One Pan Broiled Spicy Steak Bites

Should I marinade the steak for a long time?

In a full sized steak, the legends say that the longer the steaks soak in the “marinade” the deeper the flavoring will be. That is not always the case because it  depends on what you are using as a marinade. Here is a quick article about marinading if you would like to read more about it.

Marinading helps break down the meat by breaking down the tendons and connective tissues within the steaks. So as the steaks soak, the marinade seeps deep into the beef, breaking up the tough chewy parts. So the folk lore says.

Buyer be warned. Not all marinades are the same. So be careful of what you use as a marinade as this can cause problems with your steak.

With an “acid” type marinade, using vinegar or wine and soak it too long and you may have a gooey piece of beef.

Using a “enzyme” type marinade, like papaya, ginger or pineapple and not soak it long enough, you might have a tough and chewy piece of steak.

We like a “dry rub” marinade using salt and spices that keeps the steak dry but still helps break down the connective tissues. We toss in a touch of olive oil to help adhere the spices to the cuts of steak. Plus it helps the steak from sticking to a sheet pan.

Preparing the Steak and Asparagus

You can prep this meal ahead like all of 5 Dinners recipes and store them in the refrigerator for a dinner later in the week. If you are starving and want dinner now, just turn on the broiler and broil when ready. Then grab a frozen mashed potato steamer and toss that into the microwave. There you go. Dinner will be ready.

In this recipe for spicy steak bites, it will not take that long for the flavors to get through the outer layers or penetrate to the core of the beef. So there is no real worry of over or under marinating.

• Add first 6 ingredients to large zipper bag.
• Cut steak into 2 inch pieces and add to same bag.
• Zip to seal and gently squish around to mix.
• Trim woody ends off asparagus and discard.
• Place asparagus spears in another large zipper bag with last 2 ingredients.
• Zip to seal and squish around to mix.

In this picture, we added both the steak and asparagus to the same bag and squished it around. We mixed them together because we were going to eat them right away. Either way is ok because they all go together on a sheet pan to broil.