Grilled Flank Steak Mexican Style

Fire up the grill for Father’s Day and treat dad to a great dinner with grilled flank steak Mexican style with a tangy marinade of olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, garlic and spices. Best part, the marinade doubles as a fresh sauce for serving.

Lean Flank Steak

Flank steak is a long, flat shaped piece of meat with a big beefy flavor and a defined grain that runs the length of the piece. Because it comes from the well-exercised belly of the cow, flank is best grilled to medium rare. After grilling, allow steak to stand for about 10 minutes before slicing. This allows juices time to reabsorb, ensuring juicy steak, then slice thin across the grain to maximize tenderness.

Marinade Doubles as Sauce

Whip this tasty marinade up in a few seconds by throwing everything into a blender and whirling until smooth. Use part for the steak, marinating for a few hours or overnight, and reserve the rest (untouched by raw meat) for a fresh sauce to serve.

Serving Ideas for Grilled Flank Steak Mexican Style

With a Mexican flavor profile, this grilled steak is great served with a pile of soft corn tortillas and thinly sliced veggies. Go grain-free by skipping the tortillas and serving with the veggies in the cole slaw recipe here, using the extra sauce to dress the slaw instead of the Asian almond butter sauce.

Print Recipe

Grilled Flank Steak Mexican Style

Mexican flavors of lime, cumin and cilantro give this lean flank steak big flavor. Try the marinade with chicken too. Serve with grilled onions and peppers, corn tortillas and a salad. The marinade doubles as a sauce for the grilled steak. Not a cilantro fan? Try a combination or fresh Italian parsley and oregano.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Servings 4

Ingredients

Marinade & Sauce

• 1/2 cup packed cilantro leaves
• 1/3 cup chopped shallot
• 1/3 cup lime juice about 4 limes
• 1/3 cup olive oil or avocado oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3 large garlic cloves chopped fine
• 1/2 large jalapeño seeded and chopped fine

Flank Steak

• 1 1/4 - 1 1/2 pounds flank steak trimmed of any extra fat
• Sea salt and ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Make marinade by combining cilantro leaves through jalapeño in blender. Puree until smooth. You may need to scrape down sides and puree again for complete smoothness.

2. Place steak in a heavy zip bag. Cover steak on both sides with approximately 1/3 cup of the  marinade and squeeze out air. Reserve the rest of the clean marinade for your sauce. Marinate flank steak, refrigerated, for 2-3 hours or overnight for best flavor.

3. When ready to grill, remove steak from the refrigerator and allow to stand approximately 45-60 minutes to get the chill off. Pre-heat grill over high heat. Clean grill grate with wire brush then brush with oil. When grill is hot, drain marinade off of steak. Sprinkle both side with salt and pepper.  Grill flank steak approximately 5-7 minutes per side. Flank steak is best done medium rare, to about 125º. 

4. When done, allow steak to rest for a few minutes before slicing to insure moist meat. Slice cross-grain into thin strips. Serve with clean marinade as sauce on the side or drizzled over the top.

Recipe Notes

Grill Tip –  For perfect grill marks, use the 10:00 and 2:00 trick. When you lay the meat on the grill, point one end towards 10:00 on the clock. When first set of grill marks are set, move that point to 2:00. When grill marks are set, flip the steak and finish grilling.