This Steak Salad is so good! It features thinly sliced seared steak on top of a bed of mixed greens, avocado, and fresh veggies, and sprinkled with tangy crumbled feta cheese. The perfect final touch is an easy homemade steak salad dressing.
Want to be a little healthier while you enjoy a thick, juicy pan-seared steak? Instead of french fries or mashed potatoes, serve that steak in a delicious steak salad.
Or feel free to have those french fries on the side, nobody here is judging!
Steak salad is packed with veggies, but it’s certainly not boring. A tasty homemade dressing and crumbled feta make it amazingly tasty.
Looking for more protein-packed salad options? Try my Chicken Ceasar Salad or a delicious Shrimp Cobb Salad next.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Delicious Homemade Salad Dressing – It’s really very simple to make a fresh dressing with olive oil, balsamic dressing, and seasonings, and you won’t believe how much better it is than the bottled stuff.
- Great for Leftovers – While I do enjoy this salad with just cooked, warm steak on top, it’s very good with cold steak as well. Use last night’s dinner leftovers as today’s lunch!
- Customizable Recipe – Feel free to edit the ingredients here and include the things that you love most in a salad.
Ingredients In This Steak Salad
Here’s what you need to make the best steak salad:
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Steak: Because we aren’t using steak as a main course here, we can get away with using just one steak for four servings! Make sure you choose one that is large, around 1 ¼ lb. I always prefer a nicely marbled ribeye, but you can also use sirloin, strip, or flank steak. You’ll also need cooking oil and butter if you’ll be searing the steak for this beef salad recipe.
- Veggies: Start with salad mix, then add sliced cucumbers, diced avocado, cherry tomatoes, and thinly sliced red onion.
- Steak Salad Dressing: Mix up the dressing ahead of time if you want to. It’s a simple combination of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, whole-grain mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper.
How To Make The Best Steak Salad
- Make the Salad Dressing: Add the oil, vinegar, both types of mustard, minced garlic, salt, and pepper to a small bowl or a jar with a lid. Whisk or shake until the dressing is emulsified and creamy. Set aside.
- Pan Sear the Steak: Pat the steak dry with paper towels and season it well with salt and pepper. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a cast iron pan (or any heavy pan). Add the steak and cook for 3 minutes – it will form a crust on the bottom. Flip the steak and cook for 30 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and continue cooking the steak for 90 seconds, basting with butter, until the temperature is 120°F (for a rare steak), or to your preference. Allow the steak to rest for 5-8 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain to add to the salad.
- Make the Salad: In a large bowl combine the mixed greens, with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion. Dress the salad with ¾ of the dressing, and toss to combine. Transfer to a serving platter, then top with sliced steak, sliced avocado, and crumbled feta cheese. Drizzle the remaining dressing, and finish with a grind of freshly cracked black pepper.
Tip!
If you enjoy a little sweetness to your salad dressing, try adding a teaspoon of honey!
How To Make a Grilled Steak Salad
Follow the instructions above, but cook the steak on the grill rather than on the stove.
To Grill a Steak: Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Brush oil over the steak and season it with salt and pepper. Add the steak to the grill and reduce the heat to medium. Grill for 3-4 minutes per side or until it reaches the desired temperature.
You can also make steak in the air fryer to add to your steak salad!
Recipe Tips
- Go see my post about how to make the perfect pan-seared steak if you need more details about the process.
- When shopping for steak, look for one that is over an inch thick. They are easier to cook this way, particularly if you want the steak to be on the rare side.
- Instead of feta cheese, try crumbled blue cheese or goat cheese.
- When serving steak on a salad, it’s best to slice it thin. I aim for ¼ to ⅓ of an inch.
What Temperature To Cook Steak To
The USDA recommends cooking steaks to at least 145°F/63°C for food safety reasons. Aside from that, here are the temperatures you should aim for, depending on how you like your steak cooked:
- Rare: 120 to 130°F or 49 to 54°C
- Medium Rare: 130 to 135°F or 54 to 57°C
- Medium: 135 to 145°F or 57 to 63°C
- Medium Well: 145 to 155°F or 63 to 68°C
- Well Done: 155+ °F or 68+°C
Remember that the temperature of the meat will raise 5-10 degrees while it’s resting!
Learn more about using a kitchen thermometer to check the temperature of food! It truly is the most used tool in my kitchen.
Storing Tips
Salads like this one don’t make very good leftovers, so I suggest eating your steak salad right after dressing it.
