How to Cook Skirt Steak
Published 3/18/2023 • Updated 3/17/2024
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Learn how to cook skirt steak with this simple pan-seared skirt steak recipe! It’s marinated overnight and then seared on each side for the juiciest and most flavorful skirt steak ever. Enjoy!
The Best Juicy Skirt Steak
It’s time to make skirt steak! This incredibly flavorful cut of meat is marinaded overnight in a super flavorful homemade marinade and then seared quickly over high heat on the stovetop. Slice it and serve with your favorite veggie sides, on steak fajitas or even a steak salad. Yum!
What is skirt steak?
Skirt steak is a cut of meat from the plate of the cow. It’s known for its flavor rather than it’s tenderness, making it a great candidate for a marinade rather than a dry rub.
What does skirt steak taste like?
Skirt steak has a rich, buttery flavor due to its marbling. It’s typically a chewier cut of meat, but can be quite tender when prepared correctly.
Can you use skirt steak and flank steak interchangeably?
While these are two different cuts of meat, feel free to substitute flank steak if you can’t find skirt steak.
Why you’ll love it!
So juicy: this marinated skirt steak is seriously so juicy and flavorful.
Perfectly cooked every time: we’ll teach you how to sear skirt steak perfectly every time without over or undercooking it!
Amazing marinade: our homemade marinade is easy to make, but packs a ton of flavor. Marinade your skirt steak overnight for easy prep!
Featured Ingredients
For the skirt steak
- 2 lbs. skirt steak: we found that 2 lbs. of skirt steak typically yielded 2 long cuts of steak. This recipe can easily be doubled or tripled if you’re serving a crowd, just remember to multiply the marinade as well!
For the marinade
- Worcestershire sauce: Worcestershire is a vinegar-based sauce that has ingredients like anchovies, garlic, tamarind, and other ingredients that make a salty sauce that goes perfectly with skirt steak.
- Garlic: adding fresh garlic to any marinade adds so much flavor. We don’t recommend subbing garlic powder.
- Lime juice: a little citric acid adds balance to this marinade.
- Fresh cracked black pepper: we highly recommend using freshly cracked black pepper in this marinade to set it over the top with pepper flavor.
- Kosher salt: salt enhances the flavor of each ingredient but also helps to tenderize the skirt steak.
- Brown sugar: a little sweet to balance out all of the salty ingredients.
- Coriander: this spice adds a bit of earthiness and a boost of flavor to this skirt steak.
How to Make Skirt Steak
Tenderize Skirt Steak
Lay the skirt steak down on a cutting board and pound the skirt steak with a meat tenderizer to make the steak the same thickness, about ½ -1 inch thick.
Season the meat with salt and massage the salt into the meat with your hands. Transfer the steak to a plastic bag or a baking dish.
Prepare Skirt Steak Marinade
Next, grind black peppercorns in a mortar in a pestle or in a coffee grinder. Be sure the peppercorns are ground into small pieces and not a powder.
Transfer the black peppercorns to a bowl. Add the garlic, coriander, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, and olive oil to the peppercorns and whisk all these ingredients together.
Marinate Skirt Steak Overnight
Pour the mixture over the beef and massage the marinade into the beef. Let the beef sit in the marinade overnight.
try it!
Easy Skirt Steak Marinade
Marinate your skirt steak in our easy skirt steak marinade. It’s super flavorful and uses commonly found ingredients.
Sear Skirt Steak
Remove the steak from the fridge and let the beef come to room temperature. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over high heat.
When the olive oil is hot and sizzling sear the steak for about 1 minute on each side or until the internal temperature reaches 140ºF for medium/rare.
Internal Temperature for Steak
The best way to know if your steak is done is by measuring the internal temperature. Use this guide as a reference:
- 135ºF: rare
- 140ºF: medium rare
- 150ºF: medium
- 165ºF: well-done
Let rest: remember to always let your steak rest for at least 5-10 minutes after it finishes cooking so it can continue to rise in temperature by 5ºF.
Let Skirt Steak Rest
Remove the steak from the pan and let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Slice & Serve
Slice the steak and serve with your favorite sides. Enjoy!
Top Tips for Perfectly Cooked Skirt Steak
- Sear to Cook: Love seared marks and perfect steak all in one? Follow our sear + cook method by first searing your skirt steak for a minute on each side, and then letting it rest to continue cooking before serving. You’ll get those sear marks without burning your steak.
- Don’t Over Cook: when in doubt, keep an eye on the internal temperature of your steak. We like to keep a meat thermometer on hand at all times while searing skirt steak to make sure we can cook it to the perfect temperature.
- Let Rest: always let your steak rest once you’re done cook so that it can continue cooking 5ºF more. Letting your meat rest also helps make your skirt steak super juicy.
Latest Beef Recipes
What to Do with Leftover Skirt Steak
Got leftover skirt steak? Don’t waste it! Here are a few ideas for leftovers:
Salad: make our Butter Lettuce Salad and top it with sliced skirt steak. Or, make our Steak Salad Recipe with tons of veggies and an herby vinaigrette.
Mac and Steak: Make a box of mac and cheese and serve it with sliced skirt steak.
Nachos: make a big sheet pan of nachos and instead of using ground beef, use sliced skirt steak instead.
Bowls: Make our beef taco bowls, but use diced skirt steak instead of ground beef.
Storage
Let your steak cool completely. Then, transfer it into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3-5 days.
Pan Seared Skirt Steak
Ingredients
- 2 lbs. skirt steak, ~2 long, thin steaks
Marinade
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1.5 tablespoons black peppercorns
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled minced
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1.5 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- ¼ cup olive oil, +more for searing
Instructions
- Lay the skirt steak down on a cutting board and pound the skirt steak with a meat tenderizer to make the steak the same thickness, about ½ -1 inch thick. Season the meat with salt and massage the salt into the meat with your hands. Transfer the steak to a plastic bag or a baking dish.
- Next, grind black peppercorns in a mortar in a pestle or in a coffee grinder. Be sure the peppercorns are ground into small pieces and not a powder. Transfer the black peppercorns to a bowl. Add the garlic, coriander, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, and olive oil to the peppercorns and whisk all these ingredients together.
- Pour the mixture over the beef and massage the marinade into the beef. Let the beef sit in the marinade overnight.
- Remove the steak from the fridge and let the beef come to room temperature. Heat about 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large cast iron skillet over high heat. When the olive oil is hot and sizzling sear the steak for about 1 minute on each side or until the internal temperature reaches 140ºF (for medium/rare). Remove the steak from the pan and let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Repeat this step with the remaining piece of steak.
- Slice the steak and serve with your favorite sides. If you are using the steak in tacos, chop the steak into small, minced pieces.
Tips & Notes
- Grilling instructions: preheat your grill to 450ºF. Sear the marinated skirt steak on both sides for around 1 minute or until you reach the desired internal temperature (140ºF for medium/rare, 150ºF for medium, 165ºF for well done).
- If you like fully cooked steak, be sure to cook the steak longer on each side.
- This steak would be delicious and served with chimichurri sauce.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Ashley McGlaughlin from The Edible Perspective.
Delicious, thank you ER. I especially appreciate the temp grid in the thread – it guided me to a perfect medium which my family crushed. Marinade was an adder not a hider of the awesome beef flavor of this underrated cut; which I rarely cook. I will be cooking it a lot more now – thanks again.
All kinds of meat I like to eat rare red meat, it retains the sweetness of the meat and the moisture. Eat cooked or dried meat. Thank you for giving me a new recipe for inviting my cuphead friends.