Planning what to serve with steak deserves (almost) as much attention as cooking the perfect steak.
From the traditional side dishes you would find at any good steak house to some lighter but equally delish creations, these recipes will elevate your steak dinner.
For help choosing the best cut of steak and how to cook it, check out our guide to steak.
20 Mind Blowing Side Dishes for Steak
1. Ultra Crispy Triple Cooked Potato Wedges
These crispy wedges take a bit of time and prep work (they are triple cooked after all!).
But if you have a little patience, you’ll be rewarded with the best crispy potatoes you’ve eaten in your entire life.
Serve these next to a perfectly cooked Ribeye or New York Strip, and you’ll be sorted.
These wedges also go great with burgers.
Recipe: Triple cooked potato wedges
2. Celery and Parmesan Salad
If you are tired of making potato salad or coleslaw over and over again, it’s time to mix things up with a fresh and crunchy celery parmesan salad.
This versatile side dish is super easy to make and pairs perfectly with steak and poultry. You can even serve it with some grilled salmon.
You can also play with some ingredients to change the flavor profile to your liking.
Recipe: Celery and Parmesan Salad
3. Smoky Garlic Butter Mushrooms
The beauty of this recipe is how easy and quick it is to make. All you need is a few ingredients and a grill or a smoker.
Another great thing is that you can either go with the classic white button mushrooms or experiment with other mushroom types or even their combinations.
A delicate texture and smoky flavor make these mushrooms a perfect pair for any steak cut.
Recipe: Smoky Garlic Butter Mushrooms
4. Homemade Classic French Fries
There’s nothing quite like piping hot fries freshly salted, crunchy on the outside, and still fluffy on the inside.
Making your own french fries is both healthier and tastes better than buying the grocery store options. You know the potatoes are real and the seasoning has no hidden nasties.
You can choose to keep your seasoning simple with a pinch of salt or add some extra flavors with a light coating of garlic butter with freshly shredded pecorino romano over top. Either way, your guests are sure to be impressed by your homemade steak and frites dinner.
Recipe: Homemade Classic French Fries
5. Garlic and Rosemary Smoked Potatoes
Are potatoes not the perfect side dish?
This classic combination of potatoes, garlic, rosemary, and parmesan cheese is enhanced when smoked with fruitwood.
No more average old roast potatoes.
Recipe: Garlic and Rosemary Smoked Potatoes
6. Loaded Potato Salad
If a potato salad and a loaded baked potato had a love child, this is what it would look like!
Soft pillowy potatoes, a creamy mayo dressing, and wham, grated cheddar, bacon, and green onions to top it off.
A match made in potato heaven.
Recipe: Loaded Potato Salad
7. The Best Pasta Salad for BBQ
Pasta salad is almost a meal in one. Serving it alongside steak seals the deal.
This pasta salad can be made in advance, in fact, a couple of days in advance, and it only gets better as the pasta absorbs all those flavors from the garlic mustard vinaigrette.
Change up the ingredients: feta cheese instead of mozzarella, green olives, throw in some asparagus or some herbs. The variations are endless.
Recipe: The Best Pasta Salad for BBQ
8. Loaded smoked potato skins
Next time you’re grilling steak, throw these potato skins on the grill as well.
Crispy skin, pillowy potato, and a filling of melted cheese and bacon. Sounds like a dream!
Serve your favorite condiment on the side for dipping. Ours is sour cream, but ranch or blue cheese sauce would be just as good.
Recipe: Loaded Smoked Potato Skins.
9. Smoked Bacon Wrapped Brussels Sprouts
Brussels sprouts are great served with steak, but they’re even better wrapped in bacon and then smoked.
Sweet, nutty, and salty what better way to eat the controversial sprout?
Recipe: Bacon Wrapped Brussels Sprouts.
10. Crispy Smashed Grilled Potatoes
We love smashing burgers, but did you know you can also smash potatoes? This technique is great for creating super crispy potatoes.
Typically roasted in an oven, there’s no reason you can’t make this on the grill for even more flavor.
Recipe: Grilled Smashed Potatoes.