If you want to, you can cook the steak and keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days. Slice it and add it to the salad cold.
More Amazing Salad Recipes
All Salads →
Recipe FAQs
I prefer to use a cast iron skillet to pan-fry steaks. It’s heavy, distributes and retains heat well, and helps to form a beautiful crust on the meat. If you don’t have one of these, don’t worry! Any heavy-bottomed frying pan will work.
It’s not necessary to do this and it can actually leave your steaks open to spoilage. It’s been proven that a steak will cook exactly the same when it’s cold as it will when it’s been left at room temperature for two hours.
Sure! This easy vinaigrette complements the steak perfectly, but if you prefer, mix up a batch of copycat Olive Garden Salad Dressing, Creamy Balsamic Dressing, Blue Cheese Dressing, or Homemade Ranch.
Steak Salad is one of my favorite ways to enjoy a perfectly cooked steak, and I know you’ll love it too! This delicious and healthy salad is perfect for meal prepping, a filling lunch, or a light dinner, so be sure to Pin it for later!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Steak Salad
Ingredients
For the balsamic vinaigrette:
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) balsamic vinegar
- ½ tablespoon Dijon mustard
- ½ tablespoon grainy mustard
- 1 clove garlic pressed or very finely minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
For Pan Searing the Steak:
- 1 ¼ lb steak ribeye, sirloin, strip or flank, thick cut
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter optional
For the salad:
- 6-8 cups mixed greens or any salad greens
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- ½ cup sliced cucumber
- ½ small red onion thinly sliced
- 1 avocado sliced
- ¼ cup feta cheese or goat cheese crumbled
Instructions
Make the Salad Dressing:
- In a bowl or a small jar combine the olive oil with balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, grainy mustard, garlic, salt, and pepper. Whisk or shake well until combined. You want the dressing to be emulsified and creamy. Set aside.
To Sear the Steak:
- Pat the steak dry with paper towels and season it well with salt and pepper. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a cast iron pan (or any heavy pan). Add the steak and cook for 3 minutes – it will form a crust on the bottom.
- Flip the steak and cook for 30 seconds. Add 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan and continue cooking the steak for 90 seconds, basting with butter, until the temperature is 120°F (for a rare steak), or to your preference. Allow the steak to rest for 5-8 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain to add to the salad.
To Grill the Steak:
- Preheat the grill to medium-high heat. Brush oil over the steak and season it with salt and pepper. Add the steak to the grill and reduce the heat to medium. Grill for 3-4 minutes per side or until it reaches the desired temperature. Allow the steak to rest for 5-8 minutes, then slice thinly against the grain to add to the salad.
Assemble the Salad
- In a large bowl combine the mixed greens with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and red onion.
- Dress the salad with ¾ of the dressing you prepared earlier and toss to combine.
- Transfer the salad to a serving platter, top with sliced steak, sliced avocado, and crumbled feta cheese. Drizzle with the remaining dressing, and finish with a grind of freshly cracked black pepper.
Notes:
- When shopping for steak, look for one that is over an inch thick. They are easier to cook this way, particularly if you want the steak to be on the rare side.
- You can cook the steak however you’d like to. I’m sharing the best way to either pan-sear or grill steak here.
- Slice the steak thinly. I aim for ¼ to ⅓ of an inch.
- Instead of feta cheese, try crumbled blue cheese or goat cheese.
- Enjoy right away. Salads don’t generally make great leftovers. If you’d like to cook your steak ahead of time, store it in the fridge for up to 4 days, then slice and add it to the salad cold.
- Steak Temperature: The USDA recommends cooking steaks to at least 145°F/63°C for food safety reasons. Aside from that, here are the temperatures you should aim for, depending on how you like your steak cooked:
- Remember that the temperature of the meat will rise 5-10 degrees while it’s resting.
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
Tammie says
This was just YUMMY!!
I wasn’t sure my husband would like it, (not a fan of balsamic vinegar). He loved it!
Really delicious and easy to make.
Sandy says
We live in Hades, I mean Central Florida, and are always looking for salad recipes in the summer as it’s uncomfortable to eat a heavy meal in this heat, even if you’re mostly indoors. Hubby is a carnivore, and I love salad, so this one made us both happy! And the dressing is now my new favorite that I’ll be making in bulk weekly! So simple, and so very good! Thank you for sharing, and I look forward to trying more!