14 Common Marinating Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Steak

Anyone who has ever made steak knows marinating is a crucial step toward a delicious outcome. However, if done wrong, you could cause more harm than good — and unfortunately, most marinating mistakes aren't just easy to make, they're actually fairly common, too. Before diving into these potential mishaps, helpful to understand why marinating your steak is so important in the first place. We turned to two pros for their guidance — Eric Gruber, Executive Chef of Horn & Cantle, and Chef Kai Chase – who were eager to share their thoughts on why marinating is a must. 

"Marinating isn't just seasoning; it's an opportunity to build flavor and finesse," says Gruber during an exclusive chat with Chowhound. "Done right, it transforms good meat into something unforgettable." Chase agrees, noting that the best marinades are a perfect blend of herbs, spices, and aromatics combined with a flavorful, acidic liquid such as vinegar, citrus juice, soy sauce, or wine. "These ingredients infuse the steak with additional flavors, complement the natural flavors of the meat," she adds.

On paper, this all sounds simple enough, but what can go wrong during the steak marinating process? As it turns out, quite a lot.

A great marinade should be fairly simple, but Chef Eric Gruber says he sees people overcomplicate things all the time. "Throwing a dozen random ingredients together muddles the flavor and buries the steak's natural qualities," Gruber tells Chowhound. "A smart marinade is intentional. Keep it focused, and let the meat speak for itself."

Throwing together a bunch of flavors can also be a waste of resources and a silly use of prep time. This can negatively affect the outcome and, ultimately, ruin a perfectly good steak. "Using too many ingredients can result in a muddled flavor profile where no single element stands out," says Chef Kai Chase. She suggests approaching your marinade with balance: "You can avoid overcomplication by focusing on a few complementary ingredients that balance acidity, sweetness and savory elements."

If you're at a loss with where to start, consider the time-honored salmoriglio marinade recipe from Italy. This mixture is simply olive oil, lemon juice, and salt, though you can also add garlic and oregano. But despite its basic ingredients, salmoriglio is incredibly effective, versatile, and popular for use across a wide variety of steak cuts.

Along with enhancing the flavor, your marinade should also have a tenderizing effect. This means you need to carefully consider the time required to marinate, as a longer marination isn't always better. As Chef Kai Chase explains, the ideal amount of time depends on your cut, ingredients, and flavor goals. For a more tender cut, such as ribeye, strip, or tenderloin, she says a shorter marinating time will get the job done. "Tender cuts take about 15 minutes to two hours to marinate because these cuts are already tender," Chase tells Chowhound. "A short marination is enough to enhance flavor without affecting the texture."

What's more, Chase warns that some ingredients will have a greater tenderizing effect than others. "Marinades high in acidic components like lemon juice, vinegar, and wine can tenderize meat but also degrade texture if left too long," reveals Chase. So, if you're using a highly acidic base, consider your marinating time carefully to ensure the muscle fibers of your meat don't break down too much and turn to mush.

But be warned — Chef Eric Gruber notes that it's also common to rush the process, and this can mess with the flavor, too. "A short soak barely makes a dent," he says, noting that this leads to superficial flavors. "You're left with a steak that's plain on the inside, no matter how good the marinade smells."

Your marinade can react differently depending on the cut of steak, so ignoring this element is another critical yet common mistake. While the leanest cuts of steak call for a specific type of marinade and shorter marinating time, Chef Kai Chase explains that tougher cuts have different needs, too. All too often, people forget to properly marinate tougher cuts. "Flank, skirt, hangar, and chuck take approximately two to eight hours to marinate to tenderize the meat and create more robust flavor," says Chase, adding that if you don't marinate your steak for long enough, then it might not have a great flavor profile. This isn't as bad as mushy steak, but it's still an easily avoidable mistake.

Alternatively, Chef Eric Gruber points out that fatty cuts don't require as much marination. "Fatty cuts like ribeye already have plenty going on, so a simple rub or light brush with herbs and oil is more than enough," he explains, noting that this is a time to let the steak's natural fat be the star. This means that steak cuts with a lot of marbling don't need much of a marinade at all — if any. "A generous sprinkle of salt and pepper, maybe a little butter to finish, and you're golden," says Gruber. 

Along with enhancing the flavor of your steak, marinating should also help tenderize the meat. But a critical mistake people often make when preparing steak at home happens when they expect the marinade to do all the work. In fact, you should tenderize your meat before marinating. This is especially true when you need to take the toughness out of cheap steak.

