This Paleo and Whole30 grilled marinated flank steak will become your go-to recipe to top salads or serve with your favorite grilled veggies and potatoes. The marinade comes together in a blender and can be boiled into a sauce to serve with the steak.
If you’ve been following along lately with some of my Whole30 recipes, you know that I’ve been going bonkers with all things date-sweetened for some time.
Date sweetened sauces like this “honey” mustard, ketchup, and sweet lime dressing definitely offer great flavor to your dips, sauces, and marinades while keeping them Whole30 compliant and free of refined sugar. It also allows you to make compliant copycat versions of some of your favorite dips, dressings, and marinades. This marinated flank steak here is no exception!
I honestly do not buy steak often – I typically try to save as much $$ as I can without my family noticing/hating me, which is why you’ll often see me cooking with ground meat chicken thighs and tenders. I would say 90% of the dinners I cook involve those meats. However, once grilling season rolls around I start craving steak – it’s an association I’ll never try to break!
Flank steak is great for us since 1.) I don’t have to pick off 5 billion pieces of fat from the kids’ meat, 2.) it’s a low maintenance steak – quick and easy, and 3.) it’s delicious (and kid friendly!) and 4.) it does well with almost any marinade, making it fun to experiment, or not 🙂
I also love that this steak was just MADE for salads, since once summer hits I can’t get enough fresh greens and salads. My favorite salad EVER (at the moment) involves spinach, flank steak, avocado, cherry tomatoes, sweet potato fries and kalamata olives. Try it if you’re up for paleo & whole30 friendly ridiculous deliciousness!
This marinated flank steak is pretty straightforward – I am by no means a steak expert so I’m quite certain anyone can do this and succeed! You simply blend up the marinade (make sure to soak your dates in hot water to soften them beforehand) score the steak and allow it to marinate for at least 2 hours, or more – it’s up to you.
Once ready to grill (or cook in your cast iron skillet) you shake off the excess marinade and go for it. The marinade itself can actually be boiled into a sweet sauce if you’re so inclined, otherwise the steak is truly delicious on its own. After grilling, it’s essential that you let the steak sit covered for about 10 minutes to let the juices do their thing, and then slice it against the grain (I linked to a helpful 30 second video within the recipe that shows exactly how to do that.)
I’m totally hungry for that salad I was talking about before, are you guys ready to make this? Let’s grill!
Paleo Marinated Flank Steak {Whole30}
Paleo & Whole30 Marinated Flank Steak
Ingredients
- 3 medjool dates pitted and softened if necessary by soaking in very hot water
- 2 tbsp water you can use the soaking water, if you want
- 1/3 cup coconut aminos*
- 1 tbsp spicy brown mustard
- 1 tbsp raw apple cider vinegar or preferred vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
- black pepper or crushed red pepper flakes for spice
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil or avocado oil
- 1.5 lbs flank steak
- chopped fresh chives green onion or your favorite fresh herbs for garnish
Instructions
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Combine all marinade ingredients in a high speed blender except for the olive oil, then once pureed, add the olive oil with the blender running on low.
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Score the steak all over with a knife, place in a large bowl and pour all the marinade over the steak, turning to completely coat. Cover tightly in plastic wrap and marinate for at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
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Once ready to grill, preheated grill to medium high heat. Remove most of the marinade from steak, leaving a very thin coating. The rest of the marinade can either be discarded, or boiled into a sauce for the steak (see instructions below)
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Place the steak on the hot grill and turn after the first side is browned with visible grill lines, repeat on the second side. Lower the heat to medium, cover the grill and continue to cook until steak is done to preference, turning once. I press the steak to determine if it’s “medium” but you can use a meat thermometer to be more precise.
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Once done, remove the stead to a large platter and loosely cover with aluminum foil for 5-10 minutes to allow juices to distribute. Then, using a fork and long sharp knife cut the steak against the grain (opposite direction that the lines of the meat run in) in 1/2 inch slices on a slight angle. See this video for quick easy instructions showing how to do this.
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To turn marinade into a sauce, bring it to a full boil in a small saucepan and allow to boil/strong simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add a bit of coconut aminos and a few drops of hot sauce and serve with steak
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Serve steak with veggies, over salad, with sweet potato fries and with the sauce (or your favorite sauce)
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*Recipe note steak can also be made stovetop in a large cast iron skillet
Recipe Notes
*Gluten-free liquid aminos or soy sauce is a non-paleo/whole30 alternative
Nutrition
What I Used to Make My Paleo Marinated Flank Steak:
Want More Paleo & Whole30 dinner recipes? Try one of these!
Tell Me!
How often do you grill over the summer?
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At first I was ugh about dragging the blender out “just for a marinade
” but damn, glad I did. I cooked my steak in the marinade in the sous vide, then seared it in cast iron. After I dumped the marinade (which is okay since it was cooked in the sous vide!) into the pan for a pan sauce and added a little balsamic vinegar to brighten up the marinade. Definitely my new go to marinade for W30/Paleo!
Delicious steak and gravy.
Yummy!! All 5 of us give 5 stars!!
This recipe was excellent. Set some marinade aside! My family loved it as a steak sauce! YUM!
We enjoy flank steak regularly and we tried this marinade because we’re doing whole30.
This was hands down the most tender and delicious flank steak we have EVER enjoyed!!!
Delicious!
WOW! I am literally writing this while I salivate over this steakI see in front of me smothered in this sauce. I cannot get over how perfect those flavors are together. Perfect balance of sweet, smoky, and tangy. I can’t wait to make this over and over again. I doubled the recipe and it was perfect. 10/10 would recommend as is!
Awesome recipe! I recommend making a double batch of the marinade. One for the steak and the second as a pan sauce. I char broil the steak and then use the second batch of sauce reduced with a little dash of your favorite hot sauce. Delicious!
Easy and delicious!!
OMG THIS IS AMAZEBALLS! 🤤 I made the recipe as written but wanted a hint of cilantro so I added a 1/3 cup of THE VERY BEST CHIMICHURRI (paleo & Whole 30) by 40 Aprons. When I tell you this sauce is PHENOMENAL I’m certain I won’t be using any other marinate from here on out. I want it on my chicken now too! So good! Great Job!!!