Steak Frites is a classic French bistro dish that is absolutely delicious. Although we love the classic version, we really wanted to do a bit extra with this dish and change up the sauce slightly. We love our sauces, so this version of Steak Frites has an easy red wine pan sauce that is perfect served over the tender and juicy pan-seared steak.
Although this dish is quite easy to make, it can seem elevated and fancy and is the perfect dish to impress your dinner date, especially if they like French food. Make this for a special occasion, date night, anniversary, Valentine's day or just because to show off your French cooking chops!
For more delicious pan seared steak recipes, check out our Peppercorn Crusted Steak with Brandy Cream Sauce (steak au poivre) or One Pan Ribeye Mushroom and Onion Skillet.
If you are looking for a holiday roast, then this Garlic Thyme Studded Beef Tenderloin Roast with Red Wine Sauce is what you need!
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What is Steak Frites?
Traditional French steak frites is a pan-cooked entrecôte steak (a style of ribeye) served without a “sauce,” but just with a compound butter with lemon juice and, most likely, shallots and some other herbs. This French bistro classic is simple but amazing and packed with flavor. Of course the steak is the star, but the pommes frites (fries) are also important. They should be crispy but fluffy on the inside and seasoned to perfection.
Ingredients
This Steak Frites with Red Wine Pan Sauce is made with the following ingredients:
- Steak: We use New York strip steak in this recipe and the flavor is amazing. You can definitely use a filet mignon or ribeye instead if you prefer - we have used all three with equally great results.
- Black Pepper
- Kosher Salt
- Dried Thyme: To season the steaks along with the salt and pepper.
- Clarified Butter: This is what we like to cook the steak in as it adds a buttery flavor to the meat, but because the milk solids have been removed, you won't have to worry about burned bits that can taste bitter when you make your pan sauce.
- Shallot: This is another foundation of the sauce
- Dry Red Wine: This is the basis of the sauce, so pick something that is dry and drinkable - you can enjoy the remaining wine along with your dinner. We prefer a California cabernet sauvignon or French Bordeaux for this recipe.
- Red Wine Vinegar: Just a little really red wine vinegar wakes the sauce up giving it another level of flavor.
- Unsalted Butter: This makes the pan sauce rich and decadent
- Fries: We make these Homemade Garlic Fries for this Steak Frites recipe for crispy French fries. But if you have a favorite homemade French fry recipe you love, that works too. Or make this recipe even easier with frozen fries you bake in the oven or air fryer. But we do love this steak and pan sauce with our homemade french fries recipe best for the perfect steak frites!
See recipe card below for quantities.
Substitutions
Here are a few common substitutions for the ingredients in this recipe:
- Steak: A New York strip is our choice but we also love to do this with a rib-eye steak or filet mignon. A hanger steak or even flank steak would also be a great substitution, as would a quality sirloin steak.
- Shallots: You can always substitute yellow onion for shallots in this recipe. The flavor is different but similar enough that the sauce will be great.
- Clarified Butter: You can use ghee, olive oil or a neutral cooking oil or vegetable oil of your choice (like grapeseed oil or avocado oil) here, but we do like the flavor of clarified butter. We find that using straight butter in place of clarified butter can result in burning the milk solids and leaving a bitter taste in the sauce at the end. Since this is a pan sauce, we use the steak drippings from the pan for the sauce as well, so having burned milk solids isn't ideal here.
How to make Steak Frites with Red Wine Pan Sauce
This is really quite an easy dish to make as long as you cook the steaks to the proper temperature. While the steak rests, it is the perfect amount of time to make the red wine pan sauce!
Equipment
- Large Stainless Steel pan: You will make the steaks and sauce in this pan so be sure it is large enough to handle the steaks (10 inch or 12 inch fry pans work).
- Wooden Spoon: This will come in handy to scrape the bottom of the pan when you add the wine
- Instant-Read Thermometer : We temp our steaks so that they end up cooked to the perfect temp without the guesswork.
- Wire whisk: This will help incorporate the butter into the sauce in the best way.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Season and Age the Steak (Optional)
- Liberally season each steak on all sides with kosher salt, black pepper and dried thyme. Then place the steaks on a wire rack over a sheet tray and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour or up to 3 hours. The cold dry aging step is optional but it’s very much worth it and enhances the flavor of the steak and allows it to get a better crust. Remove the steaks from the refrigerator 30 minutes before you cook them and let them sit at room temperature to allow them to lose their chill.
Step 2: Cook the Steak and Rest it
- For cooking steaks, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, melt the clarified butter (or oil) over medium heat and add the steaks, basting from time to time with the clarified butter.
- Steak Doneness: This part requires attention since each pan, your range, and size of steak is different, but take your steak off the heat about 10-15 degrees below where you like your steak to account for carryover cooking. For a 1-1.5 inch thick medium rare steak (130-135°F - see steak doneness guide below), cook for about 4-5 minutes per side. We remove the steak from the heat once it reaches about 115°F to allow for carryover. You can always put the steak back on if it isn't done enough, but you can't go backwards, so we like to err on the underdone side.
- Once cooked to your preference, transfer the steak from the pan to a cutting board and let the steak rest loosely covered with aluminum foil while you make the sauce (10-15 minutes).
Step 3: Make the Sauce
- If there is excess oil in the pan, dab some out with a paper towel but make sure you don't clean out the steak juices completely as they will flavor the sauce. Add the shallots to the pan juices on medium to medium-low heat, cooking for about 2-3 minutes until they are translucent.
- Turn the heat up to medium high heat and immediately add the wine to deglaze, scraping any brown bits (fond) up from the pan. Cook until there is about a tablespoon of liquid left in the pan. Remove it from the heat and let the pan cool for a couple of minutes. Then whisk in the cold butter one tablespoon at a time. Once the sauce is done, taste to see if it needs any salt. Serve over the steak.
