Someone asked me the other day to whip up my favorite all-purpose spice rub for summer so naturally, that's exactly what I did! Let me introduce you to this Chipotle Flank Steak with Corn Salsa!
Are you really surprised that my all time favorite spice rub has a decent amount of chipotle powder? I think not. If you follow along on insta stories, any of my recipes or any of my product lines, you know I love a chipotle moment. I stock chipotle powder by the truckload in case I ever run out. And I have a slew of chipotles in adobo in my pantry for whenever the craving strikes. This spice mixture has all sorts of flavors going on. It's smoky from the chipotle, spicy from the cayenne, sweet from the brown sugar and savory from the paprika, garlic powder, coriander and cumin. Once it's all combined, I pack it onto a piece of flank steak and throw it on the grill. Serve it up with a corn salsa that balances out all the flavor and it's actually the most perfect thing you'll taste all summer. It's the quintessential summer grilling steak recipe and you need it ASAP. Chipotle Flank Steak for the win.
You could also use this and dust it on fish before making fish tacos, you could use it on a whole roasted chicken and toss it into a calabacitas veggie hash! But for sure make the Chipotle Flank Steak, you won't be disappointed.
Some tips and tricks for cooking flank steak:
- How long to cook flank steak: If you want a medium-rare flank steak, cook for 4 minutes per side. If you want a medium flank steak, 5 minutes per side.
- Do you rest flank steak? Yes! You rest all steak. Rest your flank steak for about 5 minutes before serving, covering lightly with foil so the juices and redistribute throughout the meat and stay juicy.
- How do you cut flank steak: You'll want to cut flank steak thinly sliced against the grain for maximum tenderness.
- Can you marinate a flank steak: you can - but I prefer a dry rub as listed below.
- One more thing: always let your meat come to room temperature before cooking or grilling! VERY important part of perfecting a piece of meat!
Chipotle Flank Steak with Corn Salsa
Ingredients
For the spice rub
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon chipotle chile powder
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 1½ pounds flank steak
For the Corn Salsa
- 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for grill
- 3 ears of corn shucked
- 1 poblano pepper
- ¼ red onion finely chopped
- 1 jalapeño finely diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup fresh cilantro roughly chopped
- 2 limes juiced
- Kosher salt freshly ground pepper
Instructions
- Combine all the spices for the spice rub in a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Prepare a grill to medium high heat and brush with olive oil. Brush the corn with the oil. Grill the corn and poblano pepper, turning occasionally, until charred, about 8–10 minutes and remove from the grill and let cool. Strip the kernels from cobs and place in a medium bowl. Peel the charred skin on the poblano and discard. Chop the flesh of the pepper into a small dice and add to the bowl with corn kernels. Discard seeds from the poblano
- Add onion, jalapeño, tomatoes, cilantro, and lime juice to corn and toss to combine; season with salt and pepper. Set salsa aside.
- Meanwhile, drizzle the steak with 1 tablespoon of oil and sprinkle the steak with all of dry rub. Grill the steak, until you have grill marks on both sides. (4 minutes per side for medium-rare, 5 minutes per side for medium.)
- Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, slice against the grain and top with the salsa.
Can I grill the corn and peppers early and make the salsa ahead of time and refrigerate?
absolutely
Corn relish was the best! My family loved how the spice of the rub worked so well with the spicy corn relish. Only thing I did differently was to use juice of one lime instead of two.
Our grill is working overtime with all these great recipes!!
Would this dry rub recipe for the flank steak work on the stove top with a cast iron skillet?
absolutely!
This looks delicious! Does the dry rub tenderize the flank steak? Flank steak always seems to be tough, even if cut across the grain, if it is not marinated before cooking. TY
no it doesn't tenderize - but I've never had an issue with it being tough if it's cooked for 4 minutes per side, rested and then sliced against the grain
We absolutely loved this, I was curious about the calorie count. Thanks
This was very good. It’s a little spicy but the sweetness of the corn salsa was perfect for the heat. Will definitely make this one again. I would rate it 5 hearts if I could figure out how to do that.
I made this tonight! It was so delicious! Thank you again Gaby for another great recipe! Only suggestion is that if you are making this for kids, cut the cayenne down to 1/4 tsp or 1/2 tsp. My kiddos nearly drank an entire carton of milk with their dinner!
serving size??
4-6
can I call you the queen of steak? I bow down to your amazing steak abilities! the flavors, the cut, the salsa... oh my!
This looks like steak perfection! I have so much steak in my freezer and need to try this!
I am salivating just thinking about this rub!
This looks AMAAAAZING!
Josh will LOVE this!
This looks so delicious! I love chipotle flavor and the corn salsa looks amazing!