A Chipotle Honey Glaze brings a crunchy, sweet, spicy layer of flavor to seared skirt steak. This skirt steak salad becomes even more irresistible with quick pickled onions and creamy avocado.
My Top Tip: Once the steak is cooked, use a very sharp knife to slice the meat against the grain. If you don’t it will make the steak practically impossible to eat. Read on for more.
What Makes This Skirt Steak Salad So Special
You’ll learn how to make a great steak salad building textures. A great steak salad must have a contrast in textures and variations in the temperatures of the ingredients.
Overall Texture: The best steak salads give you meat that is juicy and flavorful inside with a charred exterior crust, complimenting fresh, crisp cool lettuce. This steak salad adds cubes of creamy avocado to bring a creamy texture experience.
The Dressing: Only two ingredients to make the simple Red Wine Vinegar dressing.
Unique Flavor Combination: Skirt steak is deep and rich with beefy flavor and when cooked properly, tender and juicy. The sweet honey glaze is the key to this skirt steak salad because the sugars caramelize and create that crunchy exterior protecting that tender juicy interior of the meat. Add a little heat from Chipolte Peppers and the Adobo sauce turns this into an exciting flavor combo.
Slice It Right: Most importantly, a great steak salad must be easy to eat. Cooked tender, sliced thin, against the grain, in easy to eat bite sized pieces = the key to easy eating.
This skirt steak salad checks all of those boxes with rewards of incredible flavors and textures.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
See recipe card for exact amounts.
- Salad greens of your choice. Use a mix of Spring greens, and crispy Romaine lettuce is also a good choice.
- Pickled Onions: In this recipe you’ll find a method to make quick pickled onions. Sliced red onion simple gets a 30 minute bath in red wine vinegar. If you’d like to have a more authentic supply, check out my recipe for Mexican Pickled Onions. They would also work very well in this salad.
- Red Wine Vinegar: Will be used to pickle the onions and as part of the vinaigrette dressing.
- Cherry Tomatoes, halved.
- Honey Chipotle Steak Glaze Ingredients: Ketchup, honey, canned chipotle chiles in adobo.
- Skirt Steak: There are times my grocery store simply doesn’t have skirt steak. Flank steak seems to be more prevalent and can be substituted here. And don’t forget about Hanger Steak. It will also work well here.
- Seasoning: I have used my Southwest Spice Blend to season the steak. You can use salt and pepper or a seasoning mix of your choice.
- Avocado: Adds a creamy texture to this meal.
- Cotija Cheese: Cotija cheese is a common Mexican Crumbling Cheese. It’s resembled Feta cheese and can easily be found in the Mexican produce section at your store.
Step by Step Instructions – It’s Easy
- Step 1: Make The Onions and Skirt Steak Salad Glaze: Put the onion in a small bowl and pour in enough red-wine vinegar to cover well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes. Combine the ketchup, honey, chipotles, adobo sauce, and 1 teaspoon salt in a blender, chopper or food processor. Purée and set aside.
- Step 2: In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of the red-wine vinegar from the onion marinade, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until you are ready to dress the salad.
- Step 3: Season the beef on both sides with Southwest Spice Blend, (or salt and pepper)
- Step 4: Cook The Skirt Steak: Grill the meat for 4 minutes, turn over, and brush the glaze over the steak. Grill for another 4 minutes, turn over, and glaze the other side. Allow the meat to cook for another 2 minutes on each side to caramelize the glaze.
- Step 5: Slice and Serve: Remove from heat, tent with foil and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes. Slice the meat against the grain in ½-inch-wide strips.
How To Plate Skirt Steak Salad
- I like to use my big wide white pasta bowls for main course salads.
- Place a handful of green on the salad plate.
- Arrange slices of skirt steak. I like to curl them so they don’t conceal too much of the salad greens.
- Sprinkle on cherry tomatoes, chopped avocado and a few slices of pickled red onions.
- Drizzle on the red vinegar dressing.
- Sprinkle on crumbled Cotija cheese and serve.
Tips For Success:
- Once cooked, use a sharp knife to thin slice the steak against the grain. If you don’t follow this rule, the steak will be chewy and almost impossible to eat.
- I’m cooking this skirt steak in a stove-top grill pan. You can use a cast iron skillet or outdoor grill. Just make sure to create a crusty outer texture and a medium rare inside temperature.
- I highly recommend cooking this steak to an internal temperature of 135 degrees for medium rare. Over-cooking skirt steak will simply cause it to become tough and chewy.
- Use high heat to get a good sear on the outside of the steak. You’ll love the results.
- I recommend you invest in a good instant read thermometer. It will make your meat cooking life much more reliable.
Storage
Unfortunately, vinaigrette dressed greens will not keep well as leftovers. The acid in the vinegar will wilt the greens over a period of time.
