One look at these Garlic Steak Bites and I want to pop one in my mouth. So tender and doused in a peppery garlic butter sauce, they’re one of my favorite easy dinners or snacks to put out at parties.
It’s official: steak bites with garlic butter are now one of my family’s favorite ways to eat beef. And that’s saying something because we don’t eat red meat very often! One medium-rare bite is never enough, and we could seriously drink the garlic butter sauce by the glass. I’m telling you, this recipe is up there with my Italian Breaded Steak Recipe and my Skirt Steak Recipe.
Garlic Butter Steak Bites
Steak bites are bite-sized pieces of seared steak that work just as well for a weeknight dinner as they do for a party appetizer. Usually, the small cubes are lightly seasoned and tossed in a garlic-butter sauce to make every tender, juicy piece that much more delectable. When I make steak bites, I like to put a little extra effort in by dry-brining the raw meat and upgrading the garlic sauce with black peppercorns, cognac, and sautéed aromatics.
Since the steak is the real star of the show, I recommend using a high-quality cut. Top sirloin is my favorite affordable option, but for special occasions, you can’t go wrong splurging on ribeye, strip steak, or filet mignon. I like to go all out with pan-seared ribeye steak when I want to impress my wife.
And each bite of steak only gets better after being doused in the incredible sauce; the melted butter packed with peppery, garlicky flavor is the kind of thing you’ll think about all week. Best of all, the recipe is simple and quick enough for a weekday dinner, yet the presentation and flavors are fancy enough for a dinner-party starter.
Ingredients and Substitutions
While there are several ways to season and dress seared steak bites, I chose to elevate mine with a simple yet impressive cognac-and-garlic butter sauce. Here’s what I used:
- Steak – I find that ribeye, sirloin, strip steak, and filet mignon are the best cuts for steak bites.
- Fat – Cooking the steak in beef tallow to build on the beefy flavors is the best way to go. If you need a substitute, use any high-heat oil, like avocado or canola oil.
- Cognac – I love the sophisticated, slightly sweet depth cognac adds to the pan sauce. Beef stock will also work if you’d prefer to keep the recipe alcohol-free.
- Aromatics – Sauteed shallots and garlic cloves do a lot of heavy lifting in the pan sauce.
- Black peppercorns add a peppery bite to the butter sauce, while coarse sea salt rounds out the flavors and tenderizes the meat.
- Unsalted Butter is my first choice
- Parsley is used just as a simple garnish at the end.
How to Make Garlic Steak Bites
Dry-brine the steaks by seasoning both sides with salt and letting them rest on a wire rack over a sheet tray. It’s an optional step that takes between 4 and 24 hours, but I promise it’s worth the time and effort.
Cube the meat: After they’re done brining, I like to slice the steaks into 1-inch cubes.
Sear the beef cubes in a hot skillet until each side is lightly browned and medium rare.
Rest: Transfer the steak to a wire rack to rest, then repeat the process if I have more to cook.
Deglaze the pan: Next, remove the empty pan from the heat and deglaze it with the cognac. Scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan before returning it to the burner over low heat.
Bloom the aromatics: Stir in the shallots, then add the peppercorns and garlic.
Finish the sauce by stirring the thyme and butter into the shallot-garlic mixture.
Combine and serve: Season up the sauce with a pinch of salt, then return the seared steak bites to the pan and toss until they’re well coated. I usually garnish everything with fresh parsley right before serving.
Chef Tip + Notes
I have a few tricks up my sleeve for cooking an unforgettable steak, but dry brining is the one I always go back to. It’s optional in this recipe, but I’m telling you, the salt sprinkled over the raw meat does some serious magic. It draws out moisture that the steak later reabsorbs, giving you deeply seasoned meat with a restaurant-worthy crust.
- Room temperature meat: Take the steak out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking so it has time to come to room temperature. This helps the meat cook more evenly.
- No marinade necessary: I never marinate steak when I’m making steak bites. A marinade can actually make more tender cuts too moist and prevent a crust from forming. I’d rather you save the marinade for tougher, cheaper cuts and let the garlic butter sauce do the heavy lifting here.
- Sear in batches: Overcrowding the steak in the pan won’t give the bites the golden sear we want. For the best results, cook them in two batches instead.
- Repurpose the sauce: The buttery garlic-peppercorn sauce goes extremely well on so much more than steak. It’s great with pork loin cutlets, cubed chicken breast, and even jumbo shrimp.
Serving Suggestions
What I love most about steak bites is that I don’t need much of an excuse to make them. They fit in practically everywhere, like at family dinners, holidays, and parties.
We don’t eat steak very often in our house, but even my daughter can’t resist these garlicky buttery steak bites for dinner. You should see the smile on her face when I serve them on a bed of creamy mashed potatoes with her favorite sautéed green beans on the side.
We can’t get them to the table fast enough at parties. My friends absolutely devour them! To make them easy for guests to grab, serve them with plenty of toothpicks and a side of creamy horseradish sauce for dipping.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: I usually dry brine the steak up to 24 hours in advance. I prefer to serve the cooked steak bites as soon as they’re ready, but they can be left in the covered skillet for about 30 minutes ahead of serving.
How to Store: Cover the leftover steak and sauce, then refrigerate for 3 to 4 days.
How to Reheat: Place the leftover steak bites in a covered skillet over medium-low heat with a tiny splash of stock. They only take a few minutes to warm through and won’t be chewy in the end.
More Steak Recipes
Video
Garlic Steak Bites Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ½ pounds ribeye steaks, sirloin, strip loin steaks, or filet mignon
- 3 tablespoons beef tallow, or cooking oil
- ¼ cup cognac, or beef stock
- ½ peeled small diced shallot
- 2 teaspoons roughly cracked black peppercorns
- 10 finely minced garlic cloves
- 2 teaspoons finely minced fresh thyme
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into thick slices
- 2 tablespoons finely minced fresh parsley
Instructions
- Optionally, season the steak on both sides with salt, then place it on a rack over a sheet tray. Put it in the fridge, uncovered, to dry-brine for 4 to 24 hours.
- When you are ready to cook them, cut them into 1” cubes. If you do not want to dry-brine the steaks, simply cube them and season them with salt.
- In an extra-large cast-iron or carbon-steel pan over high heat, add the tallow and heat until it begins to smoke.
- Place in the beef, but be sure to leave room between them; do not overcrowd. Cook for 90 seconds, then flip and cook for 90 seconds. Then sauté them for an additional 30 to 60 seconds to lightly brown the sides of the steak. This will get you a medium-rare internal temperature.
- Set the steak aside on a rack. Repeat the process if any leftover steak remains uncooked.
- Remove the pan from the heat and deglaze with the cognac. Let it stand for about 30 seconds.
- Return the pan to the burner, but only over low heat. Add in the shallots and cook for 30 seconds.
- Next, add the peppercorns and garlic, and cook, stirring constantly, for 30 to 45 seconds, or just until fragrant.
- Finish with the thyme and butter and cook until melted. The butter should foam up a bit.
- Season the sauce with salt, then add the steak bites back and toss until coated. Finish with parsley.
I made this recipe twice with round steak because there is no good way to use round steak. I made the mustard potatoes which were fantastic! No shallot, thyme or booze and it still tastes fantastic
Excellent!
Made this and your mustard potatoes tonight, after seeing you on YouTube, both were delicious! I had no shallots or cognac, so used onions and duck bone broth in the sauce, and served it alongside vs tossing the steak bites in it, and we liked it on the potatoes and some green veg. Thanks for sharing your ideas, Billy, this was a win.
Really appreciate you trying it!