Are you ready to elevate your favourite steak recipe? While BBQ steak is already delicious on its own, proper steak seasoning is the key to unlocking the full flavour of a delicious T-bone, strip, or fillet. Read on for some seasoning tips and some delicious seasoned steak recipe ideas.
How to Choose Steak Seasoning
Experimenting with different seasonings is a fun, creative way to enhance the taste of your BBQ steak. Options range from the simple to the elaborate, and a lot depends on the cut that you're working with.
The key to a good seasoned steak recipe is to enhance the meat's natural flavour without overpowering it. A simple seasoning with salt, pepper, and a touch of garlic powder or rosemary can highlight the delicate taste of a tender cut like filet mignon. A more robust cut like ribeye can tolerate a bold seasoning blend with smoked paprika, chili powder, and cayenne pepper.
Steak seasonings break down into two types: rubs and marinades. The former is a mix of herbs and spices rubbed onto the steak before cooking. These are quick and easy to apply, and they also create a flavourful crust and adding depth to the meat.
Marinades are moist mixtures that penetrate beyond the meat's surface, tenderizing it and infusing it with flavour. You can make your own Montreal Steak Marinade by blending a little oil with our Montreal Steak Spice Seasoning.
Halfway between a dry rub and a marinade sits the dry rub's sibling: the wet rub. This adds a wet ingredient like mustard or honey to a dry rub's herbs and spices, making it easier to stick to the meat. It's still a surface rub rather than a marinade. The Montreal Steak Spice Wet Rub in these Balsamic Ginger Steaks is a good example.
How and when to Season Your Steak
Unless you're getting into dry brining, which is a science all its own, we find that applying a dry rub just before you grill works fine. A wet rub can sit on the steak for a few minutes beforehand.
If using a dry rub, brush oil onto the surface to help it stick. Our Grilled Montreal Steak uses vegetable oil, but olive oil also works well. Then, apply your rub. Don't be too gentle; massage that mixture into every part of the steak. Use one hand to apply liberal amounts of rub onto your steak and the other to rub the mixture in and turn the meat.
Marinades should sit for longer on the steak so their flavour can penetrate the meat. Placing the mixture and the meat into a sealed bag enables you to work the marinade into the meat by massaging the bag while keeping your hands dry.
This Montreal Steak Marinated Ribeye with Smashed Potatoes recipe uses our Montreal Steak Spice Marinade by La Grille in a bag. It also uses the surplus marinade as a top-up that you can brush onto the steak while it's on the grill. The result is a succulent steak with a sumptuous buttery potato side that you won't forget in a hurry.
Whichever type of seasoning you use, ensure that you cook it on a grill pre-heated to searing temperatures, which will help create a delicious crust.
Experimenting With Different Steak Seasoning Ingredients
Get as creative as you like when making steak seasonings. For example, this Steak with Mushrooms and Onions recipe upgrades the packaged web rub with a welcome enhancement of grated lemon zest.
If you're watching your sodium intake, don't forget low-sodium seasoning options that can add a burst of flavour without compromising your dietary needs. Our Salt Free Steak Spice will serve you well here.
Try some of these seasoned steak recipe options to raise your game. Then, when you're ready, mix up your own steak marinade and rub creations. Before long, your backyard will be a popular hotspot during BBQ weather.
More seasoned steak recipes
Eager for more seasoning ideas? Check out these delicious options:
