Steak and Potatoes Skillet — Made with garlic butter, herbs and spices, these juicy steak bites just melt in your mouth! Plus there are buttery and tender potatoes with lightly crisped edges. Made in just ONE skillet and ready quickly, my EASY recipe walks you through how to make the PERFECT steak and potatoes meal!
Easy Garlic Butter Steak and Potatoes Skillet Recipe
Do you have “meat and potatoes” people in your life? You know the ones who almost forget that there are any other food groups as long as they’ve got their steak and potatoes. Vegetables…what are those?
This recipe is made for those exact people who want tender, juicy bites of well-seasoned steak along with potatoes that are soft and buttery on the inside and lightly crisped on the outside.
It’s a one-skillet recipe which I absolutely love. Who has time for extra dishes – surely not me!
And it’s a dinner recipe that’s good enough to serve as a fancier dinner for say a dinner party or a Valentine’s night in or an anniversary dinner. But easy enough to make on busy weeknights.
The whole meal is ready from start to finish in about 35 to 40 minutes which is music to me ears. It’s naturally gluten-free too.
Ingredients in Steak and Potatoes Skillet with Garlic Butter
To make a restaurant-worthy garlic steak and potatoes skillet, you only need a handful of common and easy-to-find refrigerator and pantry ingredients including the following:
- Olive oil
- Baby Yukon gold potatoes
- Yellow onion
- Minced garlic cloves
- Thyme
- Rosemary
- Salt
- Fresh cracked pepper
- Red pepper flakes
- Unsalted butter
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Garlic Butter Steak and Potatoes in a Skillet
It’s not difficult to make skillet steak and potatoes right in the comfort of your own kitchen – no outdoor grill nor even an indoor grill pan are needed!
Follow these straightforward steps for the best steak and potatoes!
Step 1: Preheat oven to 400F, dice the potatoes, and add olive oil to a large oven-safe skillet.
Step 2: Add the potatoes and onions to the skillet.
Step 3: Evenly sprinkle with 1 teaspoon each fresh thyme and fresh rosemary, add 1 tablespoon garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon each of the red peppers flakes and salt.
Step 4: Cook the potatoes over medium high heat until browned, tossing frequently, and then add 2 tablespoons of butter, and stir to melt and combine.
Step 5: Bake the potatoes for about 15 to 20 minutes or until fork tender. Remove the pan from the oven, take the potatoes out, and set them aside in a large bowl and keep warm.
Don’t Get Burned – Use a Potholder
If you’re using a cast iron skillet or oven safe skillet with a long handle, don’t forget that after 15-20 minutes in a 400F oven, the handle will be screaming hot! Make sure to use a potholder when grabbing that handle to pull the pan out.
It’s easy for me to remember to use pot holders when pull out a cake pan but for some reason, at times, it’s easy to forget that handles of skillets also require potholders!
Step 6: Using the same skillet, add the remaining 1/4 cup of butter, garlic, all the remaining herbs, salt, and stir to combine and melt.
Step 7: Add the steak to the hot garlic butter mixture, and cook over medium heat, spooning butter over the steak as it sears and cooks.
Step 8: Using the chart below, flip the steak as recommended, and sear steak on the second side, and spooning the butter.
Step 9: Take the temperature in the thickest part of the meat, (pull it 5 degrees early to account for carryover cooking), and allow it to rest for 5 minutes.
Step 10: As the steak rests, add the potatoes back to the skillet and warm them up a bit.
Step 11: Slice the steak against the grain, place it back into the skillet to rewarm slightly, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, and serve!
How Long Should I Cook Steak?
Cooking a steak is both art and science in my opinion.
For the art part – you know how some people just “know” when it’s done or when to flip it? That’s something that you can learn with time, practice, and patience.
However, the science of how internal food temperature effects taste and texture is a pretty cut-and-dried scientific determination that is measurable and quantifiable.
Use this as a guideline for steaks that are about 1 1/2-inches thick.
