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It’s grilling season and we’re showing you how to make a Perfect Grilled Sirloin Steak.
Preparing a Perfect Grilled Sirloin Steak couldn’t be any easier. In fact, today’s recipe is really more of a cooking technique than a recipe, per se. But I promise, if you follow along, you are going to make one of the best grilled sirloin steaks ever!
What do I look for when buying a sirloin steak?
First of all, buy your meat from a trusted, reputable butcher if at all possible. Sirloin steaks can be expensive, so if you are spending the money to get a great steak, be careful where you shop.
My husband Jack typically buys our meat, and he starts by looking for the USDA grading on the package. For expensive cuts such as sirloin (and rib-eye) always pay extra for Prime. Choice and Select grades are typically what you’ll find in supermarket meat cases. Choice is OK if you can’t find Prime, but Prime will give you a better steak, and Select should be avoided.
Look for fat marbled throughout the steak, the better the grade, the more the marbling. Jack also hand-picks his steaks with the least amount of gristle, only because he wants the most bang for our buck.
Finally, have the butcher cut the steaks right in front of you unless the butcher’s pre-cut steaks are nice and red with no dark shading. (Jack usually asks for a generous 2 to 3-inch thick cut. In his opinion, thicker is better, but a thinner steak is absolutely fine as long as you don’t over cook it.)
There are mixed opinions about cooking a cold steak vs a room temperature steak. Jack was taught in culinary school to bring them to room temperature first, but to be honest, he’s not sure it makes much of a difference.
Jack also occasionally salts the steak ahead of time, allowing it to sit on a rack placed over a pan, and uncovered in the refrigerator for a few days to evaporate some moisture. (This is essentially a quick way to ‘age’ the steak.) The end results are noticeable.
(For true luxury, buy steak that has been aged. The moisture has been diminished and flavors concentrated, but aged steak is very expensive.)
How do I prepare the grill?
Before grilling your sirloin steak, you’ll want to preheat your grill. Turn burners on one side of the grill to high and preheat to hot (grill temperature over 450 degrees F). Leave the burners on the other side of the grill off or set to low – that side will still get hot, just not as hot as the side with the burners on high.
Using a grill brush, clean any debris off your grill grates.
Fold a paper towel several times into a small square, then grip it with long handled tongs. Dip the paper towel square into a small bowl of vegetable oil and brush the hot grill grates, being sure to coat all of the grill grates with oil.
How do I grill a sirloin steak?
Sprinkle your room temperature steak with kosher salt and pepper on both sides. Then carefully place the steaks on the hot grill gates, leaving enough room around each steak so that the heat can circulate.
After two minutes, use your tongs to gently lift up the edge of the steak. It should release from the grill grates easily and you will see sear marks on the bottom side of the steak. (If the steak is still sticking to the grates, leave it be for another 10-20 seconds.) With tongs, turn the steak 90 degrees and allow to sear for another minute.
This will create seared cross hatch marks on your steak.
With tongs, flip the steak to the other side and repeat: Sear for two minutes, turn 90 degrees, sear one more minute. Then remove the steak to the cooler side of the grill, or to an upper rack (like we did) if you have one.
Close the cover and lower the burners to maintain a consistent temperature of 350 degrees F, and allow the steak to cook on the indirect heat until done. Our 2-inch thick steak took about 25 minutes to reach a rare level of doneness.
Click here to learn The Easiest Way to Tell that Your Steak is Done.
When cooked to your preferred level of doneness, remove your steak to a platter or plate and cover with a tented piece of foil.
Let the steak rest for fives minutes before serving so the juices have a chance to redistribute back through the meat. (If you cut into it too soon, the juices will flow out.)
How do I serve a sirloin steak?
Simply seasoned with salt and pepper, your Perfect Grilled Sirloin Steak is going to be very delicious as is.
But you may also enjoy serving it with our Steak Butter recipe (shown above), our Homemade Steak Sauce, or Chimichurri is also really delicious spooned over with steak.
What do I serve with a grilled sirloin steak?
- Grilled Yellow Potatoes with Mustard Sauce
- Grilled Sweet Potato Salad with Sweet and Sour Bacon Dressing
- Grilled Summer Vegetable Salad
- Grilled Romaine Hearts and Pears with Bleu Cheese
You do not have a printer friendly recipe for your Perfect Grilled Sirloin Steak recipe. I would love to print that recipe.
Hi Julian – Thanks for your feedback. In this particular case, we included a lot of information in the lesson about what to shop for and cooking techniques, more so than a typical recipe that lists ingredients and step by step instructions. So – that’s why we didn’t put it in the typical recipe card format. When I come across articles like this, I sometimes do is copy and paste the text into a Word document – so that’s an option. I’m sorry for the inconvenience – we just felt there was too information to summarize in a recipe card.