Pan Seared Garlic Butter Steak & Mushroom Cream Sauce

The ultimate steak recipe… Garlic Butter Steak served with a creamy mushroom sauce on your table in less than 20 minutes using simple ingredients.

A little butter adds richness and keeps your charred steaks juicy, with the added flavours of garlic and your choice of herbs! Pan Seared Garlic Butter Steak & Mushroom Cream Sauce is a good dinner for any occasion.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

Growing up in a house full of meat eaters, steak was on the table at least once a week. My Uruguayan father's signature dish is a thick steak served with chimichurri and, of course, a fried egg. Because of this, we learned early on that the smell of steak charring in a hot pan is hard to beat.

While his grilled version is a classic, our favorite way to cook steaks indoors is by making a butter steak. This technique involves getting a hard sear on the meat, lowering the heat, and continually spooning garlic-infused butter over the steak as it finishes cooking. It flavors the crust without burning it.

To complete this garlic butter steak recipe, we use the leftover butter and pan drippings to make a quick mushroom cream sauce right in the same skillet. We serve it with a piece of garlic bread to get every drop of the sauce.

Ingredients for Pan-Seared Steak

Here is what you need to make this steak, along with what works and what does not when it comes to substitutions.

• New York Strip Steaks: When choosing a reliable steaks, we usually stick to New York strips because they take a hard sear without overcooking the center. A thick ribeye steak, top sirloin steaks, or a flat iron steak are great substitutes. We avoid thin cuts like flank steak because the inside turns tough by the time the outside browns

You need a cut at least an inch and a half thick, though you can chop the meat into steak bites if you need to feed a crowd.

• Butter: You need real, unsalted dairy butter. It is the base for basting the meat and building the sauce. We tested this with margarine and vegan butter substitutes, but they contain too much water. They just boil and splatter in the pan instead of browning, and you lose all the flavor. There is no substitution for real butter here.
• Garlic: We use whole, smashed garlic cloves. As they cook in the butter, they release flavor into the fat without burning. We tried using jarred minced garlic and garlic powder to save time, but both burn immediately in the hot pan and leave a bitter taste on the meat. Stick to fresh, whole cloves.
• Mushrooms: We prefer brown cremini mushrooms for the sauce because they hold their texture when cooked in the cream. You can swap them for standard white button mushrooms if that is what you have. We do not recommend using canned mushrooms. We tried it once and they turned to mush by the time the sauce thickened

Note: Please see recipe card at the bottom for a full list of ingredients with measurements.

The Rules for a good Steak

To get a good crust without smoking out your house, there is a specific order of operations you need to follow. Do not start cooking your steak in butter. Butter burns at high temperatures.

Instead, follow this process:

• Dry the meat: Moisture is the enemy of a good sear. We use paper towels to pat the steaks completely dry before seasoning them generously with coarse salt and black pepper.
• Sear with oil first: Heat a cast-iron skillet or heavy frying pan until it is smoking. Add a high-smoke-point oil like canola or avocado oil. Sear the steaks for 2 to 3 minutes per side to build a crust.
• Drop the heat: Once you flip the steaks, turn your stove down to medium.
• Add the butter and aromatics: Now you add the butter, crushed garlic cloves, and herbs like thyme or rosemary. The lower heat prevents the butter from turning black and bitter.
• Baste continuously: As the butter melts and foams, tilt the pan toward you. Use an oven mitt if the handle is hot. Take a large spoon and continuously scoop the foaming garlic butter sauce over the steaks for about a minute. This cooks the top of the steak and builds flavor.

How to Tell When Your Steak is Done

We know trying to cook steak can feel intimidating at first, but this Pan-Seared method ensures even cooking and takes dinner to the next level.

The most accurate way to check your steak and hit the good temperature is with an instant-read meat thermometer. Insert the probe into the thickest part of the meat. We always take the steaks out of the pan about 5°F (3°C) before they reach our target, as they will continue to cook while they rest on the cutting board.

Steak Temperature Guide

If we do not have a thermometer We use the hand test. Press the center of the steak, then compare that resistance to the fleshy base of your thumb.

When you touch your thumb to your index finger, the base of your thumb feels soft, which is exactly what a rare steak feels like. Move your thumb to your middle finger, and that springy feeling is medium-rare. Touching your thumb to your ring finger matches a medium steak, and touching your pinky to your thumb makes the muscle feel firm, which means the meat is well-done.

