This Thai Skirt Steak is sure to have you officially joining the clean-plate club. The steak is marinated in an easy Coconut Lime mixture that gives it a wonderful light and zesty Thai-inspired flavor. You’ll also find some easy tricks on how to get great results with grilled skirt steak!

juicy medium-rare skirt steak with lime and cilantro and chopped peanuts

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Why We Love This Recipe For Thai Coconut Lime Grilled Skirt Steak

I have and always will be a sucker for Thai food, so it came to no surprise that I fell in love with this Thai Skirt Steak after only the first time making it. The coconut Thai flavors of the steak marinade is like a flavor bomb! It will take the grassiest of grass-fed steaks and transport them to a coconut-lime-ginger paradise.

This healthy skirt steak is a great recipe for entertaining, as I can promise you any friend or family member will be very impressed by the flavor. I’d serve it with a side of roasted broccolini or broccoli and fluffy jasmine rice. I also often serve it with lime wedges, toasted peanuts and a generous drizzle of Sriracha on top. Some thinly sliced Thai chilis would also be delicious.

Recipe Highlights

  • It’s the perfect make-ahead recipe since you can leave the steak to marinate for several hours or overnight.
  • Once you have the marinated steak, you only need about 8 minutes of total cooking time.
  • Skirt steak is relatively inexpensive so this recipe shouldn’t break the bank!

Key Ingredients For This Recipe

  • Lite Coconut Milk: I prefer to use lite coconut milk to cut out some of the calories from fat, however, you can use regular fat coconut milk if you’d prefer. Look for the kind with no other added ingredients.
  • Coconut Sugar: This you can often find in the baking aisle. If you can’t find it for some reason, use brown sugar, agave or maple syrup instead.
  • Lime: You’ll need both the zest and juice from the lime.
  • Thai Fish Sauce: Thai fish sauce is one of those staple ingredients in Thai cooking. Just a glug or two here really pumps up the overall savory nature of the recipe. If fish isn’t an option for you, substitute for coconut aminos or soy sauce.
  • Ginger Root: Fresh ginger is best for recipes like these. You can easily grate it with a microplane. If you don’t feel like grating it yourself though, you can get frozen pre-grated ginger cubes from Trader Joe’s. Or simply mince the ginger by hand with a sharp knife.
  • Skirt Steak: Skirt steak is flavorful, inexpensive, and easy to prepare if you keep a few things in mind. It’s very thin, so it is easy to overcook it. And you have to cut it across the grain to make sure it isn’t too tough. Don’t worry, I am here to walk you through it.
  • Kosher Salt

Step-by-Step Instructions to Make This Thai Skirt Steak

Step 1: Mix Thai steak marinade

To make the coconut lime marinade simply whisk together the coconut milk, coconut sugar (or other sweetener of your choice), fresh lime zest, lime juice, fish sauce and grated or minced ginger root in a small bowl. Place the pieces of skirt steak into a 1-gallon resealable plastic bag. Pour the marinade ingredients over the steak, then press out the air and seal the bag shut. Refrigerate the steak for 4 to 12 hours.

Step 2: Preheat grill

Preheat the grill to high heat.

Step 3: Season steak

Drain the steak and discard the remaining marinade. Pat the steaks dry and sprinkle them with salt. Oil the grill rack and immediately place the steaks on the grill.

Step 4: Grill coconut steak

Grill the marinated skirt steak, undisturbed, for 2 minutes on the hot grill, then turn a quarter turn to create a hash mark. This will create pretty hash marks and help it cook more evenly. When you use a quarter turn you effectively move the meat over the heat so that if there is one side that is cooking too fast, it will even out.

Continue cooking for 30 to 90 seconds more on the first side.

Then, flip the steaks over and continue cooking for 2 ½ to 5 minutes on the second side to desired doneness, cooking times will vary anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes total depending on the thickness of the steaks.

Step 5: Cut steak

Let the grilled skirt steak rest on the carving board for at least 4 minutes before cutting lengthwise across the grain. Scroll down to read about how to cut the steak perfectly.

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How to Properly Cut Skirt steak

Before Cooking: Find the grain and go against it

Usually, you can find skirt steak in criovac packages. Since flank steaks are so popular now and so expensive, skirt seems to be more readily available and a lot more affordable. When you take skirt steak out of the package, it’ll likely need to be unrolled or unfolded. When you do that, you’ll first notice that it can be very long. Like, twice the length of your cutting board sometimes! The trick is to cut it into short, manageable steaks, about 4 inches in length. Doing this will serve two important purposes.

1) Since the steak will be thicker on one end than the other, you’ll have smaller sections of relatively evenly thick meat. Some will be thinner than others and will require a shorter cooking time, and/or a cooler spot on the grill.

skirt steak cutting guide

2) It will give you a smaller piece to slice once it has been grilled. Which brings me to my terrible drawing. (Please ignore the fact that I chose to make this masterpiece with a dried out marker from my girls’ art bin.)

