Best Steak For Steak Salad

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This cast iron skillet steak recipe is the best recipe for cooking steak for a steak salad. It is easy, quick and turns out great every time.

Adding steak to salad turns a salad into a filling, protein packed meal. For some other healthy salad add-in ideas and toppings, try this cast-iron skillet chicken, spicy broccoli or these za’atar flavored bread crumbs.

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• Recipe Highlights
• Equipment
• Ingredients & Substitutions
• Step By Step Instructions
• Expert Tips
• Recipe FAQs
• 📖 Recipe

Recipe Highlights

• 20 minutes — This method of cooking steak is really quick and easy to do while you are prepping the other salad ingredients.
• Versatile — There are so many delicious salads you can make with steak! Plus, you can even use leftovers to make more than just salad — try making steak quesadillas or steak paninis for example.
• Beginner Friendly — If you have never cooked steak before, this is a great recipe to start with. Making steak for salad is more forgiving that making steak on its own, so if it isn’t perfect the first time, it will still taste delicious in salad with salad dressing.

Equipment

It is not often that there is required equipment for salad recipes, but for this recipe you will need a cast-iron skillet.

If you like to make chicken or steak salads frequently, this is a great investment. Making a batch of chicken or steak on a cast iron skillet is a fantastic way to meal prep salads in advance for weekday lunches.

Cast-iron skillets are relatively inexpensive considering they will pretty much last you a lifetime.

This is the cast iron skillet that I use to make all my recipes with chicken and steak.

Buy a skillet that fits your stove top burner exactly — don’t buy one that is too large. I find the 10.25” one can fit about 2 small to medium sized steaks at once.

Ingredients & Substitutions

• Steak: The best cuts of steak for steak salad include flank steak, sirloin steak, skirt steak, flat iron or New York strip steak. However, you can you whichever cut you like. You don’t really need an expensive cut for steak salad — save expensive cuts for eating on their own. I like to use whichever cut I find on sale that week.
• Olive Oil: You will need a small amount of olive oil for this recipe. Make sure you are using regular olive oil and not extra virgin olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil is great for salad dressings, but not for using on a cast iron pan because it doesn’t have a high enough smoke point.
• Steak Seasoning: I use Montreal steak seasoning for all my steak recipes, but you can use whichever type of seasoning you like best.
• Umami Seasoning: For this recipe, I add in a bit of umami seasoning, since I often use steak to make Sweetgreen copycat salad recipes and this is how they season their steak. You can leave it out and just use classic steak seasoning if you prefer.

Step By Step Instructions

Step 1: Using paper towels, pat the steak dry as much as possible. Coat the steak in a small amount of olive oil followed by a thin layer of seasoning.

Step 2: Heat the cast iron skillet on the stovetop over medium to high heat. Once heated, place the steak on the pan and sear each side until golden brown, for about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Only flip the steak once.

Step 3: Transfer the cast iron skillet directly to the oven. Bake for 6 to 9 minutes until you reach your desired doneness. Transfer to a wooden cutting board and let the steak cool slightly before slicing against the grain.

Expert Tips

• Don’t flip the steak too early. Try to only flip the steak once when you are searing it in the pan. Don’t keep flipping it back and forth.
• Cut the steak against the grain. For tender, juicy steak, cut the steak against the grain once you have finished cooking it.
• Use a temperature probe. The most accurate way to cook steak to your desired doneness is to use a temperature probe. Target 130F for rare, 140F for medium and 160F for well done.
• Don’t over-season the steaks. Since you are using steak in a salad, you don’t want the steak seasoning to overpower all the other salad flavors.
• Take notes of your settings. Everyone’s stove and oven are slightly different. Take note of the exact temperature dials you used on your stovetop as well as the time it took to sear your steak and bake in the oven. This will help you get better and better results each time you make steak.

Recipe FAQs

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📖 Recipe