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A delicious marinate for steak that yields perfectly seasoned, tender and juicy Steak Tips with Caramelized Onions!
At our house, we eat chicken or fish probably 99% of the time – but lately we’ve been on a bit of a steak and potatoes kick! Sometimes, the craving strikes for a juicy burger or steak – and these Steak Tips with Caramelized Onions are a delicious way to satisfy any red meat craving!
My husband Jack developed this recipe for steak tips with caramelized onions many years ago after working in a restaurant where the tips were among the most popular items on the menu. It has a ketchup-based marinade that combines sugar, red wine vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and A-1 Sauce with the ketchup for added flavor. The combination of flavors makes a really fantastic marinade for beef! And, if you are using a less expensive cut of beef for your tips – you can also add in some Coca-Cola to the marinade which lends even more flavor, plus it helps to tenderize a tougher cut of beef!
And, a bit more about which cuts of beef to use when making these steak tips with caramelized onions…we recommend a really good cut of meat like sirloin or rib eye. (We used rib eye for the photos show here; it happened to be on sale at the market!) Whichever you choose – just look for nice marbling (thin lines of fat) throughout the meat, which will result in tender tips.
Topped with simple and delicious caramelized onions and served along with our Parmesan Truffle Fries – dinner is ready!
You may enjoy these other Steak recipes:
- Perfect Pan-Seared Steak
- Steak au Poivre with Crispy Shallots
- Perfect Grilled Sirloin Steak
- Sous Vide Grill-Seared Chuck Steak
- Chili Lime Steak Bites
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Steak Tips with Caramelized Onions
Using Coca Cola is a commonly-used ingredient in steak marinades and it helps tenderize the beef. But – if you use a really good-quality cut of beef, it is not necessary and water can be used. (For our rib eye tips, we used water.)
Ingredients
For the Marinade
- 1 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup Coca-Cola or water (see note)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 cup A-1 Sauce
- 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
Other Ingredients
- 2 pounds sirloin or rib eye trimmed and cut into large cuts as big as 2 to 3 inches square
- 1 large onion, cut into thick strips vertically
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan, place all marinade ingredients and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool completely.
- Trim any gristle or large pieces of fat from beef. Cut into large pieces; about 2-3 inches square. Place cut beef in a zip lock bag. Pour cooled marinade over beef, seal and marinate 8-24 hours.
- In a medium sauté pan over low heat melt butter in olive oil and place onions, salt, pepper and sugar and cook stirring occasionally for 30-40 minutes until onions are caramelized but not cooked down too much. Start cooking tips as the onions get close to finishing.
- When you are ready to grill, drain all marinade and heat a ribbed grill pan over extremely high heat or heat your outdoor BBQ grill to the highest setting.
- Lightly oil or spray pan or grill and place beef onto grill or pan not touching each other and cook untouched for 2-3 minutes (Depending on how thick they are and how hot your grill or stove gets, the timing will need to be monitored). If you are not certain, cut into one and check for doneness. Turn once and cook for another 1-2 minutes for medium rare. Remove to a platter and serve with the caramelized onions.
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Joyce says
Oh, man, this sounds heavenly! I’m going to have to make these for my personal Thanksgiving dinner, not wanting to roast a turkey this year.
Thank you so much for what appears to be something so delicious, everyone around me is going to be wiping the drool off their chins!
Martha says
Thanks Joyce – we hope you all enjoy the recipe!
Traci says
Used Ribeye and no coke. Marinated since yesterday. Had for dinner tonight delicious! I sautéed fresh mushrooms separate and then combined them with the onions at the end. Mmmmmm. Everyone loved it even the 7 year
old!!
Thanks!! Will make this again for sure.
Martha says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Traci!
Lovefam6 says
Is there any way to do this in the oven? I destroy everything I do on the grill, plus I have an almost toddler who refuses to stay inside as I’m going in and out when I’m trying to grilll, lol. This looks delicious but I need an oven or crockpot variation.
Martha says
Hi! The instructions are written for an outside grill OR a stove top grill pan – so that is an option for you too if you need to stay inside the house! You won’t get the same results in a crockpot so I wouldn’t recommend that at all. For the oven – you could try broiling the tips at a high temp. Depending on the temperature of your oven and the size you cut the tips, it would take only a few minutes on each size under a hot broiler. Hope that helps!
Yvonne McGinn says
MARTHA THISWAS FABULOUS, VERY TASTY WILL DO AGAIN!
THANK YOU
Martha says
Thanks Yvonne! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Amy says
Wow, what a great meal! My husband says he can’t remember a better one!! Thanks for sharing both recipes.
Martha says
Thanks Amy! We’re glad you both enjoyed the recipes!
Laci says
Hi! Did you end up trying it again with the sirloin? How did it turn out? Which cut do you prefer using? Thanks!
Martha says
Hi Laci – We did and it was delicious! Both cuts are good – so depending on your budget you can’t go wrong with either cut. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Ashley says
Do you this this would be a good marinade for chicken?
Martha says
Hi Ashley – We haven’t used it for chicken ourselves and my initial thought is that it might be too ‘strong’ of a flavor for boneless skinless chicken …but for skin-on chicken – maybe. If you try it, please let us know how it comes out!
Mary says
I made this last night with the truffles potatos. It was delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
Martha says
Thanks so much Mary! We’re very glad you enjoyed the recipe!
John says
Hmmmm…… Just curious. Sirloin tip steaks are a very lean cut of meat. Cook them quickly on high heat without a long (24 hr) marinade, and you will only get shoe leather as a result. Possibly tasty shoe leather, but very tough. I am not sure about rib eye, but as this is generally fairly well marbled, the tip might also be fatty, so this recipe may work with rib eye tips. I see some comments indicating they had very tough results. I hope if they try this again, they do not do it with sirloin tips. Have you ever tried this recipe with sirloin tips? I am going to try this recipe, with sirloin tips, but after searing the steak and carmelizing the onions, I will add some beef broth and possibly some wine and let it reduce somewhat and them let it simmer. I will probably add some corn starch at the end to thicken up the liquid. Sounds great, but I will let you know.
Martha says
Great questions John! It’s been a while since we made this recipe…we have some sirloin tips in our refrigerator so we’re planning to re-test the recipe this week to make sure that we aren’t leading our readers astray by suggesting sirloin tips. (We will update the recipe if needed.) Thanks for taking the time to write to us today!
John says
Woops! Missed the whole marinade part, even though I re-read three times – but late at night, you gotta believe me! Sorry about that.
Martha says
No worries John! We’re excited to have steak tips this week anyway! Hope you enjoy the recipe!
TLe says
I cooked it over the stove and also didn’t put in any steak sauce, hopefully that didn’t change the flavor too much. It was delicious in the end, thanks!
Martha says
Glad you enjoyed the recipe!