Look at terrible drawing #1. The grain in a skirt (unlike a flank) runs across the width. To make your bites of steak more tender, once it has been grilled, you’ll want to cut through that grain (picture #2.) In other words, you have to cut the steak first crosswise into steaks, grill it, then slice it lengthwise into strips. If you hadn’t done step one before grilling, then step two would require you to slice the steak in ridiculously long unmanageable two-cutting board length long sections. I hope that makes sense!

After Cooking: Let it rest then slice it against the grain

It is really important for skirt steak, especially with grass-fed beef, that you give it a nice rest after it comes off the grill. This will allow the juices in the steak to settle down, the fibers to relax and the moisture to redistribute through the grilled steak. If you skip this, the juices will spill out onto the cutting board, and the meat will be dry and tough.

Look back at drawing terrible #2 to see how to cut the steak. (That’s supposed to be a carving knife!) So you’ll be cutting from cut end to cut end, through each fiber.

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FAQS and Expert Tips

Does marinating steak make it more tender?

Contrary to popular belief, marinating doesn’t really make steak more tender. Marinade only permeates the outer layer of the meat, so it only really breaks down the outer cells of the steak. The texture difference will be negligible. Marinating is only mostly for flavor.

How to avoid overcooking the steak:

It is important to drain the coconut marinade and dry the steak with clean paper towels before you grill it. Moisture inhibits the browning of the grilled steak, so you’ll want to blot the pieces of steak before they hit the grill. Cooking a skirt steak requires full attention. It happens so fast, you can easily overdo it. If you are using grass-fed beef, you can make the meat seize up really fast because it is leaner. The front edge of my gas grill or the outer edges of the kettle grill is where I position my thinnest cuts, and over the hotter areas is where the thicker ones go.

Storing & reheating instructions:

Store the steak in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 to 5 days. To reheat, simply microwave your portion until just warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes. Or slice and stir fry the leftover steak in a little oil until it is just hot.

Make-ahead instructions:

This is a great make-ahead recipe since it requires marinating the steak for several hours before cooking. You could even marinate the steak up to 24 hours in advance if you need to!

What To Serve With This Thai Steak Recipe

  1. Serve with rice, rice noodles or celophane noodles.
  2. These simple Sesame Noodles are a great make ahead option and go with a variety of Asian-inspired flavors.
  3. My Asian Green Beans with shiitakes, fermented black beans and garlic are yummy with this steak. Another easy green vegetable to try is with what my family has affectionately dubbed The Best Green Bean Recipe.
  4. This Asian Coleslaw with sesame and ginger is super fast and colorful. 
  5. Use in a rice bowl. Top with cilantro, lime and chopped roasted peanuts. Make a simple Peanut Sauce to drizzle over it. 
  6. Try our Roasted Snap Peas with sesame seeds.

Additional Steak Recipes to Try

At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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Thai Skirt Steak

Grilled Skirt Steak with Thai Flavors

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5 from 3 reviews

  • Author: Katie Webster
  • Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
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Description

This Thai coconut lime grilled skirt steak is so juicy and flavorful! Even better, this easy steak recipe requires less than 15 minutes of hands on prep work!

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 1/2 cup lite coconut milk
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lime zest
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice
  • 2 teaspoons Thai fish sauce
  • 2 teaspoons grated ginger root
  • 1 pound beef skirt steak, preferably grass fed, cut into 4-inch lengths
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

Instructions

  1. Whisk coconut milk, coconut sugar, lime zest, lime juice, fish sauce and ginger in a small bowl. Place skirt steak into a 1 gallon resealable bag. Pour marinade over the steak. Press out air and seal bag shut. Refrigerate the steak 4 to 12 hours.
  2. Preheat grill to high heat.
  3. Drain steak and discard marinade. Pat steaks dry and sprinkle with salt. Oil grill rack and immediately place steaks on the grill.
  4. Cook 2 minutes and turn a quarter turn to create hash mark. Continue cooking 30 to 90 seconds more on first side. Flip steaks over and continue cooking 2 ½ to 5 minutes on the second side to desired doneness, 5 to 8 minutes total depending on thickness of the steaks.
  5. Let steaks rest on carving board at least 4 minutes before cutting lengthwise across the grain.

Notes

Tips For Slicing Skirt Steak

To cut the grains into shorter lengths, you have to cut the steak first crosswise into steaks, grill it, then slice it lengthwise into strips.

  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 8 minutes
  • Category: Main Course
  • Method: Grilled
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 3 1/2 ounces each
  • Calories: 302
  • Sugar: 13 g
  • Sodium: 611 mg
  • Fat: 14 g
  • Saturated Fat: 6 g
  • Carbohydrates: 15 g
  • Fiber: 0 g
  • Protein: 28 g

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Grilled steak on a baking sheet with cilantro and peanuts on top