Blue Cheese Crusted Flank Steak

If you ask some, my signature dish is the HIH Mac ‘n Cheese. If you ask my husband, my signature dish is this blue cheese crusted flank steak. It’s marinated in a sweet tangy balsamic vinegar marinade, topped with a mound of funky salty bleu cheese, and finished with a touch of crunchy buttered panko bread crumbs for the perfect balance of flavors and textures. It’s also, my husbands favorite meal.

This recipe is special to me because it was inspired by a marinated flank steak recipe my Mother has made my whole life. It took begging to get the recipe from her, and to this day, I have the little piece of paper I grabbed from my purse to jot the ingredients on when she was finally willing to share.

That recipe is sacred in our family! While I won’t say never, I did decide for the time being, I’ll keep that recipe in the family. So, I came up with my own marinated flank steak using flavor some different flavor profiles and adding some extra fun funk with a broiled crust of blue cheese and bread crumbs. The combination of blue cheese and red meat is a classic, and for good reason!

Flank Steak is Underrated

For whatever reason, sometimes flank steak gets overlooked, but it has so many great qualities! This flank steak recipe is a show stopper on the table. It will look like you slaved in the kitchen, but the recipe is is as simple as score, marinade, broil, top, broil. With hardly any measuring or mixing, this recipe is great when you’re short on time, but need put an impressive looking AND tasting meal on the table in not a lot of time.

Flank steak is a large, relatively inexpensive cut of meat. It’s also moderate in fat content compared to strips or ribeyes. You can feed a few or a crowd steak without breaking the bank or the time clock! If you’re not convinced yet, the structure of a flank steak, with a thin end and a thick end allows for one steak to meet the desired temperature for many instead of just one. One steak can be medium on the thin end and rare/medium rare on the thick end. No need to cook each person their own steak! Each diner can select just enough slices to meet their appetite. No more 3/4 eaten, usually wasted steaks. Winner winner steak dinner!

Keys to Success

1. Select the right amount of meat. When I’m figuring up how much meat to buy I think about who is coming to eat. I use 6 oz for ladies, and 8 oz for gentlemen. While this is not always how it comes out, it’s served me well in making sure there’s enough to go around.
2. Be careful not to score the meat too deep. Flank steaks always have thin end and a thick, so the depth of the scores will also vary. Try to keep the depth of your score lines to no more than 1/4 the thickness of the meat. A super sharp knife is extra helpful in being precise. Here’s my favorite fool proof knife sharpener!
3. Keep an eye on the broiler. Broilers can burn food quickly! The highest risk of burning is in the final broil with the cheese and bread crumbs. I recommend checking on the flank steak every 45 seconds in the last few minutes of cooking.
4. Rest the meat! If you cut the flank steak as soon as it comes out of the oven, the bleu cheese will slide and all of the juices will run out of the meat. I always like to set a timer so I don’t cheat on the resting time. The anticipation gets to me sometimes!
5. Find the right funk. Blue cheese can range from mildly funky to really funky! This Cheese Lover’s Guide to Blue Cheese is for the blue cheese lover! If you’re not a fan, or you think you’re not a fan of blue cheese, here’s a great guide to some baby steps into the funky world of blue cheese!

Affiliate disclosure:

Honey, I’m Hungry Blog is a member of SkimLinks, an affiliate advertising program which allows me to link to a number of reputable websites as a mean of earning advertising fees. Affiliate links will begin like this: https://go.skimresources.com…..