Brown Sugar Bourbon Steak Tips
Thanks to a boozy-sweet marinade, this recipe for brown sugar bourbon steak tips is a flavorful addition to your grilling repertoire.
By Yankee Magazine|Aug 01 2022|
Bourbon Brown Sugar Steak Tips
Photo Credit: Aimee TuckerThanks to a boozy-sweet marinade, this recipe for brown sugar bourbon steak tips is a flavorful addition to your grilling repertoire. It’s also the most popular steak tip marinade recipe in the Yankee archives. Serve with grilled veggies.
Note: The original version of this recipe (one from the Yankee archives) called for 1 full cup of bourbon in the marinade. Several commenters noted that they found this amount to be too much alcohol. We re-tested the recipe using ½ cup of bourbon and marinated the steak for 2 hours. The results were delicious.
Yield
4-6 servings
Total Time
25 minutes
Ingredients
½ cup bourbon
½ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup soy sauce
1 medium-size yellow onion, cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick rings
2 pounds sirloin steak tips or flank steak
Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
In a medium-size bowl, whisk together bourbon, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce. Pour into a large zip-top bag; add onion and steak.
Seal, squeezing to expel any air, and let meat marinate for 2 hours.
When ready to cook, drain and season meat with salt and pepper.
Set up your grill for direct high heat. To grill meat, sear on one side until nicely browned, 4 to 6 minutes. Turn meat and grill until it reaches desired doneness (4 to 6 minutes more for medium rare).
Cook onions in a grill pan, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 10 minutes. Or cook onions directly on grill grates away from direct heat, carefully turning once, for 8 to 10 minutes total cooking time.
this sounded like a very good reciepe, until i tried the meat after i had cooked it for awhile. i marinated over night and did exactly like it said and it about tore my throat out the alcohol was so strong. we even rinsed the meat and tried again and it was still too strong to eat. we ended up haveing to throw all the meat away. im just hoping it was a miss print and that we only needed a shot not a cup?
Hi Niki. We’re sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy the steak tips. The original recipe does call for 1 cup of bourbon, but future cooks may wish to reduce the amount down to 1/2 cup if they feel it may be too much for them, too. Thanks for your comment!
2 Hours of marination, not overnight. Half a cup to a quarter cup gives the smokey bourbon taste just fine. High heat is key to the sear, you want that deep sear, quick and direct.
With no outside grill to cook these delicious-sounding steak tips, what is the best way to cook them indoors. I have a countertop grill as well as a ridged grill pan and, of course, an oven.
Preheat the oven to 400° Put a cast iron pan on the stovetop over medium high heat. Rub some olive oil on the pan.
When the pan is hot, but not smoking, add the steaks. Cook for 4-5 minutes or until a good crust forms.
Flip over; shut off the heat.
Put the pan into the oven. Cook until they’re done to your liking; Very Rare 4-5 minutes; Rare 5-6 minutes; Medium Rare 6-8 minutes; Medium 7-10 minutes. This is based on a 1-1/2 to 2 inch thick steaks.
Let the steaks rest for 5 minutes before cutting. This has always worked for me. Hope it helps! 🙂
Thank you so much for posting this! I was just about to ask a question on how to do this indoors (without an outside grill). Have not tried yet but just want to thank you first. I will try!
Yummy! I agree that one cup of Bourbon would have been extreme overkill and destroy the other flavors. I used 1/2 cup as recommended. I didn’t have any onions so I added 1/2 tsp each of onion and garlic powders for additional flavor. I will experiment with adding other spices – perhaps some ginger!
I used venison and seared them floured in a scolding hot pan! Absolutely fantastic! Made marinate actually the recipe calls for! I WILL use this again!
Way too boozy. The bourbon flavor is great but too much alcohol. Prob better to cook the alcohol off first
The tips won’t be too “boozy” unless you’re eating them raw. Grilling the tips will cook off the alcohol.
The flavors in this recipe are delicious with beef. I accidentally used 1/3 cup of sugar but no one seemed to notice. My yankee thrift kicked in when I saw chuck roast on sale, so I used 2 of those (for a dinner party!) to make this. Of course chuck roast cannot be cooked like steak, it’s too tough a cut. So I cut the meat as directed, marinated it accordingly, and then I cooked it sous vide at 56.5C. The marinade was reduced on the stovetop, thickened slightly with cornstarch, and brushed on the “steak tips” after searing both sides on the grill. The result was luscious, rich, and smoky sweet. And very tender. My guests raved about the “excellent cut of steak” I used. The recipe works well when doubled, too.
We have made several times just as recipe states, and have always enjoyed. I wonder if the “Boozy” taste is from poor bourbon or marinated to long?
Other than reducing the bourbon, based on comments (and the price of the stuff), no changes. The result was fabulous.
Use less bourbon, pour the rest in a glass over ice, and enjoy it while you’re grilling the tips. Win-win.
Great comment !! Salute ????
Heritage Distilling Co makes a brown sugar bourbon, BSB, lighter on the alcohol, I’m wondering if this will make a good substitute.
I would like to have seen the recipe first.
I have made this with Sailor Jerry’s Spiced Rum – great substitute.
Loved the Inn and the food sounds yummy bourbon steak tips.