Wondering what to do with pork blade steaks? This guide covers how to pick them, cook them, store them, and swap them, plus 5 recipes to put them to work.

What are pork blade steaks?

Pork blade steaks are thick slices cut crosswise from the pork shoulder, through the blade bone. They are the steak version of the same well-exercised, marbled meat that makes pulled pork.

Look closely and you can usually spot a small section of bone and several distinct muscles separated by ribbons of fat.

That marbling is what sets them apart from a loin chop. Blade steaks are richer and far harder to dry out, which makes them a budget cut that punches above its price.

They go by a couple of other names too, sold as pork steaks or shoulder steaks. In St. Louis they are practically a regional institution on the grill.

How to Cook Pork Blade Steaks

You have two good routes, and they pull in opposite directions. The first is hot and fast: marinate the steaks, then grill or pan-sear them over high heat for a few minutes a side.

The fat keeps them juicy where a lean chop would seize up. Barbecued Pork Steaks 2 and Peachy Pork Steaks both take this approach.

The second route is low and slow. Because they carry collagen, blade steaks also braise beautifully, going fork-tender after an hour or more in liquid.

Pork Steaks with Peppers & Tomato simmers them into a soft, saucy braise. Cooked even longer, the same cut shreds for sandwiches, the way Pulled Pork For Two does it.

If you grill them, pull them around 145°F (63°C) for sliceable steaks. Push past that toward 190°F (88°C) only if you are going low and slow for the pull-apart texture instead.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Smoke, sweetness, and tang all flatter this cut. A vinegary or tomato barbecue sauce, mustard, brown sugar, paprika, garlic, and stone fruit like peaches or apricots all play well off the rich meat.

The mistake to avoid is treating a blade steak like a tender quick-cooking chop and stopping at medium. There is a middle zone, past juicy but short of tender, where the connective tissue is still tight and the meat eats chewy.

Either cook it quick and slice it, or commit to the long braise. The in-between is where blade steaks disappoint.

The other slip is forgetting the bone and gristle. Carve around them rather than fighting through, and warn anyone expecting a boneless chop.

Substitutes

Any pork shoulder cut is a natural stand-in, since that is where blade steaks come from. A boneless shoulder roast sliced into thick steaks, or country-style ribs, gives you the same marbled, collagen-rich meat.

For a quick grill where you want leaner meat, a bone-in pork chop will do, but watch it closely; with less fat it dries out far faster than a blade steak does.

Beef blade or chuck steak is the cross-species equivalent, cut from the same shoulder region and rewarding the same hot-and-fast or low-and-slow treatment.

Buying and Storing Pork Blade Steaks

Look for steaks about three quarters of an inch to an inch (2 to 2.5 cm) thick with generous marbling and a visible cross-section of muscle and fat. More marbling means more forgiveness on the heat.

They are usually inexpensive, so this is a cut where you can buy well without overspending.

Raw blade steaks keep three to four days in the coldest part of the fridge and freeze well for four to six months, wrapped tightly against freezer burn. They take a marinade readily, so a day-ahead soak in something acidic is rarely wasted.

Cooked steaks keep three to four days refrigerated. Braised ones reheat best in their sauce, which keeps them moist; grilled steaks are better sliced cold into a sandwich than blasted again under heat, where they tighten and dry.

Quick facts

In Chinese

猪肉牛排刀

British (UK) term

Pork blade steaks

en français

steaks de lame de porc

en español

filetes de cerdo blade

Recipes using pork blade steaks

There are 5 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 5 recipes