Obviously, even the best tenderizing methods, paired with the perfect marinade, won't elevate your cheap cut of steak to the highest tier, but it can absolutely help. There are various ways you can tenderize your meat, but one of the best ways is with a tool specifically designed for the job. It's called a meat mallet, and looks like a small, heavy hammer with a jagged end.

To use this handy kitchen tool, you swing the mallet against the meat evenly — but not so much that the cut becomes thin or broken. Then, your meat should be more tender and can better absorb the marinade, leading to a tastier finish.

Most people keep their steak in the fridge until they're ready to cook, especially when they're working with a cut that needs to marinate for a few hours. Unfortunately, leaving your steak in the refrigerator until the last minute is actually a mistake — albeit a fairly common one.

While it sounds pretty benign, cooking a cold steak can negatively affect both the flavor and the tenderness of your steak. In fact, it can even negate all that marinating time. Instead, most chefs recommend removing your steak from the fridge and letting it sit until it's at or close to room temperature before cooking.

This is one hack that will change the way you cook or grill your food forever, and it benefits your steak in a few ways. First, it will cook faster and be more tender, and second, it will cook more evenly. If you drop a cold steak onto the grill or into a frying pan, you're actually going to cool down your heat source. This will lead to an uneven finish and can even make your steak look worse, effectively ruining your presentation, too. 

An effective marinade should be simple, but it should still have a complex flavor profile. This calls for three main components: an acid, an oil, and a flavoring agent. It's that last one that people often skip, resulting in a bland or boring marinade that doesn't bring much to the table — literally.

While salt is certainly one great flavoring option, it's imperative to use a lot of it. This is a secret you'll find used in most steakhouse kitchens, and it's because salt helps make your steak juicier and more tender. But if you want something with a more interesting flavor, there are other options. Consider using mustard to give your steak a tangy depth of flavor, for example. 

You can do this by adding mustard seeds to your marinade or using store-bought mustard that's ready to go. Mustard is a great pick because it's versatile with a ton of options — from classic yellow mustard to a more refined dijon. Each variation can lead to a more complex flavor with both depth and bite. Plus, mustard contains vinegar, so it also serves as the acid in your marinade base.

Picking the right acid is one of the most important elements for a successful marinade. But all too often, people either skip the acid entirely, use the wrong one, or use too much. "Overloading with acid can turn a steak into a soggy, grainy mess, while skipping a good pat-down before cooking guarantees a lackluster sear," says Chef Eric Gruber.

Lemon juice, vinegar, and soy sauce are all great options, but be sure to focus on the proportions and the amount used. "A marinade should amplify the steak's strengths, not drown them out or ruin its texture," Gruber explains. You don't want your acid to over-tenderize your steak or clash with beef's natural flavor profile, so think twice before drenching your cut.

The wrong acid can be hugely detrimental, too. For example, a marinade with white vinegar or grapefruit juice can lead to a strong flavor and mushy meat. Instead, consider saving these brighter marinades for a lighter meat, like pork or chicken, and turn to a balsamic or wine vinegar for your steak. If you're craving something with a citrus profile, lemon juice is probably a better shot than grapefruit.

Using a meat mallet, generously salting your steak, and perfecting your marinade are all important steps toward tenderizing your steak. But there's one more step that can transform your steak's flavor. In order to really maximize your marinade's effectiveness, you need to score the surface.

Scoring your steak means you simply take a sharp knife and make a crosshatch pattern across your meat. But for as easy as it is, it's often skipped. If you're facing a thinner cut of beef, such as a flank steak, this is a particular shame. Any cut with thick muscle fibers can benefit, because scoring helps to relax those fibers and leads to a tender end result.

But beyond that, scoring your steak is also a great step toward a more effective marinade. That's because this step helps allow your marinade to soak deeper into the steak. Along with helping to tenderize your steak, it also enhances the flavor and yields the best possible result.

If you're pairing your perfectly marinated steak with the wrong cooking method, the only recipe you've followed is one for disaster. As Chef Kai Chase points out, different methods yield different results — and the wrong marinade can detract from this.

For example, when she's grilling a steak, Chase tends to skip marinades entirely. "I use minimal seasoning, such as salt and pepper, and use a sauce such as a chimichurri or compound butter sauce," says Chase. In this case, a marinade might clash or overwhelm the complementary flavors from the grill. For a pan-seared steak, Chase's method skews toward a marinade. "When pan-searing a steak, I prefer to use a wet method way of cooking by basting my steak as it cooks with butter and herbs," she adds. 

Chef Eric Gruber says he, too, considers how the cooking method might alter the steak's flavor and marinades accordingly. When grilling, he likes to use a touch of sugar or sweetness to build upon the charred flavors, but he avoids this when pan-searing. "No sugary marinades that might burn in the pan," says Gruber. "Adjust your ingredients to fit the method, and you'll get the most out of both."

