Bavette steak is a flavorful, relatively thin cut of beef that’s perfect for high-heat cooking. In this recipe, the steak is quickly seared until beautifully browned, then served with a rich Cognac creamed mushroom sauce made with golden-browned mushrooms, garlic, thyme and cream.
Another one of our favorite Butcher’s Cut Steaks is a Merlot Steak. Take a look at my recipe for Merlot Steak with Blue Cheese Butter.
Quick Look: Bavette Steak
- 🧁 Serves: 6
- ⭐ Features: Tender ✓ Beefy ✓ Fancy Feel ✓
- ⌛️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- 🍪 Cook Time: 35 minutes
- 🕑 Total Time: 45 minutes (+10 minutes for the steak to rest)
- 👩🍳 Skill Level: Intermediate
- 🏆 Why make THIS version? Beefy pan-seared bavette steak is a great partner for this cognac spiked creamy mushroom sauce.
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I’ve always loved the combination of a good steak with creamy mushrooms, and bavette steak is particularly well suited to this sauce.
What Is A Bavette Steak
A bavette steak comes from the bottom sirloin, close to where a flank steak comes from. It has a loose course grain strong beefy flavor. It’s also called a sirloin flap, or flap steak. When cooked and sliced property, it’s one incredibly tender and delicious cut that doesn’t get nearly the recognition it deserves. With only one per animal, this cut is a welcome treat cooked on the grill or in a cast iron skillet. A bavette steak is considered to be a Butcher’s Cut, meaning butcher’s routinely keep this steak for themselves. You will not readily find one at your local grocer.
Is Bavette Steak The Same As Flap Steak?
Yes, bavette is the same as flap steak. Bavette is the traditional French name for this cut, while flap or bottom sirloin flap is standard American butchery terms.
What Does Bavette Steak Taste Like?
Bavette steak has an intense beefy flavor, and juicy when cooked properly. It has a pronounced grain and is excellent served with bold sauces. That’s why I chose this Cognac Creamed Mushroom Sauce, a sauce we learned in Culinary School.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Big beefy flavor: Bavette has plenty of beef flavor without needing a complicated marinade.
- Quick cooking: Its relatively thin shape makes it ideal for high-heat cooking skillet cooking.
- Steakhouse flavor at home: The Cognac cream sauce makes this feel like a restaurant dinner, even though it’s very easy to make
- The creamy mushroom sauce is versatile: The Cognac creamed mushrooms can also be served alongside other steaks.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Bavette Steak: A richly beefy, flavorful cut that cooks quickly and pairs beautifully with the creamy mushroom sauce.
- Mushrooms: Add savory, earthy flavor and a meaty texture to the rich cream sauce.
- Heavy Cream: Creates a luscious, velvety sauce that coats the mushrooms and steak beautifully.
- Cognac: Adds a subtle fruity, oaky depth that gives the creamy mushroom sauce its distinctive steakhouse flavor.
- Fresh Thyme: Adds a fresh, woodsy note that balances the richness of the cream and mushrooms.
- Garlic: Adds savory depth and aromatic flavor to the mushroom sauce.
How To Cook Bavette Steak, Step by Step
High heat – good crusty sear – cook to medium rare.
- Step 1: Brown The Mushrooms: Heat oil in a cast iron skillet. When oil is hot, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently until browned. Don’t crowd the pan. The mushrooms need enough room to release their moisture and develop a golden-brown crust rather than steam. Add thyme and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Remove to a plate.
- Step 2: Deglaze With Cognac: To the same skillet, add the cognac. Cook for two minutes stirring to combine the browned bits from the mushrooms. Add the cream and simmer for three minutes.
- Step 3: Finish The Mushroom Cream Sauce: Add the mushrooms to the cream sauce. Cook on low until warm. Remove the mushrooms and a sauce to a plate. Wipe out skillet.