Relying on touch is an old chef's secret that helps them move fast in a restaurant kitchen without grabbing a thermometer for every order. It takes a little practice to learn how the tension of the beef changes in the pan, but developing these cooking skills means you will never have to slice a steak open just to check the color again.

Making the Mushroom Cream Sauce

Once the steaks are done, transfer them to a plate and cover them loosely with foil to rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Do not wash the skillet. The remaining pan juices, browned butter, and garlic are exactly what you need for the sauce.

1. Cook the mushrooms: Keep the heat on medium. Add the sliced mushrooms directly to the pan drippings. Sauté them until they soften and turn brown.
2. Deglaze: Add a splash of beef broth. Use a wooden spoon to scrape up the browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
3. Thicken the sauce: Pour in the heavy cream and let the mixture simmer for a couple of minutes until it thickens. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve the resting steaks immediately, pouring the warm mushroom cream sauce over the top.

Kitchen tip

• Take the chill off the meat: Pull your steaks out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you plan to cook. Cold meat drops the temperature of the pan the second it hits the metal, which makes it harder to get a good crust. Getting the beef closer to room temperature helps it cook evenly from edge to center.
• Control the heat for the butter: Watch your burner when you make a butter steak. Once you add the butter and garlic, the pan needs to be hot enough to foam the butter but not so hot that it burns the garlic cloves. If the butter stops bubbling, bump the heat up a bit. If the garlic turns dark brown, pull the skillet off the stove for a minute.
• SAVE the resting juices: We mentioned resting the meat earlier, but it is MANDATORY. If you cut into your pan-seared garlic steak right away, the moisture will run all over your board instead of staying in the meat. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes. Any juices that do collect on the resting plate SHOULD be poured straight into your mushroom sauce.
• Taste the sauce before salting: The pan drippings carry a lot of concentrated flavor from the beef, so we always wait until the end to add any extra salt to the mushroom cream sauce. If you want a bit of acidity to cut through the heavy cream, stir in a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar right before you take the pan off the stove.

Serve it with

When we serve this butter steak, we look for sides that work well with the cream sauce. We often mash some sweet potatoes because their natural sweetness balances the strong garlic flavor of the meat. Just pair it with your favorite sides like a potato salad or roasted potatoes!

If we want to double down on the creaminess, we will cook an extra batch of mushrooms in butter and garlic to put on the side. On days when we need a vegetable with some texture, we just roast carrots with parmesan in the oven before we start the steaks.

Recipe FAQ's

You can tell by touch or with a thermometer. Rare steaks feel soft and keep an indent when pressed, while medium-rare steaks are slightly springy. A medium steak bounces back quickly, and a well-done steak feels firm all over.If you want to be sure, use a meat thermometer and check the guide to know the temperature and color.

Absolutely! While New York strip steaks are ideal, ribeye or tenderloin also work beautifully. Just keep an eye on the cooking time since thickness can vary.

Resting lets the juices settle back into the meat so your first cut isn't followed by a flood of flavor on the plate. It's worth the patience, promise.

What you need

• 4 New York strip steaks 7 ounce, 1-inch thick, Australian Porterhouse steaks
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch cracked pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
• 4 tablespoons butter divided
• 6 cloves garlic lightly crushed with the back of a knife, divided
• 6-8 thyme sprigs or rosemary or parsley, divided
• 2 cloves garlic crushed
• 1-2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar or Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup brown mushrooms sliced
• 1/2 cup light cream reduced fat cream, or heavy cream

Method

1. Before cooking, allow steaks stand 30 minutes at room temperature. Then season all sides with salt and pepper.
2. Heat a large cast-iron skillet or pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil in and swirl to coat. Add one tablespoon of olive oil and swirl it around until the pan begins to smoke lightly.
3. Lay the steaks into the pan away from you, in batches of two, and cook 3 minutes on each side or until browned.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low; add butter, thyme, and the garlic cloves to the pan. Allow the butter to foam a little and baste the steaks
5. Baste constantly while cooking for a further 1-2 minutes, or until the steaks are done to your liking.
6. Once cooked to your liking, discard the garlic and herbs, then transfer the steaks to a plate. Pour over the pan juices and let them rest for 5 minutes.
7. While steaks are resting, add the crushed garlic to the buttery juices in the pan. Sauté on medium heat for 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the vinegar and mushrooms and cook until soft, then add the cream. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.
8. Serve steak with the mushrooms sauce and garlic roasted potatoes.