These French Onion Steak Pinwheels combine stuffed steak, melty cheese, and caramelized onions. This meal is a delicious, easy recipe that you’ve likely never had before! In just half an hour of prep and an hour of cook time, you’ll be ready to serve 4. Let’s dive in!
Why You’ll Love French Onion Steak Pinwheels
French onion soup is one of those go-to comfort food recipes that just never gets old. These beef pinwheels are a different take on those classic french onion soup flavors. Each cut of meat is complemented by gooey cheese and caramelized onions. It’s a perfect option for holiday parties or a hearty family dinner.
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For more with caramelized onions, check out my French Onion Patty Melt, Tomahawk Steak with French Onion Crust and Smoked Cheesesteak Sliders.
Keep in mind, while steak pinwheels are full of savory flavor, they can be a bit heavy. However, the meal is easy to balance with a simple garden salad or some grilled vegetables, like charred bell peppers.
French Onion Steak Pinwheels Ingredients
The foundation of French Onion Steak Pinwheels is some savory skirt steak. I picked up this cut of beef at my local grocery store. It tastes best when drizzled with some vegetable oil and then seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper and garlic powder.
We’ll use a very sharp knife to thinly slice a couple medium white onions, and mix them in beef broth, bourbon, brown sugar, chopped rosemary, garlic, salt,pepper, and beef tallow.
Those onions will get sautéed until they’re caramelized to golden perfection! You’ll use some of these caramelized french onions and a few slices of Swiss cheese to stuff each steak for our pinwheels.
Make sure you have kitchen twine to hold each pinwheel together while they cook. It will help them hold that gorgeous pinwheel shape you’re going for!
Finish it off with a cheesy crust made out of Gruyere, Panko breadcrumbs, melted butter, and grated parmesan.
For more with skirt steak, check out my Stuffed Skirt Steak, Braided Skirt Steak and Cheesy Skewered Skirt Steak with Salsa Verde.
How to Make French Onion Steak Pinwheels
French Onion
Preheat your grill to medium high heat (about 350F) for direct cooking. Add a cast iron skillet to the grill about 2 minutes before cooking so that it can also preheat.
Next, melt the beef tallow in the large pan and then add your thinly sliced white onions. Season the onions with salt and pepper and cook them on a medium heat until they are caramelized (golden brown).
Your caramelized onions should take about 45-60 minutes to become golden brown with that medium-high heat. Stir the onions frequently so that they don’t burn.
Once they are dark brown and soft, add your garlic and rosemary to cook for 2 more minutes. Finally, deglaze the skillet with bourbon and beef broth, then add your brown sugar. Let the onions simmer until most of the liquid is gone (about 3-5 minutes), then remove from the grill.
Skirt Steak
Lay your skirt steak out on a cutting board. If it’s really long, you can slice it in half (I had to cut mine in half). Then cover the skirt steak with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Using a heavy meat mallet, hammer the skirt steak until it is less than ½” thick.
Mix together your salt, pepper and garlic then lather your steak with oil and season both sides. Next, add a layer of sliced swiss cheese and top with a line of the caramelized onion running down the middle of the length of the steak(s).
Carefully roll the skirt steak up lengthwise to create the pinwheel. Secure that bad boy with two strings of cooking twine and slice between the middle of the two strings, making two separate pinwheels.
Season the tops with salt, pepper and garlic. Repeat this with the rest of the skirt steak for all of the pinwheels.
For other pinwheel variations, check out my Green Chili Salmon Pinwheels, Surf and Turf Pinwheels and Grilled Steak Pinwheels.
Grilling & Serving
Preheat your grill for a two zone high heat temperature around 400 degrees F. Line your pinwheels across the hot side of the grill. Let them sear for 1 minute per side or until they have developed a nice crust.
Once they have a nice crust on the outside, pull the pinwheels over to the cool side of the grill to cook indirectly until they reach 125F internal (about 10-15 minutes more).
