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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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Mrs. Priss says
Loved this recipe. Used a smallish T-bone steak cut into tips and seared it on the stove top. Even my insanely picky husband devoured it. It’s a keeper for sure!
Martha says
So glad you both enjoyed the recipe!
Cindy says
Checking about the amount of sugar. Can that be reduced? Thinking maybe combing that with 1/2 cup cola could be too sweet.
Martha says
Hi Cindy – While you won’t actually be consuming the marinade (it cooks off and creates a caramelization on the beef that our other readers seem to love), feel free to adjust however you’d like if you are worried about the sweetness level. Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Amy says
Darn auto correct–that was supposed to say we don’t have coke in the house, would Diet Coke work?
Thanks!
Amy
Martha says
Hi Amy – Ideally you want the soda to have sugar in to so that it caramelizes as you cook it. Diet sodas aren’t ideal for this recipe.
Janet Rush says
Can dr pepper be replaced with the coca cola or would it change too much of the flavor
Martha says
Hi Janet – We haven’t tried it with Dr. Pepper ourselves…it definitely has a distinctive cherry taste so it might change the flavor a bit.
Martha says
Hi Sharyl – Thank you so much! Depending on the cut of meat you are using for these tips, you don’t need to tenderize it but it won’t hurt it if you do! We do have a Slow Cooker Tex Mex Chicken Stew recipe here: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/slow-cooker-tex-mex-chicken-stew/ – but if that isn’t what you are looking for, we do have a recipe index – we hope you’ll browse around to find more recipes to love. Thanks for writing to us today – we’re glad you found us! 🙂
Shannon says
Made this last night and it was soooo yummy! We all gobbled it up. I doubled the onions, because we are big fans. Thanks so much for the great recipe. Definitely a keeper!
Martha says
Thank you Shannon! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Amanda says
We make this alot really love the taste. Thanks for sharing this recipe. Question, after marinading could you freeze 1/2 the
meat before cooking to use later? Would be a quick easy dinner from the freezer if so. Thanks!!
Martha says
Hi Amanda – Yes – you can freeze the marinated meat as long as it hasn’t been previously frozen. Also, you should freeze the marinaade – just the meat. Hope that helps!
Danielle says
Hi, Made these steak tips last night and it was delicious. I only had to change one thing, didn’t have A-1 sauce (went to 4 different grocery stores with no success) so I used steak sauce instead. Served with oven fries and butter green beans. A hit. Keeper recipe …
Martha says
So glad you enjoyed the steak tips Danielle! Thanks for taking the time to write to us!
Randi says
We totally missed the part about heating the marinade ingredients before pouring over meat and marinating in fridge. Will this affect it any
Martha says
Hi Randi – The sugar might not dissolve completely without the heat…but give it a try and see how it turns out! (Let us know!)
Cindy says
I realize that this post is older but I do hope that you get it and respond with a suggestion before tonight’s dinner 😉 I, unfortunately, cut my sirloin chunks too small to grill (bout 2″ chunks) and I don’t own a ribbed grill pan. Would you recommend using my very large George Forman Grill as a cook top (not closing it) or just cook on the stove top in a large frying pan. Hope to hear from you very soon. Thank you!
Martha says
Hi Cindy! I would definitely recommend a scorching hot fry pan over the George Forman (it just won’t get hot enough) – just be careful not to over-crowd the pan with the steak tips. The benefit of the grill pan is so that you get the nice caramelized sear and any juices run, preventing it from essentially ‘steaming’ the meat as it cooks. With a hot pan, you can still get that sear as long as you leave some room around the sides of the tips while they cook. Hope that helps!
Cindy says
Thank you for such a quick reply!!! I understand your suggestions and will give it a go tonight! I have been marinating the meat since yesterday evening and I can’t wait to try. The only other variation that I will make is to saute’ mushrooms in butter to add to the caramelized onion mix!
Martha says
Sounds delicious Cindy! Hope you enjoy the steak tips!