The Best Homemade Steak Marinade from Scratch!
I’m sharing how we make and store our homemade steak marinade so that it lasts a long time. This simple recipe only needs three ingredients!
If you want to cook more like your great-grandmother and use whole ingredients, start with the little things.
The marinade that you get from the grocery store is highly processed and expensive. You can make your own marinade for pennies, it will taste better, and you’ll feel better about feeding it to your family, too!
How To Make Easy Homemade Steak Marinade
The best way to make steak marinade is to get a large glass measuring cup or bowl, and combine equal parts of vinegar and oil, your favorite seasonings, and then fill up the rest of the way with water until you get the quantity you need for the amount of steak you need to marinate.
There are a number of different spices and seasonings that you can use. I will suggest my favorites in the recipe below.
How To Store Homemade Steak Marinade
Store homemade marinade in a covered glass container or dish if you want it to be room temperature and plan on using it within a few hours. For short-term storage, keep your marinade in a glass mason jar or other dish with an airtight lid in the refrigerator.
I usually don’t make marinade very far in advance because it’s quick to pull together. However, if you have a big family gathering coming up and need to prepare what you can in advance, it does save time to make the marinade a day or two before your event.
Why should you make homemade steak marinade?
You should make homemade marinade because the commercial marinade that you buy from your local grocery store has a lot of harmful ingredients and added sugars. Plus it’s expensive for the volume given!
I have yet to see an organic marinade option in my grocery store. But even if I did, I think it’s safe to say that it would be aggravatingly expensive to purchase it.
I’m so glad that it’s easy to use ingredients I already have on hand to make this simple steak marinade. And the ingredients are not expensive at all!
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How to Make Homemade Steak Marinade
Homemade steak marinade is such an easy and versatile recipe. Experiment with your own favorite vinegar, oil, and seasonings!
Ingredients
Vinegar – You can use any vinegar that you have on hand. It can be raw and organic vinegar with the mother in it or distilled white vinegar. Since I always have a few gallons of homemade vinegar, I make my steak marinade with apple scrap vinegar.
Check out this blog post if you would like to learn how to make apple scrap vinegar for just pennies!
Oil – You can use any oil that you already have. I prefer using olive oil but I’ve also used avocado oil in the past. I would avoid using any highly processed vegetable oil or canola oil, though.
Water – Use good, filtered water if you can. Otherwise, tap water will work.
Seasonings – I like to use dried Montreal steak seasoning that I buy in a one-pound bulk package from Azure Standard.
Tools you may need
Large measuring cup with tight lid – If you have a large measuring cup with lid, you can just use one dish for mixing up your marinade, and then for marinading your steaks all in the same vessel! That makes cleanup a snap!!
Large spoon – Use any spoon, fork, or whisk to mix and combine all the liquid ingredients.
Instructions to Make Homemade Steak Marinade
To make a delicious homemade steak marinade, get your oil, vinegar, and seasonings out. I like to use Montreal steak seasoning, but use what you have and enjoy.
Measure equal amounts of oil and vinegar and add them to your large measuring cup. Depending on how many steaks you need to submerge, you may need just a quarter cup of each. Or you may need one cup each of oil and vinegar if you need to submerge several steaks.
Then, add two parts water to your measuring cup so you double the volume of liquid. You can add more water later until you have enough marinade to completely cover your steaks.
Once you add your oil, vinegar, and water, add in your seasonings to taste. I don’t measure but I add about 4 tablespoons of Montreal seasoning to 4 cups of water, oil, and vinegar.
Make sure to combine the oil, vinegar, water, and seasonings the best you can. But remember that oil and water will separate.
If you find that your steaks are uncovered after you’ve added them, just top it off with more water so that the steaks are submerged.
If you have a large measuring cup with a tight fitting lid, just pop the lid on and refrigerate your steaks overnight.
And that’s it! Clean up is a snap the next day!!
Recipe Card
Homemade Steak Marinade
Equipment
- large mixing bowl
- wire whisk
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
Ingredients
- 1 cup oil (Any oil will work.)
- 1 cup vinegar (Any vinegar will work.)
- 2 cups water
- 4 tbsp Montreal steak seasoning (You can substitute by using fresh or dried minced garlic, salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes.)
Instructions
Homemade Steak Marinade
- In a large mixing bowl, combine oil, vinegar, water, and seasoning. Whisk until well combined.
- You can use the marinade right away, or store it for a day or two in an airtight container in your refrigerator.
Marinating Steaks
- When you're ready to marinate your steaks, submerge the steaks in the marinade. Add a cover, and refrigerate overnight or longer for best results. You can grill or fry your steaks as you normally would.
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