Buttermilk Steak
Buttermilk steak marinates your steak in a flavorful bath of buttermilk, garlic, rosemary and pepper for a tender and delicious supper.
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Why we love this recipe
It’s all about the buttermilk! One of my favorite recipes is this one for buttermilk grilled chicken, and I’ve gotten lots of emails from folks telling me it’s now their favorite way to make grilled chicken too, because it is So Dang Tender.
(It gives me such a warm fuzzy feeling to know that there’s a nice big posse of folks all united in their love of buttermilk grilled chicken.)
A nice long soak in buttermilk is going to turn your steak delectably tender, and if you throw a few more ingredients in with the buttermilk, you can add even more flavor!
Anyway, I figured what’s good for the chicken might be good for the steak as well. It couldn’t hurt to try, right? Yep. It definitely didn’t hurt.
What is buttermilk?
Don’t be scared, but buttermilk is actually milk that has been fermented, which means that lactic acid has been added to milk to give it the thick, slightly sour taste and texture that is buttermilk.
It’s similar to the way yogurt is made, and like yogurt it is actually pretty good for you!
It’s loaded with good probiotics, and while it might not be something you want to drink straight from the carton, it is an amazing, tenderizing ingredient for everything from pancakes to, yep, buttermilk steak!
In the case of this steak, the buttermilk joins forces with some rosemary and garlic to serve up the tenderest steak ever.
And by rosemary I mean the fresh stuff. It’s glorious!
Ingredients you need
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- Steak: I usually go for a flank steak for this recipe, but other cuts such as top round, skirt steak, bottom round and top round will all work. They all have a robust flavor, but need to be marinated to break down some of the tough fibers inside.
- Buttermilk: You can use either regular or low-fat. Look for it near the cream and milk in your dairy section.
Here’s how you make this recipe
STEP 1: Mix up some buttermilk, a few cloves of mashed up garlic and some rosemary stalks that you have rolled between your hands until they are crushed and the aroma of rosemary oil is wafting through your kitchen.
STEP 2: Grind in a generous amount of pepper, pour everything into a zippered plastic bag, pop in your steak, put it in the fridge and go about your day for the next 8 hours or so.
STEP 3: When suppertime rolls around, fire up the grill, pop the steak on the grill (discarding the marinade) and grill over high heat for four to five minutes per side, which makes the steak come out on the medium rare side.
Pro Tip: The best way to check to see if your steak is done is with a meat thermometer. Rare is about 125 degrees, medium rare is 135, medium is 145 and well done is 155 – 160.
If you like yours rarer, take it down by a minute per side – if you like it more well done, leave in on for a minute or two more per side.
STEP 4: Now comes the hard part. Put it on a cutting board, put some foil over it, and leave it alone for at least 5 minutes.
I know you want to dig right in, but if you do all those delicious steak juices are going to run right out onto your cutting board. If you let it rest, a lot of them will stay inside the steak where you want them.
Has it been five minutes? Okay, slice!
Recipe FAQs
You can if it is a Rosemary Emergency, but I promise that using fresh rosemary will take the flavor to a whole new level. You can usually find bunches of fresh rosemary right in the produce section.
You bet! The longer you marinate, the better.
If your steak is thicker than one inch, close the grill (this will intensify the heat and help cook the inside of the steak while the outside sears). If it is thinner than one inch, keep that top open, especially if you are aiming for rare or medium rare.
You bet! Use your heaviest skillet (cast iron is best) on the highest heat. And make sure you turn on your stove vent so you don’t have to cook to the sound of your fire alarm!
Leave your question in the comments section below and I promise to answer pronto!
Want to round out your meal?
I love a side of baked mashed potatoes with this steak – they can be prepared ahead of time and popped in the oven when the grill goes on.
A cherry tomato and green bean salad is always perfect, especially when those veggies are in season. And how about some chocolate chess pie for dessert?
Other steak recipes we love
Could you leave us some stars?
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section.
Buttermilk Steak
Marinate your steak in this glorious bath of buttermilk, garlic, rosemary and pepper for a tender and delicious barbecued supper. Buttermilk steak for the win!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Marinating Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- One 1 1/2 to 2 pound steak (flank, skirt and top round steak all work well for this recipe)
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 4 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
- 4 fresh rosemary sprigs, rolled between your palms to crush the leaves
- Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Combine buttermilk, garlic and rosemary. Grind in a generous amount of pepper. Pour into a zippered plastic bag.
