4 Best Beef Cuts For Teriyaki: What Is The Best Cut Of Beef For Teriyaki?

With so many different cuts of beef to choose from, it can be hard to know which one will make the best teriyaki.

Lucky for you, this post has all the information you need about choosing the best cut of beef for this Japanese dish.

Let’s dig into it!

How to choose beef for teriyaki?

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The best way to get started with cooking is by choosing the right ingredients.

Here is a guide that explains how to choose the best cut of beef for teriyaki:

1.     Avoid buying a tough cut of beef for teriyaki

Since teriyaki is actually a stir-frying dish.

Therefore, the meat is just quickly cooked instead of being slow-cooked for hours like in a roasting or stewing recipe.

It is essential to find a tender cut of beef for teriyaki.

Don’t ever buy a tough cut like chuck roast or a round roast, or your teriyaki will end up chewy and very tough.

2.     Choose a cut that is fresh and has a dark red color 

Another tip to choose beef for teriyaki is to look for a fresh cut of beef.

A fresh beef cut has a dark red color without any sign of spoilage like dark spots, a plump texture, and an unpleasant smell.

It is better to make friends with the butcher in your neighborhood so that you can easily buy a good cut of beef in a local butcher shop.

3.     Beef should be thinly sliced and marinated well before cooking in a teriyaki recipe

The last tip from us to have the best beef for teriyaki is that the beef should be thinly sliced and marinated before being cooked with other ingredients in a teriyaki recipe.

Slicing the beef cut against the grain into thin pieces of meat will result in a more tender texture and also help the meat easily absorb flavors from the condiments.

4 best beef for teriyaki

As already mentioned, beef for teriyaki should be a tender cut instead of one with a lot of connective tissues or fat.

So here are the four best beef cuts for teriyaki:                                 

1.     Flank steak

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Flank steak is an ideal cut of beef for quick-cooking methods like stir-frying in Asian cuisine.

This is definitely not the most tender cut of beef, but it has an intensely beefy flavor that will help your stir-fry taste amazing.

Flank steak is also an economical cut that can spice up your family’s meal without breaking the budget.

2.     Skirt steak

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If you cannot find a flank steak in your local butcher shop, let’s try skirt steak.

This cut is taken from the plate section of the cow, and it is prized for being rich in flavor.

Like flank steak, a skirt steak should be thinly sliced against the grain for teriyaki so that the resulting dish will end up tender and flavorful.

3.     Beef tenderloin

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You can also try beef tenderloin for teriyaki because this cut is one of the leanest and most tender cuts of beef.

Beef tenderloin is great for any recipe thanks to its tenderness that can melt in your mouth if properly cooked.

There is no reason why this cut is favored by many people and is sold at a higher price than the average cut of beef.

4.     Top sirloin steak

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Top sirloin steak is another steak cut with a tender texture but is more affordable.

It is relatively lean because a top sirloin steak is taken from the loin section of the animal, which contains very little fat and is mainly made of muscle with little work.

However, when cooking a top sirloin steak, be careful to overcook it and turn your beef into a chewy dish that is less attractive and hard to eat.

The bottom line

As you can see, the best cut of beef for teriyaki is the one with a moderately tender to tender texture.

Flank steak is the classic choice for this recipe, but other cuts like skirt steak, tenderloin, or sirloin steak will work too.

Make sure that your beef is fresh and high-quality so that your teriyaki dish will be as delicious as possible.