Here's everything worth knowing about steak sauce and how to pick it, what it is, how to store it, and what to use instead, plus 62 recipes to cook tonight.

What is steak sauce?

Steak sauce is the tangy, dark brown condiment you find in a bottle next to the ketchup, made famous by brands like A.1. and Heinz 57. It is thick and glossy and built to wake up a piece of beef.

The flavor is sweet and sour at once, with a deep savory backbone. Tomato and fruit purees bring the body and sweetness, while vinegar adds the tang and dried fruit like raisins, dates, or tamarind lends a dark note under the spices.

It is sharper and more sour than barbecue sauce, and thinner and more complex than ketchup.

A little goes a long way.

How to Use Steak Sauce

The obvious job is a table sauce, spooned over a grilled or pan-seared steak. It also dresses up a burger or a Pastrami Sandwich, where its tang cuts through fatty meat.

It earns its keep as a flavor booster in cooking, too. A good squeeze deepens a meatloaf mix or a meatball, and it gives Crockpot Barbecued Meatballs and All-Day-Long Crockpot Beef a savory tang you would struggle to build from scratch.

Brushed on at the end of grilling, it becomes a quick glaze. Stir a spoonful into a pan sauce or gravy and it adds instant depth, the trick behind A.1. Easy Beef Stroganoff.

It works as a marinade base, too.

Loosen it with a little oil and Worcestershire, and it tenderizes and flavors beef skewers like Beef En Brochette or game like A-1 Caribou Steak.

Pairing and a Common Mistake

It belongs with beef above all, but it also flatters pork chops, burgers, sausages, and roasted mushrooms. The tang plays well with Worcestershire, garlic, black pepper, and a little brown sugar when you build a marinade around it.

The common mistake is reaching for it to mask a good steak. A well-seasoned, properly seared steak rarely needs it; drowning a quality cut in sauce buries the beef flavor you paid for.

Save it for everyday cuts and ground beef, where its punch genuinely adds something, and let a great steak stand on salt alone.

Substitutes

If you are out, the closest quick fix is to stir Worcestershire sauce together with a little ketchup. A two-to-one mix of ketchup to Worcestershire gets you the sweet-sour-savory balance fast.

For more depth, add a dash of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of brown sugar, and a few drops of hot sauce. Barbecue sauce can stand in at the table, though it is sweeter and smokier and less sharp.

In cooking, plain Worcestershire alone often does the job, since steak sauce leans on it heavily for that savory tang anyway.

Buying and Storing

The classic A.1. style is sharp and peppery; Heinz 57 runs a touch sweeter and milder. Store brands and chunkier styles vary, so taste before you commit to a marinade.

Like ketchup, steak sauce is high in vinegar and sugar, so it is shelf-stable until opened. An unopened bottle keeps well past a year in the pantry.

Once opened, refrigerate it. It stays good for about a year in the fridge, though the flavor is liveliest in the first several months. Wipe the rim and cap it tightly to keep the threads from gumming up.

Quick facts

Where to find steak sauce: Steak sauce is usually found in the condiments section or aisle of the grocery store or supermarket.

In Chinese

牛排酱

British (UK) term

Steak sauce

en français

sauce à steak

en español

salsa de carne

Recipes using steak sauce

There are 62 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 62 recipes

More steak sauce recipes

• Beefy Calzones
• Chicken Mushroom Pie with Dill Crust
• Crockpot Spareribs with Hickory Smoke
• Garlic Steak
• Marinara Sauce (Cleary)
• Spicy Steak Marinade
• Succulent Carne Asada
• Swiss Steak (Crockpot)
• To Die For Beef Fajitas
• Venison Steaks