Steak Salad

It’s a great entrée salad, has tons of flavor, and it’s the perfect way to get a quick dose of beef in your diet, but I’m sure I’ll upset some with the cooking method.

Don’t be me wrong, I love a medium-rare steak, and I know how to COOK a steak.

I’m a big believer in my sous vide - which gets a fair amount of use- and I have well-seasoned, thick cut strip steaks in the freezer, vacuum packed and good to go.

I’ll use one every once in a while to make a grilled steak salad, with tender steak slices flavoring the fresh salad underneath.

This is not that salad, and it’s not even a particularly juicy steak. No, this salad is a great way to use up cheaper cuts of beef QUICKLY.

I use mega-affordable fast fry steaks for this, and cook them all the way through - letting the olive oil and seasoning basically caramelize on it - rather than cook it to the medium rare steak I normally prefer.

Sure, I could cook the strips less, but the way the seasonings almost glaze it after a certain point just really hits the spot.

The homemade dressing uses a fair amount of horseradish, and is one of my favorite dressing recipes.

It brings so much flavor, I could probably slice up shoe leather for this, and still have it be one of my favorite salads.

Anyway, now that I’ve really sold it, I will say : You can definitely use a better steak - and better cooking method - for this.

I tend to be frugal, and need to consume more beef than I want to spend the $$$ on, though... so this is a great go-to for me.

Anyway, let’s get to it.

Ingredients

This delicious steak salad recipe uses really simple ingredients, and you’ll definitely be able to find everything you need in any local grocery store.

I tend to look at this in 3 parts - the base salad, the toppings, and the steak. Some notes for you:

Base Salad

I like to meal prep several days worth of salad base bowls on grocery day - some sort of fresh greens, along with some fairly neutral fresh veggies - Usually shredded broccoli stems, carrot, green onions, cucumber, and radish.

1 batch makes 10 salads, so we’ve got a few days worth of base salads to adorn all kinds of different ways. (They tend to last 6-7 days in the fridge.

It’s a pretty slick way to get a lot of fresh vegetables into our diet, and feels like SO much less work than making full salads individually.

See my Salad Meal Prep post for full details on how I do it.

Want to make this salad as a standalone thing?

You can use a base of salad greens, spring greens mix, dark leafy greens, baby spinach, and/or fresh romaine lettuce. I’d add some cucumber and green onions in, for good measure.

Salad Toppings

I like to go really simple with topping this salad.

My favorite veggies to use on it are simply red onion and avocado.

Depending on your tastes and dietary restrictions, other good options include cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, or grilled sweet corn.

If you’re feeling fancy, grilled asparagus is lovely with this salad.

As far as cheese goes, I like to keep it simple and use a shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese.

Goat cheese or crumbled feta cheese can be other good options, though, if you like things really pungent.

Creamy Horseradish Dressing

This dressing is nothing fancy, but packs a ton of flavour.

For this dressing, you will need:

Sour Cream
Horseradish
Mayonnaise
Apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice)
Kosher salt and Black pepper

Note: If you’re not a huge fan of horseradish, you may want to start with 1 tablespoon or so, and add more to taste.

The Steak

I’ll be honest here: This steak is not high cuisine, and I’m sure that my treatment of the beef is probably going to be frowned upon.

This was intended as a flavourful way to use affordable cuts of meat usually “fast fry” beef, and I cook it up on the stop top in just minutes.

Flank steak, skirt steak, and flat iron steak, and top sirloin steak are all great options.

I season it simply, with a little Kosher Salt, Garlic Powder, and Ground Black Pepper.

Nothing fancy or complicated - most of the flavour comes from the horseradish dressing.

Want to make it even easier? Use some leftover steak. That prime rib you had yesterday will be FABULOUS on this salad.

Feeling a little bougie? Do up a New York Strip Steak to your desired level of doneness.

I like to sous vide mine, then trim it and sear it. I then transfer steak to a cutting board, let the steak rest a few minutes, then slice it up and serve it over the salad.

Whether you fry your steak or slap it on a preheated grill, I’m sure you’ll find it fantastic with this salad - and the dressing, specifically!

How to Make Steak Salad

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here is the pictorial walk through, with some more detailed information where necessary.

Creamy Horseradish Dressing

Measure sour cream, horseradish, mayo and vinegar into a large measuring cup, mini food processor, or the blending vessel for a stick blender.

(You could also whisk it by hand in a small bowl, if you prefer)

Whisk or blend until smooth and well combined.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until use.

Salad Assembly

Fluff base salads, or divide salad greens between 4 bowls.

Arrange onions, cheese, and avocado slices over the salad greens, set aside.

Season with a little salt, and generously with garlic powder and pepper.

Cook over medium-high heat until beef is cooked through, brown, and almost caramelized - usually 4-5 minutes, TOPS.

Divide cooked beef over the prepared salads, serve immediately with the horseradish dressing.

If you’d like to use a better steak, I recommend going medium rare with it.

More Keto Main Dish Salad Recipes

Looking for more low carb salad recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a meal? Look no further!

Buffalo Chicken Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Cobb Salad
Italian Sub Salad
Keto Mediterranean Orzo Salad with Chicken
Keto Taco Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Salad Meal Prep
Seafood Cobb Salad
Seared Tuna Salad
Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad
Shawarma Chicken Salad
Thai Pesto Salmon Salad

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