thai coconut lime grilled skirt steak
Wanna see a really bad sketch? Read on to find out some easy tricks to get great results with grilled skirt steak and to see my terrible drawing. You’d never know I was an art major.
Tips on Preparing Grilled 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, and I’ve come prepared with artwork!
1. Find the Grain and Then 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 unfloded. 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.
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. Am I making sense? Oh, Jeez. Don’t leave me. I’ll talk about that more in #5.
2. Marinate the Heck out of the Skirt Steak
Contrary to popular belief, marinating doesn’t really make steak more tender. Go ahead scroll right down to the comment section and put up your dukes if you want. But I have read many a geeky culinary science books and issues of Cooks Illustrated and listened to hours of the splendid table, and I can verify that 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.
But the flavor, THE FLAVOR, that will be where the impact is! This healthy coconut lime 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. I used Thai fish sauce, which just a glug or two really pumps up the overall savory nature of the recipe. I served this with lime wedges, toasted peanuts and a generous drizzle of Sriracha on top.
3. Don’t Overcook the Steak
You’ll want to drain and dry the steak off before you grill it. As you know, moisture is the enemy of caramelization, so you’ll want to blot these dry with paper towels before they hit the grill. Cooking a skirt steak requires full attention. It happens so fast, you can easily over do it. And with grass fed meat, 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.
4. Quarter Turns Aren’t Just for Beauty Points
On the first side of grilling, cook the meat part way, then slide your spatula under the meat and rotate the meat 90 degrees. Not 180. Just a quarter turn. This will move the meat over the heat so that if there is one side that is cooking too fast, it will even out. And it will give you that food stylists dream hash mark.
5. Let it Rest and Then Slice Against the Grain
It is really important with grass fed meat that you give it a nice rest after it comes off the grill. This will allow the meat to settle down, the fibers to relax and the moisture to redistribute through the 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.
What To Serve With This Thai Steak Recipe
- These simple Sesame Noodles are a great make ahead option and go with a variety of Asian inspired flavors.
- My Dirty Green Beans with fermented black beans and garlic or my Simple Skillet Green Beans would be a simple green veggie to pair with this steak.
- This Asian Coleslaw with sesame and ginger is super fast and colorful.
More Steak Recipes to Try:
- This is a great way to use up some of the bounty of summer tomatoes: Grilled Tomato Herb Flank Steak
- Cajun Flank Steak: A simple recipe with minimal ingredients but tons of spicy flavor!
- Chili Garlic Steak with Mint Napa Cabbage Slaw with tips on how to broil flank steak!
- Grilled Sirloin with Chimichurri Sauce it’s a classic combo for a reason- you gotta try it!
grilled thai coconut lime skirt steak
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 8 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Grilled
- Cuisine: American
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
- ½ cup lite coconut milk
- ¼ 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
- ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
Instructions
- 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.
- Preheat grill to high heat.
- Drain steak and discard marinade. Pat steaks dry and sprinkle with salt. Oil grill rack and immediately place steaks on the grill.
- 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.
- Let steaks rest on carving board at least 4 minutes before cutting lengthwise across the grain.
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
I don’t know why I’ve never tried skirt steak…I guess I was never sure what to do with it. But I do now – this recipe is a cornucopia of flavors!
It is a little surprising when you take it out of the package. Hope these tips will make it a good first experience for you Kate.
Your tutorial for this perfectly grilled skirt steak rocks! I also think the drawing should go on your fridge 🙂 I bet the marinade is SO flavorful. We are big beef eaters in my house so I’m pinning this recipe to my healthy beef recipe pin board to try this summer!
The drawing is in the recycling bin! Ha ha. 😉
This looks stunning! I honestly never cook steak becasue in all seriousness I don’t know how and If I am going to eat steak I Want it to be yummy! Loving this recipe and all your great tips 🙂
Really? I am so glad to hear this helps! It is so easy 🙂
i dont eat beef but i will definitely share this with my other friends, because it is a very resourceful post 🙂
Hi Dixya, so glad you came by for a visit and thank you for sharing!
I love everything about this. I love skirt steak. I love these flavors. And I seriously appreciate the tutorial. thanks for this, will definitely be trying it.
Thanks so much Christine! So glad you like it!
I probably wouldn’t think of pairing Thai flavours with a steak like this but I love all of these ingredients so will definitely be giving this a try!
I am so happy with the way it came out and the left-overs were even good cold with extra lime juice!
Ooh this looks so good! I’m not one to cook steak that often but I sure am inspired to try out this recipe.
Excellent. Glad to inspire!
That skirt steak is perfection and I can’t wait to make it asap!
Thank you my friend! Hope you enjoy it.
Not a big eater of red meat, but your skirt steak looks ever so tempting that I want to give it a try too. I love the idea of using coconut milk as the marinade.
I was thinking this marinade would be good with black cod too.
Looks so good, however, I have not heard of “coconut sugar.” Will I find it in the supermarket or do I have to go to an Asian grocery?? Want to make it this weekend. Thanx
This is an ingredient that is new for me too! I love it. I found it at the health food store with the other sugars and sweeteners. You can use brown sugar instead. Have a great weekend HEF!
I love the sound of this recipe and am eager to try it. unfortunately I do not have a grill. Do you have any suggestions to modify the cooking for stovetop or oven?
Hi Tracy. Do you have a grill pan? I think that’s your best bet if you do. But you may need to add a minute to each side for cooking times. If not, the next best thing would be to try the broiler, though I haven’t tested it so I don’t have a recommendation for times.
Oh my stars! Have you ever heard that expression, Katie? It’s very southern and it can be used when you’re surprised (pleasantly in this case). This recipe looks so delicious! Thai flavors are some of my favorites and the marriage of skirt steak and coconut and lime is one made in heaven!
I have heard it, and I love it! Thank you so much Bill.
Can’t wait to try this recipe, it sounds so yummy! Thank you for posting, it’s inspired me to write my own
Thanks so much. Glad to know it appeals to you Kate. Have a great day.
I love the sketch!!!! I like the steak more, but the sketch is still legit 😉
Ha ha Christine. Thank you! 🙂
Can I use honey instead of coconut sugar?