- Add the steak to the bag, seal and turn it over a few times to make sure the steak is coated. Place in fridge for at least 8 hours, or overnight.
- Heat grill to high. Grill steak for 4-5 minutes per side for medium rare.
- Transfer steak to cutting board, cover with foil and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.
Notes
-
- Steak: I usually go for a flank steak for this recipe, but other cuts such as top round, skirt steak, bottom round and top round will all work. They all have a robust flavor, but need to be marinated to break down some of the tough fibers inside.
-
- Buttermilk: You can use either regular or low-fat. Look for it near the cream and milk in your dairy section.
Those images are making me hungry again. I am going to try this for sure.
Glad to hear it!
Woooow…..Homemade!!! It’s the only thing that taste good! And so easy to do…
I think I will look for these and try your recipe this weekend. Thank you for sharing!
Dang Thai from Embeya!
So glad you like it!
That looks delicious. I will try this recipe soon. Are gas grills perfect for this recipe?
Yep, all kinds of grills are perfect for this recipe!
This recipe is the best! Absolutely love the flavor.
So glad you like it!
Waiting 5 mins before slicing and eating was super hard! I just wanted to eat it there and then!
Nathan! I can totally relate – that is always the hardest part of cooking any steak recipe…the waiting! Hope you loved it! :)
Shoul I wipe the steak before grilling. Do I just dump the marinate or can I make a sauce with it
Hi Paul! I usually DO pat steak dry before I grill it, but I don’t in this case because I want a little of the char and taste the marinade will give it. I have never tried making a sauce out of the marinade, and actually I think it might be too sour with the buttermilk, but if you try it let me know how it turns out and I will add it to the recipe! :)
this is really insane and amazing! can i have little more info about indian food? thanks
This is an amazing recipe. Have to it out this season
these steaks looks awesome kate
thanks for posting
i will try it soon
Have you ever mairinaded it for less than 8 hrs? I want to make this today but only have 4 hrs to marinate….
Oh gosh, and I hope I’m getting back to you in time! Four hours should be okay – the longer the better of course, but that will be long enough to get some of the tenderness!
Your pictures are awesome and thank you so much for creating a printable recipes. It is so useful to be able to print and refer to it in my backyard. Mind sharing how you are able to create the printable recipes on your site?
That looks delicious! Oh and the juice, awesome! It is truly such a waste to just have the juice all over the cutting board instead in your mouth, lol. Thanks for the great post and recipe.
Can’t waste a drop of those delicious juices!
MMM. The 2104 grilling season??
Always good to plan ahead. :)
I always balk at recipes that use buttermilk, because I hate buying a quart only to use a cup or so. Then I found buttermilk powder that can be reconstituted as needed! This looks great, and I’ll be trying it soon.
I always use any leftover buttermilk to make ricotta cheese. But that powder IS handy!
Looks splendid. How do you clean your wooden cutting board of steak juice?
Lots and lots of hot water and dish soap. Better safe than sorry!
Hello Kate,
After marinating in buttermilk. Do I pat dry or rinse with water ? I’ve been marinating it in the buttermilk for two days and want to grill tonight.
Wow, two days! It will be so tender! Fine to just pat it dry. :)
You don’t need to clean a cutting board because you should be serving the steak whole after resting it. The reason the cutting board is covered in juices from the meat is because it was unnecessarily sliced into slivers allowing the meat to rapidly cook & the juices to quickly leak out.
Allowing the meat to rapidly cool sorry, not cook. Unfortunately there’s no edit comment function.
Hi Matt and thanks for all the input! I tend to go back and forth in terms of slicing steak or serving it “whole,” depending on what I am using it for. I find that resting it under foil for 5 minutes or so keeps in a lot of those juices, and sometimes (like when I am using steak for a steak salad) I will drizzle any extra over the top. Also depending on the recipe, it tends to make the steak easier for folks to deal with on the plate. And last but not least, for purposes of the blog, some readers find it helpful to see what the steak should look like on the inside once it is cooked. That being said, I’m all for freedom of choice when it comes to slicing or not – whether piping hot or cooled off a bit, it’s still scrumptious. Glad to see my recipes are making it to Australia – a place I’ve always wanted to visit! :)