Marinated Beef Satays

Ingredients

2 8-ounce sirloin steaks, thinly sliced into 1-inch morsels
1 tablespoon baking soda
For the marinade
½ cup soy sauce
⅓ cup honey
¼ cup hoisin
¼ cup sake
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon Thai seven-spice blend
1 2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated
4 garlic cloves, peeled and grated
½ teaspoon black pepper
To garnish
toasted sesame seeds
2 green onions (greens only), finely chopped
bird’s eye peppers, thinly sliced (optional)

Takes 25 Minutes, serves 18.

Instructions

Prepare marinade: Place all of the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl and stir together to combine. Pour ¼ of quantity into a small bowl and reserve to brush onto the cooked satays.
Prepare the beef: Cut the beef against the grain into ¼-inch slices, then cut each slice down into small bite-sized pieces, about 1-inch square. Place into a mixing bowl, sprinkle with baking soda, toss and leave to sit for 30 minutes. Rinse beef, then pat dry with paper towels. Add the ¾ quantity of marinade and work with hands to ensure each piece of beef is completely coated. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Place skewers in water overnight to soak.
Prepare skewers: Thread the beef onto bamboo skewers. Push each piece close to the previous one, 3 - 4 pieces per skewer, 18 bamboo skewers total.
To cook: Preheat barbecue to moderate-high, 500°F (260°C). Fold an 18-inch long sheet of foil in half to be used as a grill buffer.
Grill satays: Place half of the satays down onto the grill, handles over foil, and sear for 1-½ minutes. Flip and cook other side for 1 minute more. Transfer to platter and brush with reserved marinade. Sprinkle with garnishes. Repeat with remaining skewers.
Serve immediately as appetizer or party snack, or serve as a main with suggested pairings for a more substantial meal.

Here’s hoping these MARINATED BEEF SATAYS show up at your next party! They are also the perfect addition to your next meal plan.

We’re loving everything about these tender, juicy MARINATED BEEF SATAYS. They’re relatively easy to make, but the real selling feature is how amazing they taste. As you continue on, don’t forget that they’re not only an excellent party snack option, but they can also be enjoyed as the main course for a light meal too.

Here’s what we enjoy about this beef satay recipe:

The marinade is easy to make.
We’ll show you how to cut the premium sirloin steak to work perfectly in the recipe.
The meat gets tenderized before the marinade is added.
We’ll share a brilliant grilling tip to prevent burnt skewers.

Here are a few more highlights to assist in making them:

INGREDIENTS

We were able to find all of the ingredients needed to make this recipe at our local grocery store. The recipe yields 18 satays. If making them as a party snack, you’ll be able to serve 6-8 guests and if serving as a light main course for lunch or dinner, plan to serve 4 guests.

Two 8-ounce sirloin steaks — Make sure to trim away and discard all of the excess fat from the steaks.

TOP SIRLOIN STEAK

Since satays are eaten directly off the skewer without the need for a fork or knife, the meat needs to be very tender. We decided to use top sirloin steak as it is more tender than flank steak or skirt steak. You can also use ribeye or filet mignon if you’d like. Make sure to watch this VIDEO to see how we cut the steak into thin pieces against the grain. Cutting the steak this way also ensures a more tender bite. Also, you can also try this recipe with chunks of pork and chicken, if you prefer.

A bowl with the thinly sliced pieces of beef tossed with baking soda. — Sprinkling the beef with baking soda helps tenderize the morsels.

TENDERIZE

If selecting a choice cut of beef and cutting it a specific way wasn’t enough, we’ve got another trick up our sleeve to ensure these satays will be the most tender ones you’ve had, ever. We tried a proven technique used by Chinese restaurants where you sprinkle the morsels of beef in baking soda, then toss and leave it to rest for 30 minutes. The beef is then rinsed, patted dry with paper towel and the recipe continues. Sometimes referred to as “velveting beef”, we love the results. Works like a charm.

MARINADE

The flavourful marinade ingredients for this recipe is a Pan-Asian mash-up. We use Chinese soy and hoisin sauce, Japanese sake (fermented rice wine), a Thai seven-spice blend ,and both honey and toasted sesame oil. Oh, and there’s grated ginger and garlic in this dish too. The marinade is very, very delicious. Important! Please remember to reserve about 1/4 cup of the marinade to be brushed onto the satays once they come off the grill. The remaining marinade used to flavour the beef gets discarded once the meat is pieced onto the skewers.

BAMBOO SKEWERS

When you go to thread the beef onto the bamboo skewers, you may find the work a bit finicky. Just go slow. The trick is to get the strips of meat to sit evenly on the skewer. Please remember from the outset to add only a few pieces to each skewer, just three or four; we are crafting party snack-sized portions after all. Last thing about the beef satay skewers is to remember to soak them in water overnight. This will prevent them from burning.

The ends of the skewers positioned over the foil to prevent the bamboo from burning — Make sure to position the ends of the skewers directly over the foil.

GRILLING

Check out two things about the grilling of these beef satays. First, don’t overdo it. Lay the satays on the grill, close the lid and cook for only 1-1/2 minutes before flipping and cooking for just a minute more. Any longer and they’ll be dry as a chip – no one enjoys dry, tough beef. Second thing is our nifty trick with the foil, which prevents the ends of the satays from burning. Lay a piece of foil across the grill before lighting it, then position your skewers so the last piece of meat is butted just above the foil protecting the handles. I grilled 18 satays for this story and only a single skewer snapped, which was my fault for not laying the lowest piece of meat on that skewer right next to the foil. No gaps = no burn!

Marinated Beef Satays — Try the satays with a side of coconut rice or our Asian coleslaw.

ENJOY

Once the satays come off the grill we’re suggesting you brush them with the reserved marinade and garnish them with finely sliced green onion and bird’s eye pepper – that’s it! If you’d like, you can also serve our PEANUT DIPPING SAUCE on the side. Don’t forget to serve this with other delicious party snacks like our LEICESTER CHEESE SHORTBREADS, this PUMPKIN HUMMUS, and our GRILLED SHISHITO PEPPERS. You can also make a meal out of them by pairing the satays with our NUTTY COCONUT RICE or FUN FRIED RICE, plus this ASIAN COLESLAW. Delicious!