If You Don't Want Chewy Steak Bites, Avoid These Cuts At All Costs

If your least favorite part of a steak dinner is having to cut up the meat on your plate, then our super-simple garlic butter steak bites would be a perfect entree for you. As the name implies, a fork is the only utensil you'll need to pick up these bite-sized pieces. Developer Feta Topalu would like you to know one thing before you start cooking, though: Not every kind of steak is equally well suited for this dish.

Topalu herself opts for sirloin as she feels it's thick enough to cut into the proper-sized chunks and has enough marbling that it'll stay tender even when those small pieces are fried in a hot pan. If you're feeling splurgier, ribeye or strip steak will also work, although using filet mignon would just be over the top. Super-thin steaks aren't the best choice for this dish, though, since they won't make for such meaty morsels. If you do use a steak that's on the skimpy side, you'll also need to reduce the cooking time. Topalu also advises avoiding tougher cuts like skirt or flank steak that might require a marinade to tenderize them, since she's designed this recipe to be super-simple and marinade-free.

Although the steak bites in Feta Topalu's recipe are plenty tasty thanks to their garlic butter bath, she allows that you can marinate them to boost the flavor if you have a little extra time on your hands. Our three-ingredient steak marinade combines olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce, while Topalu suggests using one made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice. Our London Broil marinade is a slightly more elaborate version of hers, as it contains these same ingredients along with lemon juice, onion powder, oregano, and crushed red pepper. If you want really bold flavor, though, you could opt for onion milk (pureed onions) to make an extra-pungent steak marinade.

Whatever you use to marinade the meat, there's no need to pour the liquid down the drain when the steak bites are ready to cook. Instead, you can boil it for five minutes, which will not only thicken it but also kill off any contamination from the raw meat. The resulting pan sauce can either take the place of or supplement the garlic butter used in this recipe.