Picture this: The hard work is over. You followed every step, you made the perfect marinade, and you left your steak to chill and soak for precisely the right amount of time. Then, you cooked it to absolute perfection, and you're sure this is going to be the best homemade meal ever. You pop it off the grill or frying pan and onto the cutting board, and you dive right in. It should be impossible to mess things up now, right? 

Wrong. It's still very possible to ruin your steak at this point, because cutting into meat without letting it rest first is a major mistake. By letting your steak rest after removing it from the heat source, you're allowing the juices to remain inside for longer. You don't need to let it cool too much — no one is suggesting you serve cold steak. But you should let it rest long enough that the juices and all its flavor can soak into the meat away from the heat source, rather than slicing right in and letting them run off onto the cutting board or plate.

Although it's common in the U.S. to marinate steak before you cook, other cultures prefer to reverse marinate, or marinate after cooking. This is called escabeche and it's a marinating technique that breaks all the rules. It's a method that works on a wide variety of meats and is particularly popular in Latin American, Spanish, Portuguese, and Filipino cultures.

The thought behind this approach is that the sugar in your marinade might cause your meat to cook too quickly and possibly burn. With escabeche, you start with meat that's been seasoned simply and, theoretically, regain control of the cooking method until it's prepared. Then, you can pack in a flavorful punch once your meat is cooked to perfection.

If you opt to reverse marinade, the same flavor guidelines still apply. You'll want to use something with acid, oil, and flavor, so you can use your go-to marinade or you can opt for a thicker sauce meant for dipping and dunking.

When it comes to cooking at home, it's important to remember that simple doesn't have to mean boring. A great marinade doesn't have to be complicated, but it still needs to pack a punch of flavor. Whether you're underwhelmed by a new recipe or growing tired of your usual staple, the marinade step is a great time to get experimental.

Beyond vinegar or even mustard, there are plenty of unexpected ingredients you can explore in terms of creating an interesting marinade. Italian salad dressing is one great option for a better steak marinade because it comes ready made with all you need to make your steak tender and juicy. You can keep it easy with a store-bought bottle, or you can make your own using two parts fat, one part acid, and one part seasoning. As another option, you can go a little more wild and try soaking your steak in cola. This might sound absurd at first, but when you think about it, it makes sense.

We might not know the exact recipe of classic Coca-Cola, but its flavor profile definitely features all the things that go into a great marinade. It's a little zingy and a little sweet, and it creates an outcome that compares well with a honey or brown sugar-based marinade. If you prefer your steak savory, maybe skip this one. But if you're game for a sweeter steak, a cola-based marinade is one to try.

In terms of experimenting with the many beef marinade options, you're better off taking the biggest risks with a cheaper cut of steak. It's your best bet because, if you're working with a high-quality cut or a beautifully aged steak, you might not need to marinade at all. In fact, doing so is another common way people ruin their steak at home.

As Chef Kai Chase points out, this rule applies to any high-quality cuts, such as rib-eye, New York strip, tenderloin, porterhouse, or a T-bone. "It's not necessary because of their marbling, quality, and natural tenderness. A simple flavoring of salt and pepper is best," explains Chase, who adds that this also applies to dry-aged beef due to its concentrated flavors and unique texture.

Instead, if you're working with these kinds of steaks, Chase says you can rely on minimal seasoning. "It's best to let the meat shine," she adds.

After all that hard work, there's one final misstep that can either knock your steak down a notch or be downright unsafe. It all depends on what you do with your leftover marinade because, as Chef Kai Chase points out, both tossing it or misusing it can be a problem.

Simply tossing the leftover marinade is an issue because you're missing out on the final chance to enhance your meal's flavor. But reusing the rest of your marinade without proper treatment, says Chase, is unsafe. Rather than scraping together all your unused marinade and pouring it on your freshly cooked steak, you need to take one extra, critical step: Syphon off your leftover marinade and heat to a boil. "If you plan to use marinade as a sauce, it should be boiled first to eliminate any potential bacteria from raw meat," Chase explains. This way, you can add a blast of flavor, have the perfect accompanying sauce, and — most importantly — avoid serving anything unsafe.

Chef Eric Gruber says similar food safety considerations are why he also suggests marinating your steak in a non-reactive container that's glass or plastic. "Acidic ingredients can react with metal and throw off the flavors," explains Gruber. "And don't skip chilling the steak while marinating. A warm steak soaking in a marinade is a fast track to bad texture and potential food safety issues."