Air Fryer Flank Steak with Chimichurri

March 12, 2019

Air Fryer Flank Steak with Chimichurri

Flank steak cooked hot and fast in the air fryer, sliced thin against the grain and topped with chimichurri — a raw, hand-chopped sauce of parsley, garlic, oregano and chili in olive oil and red wine vinegar. The air fryer does what a hot grill or cast-iron pan would otherwise do: sears the outside quickly while the inside stays pink, with no need to heat up a whole grill for one steak.

Chimichurri comes from Argentina and Uruguay, where it’s the standard table sauce for grilled beef. It’s built on a simple ratio — roughly four parts olive oil to one part red wine vinegar — loaded with finely chopped parsley, garlic and oregano, and given some heat from chili flakes or a fresh chili. The sauce is meant to stay loose and textured, chopped by hand rather than run through a food processor, which would turn it into a smooth paste and lose the point of it.

Flank steak is a lean, well-worked cut with long muscle fibers running the length of it, which makes slicing direction the difference between a tender bite and a chewy one. Cooked to medium-rare or medium, rested, then cut thin and against the grain, it eats far more tender than the cut’s reputation suggests. Skirt steak is a good stand-in if flank isn’t available — it cooks a little faster since it’s thinner.

Serve it simply, with the extra chimichurri spooned on at the table so everyone can add as much as they like. Roasted or air-fried potatoes make a natural side, since they can go in the same basket either before or after the steak.

Ingredients

Serves 4

The steak

680 g flank steak (or skirt steak), trimmed
1 tbsp olive oil
¾ tsp coarse salt
½ tsp black pepper
2 tsp honey, warmed (optional, for browning)

The chimichurri

120 ml extra-virgin olive oil
30 ml red wine vinegar
30 g fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp fresh oregano, minced (or 1 tsp dried oregano)
½ tsp red-pepper flakes (or 1 fresh red chili, seeded and finely chopped)
¾ tsp coarse salt
¼ tsp black pepper

Directions

The chimichurri

Start with the chimichurri so it has time to sit. Finely chop the parsley, garlic, oregano and fresh chili (if using) by hand — a food processor turns the sauce into a paste and loses the texture that makes it work. Stir the chopped ingredients together with the olive oil, red wine vinegar, red-pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Let it sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes, up to a few hours, so the flavors come together.

The steak

Pat the flank steak dry with paper towels. Rub it all over with the tablespoon of olive oil, then season with the salt and pepper. If you want extra browning, brush it with the warmed honey. Let the steak sit at room temperature while the air fryer heats up.

Preheat the air fryer to 400°F (204°C), about 5 minutes.

Cook the steak at 400°F (204°C) for about 10 minutes total, flipping it halfway through. Exact timing depends on the machine and the thickness of the steak, so start checking with an instant-read thermometer around the 8-minute mark. Pull it at 125°F (52°C) for medium-rare or 130–135°F (54–57°C) for medium — the temperature will climb another few degrees as it rests.

Move the steak to a cutting board, tent it loosely with foil, and let it rest for 7 to 10 minutes before cutting into it.

To serve

Find the direction the muscle fibers run and slice the steak thin, cutting across them rather than along them — this is what keeps flank steak tender instead of chewy. Spoon some of the chimichurri over the sliced steak and bring the rest to the table.

Notes

Flank and skirt steak are both best at medium-rare to medium. Cooked further, they turn dry and tough.

If the steak is a large piece, it can help to halve it lengthwise, with the grain, before cooking — that makes it easier to find the grain and slice cleanly against it afterward.

Skirt steak works as a straight substitute for flank. It’s a bit thinner, so start checking its temperature earlier than the times above.

For a marinated version, hold back about a third of the chimichurri, marinate the raw steak in it for 30 minutes up to overnight, then finish with the reserved fresh sauce. This isn’t the traditional way to serve chimichurri — it’s meant as a raw sauce spooned on at the table — but it’s a common and effective variation.

Chimichurri keeps about a week in the fridge. The oil solidifies when cold, so let it come back to room temperature before serving.