Minute steaks are thin, tasty, and the perfect weeknight protein. Here’s a bit about them and how to cook them.
What is minute steak?
Minute steak is thinly sliced steak designed for easy weeknight meals. It is typically sirloin, but it could be any thin, less desirable, or incomplete cut prepared to be fast and convenient.
Minute steaks are commonly confused with cube steaks. Cube steaks are minute steaks run through a tenderizer, and they are often from the round or chuck primals. The tenderizer machine places characteristic “cubes” on the steak, and this is what is used in dishes like chicken fried steak.
While all minute steaks are cube steaks, not all cube steaks are minute steaks. The etymology gets blurry, but you can use either type in most recipes — although you may occasionally end up with a tough minute steak. Fortunately, there are ways to navigate that.
What is minute steak good for?
Minute steaks are made for convenience. Due to their thin, lean, and tough nature, they respond best to short cooking times on the rarer side or low and slow cooking.
Here are a few common dishes that use minute steaks:
- Minute steak casserole with cream of mushroom and onions
- Chicken fried steak
- Steak sandwiches
- Stir fry
- Mongolian Beef
- Tacos
- Fajitas
- Pasta
- Plain with dipping sauces and fries
12 best minute steak recipes
Here’s a good variety of minute steak recipes. If you see any that say cubed steak, just use a meat mallet, score the meat, or use a marinade to tenderize your minute steaks before proceeding with the recipe.
1. Crock pot minute steak
One way to ensure your minute steak melts in your mouth is to use a crock pot. This recipe from The Country Cook is traditional and delicious: gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, cream of chicken — you can’t go wrong.
2. One pot philly cheesesteak pasta
Another low and slow take, this cheesesteak pasta from The Life Jolie is not designed for a diet, and we mean that in the best way. It’s got cream, mushrooms, Worcestershire, mozzarella, penne, and more. This will be a hit with the kids.
3. Minute steak, tomato, and olive spaghetti
Minute steak is perfect for easy pasta too. Boil the pasta, make or use a jar of sauce, bake or pan fry the minute steaks, slice thinly, combine in a pan, season, and let the ingredients mingle, top with parmesan, and serve with garlic bread. It takes maybe 15 minutes and is delicious. Here’s a good walkthrough from Abel and Cole.
4. Pan-fried cube steaks with a simple sauce
Tenderize your minute steaks before this one, but all you’re doing is basting the steaks in a butter sauce as you cook them up. A compound butter would be really effective here. Then just serve the steak with your carb and veggie of choice (e.g. mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts). All Recipes has all the details!
5. Cube steak parmesan
For the next level beyond minute steak spaghetti, use this recipe from Taste of Lizzy. After tenderizing, you fry up the minute steaks and cover them with a delicious tomato sauce and cheese layer.
6. Minute steak stir fry
I would cut the steak extra thin and extend the marinade to 30-45 minutes. Other than that, this recipe from Donal Skehan is a fantastic way to cook up some minute steak. You can sub rice for the udon as well.
7. Minute steak tacos
Just like the stir fry, make sure you slice your steak extra thin and across the grain to get the most tender bites. You should also be careful not to overcook the steaks either, since that’s the easiest way to end up with a tough taco. And just like City Farmhouse mentions, make sure to heat your tortillas up in advance!
8. Creamy steak pasta with cream of mushroom soup
For another one pot pasta angle, use this cream of mushroom steak pasta from Blackberry Babe. Don’t shy away from adding real garlic and buying good mushrooms, and you can add essentially any cheese or vegetable to this recipe.
9. Minute steak avocado fajitas
Fajitas feel fancier than they are, and that’s what makes these minute steak fajitas even better. It’s all the deliciousness with minimal prep. Abel and Cole breaks down how to get that fajita restaurant experience right in your kitchen.
10. The best chicken fried steak
Chicken fried steak is one of my favorite things about the South. Give me a good diner that isn’t shy about the amount of white gravy they pour on top, and you have my heart. This AllRecipes recipe is famous on the internet for good reason. Enjoy.
11. Minute steak sandwiches
Thick layers of thin steak on a good bun with sweet caramelized onions, arugula, and sharp pickles? Sounds like a winner. You could easily add mayo, dijon mustard, and tomato to this delicious recipe from Women’s Weekly Food too.
12. Cheesy minute steak sandwich casserole
If you’re not feeling a sandwich but want something in the ballpark, use this Steak Sandwich casserole recipe from Food.com. You could serve this with toasted bread and let the people decide as well.
How to cook minute steak
Minute steaks cook quickly, so you have to be careful to not overcook them. It depends on the thickness, but most minute steaks cook within 2-3 minutes on each side. Roasting at low heat in the oven or a crockpot is always an option, too.
Oven
- Tenderize them with a meat mallet or score with a knife (optional).
- Pat the steaks dry.
- Get a cast iron to medium-high heat.
- Season thoroughly with salt and pepper.
- Quickly sear the steaks on each side for a few seconds until a crust forms.
