You Only Need 3 Ingredients For A Simple, Flavor-Packed Steak Marinade

While there are hundreds of steak marinade recipes online — some with a dozen ingredients and some being as simple as soy sauce — you only need three to pack your protein with extra flavor: soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and Dijon mustard. Why do these ingredients work so well? Because they tick off all the flavor boxes that elevate red meat, regardless if you grill, broil, bake, or pan-fry it.

Soy sauce is a salty condiment for next-level flavor, and its fermentation process gives it a light, umami boost. Similarly, the salt and umami in Worcestershire work with the soy sauce to give your steak a very satisfying, meaty taste, and its additional spices expand the flavor profile with earthy aromas. The white wine and sharp taste in Dijon mustard cut through the heavier flavors to add a touch of tang to your meal, just the thing for more marbled cuts like ribeye. Combined together, you get a comprehensive flavor boost that is powerfully compatible with just about any cut of red meat.

While these are three readily available ingredients that encompass most of the flavors that level up steak, they are by no means your only options. Provided your marinade has umami, salt, tang, and a bit of extra seasoning, it's easy to develop one that's perfect for your palate and your specific cut of meat alike.

Of all the ingredients to substitute, Worcestershire is probably the most difficult. It has a very specific flavor that's hard to mimic, so if you love the sauce itself and not just how many boxes it ticks off your list, feel free to keep using it. However, if you just like its higher-than-normal levels of umami, spending a little more on miso and adding a touch of balsamic vinegar creates an extremely satisfying, slightly tangy addition to your marinade.

Dijon mustard is neither easy nor difficult to replace. But if you don't care for its boozy taste, spicy brown mustard has a similar bite to it while also compensating for any seasonings you lost by substituting Worcestershire. A good rule of thumb is to substitute other ingredients first then use a guide to different kinds of mustard to determine how you can compensate for any lost flavors or anything extra that may please your palate.

Soy sauce is, by far, the easiest ingredient to substitute. Fish sauce offers more umami and lots of salt in small doses. However, if you already have a lot of salt in your marinade, try tamari, a Japanese soy sauce variant with less sodium and more richness. A Swiss take on soy sauce, Maggi is a potent seasoning in small doses. Just a few drops can add new depths of decadence to your dish and add tons of meaty, peppery flavor.