A curated collection of the best steak sauce recipes from around the world. All of them tried and true, with links.
Best Sauces for Steak
The variety of sauces enjoyed with steak around the world is astounding.
Every country with solid beef traditions like France or Argentina has its own best loved condiments which reflect the local culinary preferences and incorporate the most popular ingredients of its cuisine.
Below is a round-up of some of the best steak sauces – all of them taste tested.
Horseradish Sauce for Steak
A true classic. Not only does it work wonderfully with steak, it is a staple for roasts like prime rib and beef tenderloin. Overall, you can count on its well balanced flavors to uplift any cut of beef.
The sour cream base welcomes prepared horseradish and several other ingredients, among which olive oil sauteed garlic. The latter infuses the sauce with umami and savory aromatics which add more elegance to the horseradish bite.
As a bonus – to make it you only need a couple of minutes! Here is the recipe for this best horseradish sauce.
Garlic Butter Sauce for Steak
This butter sauce for steak combines two different layers of garlic flavor along with bright citrus notes and acidity from lemon juice.
As much as it is rich, it is also fresh tasting and deeply umami flavored. It goes particularly well with leaner beef cuts like flat iron steak giving them both a boost of flavor and a luxurious coating. But serve it next to a grilled Tomahawk steak and you will not regret it. Recipe here.
A1 Sauce for Steak
To say that a sauce has a massive following is something that definitely rings true with A1 Sauce (originally called A1 Steak Sauce).
The tangy concotion is part of the brown sauce family and has British origins. It was introduced in 1831 as a condiment for beef and game dishes.
If you do not have any on hand but have common ingredients such as ketchup and Worcestershire sauce you can easily make your own. Here is an easy Homemade A1 Steak Sauce recipe.
Red Wine Mushroom Steak Sauce
This sauce is no surprise – beef stock and red wine are added to butter sauteed mushrooms along with seasonings. At the end the sauce is mildly thickened by a loose slurry It makes for a rich steak experience. Recipe here.
Bavarian Creamy Mushroom Sauce for Steak
A creamy, luxurious mushroom sauce with a very elegant flavor courtesy of the dry white wine used to deglaze the pan.
It tastes particularly good when prepared with wild mushrooms, but button mushrooms are just fine. It is light and rich at the same time and works well with cuts beyond the realm of steaks.
In Bavaria they use it to serve bread dumplings and with pork roasts. But drizzle some over a steak and you will not be sorry!
To the creamy mushroom steak sauce recipe.
Sauteed Mushrooms and Onions for Steak
A popular steakhouse topping that is well suited for a variety of beef cuts. It comes with its own buttery juices while the mushrooms remain at center stage.
This is a classic recipe that will never let you down. Get the full instructions on How to Saute Mushrooms and Onions for Steak.
Classic Peppercorn Sauce for Steak
Credit: Tara Holland
Peppercorn steak sauce is creamy and delectable, you cannot go wrong with it. Brandy or cognac infuse it with elegance while heavy cream makes it stable.
Typically green peppercorns are used for their milder flavor, or a combination of green and black. Regardless of the spice level of the peppercorns employed, they are coarsely cracked, never finely, with several left whole for visual appeal.
Peppercorn sauce is an inseperable part of the French dish steak au poivre. Au poivre translates from French as something peppered or prepared with pepper. Recipe here.
Blue Cheese Sauce for Steak
Credit:Simon Wood
Blue cheese such as English stilton gives this scrumptious cheese sauce a lovely pungent zing, while altogether the consistency is creamy and the flavor pleasantly mild.
Try it on burgers as well or serve it with pan seared steak tips. Recipe here.
Beer Cheese Sauce for Steak
This rich cheese sauce leverages the biscuity notes and herbal hops aroma of beer styles such as Czech pilsner. The recipe includes recommendations for other suitable styles.
It is good enough to use as the sauce for mac and cheese, in case you wanted to serve the dish as a side to your steak.
TIP: If you would rather leave the beer out, substitute with low fat milk and add extra seasoning by way of onion powder or similar, to taste. Otherwise follow the recipe as written.
You can also simplify things and make a beer cheese fondue (shown in the picture above).
Whiskey Sauce for Steak
Credit: Simon Wood
Rich and savory, tongue coating wonder of a steak sauce.
The recipe calls for Scotch whiskey and heavy cream and we recommend that you do not make substitutions. Serve with ribeyes and bistro steaks. Here is how to make it.
Red Wine Sauce for Steak
Credit: Photo: Joe Lingeman; Food Styling: Jesse Szewczyk
Buttery consistency and herbal notes are elevated by a dry red wine in this classic steak pan sauce. The mildness of shallot provides a compatible aromatic element.
A version made with Bordaux red wine is known as sauce Bordelaise.
Serve it with tender cuts like filet mignon, New York strip or outside skirt. Recipe here.
Béarnaise Steak Sauce
Credit: Laura Rege
Bearnaise is all about indulgence. Very similar to Hollandaise but made with clarified butter emulsified in egg yolks with white wine vinegar for acidity and herbs.
This is one of the five pillar sauces of French cousine. The original method is all about whisking by hand, but this this recipe uses a food blender and lightens the workload.
Sauce for Steak Diane
Credit: Simon Wood
Diane sauce is a luxurious French classic for steak.
Not surprisingly you will need to splurge on cognac or a fine brandy to prepare it in its full glory, but it is very much worth it. Recipe here.
Classic Beef Gravy
Beef gravy made with a roux, beef stock and crushed beef bouillon cubes. What could be easier?
The uses of this classic sauce span the spectrum of steak cuts and beef roasts and extend to popular steak sides. From mashed potatoes to grilled veggies and dinner rolls – you can dip just about anything in it. Recipe here.
