Lean steaks can be tricky to work with. Fat is what adds flavor to steak so a lean cut isn’t always easy to grill (which is why so many people love a steak with good marbling—stripes of fat—running through it). But slow-cooking methods like braising aren’t ideal for lean meat either resulting in tough meat—save that for tough fatty cuts.
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The Complete Guide to Cooking the Perfect Steak
There are options but first let’s look at the leanest steaks out there. Top sirloin (between the ribs and the rump of a cow) is a big one. Other fairly common lean options also often come from the back end of the cow such as top round steak and bottom round steak. Then there’s eye of round steak which comes from the rump of a cow and flank steak which is known for being both lean and packed with meaty flavor. Finally there’s the sirloin tip side steak which comes from the legs – an area that gets a lot of exercise so it’s low in fat but can be tougher. (This isn’t an exhaustive list – there are others but these are the most common ones you’ll find.)
If you're not sure whether you're looking at lean beef it's good to know that the USDA has official definitions for both lean and ultra-lean beef. "Lean" means that for every 100 grams of beef there are no more than 10 grams of fat (of which 4.5 grams are saturated fat) while "ultra-lean" beef has no more than 5 grams of fat (including up to 2 grams of saturated fat) per 100 grams.
It’s important to clear up one misconception: You can still grill or sear lean cuts and still end up with a juicy flavorful steak. One way to do this is to marinate your steak beforehand. This has two important effects on the steak: First the acid in a marinade (like vinegar or lemon juice) softens and tenderizes the meat and it’s the lean cuts that tend to have this problem being tougher and less tender. Second the fat or oil in a marinade adds some of the juiciness that you would “naturally” get from a marbled steak (although the extra fat is obviously not ideal if you’re eating lean steak for health reasons) and helps keep it from drying out. Ideally marinating for six hours to a day works better than just a few minutes — then you can grill or pan-sear your lean steak.
