Tender and delicious Filipino-Style Grilled Flank Steak, with the perfect balance of a sweet, salty and sour marinade that is purely Filipino inspired.
It’s been awhile since I’ve shopped in a Filipino grocery store, possibly since I’ve lived in Southern California, which is about 14 years ago. I’m sure they have Filipino grocery stores in Portland, but I surely don’t get to the city enough. In fact, when I’m in Portland, I’m usually at the airport leaving town.
However, I do remember I had my favorite items from my favorite corner Filipino store in South Orange County. I never failed to pick up a bottle of Datu Puti cane vinegar, several frozen packets of calamansi juice (Filipino lemonade) and a favorite purple ice cream, whose name currently escapes me.
What I love about Filipino food and this Filipino-Style Grilled Flank Steak is the abundance of sweet, salty and sour flavor. Filipino food just pops and the marinade I use here is no exception. In fact, in this recipe I used the whole lemon, rind and all, which infuses an intense citrus flavor and helps create a very acidic marinade known so well in Filipino cooking. Overall, it’s much different than my Quick-Marinated Flank Steak recipe or my London Broil with a Sesame-Soy-Brown Sugar Marinade. It just depends on what you want I guess.
As you can see I quartered a whole lemon along with a handful of other ingredients and placed them in my food processor and processed until smooth. So easy.
This is what the marinade looks like after it is processed. Just pour it over your flank steak and let it do its magic.
In my last post about Grilled Curried Yogurt Chicken Thighs, I spoke about how a marinade does the work for you in the kitchen (so let it). And it’s no secret this particular cut of steak is a very tough piece of meat. This marinade is going to completely tenderize and flavor the flank steak’s smooth and resistant surface.
Weirdly, I love this flank steak in tacos, but it’s also perfect just eaten on its own with your favorite veggies.
Always let it rest 15-minutes before slicing so the juices can return to all edges of the steak.
Flank steak should be sliced “across the grain”. This means to cut across the width of the steak, not the length. This cuts the fibers within the steak and makes them shorter, therefore they are easier to chew.
Do you love Filipino food? If you’re curious about it I would definitely give some of these favorite recipes a try. Start with Filipino Lumpia, they are one of my favorite appetizers. Have you ever heard of or tried Filipino Spaghetti? It’s a thing. Filipino Chicken Adobo is one of the most classic Filipino dishes out there. Give it a try. This Filipino Pancit also looks amazing and is on my list to make. If bread is on your mind then this Pandesal is for you.
Three years ago I threw together this delicious Tangy Sweet Shredded Carrot Salad and it has rocked picnics ever since. Five years ago I made these Cookie Butter-Nutella Blondies to satisfy a sweet-tooth. And eight years ago I made this Blueberry Crisp. Don’t forget a dollop of ice cream on top.
Filipino-Style Grilled Flank Steak
Ingredients
- 1 medium lemon chopped
- 1 large chopped onion
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1-3/4 pound flank steak
Directions
- Place lemon, onion, soy sauce, rice vinegar, garlic and pepper into the bowl of a food processor or blender and process until minced. Pour marinade into a large baking dish and add your flank steak. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Remove steak from marinade; discard marinade.
- Preheat grill on high. Grill flank steak 5-7 minutes on each side for medium rare. Let rest for 15 minutes under loosely tented foil after taking off grill. Slice across the grain to serve.