in the Oven

Rainy weather or lack of a charcoal BBQ shouldn’t get in the way of enjoying a great steak! While grill purists will tell you the flavor isn’t quite the same, modern ovens can get pretty close to mimicking a traditional grill just by changing the settings. Okay, you won’t get exactly the same depth created due to the fat dripping onto the coals and rising in the smoke. But, here’s how you can replicate the flavor of coal-grilled steak indoors, for that perfectly grilled steak.. 

Start outside the oven, using a cast iron skillet. Cast iron skillets retain heat incredibly well and get super hot. As such, they’re ideal for searing the outside of the steak and triggering the Maillard Reaction (where sugars and proteins are reduced by the impact of heat and lead to browning). After searing, transfer the steak to the oven grill where it will continue the “low heat” part of the cooking process.

Marinating Steak before Grilling

Marinating your steaks before grilling lends incredible depth of flavor your BBQ guests will love! A good marinade also tenderizes the steak in preparation for grilling and adds moisture to drier cuts of meat. The marinating time can range from a few days to a few hours, depending on the recipe and the time you have available.

Rustling up a marinade requires a mix of ingredients, including tangy and sweet: 

• Fats such as olive oil, sesame oil, milk, or yogurt. 
• Something salty – sea salt, soy sauce, miso, or fish sauce.
• Something acidic such as lemon juice, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, or hot sauce.
• Sweetness, from sugar, honey, agave, ketchup, or barbecue sauce. 
• Added flavors such as garlic, ginger, or mustard.
• Spices and herbs like chili, cumin, paprika, mint or oregano. 

Each component serves a different purpose in the flavoring and tenderizing of the meat.

Pro Tip: For a cleaner, tidier method, marinate meat in a zip-lock bag to ensure it’s evenly coated in the sauce.

Want to up your grilling game? Discover our chef’s top grilling secrets here

Dry Rub Steak Before Grilling

Just like marinating, using a dry rub is an excellent method to add flavor to steaks on the grill. You can create a dry rub with a mix of dried herbs, spices, sugar, and seasonings in any combination you prefer. 

For maximum flavor, we recommend giving the steak time to absorb the dry rub by applying it at least a few hours before grilling. Like a marinade, a dry rub can also be used on new meat, like Redefine Flank, enhancing or adding complementary flavors. 

Pro tip: Make a bulk batch and store it in an airtight container for up to six months, so you’ll always have the perfect grilling companion ready. 

Skewering Steaks

A method of grilling steak favored across the Middle East and beyond, skewering involves chopping the steak into cubes and layering them on a metal skewer before grilling. 

Grilling steak on skewers has several practical benefits. Cutting the meat into small chunks creates more surface area to absorb marinades and dry rubs. And, it’s easier to control the rotation of the meat by handling the end of a skewer, especially if you’re cooking for a big crowd! All in all, skewers make for a more efficient steak grilling process.

Pro tip: Stainless steel skewers are the best to use on the grill. However, if you don’t have any, you can use wooden skewers and soak them in water for half an hour before placing them on the grill – which will stop them from burning. 

Grilling for Flexitarians or Vegans

Hosting a BBQ for friends and family who embrace a plant-based or flexitarian diet can seem daunting if you’re used to catering to traditional meat-eaters. But here’s the good news! Redefine Meat’s range of plant-based burgers, sausages, and kebabs is perfect on the grill and incredibly easy to cook. Feeling adventurous? Explore the world of grilling with Redefine Flank in both beef and lamb flavors.

This plant-based premium cut allows you to experiment with all the creative grilling techniques you love – from marinating and applying dry rubs to introducing liquid smoke or threading it onto skewers. You’ll be astonished by how similar it is to traditional meats, and your guests will adore you for it!