7 McCormick Steak Seasoning Blends, Ranked From Worst To Best

If you have a spice rack, chances are you've got at least a few McCormick & Company bottles in your selection. This culinary juggernaut has been around since 1889, crafting herbs, spices, sauces, and just about anything having to do with flavor. Among their overwhelmingly vast array of flavor enhancers are many spice blends which are purposefully created to enhance steak. These range from simple and traditional combinations like garlic and onion, to sweet, hot, and smoky flavor bombs that evoke spice mixes from around the world.

Wondering which of McCormick's seasoning blends you should reach for on your next steak night? We were curious, too, so we decided to put them to the test. I was given the opportunity to explore seven of McCormick's seasonings that are specifically formulated to accentuate the flavor of steak in order to see which ones belong on your beef, and which ones you might want to skip (and if you already have a few of these, which spice blends you'll want to replace with a fresh batch). To find out how they all stacked up, read on to see my rankings, from worst to best. 

Even though it's taken last place in these rankings, McCormick's Perfect Pinch steak seasoning is by no means a complete bust. While it would not be among my top choices to use on steak, I could see it working quite well as a more all-purpose seasoning — potatoes, chicken, maybe even mixed into a burger. When I first opened the bottle, the aroma reminded me of Old Bay, another McCormick spice blend, and it turns out that the ingredients are fairly similar. Both include salt and celery seed, black pepper, and paprika, while Perfect Pinch additionally has onion and garlic powder.

Old Bay is technically made for seafood, but I use it on just about everything, and this seasoning blend seems to fit that profile. It's fine-grained, so it adhered to the steak well and created a nice even coating, but it lacked texture compared to the other seasoning blends. I usually only season my steak with coarse sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper, so I missed the extra crunch and bite. It was also the saltiest of the seasoning mixes. I'm not shy when it comes to salt, but this verged right on the edge of too much for my palate — I'd definitely use a light hand with this seasoning in the future. I am excited to try it on French fries one of these days instead of Old Bay, which is my go-to fry seasoning. We'll see if it unseats the champ.

I should preface this entry by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with Max's All Purpose seasoning. It's part of a McCormick collaboration with Max the Meat Guy, a social media food influencer and chef known for his carnivorous creations. This particular blend is as simple as it gets, with only three ingredients: garlic, salt, and black pepper. As it says on the bottle, this is considered a "base" seasoning — Max's three blends are designed to work either alone, or layered together. For this ranking, I only tasted them solo.

There's just enough coarseness in this blend to give a little bit of crunch to the surface of the steak and to add a satisfying black pepper pop. The flavors, including the salt, are well balanced, and all work together to bring their own dimension to the steak while enhancing, rather than upstaging, the meat's flavor. The reason this isn't ranked higher is because it's so basic, I could recreate a very close approximation to this in a minute or two, and if I'm going for a seasoning this simple, I'd rather get out my pepper grinder and salt mill for than reach for a pre-made mix. That said, if you have it handy, use it and you'll certainly enjoy it.

I had a hard time not putting Max's Chimi Churri seasoning higher, because there's a lot to love about this blend. It was the least overtly salty of the bunch, so I might have done it a disservice by not trying it first — as it happened, it was one of the last ones I tried, and the relatively low salt level meant it came across as a little bit muted compared to the others. When I sat down with it longer and really picked apart the flavors, though, I liked it more and more.

Chimichurri, if you're unfamiliar, is an Argentine sauce with a mysterious history that has become a standard accompaniment to grilled meat. A mix of herbs, garlic, oil, and vinegar, it adds a fresh, bright, tangy dimension to steak, counterbalancing its rich, savory flavor. Max's seasoning blend features parsley and oregano as the main herbal flavors, as well as garlic, along with a mix of red pepper, black pepper, and Sichuan pepper to add a complex dimension of heat. What's great about this blend is that it packs a lot of flavor while still somehow being subtle and letting the beef's beefiness shine. I just wish there was a teensy bit more salt to make it really sing.

If you're looking to pack a punch, Max's Xtra Coarse seasoning is the blend to reach for. It's by far the most intensely flavorful and texturally interesting offering of the bunch. Big crystals of salt, cracked black peppercorns, and a melange of seeds — mustard, brown mustard, coriander, dill, and celery — are joined with onion, paprika, and garlic to create a warm, complex, layered seasoning. The flavors and textures all play together beautifully, and the salt balance is spot on.