Steak Doneness Temps
Although we feel pretty strongly that the low end of medium rare is the perfect doneness for this steak frites preparation, here are the temps you should use depending on how you prefer your steak cooked.
- Rare: 120-130°F
- Medium Rare: 130-135°F
- Medium: 135-145°F
- For Medium Well and beyond…. just don’t do it, or at least don't tell us that you did. Ha!
We could go on, but honestly anything above medium is not desirable for us, and quite frankly ruins a steak like this, so we don’t recommend cooking a steak that long. Sorry!
HINT: As a reminder, pan-seared steak will have about 10-15°F of carryover, meaning the internal temperature will continue to increase after it is removed from the heat. So make sure you account for this when determining your preferred streak doneness. For example, we generally will remove the steak from the pan once the internal temp reaches 115°F for our preferred Medium Rare steak.
Variations
- Change the wine! You could make the same sauce with a port, marsala, or madeira instead of red wine. It will have a more assertive flavor, but it is wonderful as well!
- Use a different cut of meat. Several types of steak can be used with success. Certainly a filet mignon, ribeye or hanger steak will work very well but you could even go with a flat iron, sirloin or flank steak also.
- Add additional fresh herbs and garlic to the pan with the steak. Adding fresh thyme or rosemary and even garlic cloves to the pan while the steak cooks will add more flavor to the steak!
Storage
How to store leftovers in the fridge:
Well, we find it hard to believe that there actually would be leftovers, but if you must, store covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
How to reheat:
This is definitely a difficult one as you can’t reheat the steak without further cooking it. So leftover medium rare steak is not going to be medium rare after reheating! But the best way is in a pan over low heat with just a touch of olive oil or clarified butter until it is just warmed through. You can add the leftover sauce to the pan as it cooks to reheat along with the steak.
Top tips
- Let the pan cool for a couple of minutes before adding the butter or it will break and you won't have a smooth cohesive sauce. Always use cold butter straight from the refrigerator and definitely add it one tablespoon at a time.
- Let the steak rest! If you make a pan sauce like this you really have to let it rest. The steak will continue to cook after taking it out of the pan, so plan for 10-15°F of carryover. The resting period allows the juices to stay in the meat when cut for a nice juicy steak!
Troubleshooting
Sauce too thin? If the sauce isn't as thick as you desire, you can whisk in 1 or 2 more tablespoons of butter, which will help thicken the sauce.
Steak underdone? Simply add it back into the pan to cook longer. But if your steak is overdone, there really isn't any going back.
What to make with Steak Frites
The wonderful thing about this dish is that it is already a lovely pairing of steak with fries as a side. But we love to round out this pairing with a vegetable, side salad or something green for a more balanced meal. Here are some options for vegetable pairings:
- Serve Steak Frites with Parmesan Herb Asparagus or Roasted Maple Bourbon Bacon Brussels Sprouts
- Salads are always a great option with Steak Frites as well. Try out our Grilled Romaine and Pear Steakhouse Salad, or use our Fresh Basil Balsamic Vinaigrette (5-minute Salad Dressing) for a nice and easy mixed green salad.
What wines pair with this Steak Frites recipe?
This is not a difficult pairing! Obviously a red wine will be the choice for a flavorful steak with a rich sauce. So think California Cabernet Sauvignon, French Bordeaux blend, Malbec, Syrah, or any bold wine that can stand up to the flavors.
FAQ
We used NY strip, but as mentioned above, ribeye, filet mignon, or hanger steaks are the best substitutions.
The classic version is served simply with just a compound butter with some herbs and lemon, but we love it with an easy red wine pan sauce like the one in this recipe.
Steak frites is a quintessential French bistro dish. However, the Belgians perfected frites (fries) and cooking them in the Belgian way is the best!
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Pairing
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📖 Recipe
Steak Frites with Easy Red Wine Pan Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 small New York Strip steaks 6-8oz each
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 4 Tablespoons clarified butter
- 1 small shallot minced
- ½ cup dry red wine
- ½ teaspoon red wine vinegar
- 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter cold
- 1 recipe Homemade Garlic Fries
Instructions
Make the Steak and Red Wine Pan Sauce
- Liberally season each steak on all sides with kosher salt, black pepper and dried thyme. Then place the steaks on a wire rack over a sheet tray and place in the refrigerator to "dry age" for at least an hour or up to 3 hours (alternatively you can cook them immediately after seasoning if desired). Remove the steaks from the refrigerator 30 minutes before you cook them.
- Melt the clarified butter over medium heat and cook the steaks, basting from time to time with the clarified butter. This part requires attention since each pan and size of steak is different, but take your steak off the heat about 10-15 degrees below where you like your steak to account for carryover cooking. Let the steak rest loosely covered with aluminum foil while you make the sauce (10-15 minutes).
- If there is excess oil in the pan, dab some out with a paper towel, then add the shallots on medium to medium-low heat, cooking until they are translucent. Turn the heat up and immediately add the wine to deglaze, scraping any bits up from the pan. Cook until there is about a tablespoon of liquid left in the pan. Remove it from the heat and let the pan cool for a couple of minutes. Then whisk in the cold butter one tablespoon at a time. Once the sauce is done, taste to see if it needs any salt. Serve over the steak.
Make the Frites
- Follow the instructions for Homemade Garlic Fries, or use your own favorite french fry recipe to the pommes frites!
Nutrition
Food safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food that previously touched raw meat.
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Always use separate cutting boards for raw meat or thoroughly clean and sanitize the cutting board before using again
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
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