This steak with soy sauce is one of those non-recipe recipes that we’ve never thought to share on the blog.
We’re not talking about a soy sauce marinade here. Just a seared steak, drizzled with soy sauce over rice. This was how we often enjoyed steak growing up in a Chinese American family!
To this day, however, it remains probably my favorite way to eat a steak—and it’s become my non-Chinese husband’s favorite way to eat steak too. And that’s saying something!
How Chinese American Kids Eat Steak
There are many great preparations that people have devised to enjoy a steak—Argentine-style with chimichurri, steakhouse-style with a big pile of mashed potatoes and creamed spinach, or like the French do, au poivre or with a pile of fries on the side.
Steak is not a common sight in China. Preparing a large piece of meat and serving it to a single person was not affordable or possible until recently. In Chinese culture, meat is cut into smaller pieces, stretched with lots of vegetables and other ingredients, and shared amongst many (see our related post on eating meat-lite!) Beef is also less common in general.
However, for many Chinese American kids, steak probably showed up on the dinner table this way: pan-seared, sliced, and drizzled with a little soy sauce. The American part? The big piece of meat. The Chinese part? The soy sauce—and the concept of sharing that steak as part of a larger meal.
If you’re wondering why a steak drizzled in soy sauce over rice is even worth eating, then I will just tell you it’s something you need to try at least once.
Steak and soy sauce are two umami powerhouses, and when combined, they become even more than the sum of their parts! We demonstrated this in our Soy Butter Glazed Ribeye recipe, but this version is the most pared down, and what we find ourselves making most often!
It’s an incredibly simple preparation—you basically just sear an unseasoned steak in a cast iron pan or on the grill. Then serve it with a bottle of soy sauce at the table along with some rice. Trust us. It’s good.
The Importance of Chinese Light Soy Sauce
I do have one caveat, which is to say that you should be using a Chinese light soy sauce here for the best flavor. This is the all-purpose seasoning of Chinese cooking, so if you’ve been making our recipes for a while, you know what we’re talking about.
If not, check out our article on Soy Sauce to read about different types and their differences.
Steak with Soy Sauce: Recipe Instructions
Heat a cast iron pan or grill until it is screaming hot. Add the steak to the pan, and allow it to sear undisturbed until it has a really nice color/crust on it. (If you’re on a grill, you can rotate the steak horizontally—that is, without flipping it—at a 90° angle to get nice grill marks halfway through this searing process.)
Flip the steak, and do the same on the other side.
If your steak is very thick, use your tongs to hold the steak on its side so all sides are seared as well.
Some folks have a really good “feel” for when a steak is cooked to their liking. My mom is great at this. But if you’re less confident, use an instant read thermometer to determine doneness.
Pull from the heat when the steak reaches an internal temperature of 115-120°F for rare, 125-130°F for medium-rare, 135-140*F for medium, or 145°F for medium well. We do not recommend cooking the steak past that temperature. Note that the steak’s internal temperature will rise another 5°F or so as it rests.
Note:
For a 1-pound, 1-inch thick boneless ribeye with a lot of good marbling, we did 3-4 minutes per side, then seared on all sides, for a total of about 10 minutes. The result was a medium-rare steak, just under medium, which is perfect in our book! If your steak is thicker and/or on the bone, it will take a bit longer to cook.
Allow the steak to rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice it and serve it over steamed rice.
Drizzle with light soy sauce and enjoy!
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Recipe
Steak with Soy Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 well-marbled steak (such as ribeye, sirloin/NY strip, or porterhouse)
- Steamed jasmine rice
- Chinese light soy sauce
Instructions
- Heat a cast iron pan or grill until it is screaming hot. Add the steak to the pan, and allow it to sear undisturbed until it has a really nice color/crust on it. (If you’re on a grill, you can rotate the steak horizontally—that is, without flipping it—at a 90° angle to get nice grill marks halfway through this searing process.)
- Flip the steak, and do the same on the other side. If your steak is very thick, use your tongs to hold the steak on its side so all sides are seared as well.
- Pull from the heat when the steak reaches an internal temperature of 115-120°F for rare, 125-130°F for medium-rare, 135-140°F for medium, or 145°F for medium well. We do not recommend cooking the steak past that temperature. Note that the steak’s internal temperature will rise another 5°F or so as it rests.
- Allow the steak to rest for 5-10 minutes. Slice it and serve it over steamed rice. Drizzle with light soy sauce and enjoy!
