Southwest Flap Steak

5 from 4 votes

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Flap steak is an often overlooked, budget friendly sirloin. On the grill or cooked indoors, make this recipe for a delicious grilled steak!

close up of flap steak cut into thin slices


What is Flap Steak?

Flap steak is a delicious, budget friendly cut of sirloin beef. The cut is much thinner and longer than a top sirloin, because it comes from the bottom sirloin butt, which is near where a beef tri-tip comes from. 

If you’re having trouble finding this cut of beef in the meat section, it might be labeled as bavette sirloin or bavette steak.

overhead image of grilled sirloin steak next to bowl of chimichurri sauce

Ingredient notes

This recipe calls for a dry rub of sazon seasoning for the flap meat. Just before serving, you’ll drizzle it with a flavorful, blended cilantro chimichurri sauce.

As mentioned earlier, if you don’t want to use sazon, feel free to use any dry or wet seasoning of your choice.

Preparing and Cooking Flat Meat

Just like skirt and flank steak, flap meat should be marinated with either an all purpose bbq dry rub or a wet steak marinade. It’s best cooked quickly on high, dry heat, either on a grill or under an oven broiler.

For the best flavor and texture, cook the meat to rare or medium-rare. If you cook the steak much longer, it becomes chewy and tough.

close up shot of flap steak drizzled with chimichurri sauce

Finishing Sauce

If you aren’t a fan of cilantro, you may want to use something other than cilantro chimichurri. You could make homemade A-1 steak sauce by combining 1/2 cup tomato ketchup with 2-3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce.

Or go bold, with something like creamy Jalapeno sauce or pesto alfredo sauce! Even some fresh homemade pico de gallo would be delicious on a southwest flap steak.

Want some other ideas for grilling beef?

You can never go wrong with a bacon wrapped filet mignon! Another quick recipe to make is grilled flank steak. You can enjoy it as is, or use it to make flank steak tacos.

close up image of flap steak with perfect grill hatch marks

This post, first published on Kevin is Cooking on Sept 2, 2013, was last updated with new content on Aug 28, 2021.

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close up of flap steak cut into thin slices

Southwest Flap Steak

5 from 4 votes
Flap steak is an often overlooked, budget friendly sirloin. On the grill or cooked indoors, make this recipe for a delicious grilled steak!
Servings: 4 servings
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes
Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Season flap steak on both sides with sazon seasoning or steak spices of your choice. Transfer steak to a plate and allow it to rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
  • Preheat grill to 400°F.
  • Grill meat to your liking, but I recommend keeping this one on the rare side (it tends to be a little chewy), 6 to 8 minutes total for medium-rare. Transfer to a plate, tent with aluminum foil and allow meat to rest for 10 minutes.
  • Slicing with the grain, divide flap meat into three or four pieces, then rotate each piece 90° and cut thin slices against the grain.
  • Drizzle cilantro chimichurri over each serving of flap steak and serve immediately.

Notes

  1. Flap meat is a thin cut of beef sirloin

Nutrition

Calories: 504kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 46g | Fat: 32g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Cholesterol: 138mg | Sodium: 273mg | Potassium: 793mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 305IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 180mg | Iron: 7.6mg

The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Course: Dinners
Cuisine: Grilling/Smoking
Have You Made This Recipe? Let Me Know on InstagramTag @keviniscooking or tag me #keviniscooking!
titled image of grilled flap meat

Kevin

Whether in the kitchen or on the grill, you’ll find me cooking American favorites with a love for BBQ, Mexican and Tex Mex. I’m passionate about making tasty food because life’s too short to be bland!

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10 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    This is a meal I just love. Maybe I’m crazy, but I like these types of meat better than a sirloin with chimichurri, beans and rice. Hard to find in my little corner of the world, unfortunately.

  2. 5 stars
    This is an incredible cut of meat. Takes on flavor from marinade very well and if cut cross grain very tender.

  3. Kevin, the pic of your flap steak was so much thicker than my 4 pieces, mine was probably under a 1/4 “. I grilled just 2 min per side. I did not rest mine as I didn’t think it would make a difference . It was so tender, rare and juicy. Your method of slicing was perfect. What is your thoughts on resting meat that is under an inch thick?

    1. Definitely rest your meat after cooking and before cutting. This permits the juices to get reabsorbed into the fibers of the meat. If you skip resting, you will lose more flavorful juices when the meat is cut.