Air Fryer Steak Bites With Garlic Butter (easy and juicy!)
Ready in 20 minutes or less, these Air Fryer Steak Bites are the best easy weeknight dinner. Cooked to tender-juicy perfection, and smothered in a warm garlic butter sauce, each bite is a delight!
❤️ Why You Will Love This Recipe
- Easy: This recipe is just a matter of dicing and seasoning the steak, and popping them in the air fryer until they are perfectly cooked. You don’t even have to shake the basket or turn them this time.
- Quick: These air fryer garlic steak bites were ready in 15 minutes, including prep. That’s so speedy!
- Tasty: These are the best air fryer steak bites! Loaded with garlic, butter, pepper, a dash of red pepper flakes, and Worcestershire sauce to really bring out the beefiness, these steak bites taste amazing!
- Healthy: All that is in these steak bites is meat, a little seasoning, and butter. These simple ingredients are good for you, naturally low carb and keto, and easy to adapt to a paleo or Whole30 diet.
- Eat anytime: Serve these easy air fryer steak bites as a main dish for an easy weeknight meal, however, this steak recipe is also a great low carb snack option!
🗝️ Key Ingredients & Substitutions
- Steak: I used sirloin steak. It’s really easy to find in supermarkets and tastes perfect in this recipe. New York Strip Steak or flank steak are good options if you want to use another cut of steak.
- Worcestershire Sauce: This ingredient makes the steak taste even beefier. Soy sauce is a good alternative ingredient, or if you’re on a paleo or whole30 diet, try coconut aminos instead.
- Melted butter: Substitute ghee or vegetable oil like avocado oil or olive oil if needed.
- Garlic: Fresh minced garlic cloves are ideal. You could use a teaspoon or two of garlic powder in a pinch.
- Seasoning: Both ground black pepper and red pepper flakes kick up the heat in this recipe. You could add a little chili powder if you don’t have red pepper flakes on hand. I sprinkle the raw steak with sea salt to season as well.
- Lemon: Just a squeeze of fresh lemon juice at the end makes these flavors pop! Lime is fine to use as well.
- Garnish: Fresh herbs finish any recipe perfectly. I added some chopped fresh parsley right before serving.
🥣 How to make Juicy Air Fryer Steak Bites
You’ll want to use basket style air fryers for this recipe to make perfect air fryer steak bites.
Check out the video in the recipe card below if you prefer!
1. Begin by preheating the air fryer to 400 degrees F / 200 degrees C and setting the timer to 20 minutes. I like to have a little extra time on the timer whenever use the air fryer, just in case I need more time.
2. While the air fryer is heating, dice the steak and add it to a large bowl, season it with salt and black pepper, and toss it in the Worcestershire sauce. Mix well.
3. When the air fryer is ready, spray some oil in the air fryer basket and add the steak cubes in a single layer. Cook for 10-12 minutes, until it is browned on the outside.
4. When the steak bites have finished air frying, remove the air fryer basket and tip the steak onto to a plate or bowl to rest for 5 minutes. Avoid tipping the air fryer basket while it’s attached to the tray as the juices that have gathered in the bottom tray will also pour out.
5. While the steak is resting, melt butter in a pan, add the fresh garlic, and sauté for two minutes.
6. Sprinkle in the crushed red pepper flakes after a minute.
7. To serve, I like to toss the juicy steak bites in the hot garlic butter, however, you can also dip steak pieces in the delicious garlic butter sauce if you prefer.
8. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and dig in!
🪄 Air Fryer Steak Tips and Recipe Notes
- Take the steak out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking. This helps the meat warm up a little before cooking, making it easier to cook.
- Steak doesn’t have to be cooked until it’s well done. In fact, it tastes best when it’s medium-rare. To get an idea of how well the meat is cooked, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. 125°F is rare, 135°F is medium-rare, 145°F is medium, 150°F is medium well, and 160°F is well done. The internal temperature of these steak bites was 150°F.
- You can cook the fat as well as the meat. Of course, you can trim off the fat if you’d prefer to avoid it, but I like to cook the whole steak when possible, and any fat on these pieces of steak will cook until perfectly tender as well.
- Toss any leftover steak bites over fresh greens to make a delicious steak salad the next day!