When the steaks are done, pull them off and let rest for 10 minutes until they reach room temperature. After resting, mix together all the ingredients for the cheese crust and add some to each steak. Torch or broil the crust until it’s caramelized.
Now slice, serve and enjoy!
For more delicious recipes, check out my second cookbook Flavor X Fire or my first cookbook Food X Fire!
Needing more spice in your life? My spice line can help with that. Check them out here.
French Onion Steak Pinwheels
Ingredients
Steak:
- 2-3 Skirt Steaks
- 1 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper
- 1 tbsp Garlic Powder
- Canola Oil as needed
- Chopped Parsley for garnish
Stuffing:
- Caramelized French Onions
- 6-8 slices Swiss Cheese
Caramelized French Onions:
- 2 medium White Onions thinly sliced
- 1 cup of Beef Broth
- 2 oz of Bourbon
- 1 tbsp Brown Sugar
- 1 tbsp Chopped Rosemary
- 8 Garlic Cloves minced
- Salt & Pepper to taste
- 2 tbsp of Beef Tallow
Cheese Crust:
- 3 tbsp of Gruyere grated
- 1 tbsp of Panko Crumbs
- 1 tbsp of Melted Butter
- 1 tbsp of Parmesan grated
Instructions
- Preheat your grill to medium high heat (about 350F) for direct cooking. Add a cast iron skillet to the grill 2 minutes before cooking.
- Melt beef tallow in the skillet and add your thinly sliced white onions. Season the onions with salt and pepper and begin cooking on a medium heat until they are caramelized (dark brown). This should take about 45-60 minutes to achieve. Stir frequently and move from high heat to prevent them from burning. Once they are dark brown and soft, add your garlic and rosemary to cook for 2 more minutes. Finally, deglaze the skillet with bourbon and beef broth, then add your brown sugar. Let simmer until most of the liquid is gone (about 3-5 minutes). When the onions are done, pull off and keep warm.
- Lay your skirt steak out on a cutting board, slice it in half and cover it with parchment paper or plastic wrap. Using a heavy mallet or food mallet, hammer the skirt steak until it is less than ½” thick. Mix together your salt, pepper and garlic then lather your steak with oil and season both sides. Next, add a layer of sliced swiss cheese and top with a line of the caramelized french onions. Carefully roll the skirt steak up lengthwise to create the pinwheel. Secure the roll with two strings of butcher twine and slice between them to make two separate pinwheels. Season the tops with salt, pepper and garlic. Repeat this with the rest of the skirt steak for all of the pinwheels.
- Preheat your grill for a two zone high heat temperature (around 400F).
- Add your pinwheels to the hot side of the grill to sear each side for 1 minute per side or until they have developed a nice crust. Once they have a nice crust on the outside, pull the pinwheels over to the cool side of the grill to cook until they reach 125F internal (about 10-15 minutes more).
- When the steaks are done, pull them off and let rest for 10 minutes. After resting, mix together all the ingredients for the cheese crust and add some to each steak. Torch or broil the crust till it’s caramelized. Slice, serve and enjoy!
About how long should the steak be after it has been hammered? Love all of your recipes.
Thanks. Daryl
I used a whole skirt steak so it was length wise about 2-2.5 ft… you can make this exact recipe though with a flank steak but filleting it open and flattening.
Absolutely deliciously😋💯% greedy🍷good eating thank you
Sorry to be that cook, but can you tell me about how many lbs those two skirt steaks should be (I can divide by 2, just a total is great)
Each should be about 1.5 lbs so 3 lbs in total
I remember making pinwheels with my grandmother when I was a kid. It’s a great way to serve steak and a good change from the normal.
Is there any reason I can’t make these a day a head of time? We are having friends over on a week night and I’m not sure I’ve got the prep time to do all this in one day.
It looks great and I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Yes you can definitely make them before hand, but keep them in the fridge!
Looks good & fairly easy