- Place in oven for 45 minutes or until 140º.
- Remove and cut thinly across the grain.
Frying pan
- Pat the steaks dry.
- Season thoroughly with salt and pepper.
- Get a cast iron to medium-high heat — when water dances across the skillet.
- Sear for 1-2 minutes on each side until desired temp.
- Remove and cut thinly across the grain.
Grill
- Pat the steaks dry.
- Lay on a medium-heat grill without overcrowding.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side until the internal temperature reaches 140º.
- Remove and cut thinly across the grain.
Slow cooker
- Preheat crock pot on low.
- Season meat with salt and pepper if using low-sodium crock pot ingredients.
- Place meat and cover with broth and/or gravy.
- Cook for 6-8 hours until fall apart tender.
- Finish seasoning and serve with potatoes and veggies.
What to serve with minute steak
Minute steaks are good with just about anything. Here are a few options:
- Asparagus
- Brussel sprouts
- Mushrooms
- Fries
- Sweet potatoes
- Tangy salads
- A bearnaise sauce
- Chimichurri
- Aioli
- Red wine sauce
How to make great minute steak every time
In a word, tenderize. Regardless of the type of meal you are making, minute steaks are lean and can be chewy if not cooked properly. This is even more true if you’re using good grass-fed beef since the fat content is lower in naturally-produced meat.
Here are a few more tips for making minute steaks perfectly.
Cut the steak across the grain
This one is as easy as it is important. The grains in steaks are the muscle fibers that line the cut. By cutting across them, you snap them like rubber bands, resulting in a more tender texture.
Cut the steak into thin slices
It’s best to cut tough meat into thin slices to make eating it easier. For sandwiches, slice as thinly as you possibly can. For fajitas, rice bowls, and tacos, you can slice thinly but leave a little thickness for more substantive bites.
Cook the steak medium rare
The quickest way to mess up minute steaks is to overcook them. There isn’t much fat on minute steaks, so you are working with limited moisture. Keep your minute steaks below medium (145°) for the best results.
Use a meat mallet when flattening
If you’re using minute steaks for something like sandwiches or tacos, use the flat end of a meat mallet to tenderize the meat before cooking. You can also score the meat with a knife with little crosshatches or use an acidic marinade.
Minute steak FAQ
Here are a few of the questions we hear most often about minute steaks:
Is minute steak a good cut of meat?
Minute steak is an economy cut that is tough and lean. So if you’re comparing it to ribeye or prime rib, no. But is it tasty, cheap, and great for a wide variety of dishes? Yes!
Why do they call them minute steaks?
Because they cook so quickly. Minute steaks are thin cuts (often sirloin) designed for convenience.
What part of the cow is minute steak?
There is no one place minute steaks come from, but they are most commonly from the sirloin or round primals.
How to tenderize minute steak?
You have a few options. The best way is with a meat mallet. If you don’t have one, you can use a rolling pin to flatten and work the meat. After that, you can score the meat with a knife.
Without any tools, a marinade will help tenderize the meat, but you will need to let it soak for at least a few hours. Marinades can be made from many ingredients such as olive oil, apple juice, apple cider vinegar, beer, or lemon juice, all of which tenderize the meat.
And don’t forget to cook it on the medium to medium-rare side to avoid toughness.
Is cube steak the same as minute steak?
Sometimes, but not always. Cube steaks are minute steaks run through a tenderizer that leaves characteristic “cubes” on the meat, resulting in a crocheted pattern on the meat. Minute steaks are cheap, thin cuts of meat usually from sirloin or round primals.
Where to buy the best minute steaks
The minute steak recipes start with the best minute steaks, and the best steaks are from cattle entirely fed on grass. No grain feed. No added hormones. No antibiotics. If you have good farmers who raise their animals well, you don’t need to defend against rampant disease.
We take pride in working with exceptional farmers. Every cut we sell is from cows fed an exclusive diet of fresh grass — all the way to the end. Plus, we only work with farmers who prioritize sustainability and use regenerative farming techniques that keep us and our world healthy.
To see what real grass-fed and grass-finished beef raised on the best grass in the world tastes like, check out our minute steaks.
The bottom line
Minute steaks are the perfect weeknight steak. They cook in “minutes”, have great beefy flavor, and can be used in a wide variety of dishes from sandwiches to pastas.
For the best results, use grass-fed beef, tenderize your minute steaks in advance, and avoid overcooking them. Then, slice as thinly as you can and across the grain. If you do all of that, then you will end up with delicious steak in whatever recipe you choose.
Happy cooking!
Nathan Phelps
Nathan PhelpsNathan Phelps owns and writes for Crafted Copy, a boutique copywriting shop that finds the perfect words for interesting products. He is also an ethical foodie, outdoors-aficionado, and hails from Nashville, TN. He splits his time between helping sustainable businesses find new customers and managing his ever-increasing list of hobbies, which include playing guitar, baking bread, and creating board games.
