Nothing much is better in life than sitting on a couch in your bedroom and eating cube steak while watching your favorite TV show. The mere aroma of juicy and tender cube steak is enough to water your mouth. It is ideal to be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or anything in between.
The part of the beef used to make cube steak is a cut from the top round or sirloin. The cut is flattened by using a meat tenderizer. The look of ground meat and cube steak is similar, and you could confuse the texture when buying from the store. This irresistible steak is flavorful and fulfilling.
From stews to soups, a well-cooked cube steak has a place in many dishes. Every master chef will tell you that a cube steak has to be cooked properly, and you must tenderize and flatten it.
When perfectly cooked, the cube steak just melts inside your mouth. It’s also quite easy to pan fry. However, if you can’t get your hand on cube steak, you can choose the other cube steak substitutes we have mentioned.
The thing that every foodie loves about cube steak is that it is tenderized in the juices. Making cube steak at home is also pretty easy. If you want to cook it at home, consider taking it out half an hour before cooking.
Furthermore, adding seasonings to the steak is also a great idea. The steak is easy to cook over the stovetop or in the oven.
The cube steak is often confused with minute steak. The difference between the two is that the former steak is lean and has low fat compared to the latter. Cube steak makes a great combo with the creamy mushroom gravy, consisting of mushroom and onion soup or onions soaked in beef broth.
If you are a foodie and love cube steak, you may want to learn about its substitutes. There’s no denying the incredible flavor and taste of cube steak, but foodies love exploring other dishes as well.
If you want to know about some other steaks that taste similar to cube steak, keep reading as we intend to share the best substitutes for cube steaks hereinafter.
Cube Steak Substitutes
Of all the substitutes for cube steak, the best ones are mentioned below.
1. Round Steak
The meat used to make round steak is obtained from the hind part. This cut tends to be a bit tougher and is different from cube steak in a way that it is not tenderized. There are several ways to tenderize it. However, people recommend physical pounding to make it look similar to the cube.
The round steak is mainly used for the slow cooking process. It is used in stews, swiss steak, or braising. This cut is an inexpensive piece of beef, which is why people from all over the world love eating round steak.
If you love eating cube steak but fear that eating it regularly will disturb your monthly budget, round steak is a viable option for you.
Round steaks are part of a healthy and balanced diet. It is an essential source of protein and other minerals and vitamins. This beef cut’s fat content is low, and it is not associated with cardiovascular diseases.
Beef contains several types of vitamin B that boost the energy system and health of the immune and benefit the neurological system overall.
Thus, your closest bet for a cube steak substitute is round steak. But remember, tenderizing it appropriately is the key. Make sure to tenderize it if you want to enjoy that “melting in the mouth” feeling. Thin it out just like a cube steak, or your end dish would be a total disaster.
If you are feeling hungry and are on the hunt for an easy and quick dinner idea, round steak is your best bet. Since it uses thin chunks of meat, it takes no time to be cooked. However, it has to be seasoned properly to enjoy it to the fullest.
To season a round steak, you’d need a teaspoon of chili powder, onion powder, chipotle chili powder, garlic powder, garlic oregano, ground cumin, and 2 teaspoons of paprika, ground coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, and salt. You can choose to reduce a specific ingredient if you don’t like it.
It’s essentially an upgraded version of your taco seasoning and just takes its taste up a notch! If you use those taco seasoning packets for seasoning purposes, consider making it in a big amount and keeping it in your pantry.
To make round steak at home, put your iron pan at a high heat level and add some olive oil. Steam rising from your pan indicates that your pan is ready for cooking. Now is the perfect time to cook your round steak, so just pick it up and put it on your pan.
You’d notice that as soon as you put it on your pan, its edges will turn brown and become super crispy. Voila, your round steak is ready! You can also try it with cooked vegetables, such as onion.
2. Ground Beef
Ground beef is the next substitute for cube steak on our list. It’s no secret that ground beef is one of the most widely consumed beef items. It resembles so much cube steak that you may even end up buying the wrong item.
Cube steak is usually considered a step above ground beef and is tenderized manually, which makes it look like ground beef. On the other hand, ground beef is made up of skeletal muscles and is flavorful and juicy depending on how well you cook it.
From burgers to sandwiches, ground beef could be used in plenty of items. Many people use it in spaghetti, making meatballs, and numerous other dishes. It has a large amount of protein, minerals, fats, and vitamins. Since it has a large proportion of fat, experts opine that it should not be consumed regularly.
To make ground beef at home, choose the meat cut, which is boneless and has 20 to 40% fats. Washing the meat is not really necessary since cooking at the right temperature will kill all bacteria.
However, if you wash it, let it dry properly. Now cut the meat into small cubes and put them on a tray. Use a full-size tray, so the cubes are not on top of each other, and then put it in a freezer for one and a half hours.
Now grind the cubes in a chopper or a food processor. Once you have ground them, put them on a pan and set them at a high temperature. Flip the meat upside down when you notice it has turned brown.
When all of it has changed its color, add salts and spices as per your liking, such as salt, black pepper, garlic powder, etc. There you go; your ground beef is ready!
3. Other Steaks
If you can’t find cube or round steak, use any other steak for the dish. It will not be a perfect substitute as each type has distinct characteristics, but it will surely save your day. The nutritional value and usage are different as well, but desperate times may call for a different approach.
Cube steak is a unique and tasty cut. It is healthy owing to the low-fat content in it. This budget-friendly steak is used for making fried steak. Cube steak is available in the market but if you do not have any available, use the aforementioned substitutes.
Round steak is very close to cube steak, but it needs to be flattened out properly, else it would offend your guests. Other options can work temporarily too. However, you should not try anything different while preparing for any event. Enjoy this tender and juicy steak with your loved ones.