Steak grilled to perfection and served over a bed of crisp mixed greens with candied pecans, tart green apples, grapes and homemade spicy goat cheese dressing! Best served with a cold beer!
I have been on a major steak salad kick lately!
It all started a couple months ago when I had the steak salad at McKinney Roe in Minneapolis. It was BOMB. I can’t get over it. Since then, whenever I’m out to eat, I scan the menu for steak salad, but honestly, nothing has compared.
So, I figured, why not make my own damn steak salad? And, that’s exactly what I did!
There are just so many reasons why steak salads are perfect for summer! You can grill your steak, the veggies and fruit are fresh, and it’s light and satisfying all at the same time.
If you’re a loyal follower of my blog, you also know that I’ve been on a goat cheese kick! It’s so light and creamy and tart. I love it.
Which means it’s a no-brainer that it ended up as the dressing on my steak salad! And because I always like to spice things up a bit, I added jalapenos to the dressing. Obviously if spicy isn’t your thing, then you can just omit the jalapenos. Not biggie.
Let’s talk details.
A good piece of steak is key here. You want something that has a lot of marbling (thin white strips of fat that run through the meat) so that it’s tender and flavorful. I used a strip steak because they’re known to be good for grilling, tender, and not too pricey.
As well, you should always allow your steak to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes prior to cooking so that it can warm up a bit.
Moving on. I highly suggest you make the candied pecans. They’re so addicting and super easy to make. Also, the apples and grapes are a must.
But, you know what is also super easy to make? The dressing. So, don’t be shy.
The final step? Serve the salad with a glass of cold beer, perhaps something summery, and you’re golden.
Speak of beer. This past weekend, I went to St. Paul Summer Beer Fest with two friends where they had over 100 different breweries sampling beer! And, a lot were local breweries. How cool is that? Plus, it was one price to get in and then unlimited samples!
One brewery even had a game of tippy cup going, and you can bet your butt we played! And kicked butt, too. Obviously.
That day, our diets consisted solely of beer, cheese curds, and corndogs. No joke. That’s it. I loved it.
Steak Salad with Goat Cheese Dressing
Ingredients
- 2 steaks strip or top sirloin
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Mixed greens or preferred lettuce
- 1-2 granny smith apples thinly sliced or diced
- 1 cup red grapes halved
- ¼ purple onion halved and thinly sliced
- 1 red or green jalapeno thinly sliced or diced (optional)
- 2 ounces goat cheese crumbled
Candied Pecans:
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 tablespoon butter
- ¼ cup sugar
Goat cheese dressing:
- ¼ cup milk
- ¼ cup sour cream or plain yogurt
- 1 tablespoon mayo
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon Worcestershire
- 1 ½ teaspoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 jalapeno diced (optional)*
- 2 ounces goat cheese crumbled
Instructions
- About 30 minutes before cooking, remove steaks from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature.
- Prepare candied pecans and spicy goat cheese dressing while steaks warm up a bit.
Candied Pecans:
- Melt butter in a medium non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add sugar and pecans and stir together. Cook for 5 minutes until nuts are coated, stirring frequently.
- Immediately transfer pecans to a sheet of parchment paper and spread out flat. The nuts harden almost instantly. Let cool then break apart.
Spicy goat cheese dressing:
- Add milk, sour cream, mayo, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire, sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and jalapenos to a pint jar and shake vigorously or whisk well in a bowl.
- Lightly shake in (or mix in) goat cheese.
Cooking the steaks:
Grill:
- Heat grill to high.
- Blot steaks dry with paper towels. Brush both sides of steaks with oil and season well with salt and pepper.
- Place steaks on the grill and cook 4-5 minutes until seared. Turn steaks over and grill another 5-7 minutes for medium(155° F) or 8-10 minutes for medium-well (165° F).
- Remove from grill and lightly tent with foil. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Stovetop/oven:
- Preheat oven to 425° F and geat a large oven-safe skillet over medium-high heat.
- Blot steaks dry with paper towels. Brush both sides of steaks with oil and season well with salt and pepper.
- When skillet just begins to smoke, place steaks in skillet. Cook on both sides for 2-3 until seared.
- Transfer skillet to preheated oven. Cook for about 7 minutes for medium (155° F) and about 9-10 (165° F) minutes for medium-well.
- Remove from grill and lightly tent with foil. Let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Serving:
- Top lettuce with apples, grapes, onion, jalapeno, candied pecans, crumbled goat cheese, and sliced steak. Drizzle with spicy goat cheese dressing.
- Devour!
Notes
- If you don’t have an oven-safe skillet, once you’ve seared the steak on the stovetop, transfer to an oven-safe baking dish to finish cooking.
- *Remove jalapeno seeds and membranes if you want the dressing less spicy, or omit altogether.
Abbie says
This was so good! I didn’t do the grapes or candied nuts. The nuts would be good for texture but the dish was pretty sweet without. Still, the dressing was so good and loved the jalapeños.