If this ranking were purely subjective based on my own personal quirks, this might land at the top, because when it comes to steak seasoning, I say the coarser and crunchier, the better. It's a powerhouse of flavor and texture, that's not disputable. However, with each bite, I did find myself feeling like the steak was a vehicle for the seasoning, rather than the seasoning enhancing the steak. If you want maximum intensity, this is it, but only use it if you're okay with your steak playing second fiddle.

One of the most iconic seasoning blends comes from a deli in the great white north. Montreal steak seasoning was presumably invented by a grill cook at Schwartz's deli well known for the regional specialty Montreal smoked meat. Eventually his seasoning blend became so popular with customers that he began selling it to them, and eventually the spice mix took on a life of its own. McCormick's version consists of coarse salt, black and red pepper, garlic, onion, paprika, and other ingredients labeled only as "spices," presumably to keep their proprietary blend a secret.

Montreal steak seasoning is classic for a reason. With one bite you see why it's stood the test of time, and why so many of Schwartz's customers demanded it for themselves. The garlic flavor is front-and-center, thanks to crunchy chunks of granulated garlic rather than fine-ground powder. A close examination of the coarse blend shows what look like dill seeds, as well, which add a fresh pungency that cools off the warmer flavors. There's a lovely lingering pepperiness that tingles the back of your palate, adding a subtle touch of heat without it becoming all about the burn. My biggest issue with this blend was logistical — after searing the steak on high heat for barely a minute, the big chunks of garlic and onion became burnt, lending them a slight acrid note. Next time, I might not add the seasoning until the meat is resting.

Once again, McCormick hides their full Brazilian Steakhouse seasoning blend here with a somewhat vague "spices" in the ingredients list (although they do spell out some: black pepper, paprika, jalapeño, and parsley), so I can't examine exactly why this seasoning mix works so incredibly well. Aside from the ubiquitous trio of salt, garlic, and onion, it also contains red and green bell pepper, citric acid, and malic acid. Perhaps it's the punch of mouthwatering bright acidity that makes this blend next-level delicious. Perhaps it's the subtle sweetness and fruity heat from the bell and jalapeño peppers. Whatever it is, it just works.

Similar to Max's Chimi Churri seasoning, the Brazilian Steakhouse blend is brightly herbaceous and adds an invigorating lightness to steak. I found the salt balance to be much better in this one, and the additional heat from jalapeño pepper gives it another layer. It's not an overwhelming burn, but enough to clear your sinuses. Of all the steaks I cooked for this taste test, this one was my least impressive — I didn't get a great sear, and it was a little rarer than the others — but the seasoning blend was so lively, zesty, and delicious that it more than made up for my culinary missteps with the beef. I think this stuff could make a shoe taste pretty good.

However much I love exploring less-beaten paths, when it comes to steak, I always come home again. McCormick's Classic all purpose seasoning is just a few tiny steps away from Max's all purpose seasoning — in addition to salt, black pepper, and garlic, it also includes onion and celery seed — but those small additions make a massive difference. A little sweetness and umami from onion, a fresh vegetal air from celery seed, and a perfectly balanced base trio all work together to send this apparently simple blend into the flavor stratosphere.

This Classic seasoning isn't flashy, or avant-garde. It won't blow your mind when you take a bite. However, as you're enjoying a steak generously encrusted with this blend, you won't be thinking about the seasoning at all. You'll be thinking about the steak. The five workhorse ingredients here complement and contrast each other, and the beef, so well that they fuse into one entity. To me, that's what makes an ideal seasoning — it becomes so integral to the food itself, that you don't notice it's there. McCormick's Classic blend hits that mark. It exudes elegantly elevated simplicity, which is exactly what a beautiful cut of steak should be.

The selection of steak seasonings was provided by McCormick. Each seasoning was applied to a cut of tri-tip steak which I first brushed with oil, then seasoned the recommended ratio of one tablespoon per pound of meat. I attempted to season the entire steak as evenly as possible. The steaks were then pan-seared one at a time until they reached an internal temperature of approximately 125 degrees Fahrenheit. I then let them rest until they reached between 130 and 135 degrees Fahrenheit, the range for medium rare.

I tasted each steak and judged the seasonings using several criteria. First and foremost was the taste of the seasoning itself, whether or not the ingredients in the mix worked together. Then I assessed how well the seasoning complemented the flavor of the beef without overwhelming it. Texture was also a consideration, as these seasonings range from fine-grained to very coarse. Since these are all-in-one seasonings that already include salt, I also factored in the seasoning level.