Herb-marinated round steak

Did you know cheap steaks can be just as delicious as top-rated cuts, when prepared properly?

Because I’m very frugal, I pretty much live on ground beef as my main meat.

But now that I’m 95-97% carnivore, I’ve been learning to prepare all kinds of cuts of meat to be as tasty as possible, since it’s pretty much almost all I eat these days!

With summer grilling being the most popular way to cook meat, I can get even good quality stuff for great prices at this time of year. But when the meat manager at my local grocery has an unexpected special, I grab the cheap steaks, every time!

Example: 1 lb of thin cut round steaks (4 pieces) was $5.26.  I also got 4 petite sirloin tri-tips for less than $10.

These thin herb-marinated steaks on the grill make a tasty, fast, and cheap keto carnivore meal fancy enough for even the smallest of budgets! I hope you enjoy this recipe.

Trim the steaks of excess fat

Round eye steaks come with an outside ring of fat and silver skin, which you want to remove. This is important. Normally with more expensive and well-marbled cuts, you’d leave the fat intact (which is delicious when fried/grilled as it’s slightly crisped), but in this case, the ring around the eye steaks will only get tough and gristly, making it inedible.

This can be done by using a small sharp knife, sliding it between the fat and the meat while pulling the fat off. I just used kitchen shears to trim off the outside fat ring. Be careful not to also pull out the small veins of fat, because they are needed!

Tenderize steaks

Inexpensive steaks are often not as tender as the better cuts of steak. For the best herb marinated steaks, you will want to ensure they’re as tender as possible. I just used a fork to pierce and smash until almost flat.

Marinate the steaks

This is optional, however, a nice dry rub to marinate the steaks gives them a little extra something. Round eye steaks like this do not have that powerful beefy flavor you get from other steaks, so this is a nice addition to boost up the milder beef flavor.

Prepare the dry marinade with the ingredients below, or you can substitute your favorite flavorings.

* 1 clove garlic, minced finely (I sometimes just use a little garlic powder)

* 1 1/2 teaspoons each, oregano (or marjoram) and thyme (or rosemary)

* 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, or to your taste

Combine the above ingredients and sprinkle over each tenderized trimmed steak, patting down.

Other flavor combinations you could try:
Onion powder, salt, paprika, and dry mustard.

For an Asian flavor:
Fresh minced or dry ground ginger, salt, Thai basil (or fresh mint), and Chinese five spice powder.

Round steaks tenderized & marinating

Chill steaks

To marinate, cover and place in fridge at least two hours (I chose to vacuum-seal mine), then freeze 1 hour, minimum. It is optional to freeze the herb marinated steak, but in my experience, thin steaks heat more uniformly this way. It allows for better searing and it seals in the juices when cooking.

Vacuum sealed round steaks

Prepare the grill

Create two zones on your grill, one for searing, one for cooking. For charcoal grills, this means once your coals are hot and ready, move them carefully to one side and then place the grate back over the top. For a gas grill, this can be achieved by turning on one burner/row of burners, and leaving the other rows turned off.

Sear steaks

Before cooking, scrape off any pieces of dry marinade, such as herbs and especially the pieces of garlic, which will burn and taste bitter.

Once your grill is hot, brush a little oil on the grates, and place your steaks on the hot grill side.

Sear for about 60-90 seconds each side.

Finish cooking steaks

Then place the herb marinated steaks on the indirect heat side.

Cover the grill and cook for 8-10 minutes or until internal temperature reaches your desired doneness (128-130F for medium rare is mine).

Place your steaks on a plate to rest for a few minutes. You can cover them loosely with foil or a vented pan lid to keep them warm.

Slice thinly across the grain and serve! I had mine with a little bit of Worcestershire mixed with cayenne pepper hot sauce.

Finished product: Herb-marinated round steak with buttered foil veggies (optional).