Give Your Steak Bloody Mary Flavors With A Tomato Juice Marinade

You know you're in for a treat when you order a Bloody Mary with brunch, as the drink is typically a potent mix of spicy, salty, and tangy flavors. While you could enjoy it in liquid form in the morning, it can also make the perfect marinade for juicing up your dinner in the evening. So the next time you're looking for a punch of flavor with your steak, try turning to the ingredients that make up a Bloody Mary.

You're not going to infuse your meat with the cocktail, of course — but to copy the flavors of a Bloody Mary, you're going to get pretty close to pouring a drink all over your steak. Besides the alcohol, a tried and true Bloody Mary recipe typically includes tomato juice, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco sauce, salt, pepper, and celery salt. To make a steak marinade, all you need to do is whisk these ingredients together, pour them in a plastic bag with your meat, and let them sit for at least a few hours — no shaking, blending, or straining required. Leave out the hot sauce if you're not a fan of spice.

Just like the ingredients in a Bloody Mary can vary (and can include everything from canned chipotles to earthy beets), you can also switch up your cocktail-inspired marinade to suit your tastebuds and preferences. Feel free to add in extra seasonings like garlic powder, onion powder, celery seed, or horseradish, and sub out the lemon juice for lime juice. If you want to scale back on the tomato taste a little, you can swap it out for a vegetable juice like V8, which includes carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, and spinach juice. Or to keep things simple, start off with a pre-made Bloody Mary mix and add a few extra seasonings to taste.

To fully channel a true Bloody Mary, you can also incorporate vodka into your marinade. In fact, there is an advantage to doing so besides just mimicking the brunch cocktail — alcohol can break down the proteins in meat, which can result in a softer and more tender steak. If you go this route, just keep in mind that you may not burn off 100% of the alcohol during cooking. Once your meat is done, top it with more sauce, some freshly diced tomatoes, and a sprinkle of celery salt to keep the flavor profile going.