- Step 4: Cook The Bavette Steak: Add two tablespoons of oil to pan, when hot, add the bavette steaks. Cook about 5 minutes per side. But please don’t rely on time, Insert meat thermometer until thermometer reads 135 degrees for medium rare. Pull at 130 degrees and let steak rest, tented with foil, for 10 minutes. During this rest time internal temperature will rise to 135 degree.
- Step 5: Serve The Steak: Thin slice the meat against the grain. Add to a platter and top with the creamed mushrooms.
Chef Lea Ann’s Tips for Cooking Bavette Steak
- Don’t Overcook Bavette: Because it’s a relatively thin cut, it can move from beautifully browned to overcooked quickly.
- Don’t Skip The Rest: Especially important before slicing.
- Find The Grain Before Slicing: Extremely important. It improves tenderness and eating texture. Slicing against the grain guarantees bites of steak that are tender. Not doing so will make the steak practically impossible to chew.
- Deeply Brown the Mushrooms: This builds the flavor foundation for the creamy mushroom sauce. Mushrooms are like sponges. If you don’t get them nice and browned, it will also affect the texture of the dish. You don’t want flabby mushrooms.
What To Serve With It
- Baked Potatoes: Baked potatoes and steak are natural partners. Try my recipe for roasted baked potatoes, or my recipe for Creamy Scalloped Potatoes.
- Salad: A simple green salad works very well here. Keep that steakhouse theme going by topping greens with my recipe for Chunky Blue Cheese Dressing.
- Side Dish: Honey Butter Skillet Corn also works well here.
Bavette Steak, FAQ’s
A bavette steak comes from the bottom sirloin, close to where a flank steak comes from. Bavette is the traditional French name for this cut, while flap or bottom sirloin flap is standard American butchery terms.
Due to the thin nature of a bavette steak, it should be cooked over high heat for a good sear, with a short cook time.
I recommend 135 degrees for medium rare.
Against the grain! Always.
Yes. Again, at high heat just a few minutes per side. Pull the steak when a digital read thermometer registers 130 degrees. The rest time will allow the internal temperature to rise to 135 degrees for medium rare.
This recipe was originally developed with New York strip steak. I’ve updated it to use bavette steak, a flavorful cut that’s particularly well suited to quick, high-heat cooking and slicing against the grain and stands up to the mushroom cream sauce.
Explore More Butcher Cut Steak Recipes
And if you’re looking for more beef recipes, don’t miss my Beef Category, you’ll find lots of mouth watering recipes including another popular steak recipe for Beef Tagliata. An Italian specialty using flank steak.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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Bavette Steak with Cognac Creamed Mushrooms
Ingredients
- For The Mushroom Cream Sauce
- ¼ Cup Olive oil
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly ground pepper
- 1 pound Baby Bella Mushrooms wiped clean and cut in half.
- 4 sprigs thyme fresh
- 3 cloves garlic chopped
- 1 cup Cognac
- 2 cups heavy cream
- To Cook The Bavette Steak
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ pounds Bavette Steak
- 2 Tablespoon Olive oil
Instructions
- Remove steaks from refrigerator for 30 minutes before cooking. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
- Heat a sautee pan over medium high heat. When hot add ¼ cup olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, about 20 minutes, until white inside of the slices are golden brown.
- Add the thyme and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Toss a few more times to cook the garlic, then remove the mushrooms onto a platter.
- Take the pan off the heat and add the Cognac. Return the pan to the burner and simmer Cognac on low for 2 minutes. Add the cream and cook 2 to 3 minutes it starts to thicken.
- Return the mushrooms to the pan along with whatever juices have collected on the platter and simmer the whole thing another 2 minutes until thickened again.
- Remove from heat, transfer to the plate and and cover while you cook the steak.
- Wipe out the skillet. Add two tablespoons of oil. Once the oil is hot, add the bavette steaks. Cook about 5 minutes per side. But please don't rely on time, Insert meat thermometer until thermometer reads 135 degrees for medium rare. Pull at 130 degrees and let steak rest, tented with foil, for 10 minutes. During this rest time internal temperature will rise to 135 degrees.
