An Onion Is All You Need To Tenderize Your Steak

If you want to make that New York strip or sirloin steak succulent and juicy, then you might want to consider a tenderizer before cooking. Although it can make steak more tender, you can put away that powdered meat tenderizer you bought from the spices aisle. Instead, all you need for a juicy steak is an onion, which acts as a natural tenderizer while also adding a boost of flavor to your meal. 

Simply dice up your onion into small pieces and mix it with some salt. Add the mixture to your steak before cooking, and let the meat sit in the onion juices for at least 30 minutes to an hour. In Japan, the technique is traditionally used for Chaliapin steak, which also involves scoring and pounding the beef with a mallet before coating it in raw onion prior to cooking. The pungent vegetable softens the meat to where you can tear it apart with your fingers — no knife needed. 

If you've already got a marinade in mind for your steak, try adding some raw onion to the mix as well. It will have the same effect as if you were just using onion by itself. "Adding raw onion to marinades not only adds flavor, but it also tenderizes the meat," says Taste's Amira Geory.

Onions and steak certainly seem to go hand in hand, and the science backs this up. According to a study conducted by the American Chemical Society, alliums can produce a meaty flavor when fermented with certain kinds of fungi, which may improve plant-based meats in the future. As for their effect on beef, the reason that onions tenderize meat is all due to the chemistry of the vegetable. The proteolytic enzymes in onions react with the proteins in meat like beef, and this breaking down of the muscle fibers causes the steak to become more tender as a result.

In order to achieve the desired chemical reaction, you should only use raw onions as they're the most enzyme-rich. Likewise, consider finely dicing or even pulverizing the onions. You can even produce an onion juice to combine with your marinades. As Amira Geory told Taste, "I find that the finer the onion is, the better it works, so sometimes I actually grate the onion. Just be sure to use a ceramic or glass bowl when marinating." A resealable plastic bag will also work.

While you want to give your onions time to properly tenderize your steak, you should be wary of letting your meat sit for too long. Don't leave your steak tenderizing for longer than two hours before cooking. Otherwise, you may find that the outer layer has become mushy instead of tender. 

It's also important to consider which cuts of steak that you are cooking as well. If you need to distinguish the difference between a tough and tender cut, then look at the marbling on the steak. Since they're likely already softer, tender cuts like filet mignons or ribeyes will need less time soaking in onions or onion juice than tougher ones. Another option is to poke holes in your meat to allow the enzymes to reach the middle of your steak. 

While there are commercial tenderizers available, onions work exceptionally well in a pinch and also pair perfectly with the flavors of your steak. To that end, when you finish tenderizing your beef, you can give Chaliapin steak a shot by adding your onions to the frying pan to caramelize after the meat has cooked. It's easy to see why the dish has remained a mainstay at Tokyo's Imperial Hotel for nearly a century. Eaten together, the hearty browned onions will enhance the flavors of the oniony beef.