- Rare: 120 to 130 F; 5 then 3 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 125F
- Medium-Rare: 130 to 135 F; 5 then 4 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 130F
- Medium: 140 to 150 F; 6 then 4 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 145F
- Medium-Well: 155 to 165 F; 7 then 5 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 160F
- Well-Done: 170 F or more; 12 then 10 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 165F
- source
This means you need to use a digital read thermometer to know for sure!
Don’t guess – use a thermometer instead!
Steak Cooking Tip
If your steak is very thick or very thin the time estimates given will change for how long you cook each side, but the temperature you want to achieve does not.
Meaning a thick steak cooked to medium may take 12 minutes total compared to a very thin steak which may only need 8 minutes total.
What Kind of Steak Should I Use?
You can really use many different cuts of steak including:
- Ribeye steak
- Flank steak
- Skirt steak
- New York Strip steak
- Strip loin
- Sirloin steak
- Beef tenderloin (filet mignon)
Other Steak Considerations
- Overall Size – Not too big/wide, or too many steaks in the package that it won’t fit in your pan
- Thickness – About 1-inch thick works best
- Price – Personally there’s no need to use filet mignon when something else much cheaper will be just fine but it’s up to you!
What Kind of Potatoes Should I Use?
For this steak and potatoes recipe, I like to use a waxier potato such as baby Yukon gold potatoes. The smaller size means you just need to halve them, and some of them will be small enough that you don’t even need to bother.
You can also use:
- Yukon gold potatoes (regular size that you dice or chop into bite-sized pieces)
- Red potatoes or baby red potatoes
- Fingerling potatoes
I do not recommend Russet potatoes because they’re a starchier potato and don’t hold up as well in this cooking style and format. Save your Russet potatoes to be made as traditional baked potatoes!
What to Serve with Steak and Potatoes
Many meat and potatoes lovers are completely fine with just meat and potatoes!
However, if you’re looking for a little greenery or something else on the side, I have a few different options that come to mind including the following:
- Stuffed Cheese Bread Rolls
- No-Knead Dinner Rolls
- Roasted Cheesy Asparagus
- Roasted Brussels Spouts Salad
- Roasted Balsamic Broccoli
- BLT Salad with Creamy Ranch Dressing
Storage Instructions
Let’s face it, steak and potatoes made in a skillet or really any way is going to be at its best warm and fresh and enjoyed right away.
However, if you do have leftovers, they’ll keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Reheat them very gently in the microwave or in a skillet carefully, making sure not to overdo-it.
Steak and Potatoes Skillet FAQs
I use thyme and rosemary, plus of course garlic and some red pepper flakes for a punch of flavor.
If you have fresh on hand, go with fresh herbs. However, dried herbs will also work.
Dried herbs are more potent than fresh, and you only need about half the amount. So 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme = 1 teaspoon dried thyme
What could be better than freshly grated Parmesan cheese grated over warm potatoes! But if that doesn’t sound heavenly to you or you don’t have it on hand, you can simply omit it.
That’s entirely up to you. Feel free to use a steak sauce, hot sauce, sriracha, or whatever tickles your fancy.
Tips for the Best Steak and Potatoes Skillet
Cooking the Potatoes
Rather than doing a two-part cooking process with the potatoes that starts with cooking them for about 6 minutes on the stovetop and finishing them in the oven with 15 to 20 minutes, you can instead boil them whole for 8 minutes and then finish cooking them in the skillet for about 5 minutes, or until done.
Steak At Room Temperature
Make sure to take the steak out of the refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes prior to cooking it. You want the steak to be the same temperature throughout before you begin to cook it.
Hot Skillet
Make sure the skillet is hot before adding the steak. In this steak and potatoes recipe, you’re melting butter with the herbs and salt before adding the steak to the mixture. But make sure that butter is melted and your skillet is hot.
Sear
It’s important to sear the steak on each side. Once you drop it in the skillet, let it be and don’t move it around until it’s actually time to flip it.
When it’s properly seared, it’s actually easy to flip and you won’t be fighting with it or feeling like it’s sticking.
Check the Temp
As I mentioned above, cook the steak to the recommended temperatures based on if you want it rare or medium or well-done or anything in between. Use a digital thermometer and don’t guess.