- Add the mushroom cream sauce back to pan. Heat until hot. Slice steak against the grain. Spoon the mushroom cream sauce over steak and serve.
Notes
- Don’t Overcook Bavette: Because it’s a relatively thin cut, it can move from beautifully browned to overcooked quickly.
- Don’t Skip The Rest: Especially important before slicing.
- Find The Grain Before Slicing: Extremely important. It improves tenderness and eating texture. Slicing against the grain guarantees bites of steak that are tender. Not doing so will make the steak practically impossible to chew.
- Deeply Brown the Mushrooms: This builds the flavor foundation for the creamy mushroom sauce. Mushrooms are like sponges. If you don’t get them nice and browned, it will also affect the texture of the dish. You don’t want flabby mushrooms.
Nutrition
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Hi! Just found your site and am enjoying it. Daughter is leaving for Denver tomorrow nite for a week w/friends. Think I’ll try this recipe w/NYstrips but don’t have cognac…think I’ll try w/mushrooms and dry marsala and cream…a treat for her before she leaves for beautiful Colorado. Ft.Collins is her favorite and is looking forward to Denver!
Great site!
Hi Lea, It sounds fab. I’ll try it next. No slicing please.
All The Best to you and your family, Happy New Year and more of those fantastic meals.
Hans Guenter Berg
Germany
Thanks so much Hans. Happy New Year to you also. I look forward to making this tonight, as I’ll get better photos. 🙂 Plus I have a fabulous lineup of wild mushrooms this time. Thanks to Whole Foods.
This looks sooo delicious! I must try it this weekend! Thanks for sharing!
Let me know how you like it. Next time I make it I’ll slice the mushrooms.
Absolutely love this. I have 3 pairs of steaks to cook this weekend and I’m pretty sure one of them is going to get this treatment.
I’d slice the mushrooms next time I make it. I just wanted to relive my whole button mushroom past.
Oh, gosh – what time is dinner? Will try these, too – my hubby will be impressed!
Thanks Barb.
Those look sooo good. I love the addition of Cognac! We think alike…
Thanks RMW
LeaAnn, I’m a mushroom lover and I’ve never seen mushrooms done like this. Can’t wait to try it!
Jean, we loved this combo, let me know what you think.
I don’t think I’ve ever had creamed mushrooms here in Wisconsin so maybe it is a Kansas City thing! I love the look of those sauteed mushrooms. A big side of those with a steak and I’d be a happy weekender!
A friend of mine from Missouri always served creamed mushrooms with her steak. It may be a Kansas/Missouri deal. 🙂
Looks divine! I made something similar to this a few months back and it really does do a steak good!
I thought it was so good, I’m going to have to recreate over the Holiday weekend.
The whole meal looks super good and I like the sound of the shrooms recipe.
Thanks Larry.
I fell in love with these just reading the title. OMG I want some right now! 🙂
Me too, and it’s only 6:00 a.m.
Lea, those look terrific… I love creamed mushrooms a lot.
You’re going to find creamed mushrooms on my table more often. Especially since I have a big ‘ol bottle of cognac in the pantry.
Hi Lea Ann, this is beautiful, love this combination!!
Thank you Cheri.
I have had creamed mushrooms before, but they always accompanied chicken breast and pearl onions. These look delicious. Sometimes food from an innocent time (like this one) should be revisited over and over again.
Thanks Karen.
When is dinner? You can make that anytime for me!
You got a deal.
I don’t think I’ve ever had creamed mushrooms. Love the idea, though — these look terrific. I do remember loads of canned mushrooms when I was a kid — don’t think they were all that popular back then. But that’s back in the days when iceberg lettuce was the only choice!
I never knew any other lettuce existed until I moved to Denver.
looks AMAZING! I’ll have to try this the next time we cook steaks.
Thanks Stephanie