Store any leftover steak in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Skirt Steak Salad
Steak seems to carry the stigma of being “fancy” food. A choice reserved for a special dinner. With that in mind, steak is incredibly easy to prepare and quick enough for a weeknight meal. And you don’t need any fancy equipment to get the job done.
What is skirt steak? For this steak salad recipe, I’ve chosen the humble skirt steak. The skirt steak comes from the plate section of the animal. Which is next to the flank. And in some ways it resembles a flank steak, except that it’s a longer and narrower cut of meat.
Recipe for Chipotle Honey Glazed Steak Salad
This skirt steak salad recipe is packed with tons of flavor, thanks to the beefy flavor of skirt steak, and the honey chipotle glaze. The super simple green salad with cherry tomatoes, avocado and pickled onions makes a perfect partner for beefy skirt steak.
More Main Course Salad Recipes
And if you’re a salad lover lover like us, don’t miss my Salad Category. You’ll find lots of fun recipes, including the most popular main course salad on my site for Taco Salad Made with Catalina Dressing. An old fashioned salad that’s a real crowd pleaser.
Homemade Salad Dressing That Beat Bottled Brands
If you’re salad lovers like us, take a look at these popular homemade salad dressing recipes easier and healthier than store bought.
Honey Chipotle Glazed Skirt Steak Salad
Ingredients
- For The Easy Pickled Onions
- ¼ red onion sliced
- ½ cup Red-wine vinegar
- For The Salad
- 6 cups Lettuce greens torn into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 avocado pitted and chopped
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
- For The Steak and Glaze
- ¼ cup ketchup
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 Chipotle chiles canned, seeded and chopped
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce from canned chipotles
- 1 pound skirt steak or Flank steak
- 1 Tablespoon Southwest Spice Blend or salt and pepper
- ¼ cup Cotija Cheese crumbled
Instructions
- For The Quick Pickled Red Onions
- Put the onion in a small bowl and pour in enough red-wine vinegar to cover well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes.
- For The Salad
- Combine the lettuce, tomatoes, in a salad bowl. Wait to peel and cube the avocado until ready to serve.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons of the red-wine vinegar from the onion marinade, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside until you are ready to dress the salad.
- For The Chipotle Glazed Skirt Steak
- Note: Whether using a grill or a skillet stove top, cooking times will be the same.
- Combine the ketchup, honey, chipotles, adobo sauce, and 1 teaspoon salt in a blender, chopper or food processor. Purée and set aside.
- Preheat a grill to medium-high for 10 minutes or preheat a grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Brush the grill grates or grill pan with the remaining tablespoon of oil.
- Season the beef on both sides with Southwest Spice Blend, (or salt and pepper) Grill the meat for 4 minutes, turn over, and brush the glaze over the steak. Grill for another 4 minutes, turn over, and glaze the other side. Allow the meat to cook for another 2 minutes on each side to caramelize the glaze.
- Remove from heat, tent with foil and allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes. Slice the meat against the grain in ½-inch-wide strips.
- Pour the dressing over the lettuce mixture and toss well. Place the sliced beef over the salad and top with cheese crumbles and marinated red onions. Peel, pit and cube the avocado just before serving.
Notes
- Once cooked, use a sharp knife to thin slice the steak against the grain. If you don’t follow this rule, the steak will be chewy and almost impossible to eat.
- I’m cooking this skirt steak in a stove-top grill pan. You can use a cast iron skillet or outdoor grill. Just make sure to create a crusty outer texture and a medium rare inside temperature.
- I highly recommend cooking this steak to an internal temperature of 135 degrees for medium rare. Over-cooking skirt steak will simply cause it to become tough and chewy.
- Use high heat to get a good sear on the outside of the steak. You’ll love the results.
- I recommend you invest in a good instant read thermometer. It will make your meat cooking life much more reliable.
Nutrition
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Honey Chipotle Glazed Skirt Steak Salad … It’s Whats for Dinner
Why Trust My Recipes? I am a Culinary School Graduate and a lifelong student of home cooking. I hope to inspire you try to cook as often as you can. I’ve been cooking for 50 years, and my recipes are tried and true tested and tested and then tested again before published. To read more take a look at my About Page.
I sometimes make a similar salad (I favor arugula for the greens), but not with that dressing. Wow, love the idea of your chipotle dressing! This looks excellent — thanks.
Thanks John!
Great looking meal Chef and I’m sure it would be very filling. The dressing sounds very good and we have some skirt steak in the freezer from a recent trip to Sam’s Club – we have trouble finding it in the grocery store.
Skirt steak is easy to find around here. I guess I take that for granted. However, one place I can’t find it is Costco. We don’t have a Sam’s membership.