The Best Cut Of Steak To Cook For Breakfast

When was the last time you had steak and eggs for breakfast? If it was too long ago to remember, or even never, that's no surprise. Steak as a breakfast food can't compete with Americans' preference for more ubiquitous choices like cereal, bacon, sausage, or skipping breakfast altogether. Steak for breakfast seems to exist primarily as a seldom-ordered item on diner menus and at dubious, all-night breakfast joints. One reason for this could be because meat costs continue to rise, making the indulgence more appealing for a big dinner or special occasion meals.

Let's agree it's time to bring back steak and eggs in the morning. For lovers of savory breakfasts, a sizzling steak with a crack of black pepper and a perfectly fried egg is a delicious combination. Plus, it's a protein-packed option to get the day started. However, just because it's breakfast doesn't mean you should skimp: Choosing an inexpensive cut of beef, like round or brisket, will result in an unappealingly chewy texture. The best breakfast steak choices are tender cuts like ribeyes, flat iron steaks, top sirloin, or strip steaks. Tender cuts are perfect if you prefer to eat steak whole next to some fluffy scrambled eggs or another side dish, just like you'd get in a diner. But if you want to add steak to other breakfast dishes — like tacos, a sandwich, or a veggie-loaded breakfast hash — these cuts also help each morsel stay moist instead of chewy after being diced and cooked. 

Now that everyone is salivating at the promise of steak and eggs for breakfast and the perfect cut of steak is waiting on the counter, there's one more thing to do to really make this meal perfect: Grill it. The best breakfast steaks were served in the olden days of hearth cookery when steaks were placed on grates over hot coals inside kitchen fireplaces. There, they cooked to perfection and emerged with a heavenly, smoky flavor. The transition from fire to stovetop frying pans was tough for breakfast steaks — literally — with their texture sacrificed for speedier cook times. 

While plenty of tutorials are available nowadays to teach home cooks how to properly cook a steak on the stovetop, why not fire up the grill to do your special steak and eggs breakfast right? Depending on the thickness, the tender steaks mentioned above take as little as seven minutes when cooked on a grill; the thickest cuts need around 20. For those who enjoy making their neighbors jealous, the morning aroma of a char-grilled steak topped with a crispy-edged fried egg alongside a cup of hot coffee? Yeah, that should do the trick.