Make restaurant-quality steak at home with this easy and delicious Sous Vide Flank Steak recipe. The sous vide is a game-changer for your grilling skills. Never worry about overcooking a steak again!
Do you ever wonder how steak restaurants get their cooked to the perfect temperature every single time? The answer is simple: they use a sous vide.
Using a sous vide to prepare beef will get you restaurant quality steak every.single.time. Try out the method with our Sous Vide Flank Steak that's marinated in a tangy soy-ginger sauce. It ALWAYS disappears.
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Why you will love this recipe
▶︎ It's full of flavor and super tender but made with pantry staple ingredients.
▶︎ Requires little hand on time. The hardest part about this flank steak recipe is getting it in the water 2 hours before cooking.
▶︎ It's easy to cook! Never wonder if your steak is "done enough" again. Cooking it in the water first guarantees that it will be the correct temperature.
What is a Sous Vide?
Have you heard people say they are going to "sous vide their meat"? What does that even mean?
The French phrase sous vide literally means "under vacuum" and generally refers to a vacuum-sealed bag. Using a sous vide is a cooking process to cook food that is placed in a vacuum-sealed bag at a low temperature in water.
The purpose of the sous vide is to cook the food to the perfect temperature with just a few minutes on the grill needed to finish the meat.
Ingredients
You probably have everything you need to make this flank steak recipe using ingredients in your pantry.
Ingredient Notes:
◦ Ginger: Fresh ginger is a must in this recipe. Powdered ginger doesn't add the same bright flavor.
◦ Balsamic vinegar: Since you are using this vinegar, in a marinade I'd skip the more expensive, aged vinegar that you'd drizzle over these Caprese skewers and use a moderately priced bottle instead.
Instructions
The sous vide does most of the work in this recipe. Your prep time is minimal.
Place the soy sauce, honey, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and ginger in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. Add vegetable oil and whisk again to emulsify oil into marinade.
Salt and pepper both sides of the flank steak and then place in a zipper bag. Pour the marinade over the top and seal the bag, removing as much air as possible.
In another zipper bag, place sous vide weights (or pie weights) and marinated steak bag. Seal and squeeze out as much air as possible.
Fill the sous vide container (or large pot) with water and set the sous vide to the desired temperature (see chart below).
Immerse the zippered bag filled with the steak into the water and leave it for 2 hours.
Preheat the grill to 450°F and remove the steak from sous vide, discard the marinade, and pat the steak dry.
Spray grill with non-stick grilling spray and grill meat for 3 minutes per side for medium-rare. Remove from grill and let meat rest for 10 minutes for the juices to redistribute before serving.
FAQs
The meat can be in the water for 90 minutes to 4 hours. It will never overcook because the temperature stays the same, however, the texture of the meat changes the longer it is in the water. We recommend 2 hours.
Very Rare to Rare: Cool red center, 120°F to 128°F 1 to 2 ½ hours
Medium-rare: Warm red center, 129°F to 134°F, 1 to 4 hours
Medium: Hot pink center, 135°F to 144°F, 1 to 4 hours
Medium-well: Mostly brown center, 145°F to 155°F, 1 to 3 ½ hours
Well done: No color in meat, 156°F and up, 1 to 3 hours
You have more control over the temperature. Cooking the meat at a low temperature for a longer period of time lets it cook to the same temperature all the way through without it being cooked more around the edges.
Absolutely! I buy a package of flank steak at Costco and marinate it all before freezing. When it's time to cook it. Place it directly from the freezer into the sous vide and add 30 minutes to the cooking time.
Expert tips for cooking steak in a sous vide
✔️ Use enough water so the meat can be fully submerged.
✔️ Be sure the bag is sealed! Use a Foodsaver to vacuum seal the bag or push as much air as possible out of a zipper bag when closing for best results.
✔️ Use weights to ensure the food stays submerged in the water otherwise it will be undercooked.
✔️ Pat the food dry before searing on the grill to get a nice caramelized color.
✔️ Let meat rest after grilling to let the juices redistribute. Failing to do this results in dry meat with less flavor.
More easy grilling recipes
Using the grill makes meal cleanup easy! Don't miss some of our grilling favorites or check out all of our main dish recipes.
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Recipe
Sous Vide Flank Steak
Ingredients
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1 tbsp minced ginger
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 1 ½ pounds flank steak
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
Instructions
- Place soy sauce, honey, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and ginger In a medium bowl and whisk to combine.¼ cup soy sauce, ¼ cup honey, 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp minced ginger
- Add vegetable oil and whisk to combine½ cup vegetable oil
- Salt and pepper both sides of the flank steak and place in a Ziplock bag.1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1 ½ pounds flank steak
- Pour marinade over flank steak and seal bag squeezing as much air out as possible.
- Place sous vide weights in another Ziplock bag and put the marinated steak inside and seal, again taking out as much air as possible.
- Fill the sous vide container with water and set the temperature of the sous vide.
- Immerse flank steak in water and keep in sous vide for 2 hours.
- After 2 hours, remove the steak from the sous vide container and discard the marinade. Pat the steak dry.
- Preheat grill to 450.
- Spray grill with cooking spray and grill the flank steak for 3 minutes per side for medium rare.
- Remove from the grill and let the meat rest for 10 minutes so juices can redistribute.
- Slice meat across the grain and serve.
Notes
Medium-rare: Warm red center, 129°F to 134°F, 1 to 4 hours
Medium: Hot pink center, 135°F to 144°F, 1 to 4 hours
Medium-well: Mostly brown center, 145°F to 155°F, 1 to 3 ½ hours
Well done: No color in meat, 156°F and up, 1 to 3 hours Ingredient Notes: ◦ Ginger: Fresh ginger is a must in this recipe. Powdered ginger doesn't add the same bright flavor. ◦ Balsamic vinegar: Since you are using this vinegar, in a marinade I'd skip the more expensive, aged vinegar that you'd drizzle over these Caprese skewers and use a moderately priced bottle instead. Instruction Notes: ✔️ The meat can be in the water for 1 to 4 hours. The meat will never overcook because the temperature stays the same, however, the longer you leave the meat in the water will change the texture of the meat. We recommend keeping the steak in for 2 hours. ✔️ If you are using frozen meat, add 30 minutes to the cooking time. ✔️ Make sure you use enough water so the food can be fully submerged. ✔️ Be sure the bag is sealed! Use a food saver to vacuum seal the bag or push as much air as possible out of a zipper bag when closing for best results. ✔️ Use weights to ensure the food stays submerged in the water otherwise it will be undercooked. ✔️ Pat the food dry before searing to get a nice caramelized color. ✔️ Let meat rest after grilling to let the juices redistribute. Failing to do this results in dry meat with less flavor.
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Nutrition
Nutrition info not guaranteed to be accurate.
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