An entire head of garlic goes into the marinade for these Grilled Garlic Sirloin Skewers. After grilling to tender perfection, they get brushed with warm garlic butter before serving, creating the steak of every garlic-lover’s dreams! Sirloin makes a top choice for this recipe, but if budget allows they’re fantastic with filet or ribeye as well.
Ingredient Notes
- Fresh Garlic – You’ll need an entire (large) head of garlic for this recipe. If you have one of the large containers of peeled garlic cloves, that works great here, but avoid using pre-chopped garlic in a jar, frozen garlic, or dried garlic in this recipe. When garlic is such a huge main component, you’ll want to use real, fresh garlic.
- Sirloin – As the recipe name implies, sirloin is a great cut of beef for skewers. You can experiment with other cuts. I’ve made these with tri-tip steaks and they were pretty good, but definitely not as tender as the sirloin. If budget allows you could also use a pricier cut of beef like filet or ribeye.
- Vegetable oil
- Brown Sugar
- Dry Parsley
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Kosher Salt
- Black Pepper
How to Make Grilled Garlic Sirloin Skewers
- First make your garlic-packed marinade. The marinade for our Grilled Garlic Sirloin Skewers is incredibly simple. Tons of fresh minced garlic, oil, a touch of brown sugar (helps to caramelize) and a splash of Worcestershire for a little acidity and a little dried parsley. You’ll coat your beef in this mixture and let it sit for 6-8 hours or overnight. See note on peeling lots of garlic at once below in the Storage and Other Tips section.
- When ready to cook, pop your meat onto some strong metal skewers and toss them on the grill until they reach medium rare, or 135-140°F. Remove your skewers from the grill and tent with foil.
- While skewers are cooking, prepare your garlic butter. Either on stovetop or in microwave, heat some butter and garlic together until the butter is melted. On the stove-top leave it on low heat for a few minutes to really release lots of garlic flavor. Remove from heat and add fresh parsley. Use a silicone brush to brush over skewers on serving platter and serve.
Storage and Other Tips
- Cooked skewers should be tightly covered and refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking. Eat leftover meat within about 3 days.
- The most laborious part of this fairly easy recipe is peeling so much garlic! I’ve found the easiest method is to break apart your head of garlic and pull off as much of the excess paper as you can. Place the individual cloves in a small plastic container with a lid (or a mason jar would probably work) and shake vigorously. It takes quite a bit of shaking, but after a minute or so you can check and see that the garlic cloves have mostly peeled themselves. It saves a lot of time!
Frequently Asked Questions
I don’t like pink in my meat. Can I cook these more?
You can, but be aware that these are best cooked to medium rare and the meat will become much less tender the longer it is cooked. It will also continue cooking a bit once pulled off the grill. I would not cook them past 150°F.
Could I use this recipe for chicken?
Definitely! Boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs would be delicious. Just be sure to cook them to an internal temperature of 165°F before pulling them off the grill. If making some chicken and some beef, put them on separate skewers so you can control the cooking time for each.
Tips for Making Grilled Garlic Sirloin Skewers
- Do not cut your steak into tiny bite-size pieces. They will cook much too fast and dry out resulting in chewy skewers. Think of your pieces not of one-bite chunks, but rather mini steaks on skewers. Once they come off, they are meant to be eaten with a knife and fork in a few bites.
- Cut your steak into evenly sized pieces. If you have some tiny thin pieces and other big fat pieces, some will be overcooked while others are undercooked.
- Don’t overcook. Use an instant read digital thermometer and take your skewers off the grill when the centers are about 135-140 degrees and immediately tent in foil.
Garlic Sirloin Skewers
A garlic-lovers dream, these tender steak skewers are packed with garlic flavor.
Servings people
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Skewers
- 2-3 pounds sirloin cut into 1 1/2 – 2″ chunks
- 1 head garlic should end up with about 4-6 tablespoons finely minced/pressed
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon dry parsley
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- kosher salt
- black pepper
For the Garlic Butter
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic reserve a clove before you put it all in your marinade.
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2-3 tablespoons freshly minced parsley
Instructions
- Place your cubed steak in a large bowl or zip top bag.
- Peel Garlic: Break up your head of garlic and discard as much of the papery skin as you can easily with your hands. Place the cloves in a small-medium plastic container with a lid, or a mason jar and shake vigorously until most of the skins have come off by themselves. Peel remaining garlic and then finely mince with a knife or use a garlic press (I prefer a press!). Reserve 1 small clove for your garlic butter, later.
- Mix Marinade: Place the rest of the minced garlic in a small bowl and combine with oil, brown sugar, Worcestershire and dry parsley. Pour over steak and massage in to coat all of the pieces well. Place steak in refrigerator and let sit for at least 6-8 hours or up to overnight.
- Grill Steak: Preheat grill to medium-high heat. Skewer steak onto strong metal skewers. Use an instant-read digital thermometer and cook skewers (turning occasionally) until internal temperature reaches about 135-140. This is for medium-rare, which is ideal for steak on the grill. You can cook them longer than that but be aware the steak will lose tenderness the longer you cook.
- Immediately tent with foil.
- Finish with Garlic Butter: While skewers are cooking, prepare garlic butter. Either on stovetop or in microwave, heat butter and garlic together until butter is melted. On the stove-top leave it on low heat for a few minutes to really release lots of garlic flavor. Remove from heat and add fresh parsley. Use a silicone brush to brush over skewers on serving platter.
Notes
- We suggest sirloin, but these can be made with a more expensive cut of beef, like filet or ribeye if you prefer.
- Use fresh garlic, and avoid pre-minced garlic in a jar.
- Do not cut your steak into tiny bite-size pieces. They will cook much too fast and dry out resulting in chewy skewers. Think of your pieces not of one-bite chunks, but rather mini steaks on skewers. Once they come off, they are meant to be eaten with a knife and fork in a few bites.
- Cut your steak into evenly sized pieces. If you have some tiny thin pieces and other big fat pieces, some will be overcooked while others are undercooked.
- Don’t overcook. Use an instant read digital thermometer and take your skewers off the grill when the centers are about 135-140 degrees and immediately tent in foil.
Nutrition
Serving: 6oz, Calories: 444kcal, Carbohydrates: 3g, Protein: 33g, Fat: 33g, Saturated Fat: 10g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 11g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.4g, Cholesterol: 112mg, Sodium: 127mg, Potassium: 564mg, Fiber: 0.1g, Sugar: 2g, Vitamin A: 354IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 56mg, Iron: 3mg
Calories: 444kcal
Cost: $20
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Questions & Reviews
I shook my garlic for at least three minutes, and only one clove peeled itself. However, the rest of them were easier to peel than usual, I think. It was fun to try it. And, oh, so worth it! What a delicious recipe!
The sauce looks so great! Thank you for sharing the nice recipe!
Just had these for my birthday dinner, they were delicious!!!
Is there an alternative to putting these on the grill?
You could broil them in the oven as well!