Tasty Pineapple Steak Marinade (with soy sauce)

This Pineapple Steak Marinade is our FAVORITE way to make flank steak on the grill! It's such an easy flank steak marinade with soy sauce and pineapple juice to make it tender and flavorful. We never have leftovers of this one.

I found the recipe years ago on Our Best Bites. Honestly, we usually change up recipes that we find, but this one is perfect as is. I have included some helpful cooking and slicing techniques to ensure your success.

🏅 Why this flank steak marinade is the best

• It's fast, easy and only 6 ingredients.
• It's a delicious marinade with an amazing sweet and tangy flavor.
• It's a great make-ahead and freezer-friendly marinade.
• Since flank steak is served in thin slices, it stretches farther than other cuts of steak. So it's easy on the wallet and better for a crowd!
• Everyone gets their meat how they like it. The edges will be more well-done and the middle can lean medium rare, so everyone is happy.

🥩 Ingredients

Brown sugar: Light or dark brown sugar work well.
Oil: I use canola oil but any neutral flavored oil would work.
Soy sauce: Use whichever soy sauce you have on hand.
Pineapple juice: Marinating meat in fresh pineapple juice (or canned) is a great way to make it tender and flavorful.
Fresh ginger: Use freshly grated or the kind in the tube. See my pro-tips on fresh ginger in the FAQ section below!
Fresh garlic: Fresh chopped for best flavor.
Flank steak: A thin piece of steak that is best sliced thin for optimal tenderness.

🔪 How to make Pineapple Steak Marinade

Start by whisking the marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Next, make sure your flank steak has any big pieces of fat cut off and put it in a ziptop bag. Then pour the marinade over the meat and carefully seal the bag, getting as much air out as possible.

Marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, but for best results overnight. I like to place the bag in a 9x13 pan or on a cookie sheet in case of small leaks.

When it’s time to cook heat half of the grill to medium heat. For a charcoal grill like mine, I fill a charcoal chimney (affiliate) full of coals. Once they have ashed over, pour it into half of the grill and spread into a single layer. For a gas grill, turn half the burners on medium for at least 10 minutes.

Once ready, place the meat directly over the fire. Allow it to cook for 10 minutes, then flip it and cook the second side for another 10 minutes. If it begins to cook too fast on the outside, move it to the side of the grill that doesn’t have coals or the flame on. Close the lid and allow it to finish cooking there using residual heat.

Remove the flank steak once it has reached an internal temperature of 145°-160° or your desired doneness (see this article for more information). We prefer to pull the flank steak off at 145°. I use this Thermapen (affiliate) that my husband gave me, but any accurate meat thermometer will do.

Allow the meat to rest for approximately 10 minutes. Keep in mind that the temperature will rise as it rests. While the meat is resting it’s the perfect time to throw some veggies on.

Flank steak can be melt-in-your-mouth tender or stringy and tough depending on how you slice it. For tender steak, cut it in ¼ inch slices against the grain, or perpendicular to the natural direction of the muscle fiber and connective tissue.

In the picture above the red lines show the grain of the meat. So we are going to slice it against the grain, along the blue lines. The sharper your knife the easier it will be to make those slices thin.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦  For a crowd

Flank steaks are good for a crowd because several can fit on the grill at once. I suggest marinating them ahead and popping them in the freezer. Then just thaw, grill, and slice. Just have a helper near by to help slice it all.

🙋 Questions & Answers

🍽 Great recipes to serve on the side

• Try grilled pineapple, bell peppers, and onions.🍍🍍 So tropical and delicious!
• I love to serve this with a tropical inspired rice like this Pineapple Rice or this amazingly simple Toasted Coconut Rice 🥥.
• This Easy Asian Slaw takes less than 10 minutes to throw together and pulls it all together.
• We almost always serve these Honey Chicken Kabobs alongside this menu. It's equally delicious and stretches the budget a bit farther.

👨🏼‍🍳 Tips & Tricks

• Marinate overnight for the best flavor.
• Make sure your grill isn’t too hot. The outside will burn before the inside is ready.
• Be sure to slice it thinly against the grain for tender, melt-in-you-mouth pieces.