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- I like to reheat them in the air fryer again until warm and juicy, however, you can also eat them cold straight from the fridge.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
These steak bites are made of top sirloin steak and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, butter, Worcestershire sauce, and red pepper flakes.
You can use a few different cuts of steak. I prefer sirloins, however, New York Strip Steaks or flank steaks are also great options. If you’re cooking a whole steak, try filet mignon.
I make sure to heat up the garlic butter sauce while the steak is resting and pour it over while it’s still ho right before serving. You can also make a tent of aluminum foil over the steak bites to keep the heat from escaping and serve the tasty steak bites on warm plates.
🍽️ What to serve with Air Fryer Garlic Butter Steak Bites
Make this a complete meal by adding a side dish or two, or even a dipping sauce!
Side dishes:
- French fries
- Roasted potatoes
- Sweet potato fries
- Mashed potatoes
- Mashed Rutabega (swede)
- Green Beans
- Air Fryer Asparagus
- Pickled Beet Salad
- Side salad
Sauces:
- Steak Sauce
- Ranch
- Pepper Sauce
- Whiskey Sauce
- Tzatziki sauce
Looking for more ideas? Check out my post for 125 Easy Side Dishes For Steak Bites (or steak!).
😋 More easy air fryer recipes to try
- Crispy Air Fryer Drumsticks
- Air fryer Rice Paper Dumplings
- Honey Butter Air Fryer Carrots
- Air fryer Sausage Links
- Air Fryer Turkey Bacon
Have you made this recipe? I’d love to know <3 Tag me (@makehealthyrecipes) on Facebook and Instagram, Pin it on Pinterest, and please leave a star rating review below! Don’t forget to subscribe to the email list (top right of this page) for sparkly new recipes in your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Air Fryer Steak Bites Recipe
Ready in 20 minutes or less, these Air Fryer Steak Bites are the best easy weeknight dinner. Cooked to tender-juicy perfection, and smothered in a warm garlic butter sauce, each bite is a delight!
Ingredients
- 750g sirloin steak (I used 4 precut steaks)
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (or coconut aminos)
- 1/2 tsp salt, to taste
- 1 tsp ground black pepper, to taste
- Oil spray
- 2 tbsp butter (or ghee or olive oil)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- Squeeze of fresh lemon juice
- Chopped fresh parsley, optional garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the air fryer to 400°F / 200°C and set the timer to 20 minutes. I like to have a little extra time on the timer whenever use the air fryer, just in case I need more time.
- While the air fryer is heating, dice the steak and add it to a large bowl, season it with salt and black pepper, and toss it in the Worcestershire sauce. Mix well.
- When the air fryer is ready, spray or sprinkle with oil and add the steak cubes to the air fryer basket in a single layer and cook them for 10-12 minutes, until browned on the outside.
- When the steak bites have finished air frying, remove the air fryer basket and tip the steak onto a plate or bowl to rest for 5 minutes. Avoid tipping the air fryer basket while it's attached to the tray as the juices that have gathered in the bottom tray will also pour out.
- While the steak is resting, melt butter in a pan over medium heat, add the fresh garlic, and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
- Sprinkle in the crushed red pepper flakes after one minute and continue cooking.
- To serve, toss the steak bites in the hot garlic butter (you can also dip steak pieces in the garlic butter sauce if you prefer).
- Garnish with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and sprinkle with fresh parsley.
Notes
- Take the steak out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before cooking. This helps the meat warm up a little before cooking, making it easier to cook.
- Steak doesn’t have to be cooked until it’s well done. In fact, it tastes best when it’s medium-rare. To get an idea of how well the meat is cooked, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature. 125°F is rare, 135°F is medium-rare, 145°F is medium, 150°F is medium well, and 160°F is well done. The internal temperature of these steak bites was 150°F.
- You can cook the fat as well as the meat. Of course, you can trim off the fat if you’d prefer to avoid it, but I like to cook the whole steak when possible, and any fat on these pieces of steak will cook until perfectly tender as well.
- Toss any leftover steak bites over fresh greens like rocket/arugula to make a delicious steak salad the next day!
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- I like to reheat them in the air fryer again for 5 minutes until warm and juicy, however, you can also eat them cold straight from the fridge.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 514Total Fat: 33gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 188mgSodium: 456mgCarbohydrates: 2gFiber: 0gSugar: 0gProtein: 51g
