Your Steak Marinade Has Been Missing A Sweet Southern Staple

Cutting into a hot, juicy steak is one of life's great pleasures for the meat eater. If you prefer your steaks marinated to add extra flavor, you don't always have to reach for a complex combination of ingredients. It can be as effortless as marinating steak in Italian dressing from your fridge door, or using a surprising ingredient that's missing from your marinade: Southern-style sweet tea. Adding this drink to your marinade will give your steak a more well-rounded flavor and incredible tenderness.

The slightly bitter, grassy, smoky undertones in black tea bring a new, refreshing taste to a slab of beef. Tea also contains tannins, compounds which break down the proteins and work as a natural meat tenderizer — just like when marinating steak in leftover wine. Store-bought sweet tea works great, or you can steep your own black tea at home and sweeten with sugar or honey.

Once the tea has cooled completely, simply mix in a little salt and get right to marinating, or add the sweet tea to a marinade recipe you already use. Pour the marinade in a plastic bag or container, seal in the steak, and let it sit for between two and eight hours, or up to a day, if you're looking for thoroughly tenderized meat. Ensuring the steak is completely covered in the liquid — along with the tannins — will help it retain moisture during cooking, and the sugar will caramelize and contribute to a beautifully browned crust.

Sweet tea marinade works great with tougher, less expensive cuts of beef, like hanger steak, skirt steak, and flank steak. All of these benefit from the tenderizing power of a marinade. Lemonade or lemon juice make for great simple additions to create sweetness plus acidity. Just don't go too heavy on the lemon, because too much acid could be ruining your marinade, resulting in a steak that's overly tender and spongy.

Because sweet tea has a fairly mild flavor, you can also mix anything savory or spicy into your marinade. Think garlic, rosemary, thyme, hot sauce, barbecue sauce — the possibilities are nearly endless. For a salty flavor boost to your steak, use soy sauce or Worcestershire mixed with the tea. The sweet-tartness of Worcestershire in particular plays well with the bittersweet tea.

If you're adding more acid to your marinade, whether it's from citrus, vinegar, or a tangy condiment, it's also a good idea to balance it out with a fat, like olive oil. This prevents the sourness from overwhelming the beef. For a twist, you can even use sweetened green tea or matcha instead of black tea, for an extra boost of umami flavor. Whatever the extra additions, a little bit of sweetness from this brewed beverage will take your steak to the next level.