Onion Gravy
Onion gravy is not just for salisbury steak. You can serve it with confidence alongside any beef cut.
The sweetness of the cooked onions with brown sugar and the aromatic contributions of the thyme work well together as a rule of thumb. This onion gravy recipe also uses rich porter ale which lends the sauce incredible depth and makes it even more delicious.
Bourbon Glaze and Bourbon Compound Butter for Steak
A single cooking session delivers two delectable steak condiments.
After you make the bourbon sauce (brief cooking involved) you strain it in order to use it as a glaze or simply drizzle it as a sauce. That’s condiment #1 completed.
Then you combine the flavor loaded strained solids with softened butter to create a delicious compound butter. That’s condiment #2 which you can roll, refrigerate and cut into rounds whenever you want to add it to a burger, a steak or even beef roasts.
Talking about being efficient while creating tasty sauces! Recipe here.
Chimichurri Sauce for Steak
Argentinian chimichurri needs no introduction. There is hardly a fresh sauce for steak that beats it in popularity. It has been universally adopted everywhere in Latin America, North America and in many other countries across the globe and small changes to the authtentic recipe are common.
If you want to make a true Argentinian chimichurri forget about cilantro – it does not belong in it. But be sure to use heaps of fresh Italian oregano.
This chimichurri recipe is for the original version that is not only served with steaks like entrana (outside skirt) but is an integral part of choripan – the Argentinian national sandwich street food.
French Parsley Sauce
This vibrant green sauce for steak sauce is a classic in French cuisine and incredibly easy to make. It is known as persillade, from the French word for parsley, which is persil.
Above it is shown with Bavette steak but you can add it to anything from cowboy steak to sirloin tip steak. It also goes well with tri tip roast in crock pot – a burst of freshness that the slow cooked beef and root vegetables lack. Here is the recipe.
Brazilian Molho Campeiro
This fresh tasting salsa is a staple condiment when it comes to Brazilian churrasco. Molho is the Portuguese word for salsa (which is Spanish for sauce).
Sometimes the sauce is also called a vinagrete (vinaigrette), but in Brazil the word has more of a condiment significance versus a salad dressing. Regardless, this fresh mixture of tomatoes, green and yellow bell pepper, onion, vinegar, oil and herbs is usually served with grilled steaks and other grilled meats.
In the South, steaks are usually cooked medium or medium-rare, but in the North of Brazil the preference is for well-done beef. The Molho Campeiro lends juiciness to those overcooked steaks. Here is the recipe.
Italian Pizzaiola Steak Sauce
Everyone knows about the glorious Florentine steak (bistecca alla fiorentina) but pizzaiola steak is prepared much more often in Italian homes.
This tomato based sauce and the oregano, garlic, capers and olives it contains are often found on pizza toppings. No wonder that the Italians love it and call it a pizzaiola sauce.
It is usually paired with less expensive, leaner steak cuts to give them much needed moistness and a veritable symphony of flavors. A must try homecooked steak dinner, Italian style! Recipe here.
Shrimp Cream Sauce for Steak
This shrimp cream sauce can work hard considering that you can take it from steak, through chicken to all sorts of fish dishes like simple baked cod fillets.
It uses small peeled and par-cooked shrimp – along the lines of 50 to 65 count per pound. They look lovely, bathed in the umami creaminess of the sauce and together add a contrasting flavor to a beef backdrop.
The sauce can send a steak into surf and turf territory if you entertain a more lax interpretetaion of the dish. Recipe here.
Cowboy Butter
Cowboy butter sauce is a broken butter sauce with lemon juice, Dijon mustard, salt and herbs and spices mixed into it. It is more of a dipping sauce than one you drizzle over your beef.
You can improvise and prepare it with your favorite seasonings, adding all the ingredients to taste. Or you can follow this easy recipe.
Garlic Herb Butter for Steak
Compound butters are wonderful with steak, especially lean cuts that have a strong beefy flavor but can benefit from some extra fat.
Garlic herb butter is easy to make and can be prepared in numerous versions by using a single fresh herb or combinations. Garlic and Italian parsley are probably the most popular combination.
Herb butter can be sliced into small discs and placed on top of a steak that is resting or on top of just sliced steak. Alterantively, it can be gently heated in a saucepan and used to drizzle over steak. This is how to make your own garlic herb butter.
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BEST Sauce for Steak Recipes
A curated collection of the best steak sauce recipes from around the world. Tried and true.
Ingredients
- HORSERADISH SAUCE
- GARLIC BUTTER SAUCE
- A1 SAUCE FOR STEAK
- RED WINE MUSHROOM STEAK SAUCE
- BAVARIAN CREAMY MUSHROOM SAUCE
- SAUTEED MUSHROOMS AND ONIONS FOR STEAK
- CLASSIC PEPPERCORN SAUCE
- BLUE CHEESE SAUCE
- BEER CHEESE SAUCE
- WHISKEY SAUCE
- RED WINE SAUCE FOR STEAK
- BÉARNAISE STEAK SAUCE
- DIANE SAUCE
- CLASSIC BEEF GRAVY
- ONION GRAVY
- BOURBON GLAZE AND BOURBON COMPOUND BUTTER
- ARGENTINIAN CHIMICHURRI
- FRENCH PARSLEY SAUCE
- BRAZILIAN MOLHO CAMPEIRO
- ITALIAN PIZZAIOLA
- SHRIMP CREAM SAUCE
- COWBOY BUTTER
- GARLIC HERB BUTTER
Instructions
- Choose a steak sauce recipe by following the direct link.
- Prepare the needed ingredients and kitchen equipment.
- Make a delicious sauce and serve it with your steak.
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