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
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.)
- Prep Time: 8 hours
- Cook Time: 6 mins
- Total Time: 8 hours 6 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
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.
This steak tip marinade is amazing. I’ve been using it for a few years at least for the best steak and cheese grinders you’ve ever had.
Thanks Mike!
Trying this tonight. I don’t have any A1 on hand so I was just going to admit it, but if you have any suggestions on substitutions….
Hi Theresa – The A-1 sauce does add quite a bit of flavor to the marinade…you could swap in another steak sauce or barbecue sauce.
Thanks so much for the prompt reply! I had a feeling that was the case so I went to the grocery store this morning and bought some A1 and threw it in there. Unfortunately, the grass fed beef that I bought even after marinating for 10 hours was still tough. The flavor was good though and the caramelized onions over mashed potatoes were a huge hit so we will try again with a different meet next time. Thanks for the idea! I also cooked mine in the air fryer, which made everything super easy
Thanks Theresa – the cut of beef used will definitely make a difference and also the cooking method…this recipe is written for grilling so an air fryer – which is basically a small convection oven – can also impact the finished results.
Try subbing-in mushroom and walnut catsup in lieu of Worcestershire and A-1. And a spritz of the olde Maggi is also tasty. But the recipe stands just fine as is.
Thanks for the suggestions David!
Thank you for the recipe! I’ve been trying to figure out how they made this. I never would have figured it out on my own.
You’re welcome Sharon!
I was so looking forward to these but they just weren’t good. WAY too sweet. I might try them again without the sugar. I think the ketchup probably has enough sugar without adding any additional. We ate them, but we were very disappointed.
Thanks for your feedback Rebecca
Me gusta ó me encanta sus prácticas RECETAS
Bueno; a diferencia de algunos ingredientes que desconozco👍👍
Gracias Jaider!
Hey sweetie! I have not made this yet I need to go shopping first! But I was wounding if you can us a tri-tip? I have one I got from Costco and I wanted to do something different with it than grilling or baking it!
Sure Kim – you can definitely use tri-tip for this recipe!