Internal Temp
Remember that the internal temp will rise about 5 degrees during the resting period.
So if you want a medium-rare steak, you need to pull it off the heat at 125 to 130F since the temp will increase by 5 degrees (130 to 135F) during the resting period, bringing it up to the 125-130F range.
Rest
Always allow a steak to rest for 5 to 10 minutes so the natural juices stay in the steak. And slice it against the grain.
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Steak and Potatoes Skillet
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 ½ ponds baby Yukon gold potatoes, diced in half or quartered to create bite sized pieces*
- 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and sliced thinly, vertically
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic, divided
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, or 1 teaspoon dried thyme; divided
- 2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary; divided
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste; divided
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste; divided
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes; divided
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 ½ pounds steak, about 2 large or 4 smaller steaks**
- 3 tablespoon shredded Parmesan cheese, optional but recomended for garnishing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F, dice potatoes into bite-sized pieces or wedges, and add the olive oil to a large, oven-safe skillet. Tips – For the skille, you can use stainless steel, cast iron, enameled cast iron, or something that can stand up to high heat in the oven. Do not use a nonstick skillet intended for say scrambled eggs.
- Add the potatoes, onions, evenly sprinkle with half the garlic, half the thyme, half the rosemary, half the salt, half the pepper, half the red pepper flakes, and toss to coat and combine well, and cook for about 5 minutes over medium-high heat or until potatoes are lightly golden browned on the outside and onions have softened and are translucent; stir and flip intermittently.
- Stir in 2 tablespoons of butter and allow it to melt.
- Transfer the skillet to the oven, and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are done and fork-tender.
- Using a pot holder, remove the skillet from the oven, take the potaotes out, set them on a plate or in a bowl, and cover with foil to keep warm; set aside.
- Place the same skillet onto the stove, add the remaining 4 tablespoons butter, all the remaining garlic, herbs, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, and heat over medium heat to melt the butter; stir continuously until melted. Tip – Some people will want to use much more salt than I call for in the recipe and if you're in that group, go for it.
- Add the steaks and allow them to cook and sear undisturbed on the first side. Using the chart provided below*** flip the steak when indicated, and sear it on the second side.
- Take the temperature of the steaks using a digital thermometer to check for doneness based on if you want it rare, medium, etc. pull the steaks out, and allow them to rest on a cutting board or plate for 5 minutes (or up to 10 minutes). Tips – Make sure to use a thermometer and do not guess. Pull them out when the temperature is 5 degrees below where you ultimately want it since the temperature will continue to rise during the resting phase due to carryover cooking. Do not skip resting the meat.
- Meanwhile, add the potatoes back into the skillet and allow them to re-warm gently as the steaks rest.
- After a 5 to 10 minute rest, slice the steaks against the grain, add the sliced meat back into the pan with the potatoes, and optionally evenly sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesarn to garnish, and serve immediately. Recipe is best warm and fresh but leftovers will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 4 days and in the freezer for up to 2 months. Reheat gently and carefully in the microwave or as desired.
Notes
- Ribeye
- Flank steak
- Skirt steak
- NY Strip steak
- Strip loin
- Sirloin
- Beef tenderloin (filet mignon)
- Rare:Â 120 to 130 F; 5 then 3 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 125F
- Medium-Rare: 130 to 135 F; 5 then 4 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 130F
- Medium: 140 to 150 F; 6 then 4 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 145F
- Medium-Well:Â 155 to 165 F; 7 then 5 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 160F
- Well-Done: 170 F or more; 12 then 10 minutes per side; pull off the heat at max 165F
- source
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I had a Flank Steak defrosting, so I used that. I had Russets for potatoes. Followed your recipe, LOVED it! Thanks again! You never disappoint!
I had a Flank Steak defrosting, so I used that. I had Russets for potatoes. Followed your recipe, LOVED it! Thanks again! You never disappoint!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad that this turned out great with your flank steak and Russets and that this turned out great! Thanks for making it on the very day I posted it!