Flavor Loaded Guinness Marinated Steaks

Marinated steak on the grill with a rich and flavorful Guinness sauce, is a delicious Saint Patrick's Day recipe. This delicious Irish steak is a perfect menu choice, if you'll be cooking just for two on Saint Patrick's Day or any day.

Corned beef and cabbage may be the traditional Irish American meal for Saint Paddy's Day, but I highly recommend this Irish beef recipe for a tasty menu on this special day.

Guinness is a stout and a very popular drink in Ireland, but did you know it's also an amazing cooking ingredient?

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The Irish Love of Guinness

Fondly known as "The Black Stuff" in Ireland, Guinness Stout is a very dark stout beer with a rich, roasted flavor that lends wonderful earthy, wheaten tones to food, and a tasty dimension to Irish dishes.

It's very different to regular light Irish beer. Guinness is made with unmalted barley and hops, making Guinness a beer with a high level of fiber. It contains a heavy concentration of roasted barley, and less water than light beers.

A creamy topped pint of Guinness is a must on St. Patrick's Day, or any day if you're Irish. Or perhaps you would prefer and Irish stout cocktail like a Black Velvet, which is a combination of Guinness and champagne.

But don't just drink Ireland's favorite beer. Use it to create some delicious savory dishes.

Guinness Marinade Packs A Flavorful Punch

Ireland's most famous and signature Guinness food recipe is none other than Guinness Beef Stew.

But did you know Irish stout's bold, dark flavors make it a perfect base for steak marinade?

Bring the taste of an Irish restaurant steak dinner home, with this easy recipe for grilled steak.

Wonderful things happen when Guinness and steak come together, and meld their flavors in a dish for a little while.

Any full-bodied Irish stout can be used in this recipe - they all pay homage to the best of Irish cooking. If you're from Cork, you may prefer to use Murphy's Stout.

I love to use Murphy's for this recipe and anytime I'm cooking with stout. It's less bitter than Guinness and adds sweeter tones to any recipe.

I highly recommend cooking with Murphys (my family are from Cork, so I am biased towards our Cork brew.) However, it's less widely available than Guinness in the United States.

Guinness stout is so dark it's a shade of black. When cooking with Guinness, gravies and marinades become a deep rich and inviting brown color.

Guinness is much richer than other types of beer. It's creamy texture yields a lovely foamy top when it's poured into a glass, with the glass on a tilt of course.

Guinness is widely available all over the United States, so I highly recommend cooking this juicy, tender steak with stout sauce, for any Irish themed celebration. It's also a good recipe for entertaining or dinner party menus.

Can You Marinate Beef in Guinness?

Marinating beef before cooking is a great idea. A well balanced marinade adds a huge flavor boost to regular tasting meats.

Marinades make leaner meats even softer, and prevent steaks from being dry. They make tougher cuts of meat, like flank steak, more tender and tasty.

Marinating steak is an effective way to avoid serving dry, tough steaks, and to introduce extra moisture into beef.

A good marinade also enhances the flavor of the meat you're cooking, and that's why Guinness is the hero of this recipe.

The disadvantage to marinating is that you need to prepare the soaking mixture well in advance of cooking your meal. The trick is to allow the beef enough time to sit in the flavorful marinade so that it can do its job.

At least 8 hours is recommended. I don't recommend marinating for more than 24 hours. After that the meat starts to break down.

Ingredients for Irish Stout Marinated Steaks

This recipe will work with a variety of cuts of steak. I like to use sirloin steaks, but New York Strip steaks work great and it also is a wonderful way to tenderize a flank steak.

You'll find exact ingredient amounts in the printable recipe card, plus you can toggle between US measurements and metric measurements before you print. Here's  a quick list of what you'll need.

• sirloin steaks
• freshly ground black pepper

For the Marinade

• Guinness stout
• beef broth
• chopped fresh thyme
• Worcestershire sauce
• bay leaf
• freshly ground black pepper

For Cooking the Marinade

• mixed peppercorns
• brown sugar
• butter
• salt

I don't add any onion, shallots or cloves garlic to this recipe. Some marinades sometimes call for soy sauce with Guinness beer, but I prefer to stick to more traditional Irish ingredients.

Directions for Grilled Steak and Stout Sauce

To make this delicious flavorful steak with sauce you first need to make up a marinade to soak your steak.

I love using Guinness in a recipe. You simply add Guinness, beef broth, fresh thyme, Worcestershire sauce, a bay leaf and black pepper to a casserole dish.

Add the steak to the marinade and let it soak for 8 hours or more, but no longer than a day.

The marinade is not discarded after tenderizing the beef. Instead it is cooked down in a saucepan with a few additional ingredients to create a flavorful sauce to serve with your steak.

Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge while the beef soaks up all the delicious flavors. Turn the meat a few times during the marinating process.

Remove the steaks from the marinade. Use paper towels to pat them dry.

Sprinkle with some freshly ground black pepper and set to one side to rest.

Add the remaining marinade from the casserole to a saucepan and bring to boiling point over high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until it is reduced in volume by half . This takes about 15 minutes.

A slight scum may rise to the top of the marinade as it cooks. Skim this off the top surface. Strain the reduced marinade through a sieve into a clean saucepan. Set aside.

Cook the steaks on a medium hot grill to the desired level.

I like to cook my steak on the first side for about 4 minutes. I turn the steaks and cook them for an additional 3 minutes for medium rare, 5 minutes for medium, and 6 minutes for medium to well done. The exact times depend on the heat of your grill and the position of your steaks over the coals.

Anyway, cook the steaks to the level of doneness that you like. You can also cook the steaks in a skillet if you prefer. Medium heat is best cooking each side for 2-3 minutes, or longer depending on how well you like your steak cooked.

When you are nearly ready to serve your meal, put the finishing touches on the steak sauce.

Add the peppercorns and brown sugar to the marinade in the saucepan.

Heat over a low heat. Whisk the marinade while gradually adding the butter in small pieces. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the steak with a little sauce poured over the top, and the remainder served separately in a gravy boat.

Printable Recipe For Guinness Steak and Sauce

Here's a short video summarizing the steps for this recipe.

Here is the printable recipe for these Guinness Irish Steaks.

This steak sauce has a lot of different flavors melding together beautifully.

But the one flavor that really stands out above the rest is the Guinness.

You could serve it for breakfast with eggs if you like Australian steak and eggs for breakfast.

Garlic mushrooms are a great side dish for these steaks, or they're also delicious with honey roasted parsnips.

I hope you'll like this recipe as much as I do.