When you’re in the mood for Asian flavors, don’t head for takeout. Try this recipe for flank steak with ginger balsamic marinade. It’s a favorite with my clients and family. After slicing the meat into thin strips and a short marinade in ginger, soy sauce, sake, agave syrup, garlic and balsamic vinegar, this ginger flank steak is ready in just minutes.
Ginger Flank Steak: Asian Flavors
Maybe it was the ever-present bottle of teriyaki marinade in my mom’s refrigerator or maybe it was the fact that I studied with an Asian Executive Chef. Whatever the history, I’m a big fan of Asian flavors, and anything with ginger tops the list.
What is Flank Steak?
Flank steak is a lean choice for beef lovers. It’s not really a steak, but a single piece of muscle. Flank comes in one long, sort of oval shaped piece that is wider at one end and tapering at the other. It’s easily identifiable by the long grain that runs the length of the muscle. When cooked, it’s a little chewy and has great flavor. Marinating adds flavor and also tenderizes the meat.
Flank steaks usually run around 1¼ – 2 pounds each. Figure about 6 ounces per person for a serving. As you buy a whole piece of flank steak and not a cut, you can’t always get just the amount you need. Leftovers make a great lunch the next day. Just pile leftover flank steak on fresh salad greens and dress with Balsamic vinaigrette.
Tips for Making the Marinade
For the marinade combine soy sauce, dry sake, honey or agave syrup, ginger, Balsamic vinegar, garlic and chives.
Ingredients swaps and tips:
- Swap coconut aminos for no soy or if you eat Paleo or for histamine friendly
- Buy low sodium and organic soy only, or it will be crazy high in sodium and GMO
- Swap Tamari (organic only), a no-wheat soy, for gluten-free
- Buy single serving dry sake (the airline size) for cooking
- Finely grate fresh peeled ginger or use the ginger puree in a jar
How to Slice Flank Steak
Slice flank steak across the grain into ½” thin strips with a sharp knife. Place in a covered bowl or plastic zip bag and add the marinade. Allow to stand for 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature to soak up great flavor. You can also marinate over night in the refrigerator.
After marinating, cook it quickly in a hot pan. As flank steak is lean, don’t overcook it to maintain tenderness. Serve with rice and steamed sugar snap peas for a healthy, Asian-inspired dinner with big flavors.
For another flank steak recipe, try this Mexican version and fire up your grill!
Ingredients
Flank Steak Marinade
- ½ cup low sodium soy sauce or tamari
- ½ cup sake
- 3 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
- 2 tablespoons ginger puree from a jar
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 large garlic cloves chopped fine
- 1½ tablespoons finely chopped chives
Flank Steak
- 1 ½ -2 pounds flank steak
Instructions
- Make the marinade by combining soy sauce through chives.
- Slice the flank steak across the grain into ½” (1 ½ cm) wide strips. If the steak is very wide, you can slice it in half lengthwise with the grain first, then cross grain into strips. Place steak in a bowl, mix with marinade, then cover with plastic and allow to stand 45-60 minutes at room temperature. You can also mix it in a zip bag, press out the air and marinate.
- Heat a large non-stick sauté or fry pan over medium heat. Drain marinade from steak through a sieve and set aside. Lay steak strips flat in the hot pan; don’t crowd them. Cook until one side is a browned and getting caramelized edges. Flip the pieces over and cook just briefly, then remove to a rimmed baking sheet or plate. Repeat with the other pieces until done.
Rivki Locker says
This looks marvelous. So packed with flavor. And I love the fact that you can put the leftovers to good use.
Suzanne says
Sally this recipe looks great. Looks like a lot of fun, congrats on getting in the Ying & Yang Living magazine. Love your kitchen too what a great place to cook.
sara says
Lovely! This dish looks absolutely delicious - and way better than takeout! 🙂
Jeff says
Wow. That is an awesome looking steak. And the photos look absolutely amazing!!
Michele says
I have a lot of beef eaters in my home so this one I know is going to go over quite well! I can't wait to try it out on my gang and see how they like it. The Flank steak is a great choice to use because it is lean and the marinade looks great - I'm making myself hungry now!
GregB from Austin says
Delicious! We made this for some out-of-state visitors, and it was a huge success. Such a success, in fact, that we had none of the anticipated leftovers for the next day's steak salad. With the idea of "if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it", we used a high-quality sake for the recipe, and served the same with dinner, which worked out very well.
Thanks, Sally, for another great recipe!
Tiffany says
Can you let it marinate overnight or would that make it too tangy?
Sally says
Hi Tiffany. You could probably marinate it overnight. You might also marinate the whole piece of flank steak rather than the strips. The nice thing about marinating the strips an hour at room temp is its quick yet provides lots of flavor. You could do a test. Cut the flank into strips. Marinate half overnight, and do the other half for the hour. Cook them both and see how they differ. Then report back of course!
Tiffany says
I'll do that!
Tiffany says
Well we just tried both and it was agreed that we liked the one that marinated over night the best. The flavors were amazing.
Sally says
Thanks for reporting back Tiffany. Did you do strips or marinate the whole piece of flank?
Tiffany says
the whole piece