11. Smoked Garlic Mashed Potatoes
If you’re a lover of potatoes, garlic, and smoke, then this is the dish for you!
Who’d have thought that smoking your potatoes before mashing them would give them so much flavor? We sure didn’t, but are happy to report these are some of the best mashed potatoes we have eaten.
Recipe: Smoked Garlic Mashed Potatoes
12. Garlic Butter Steak and Potatoes Skillet
This dish is something of an all-in-one offering, as the steak itself is part of the recipe. Right alongside it in the skillet is potato, making this a quick, easy classic.
While this dish is not particularly exotic, it is tried and tested; steak and potatoes is something of an institution, so you can be confident this dish is going to be inhaled when it is served up.
Find the recipe here, and be sure to check out some of the other side dish suggestions included in the description.
13. Oven Baked Potatoes – Classic Steakhouse Fare
If you are craving some classic baked potato, this is the recipe you are after. In fact, this recipe goes a step further and guides you through how to make potatoes with crackly, crispy skin and super soft insides.
You will also find some advice on the best type of potato to buy if you are after steakhouse-quality baked potatoes, as well as some great suggestions for toppings if you are after something a little more than salt and olive oil (which we still think is delicious).
Find the recipe, along with some other tips and tricks here.
14. Baked Eggplant Fries with Greek Tzatziki Sauce
If you are keen to venture away from potatoes and mix things up a little, these eggplant fries are a real winner.
Crispy and crunchy on the outside and buttery and smooth on the inside – the perfect combination for a side dish that will have your guests coming up for round two, and three (if there are any chips left!)
The instruction for how to make tangy tzatziki sauce is included in this recipe, but if you are out of time, or have a craving for something else, try dunking these chips in one of your favorite light creamy store-bought sauces.
Recipe: Baked Eggplant Fries
15. Sauteed Mushrooms in Garlic Butter
Steak and mushroom is a classic combination – so classic that a steak with mushroom sauce is standard issue in many establishments.
So why not add a mushroom side dish to your repertoire.
This dish is quick and easy and should be ready in about 10 minutes.
The buttery, earthy flavor of mushrooms promises to be the perfect compliment to your steak, and all the ingredients needed to create this dish are pantry staples.
For the recipe and a few extra tips on how to cook this super simple side dish just the way you like it, click here.
16. Grilled Cauliflower Steaks – Also Perfect for a Lazy Dinner
Cauliflower has enjoyed something of a resurgence of late, and it is about time. Far more than just a colorless version of broccoli, cauliflower brings very unique properties and tastes to your cooking.
This recipe adds a few extra flavors to add some depth to the dish, to the point that if you are feeling a little lazy, you could eat a couple of these steaks and call it dinner (probably not when you have invited your friends around though, depending on how your friends would feel about a meatless dinner).
If you are all about simplicity, these “steaks” are also delicious, just cooked in some oil with salt and pepper.
Recipe: Grilled cauliflower steaks
17. Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Steakhouse Style
This recipe is all about recreating the type of mash you will get in a steakhouse.
There are countless variations on the humble mashed potato, and while this recipe touches on many aspects of the perfect mash for a variety of situations, ultimately, this recipe is all about mash that is packed with flavor, incredibly creamy, and slightly rustic in texture.
Who would have thought the humble mash could be such a specialty item?
Recipe: Garlic Mashed Potato Steakhouse Style
18. Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
Just looking at the photo of this dish is enough to send you downtown to the nearest grocery store in search of bacon and asparagus!
The salty, crispy bacon artfully woven through the fresh, juicy asparagus is the side dish of dreams.
This dish will only take up about half an hour of your time, including preparation and cooking. And you can cook it on the grill while you have it fired up.
Recipe: Bacon Wrapped Asparagus
19. Potatoes Au Gratin
The name of this dish might sound fancy, but it is incredibly easy to make, and chances are you have had some variation of it in the past, and probably went back for more – this recipe is hard to resist.
It is an undisputed fact that cheese and potatoes were made for each other, and that combination makes the basis of this dish. Paired with steak, this is comfort food 101.
This recipe works best if you can slice the potatoes nice and thin, and an inexpensive tool like a mandoline is perfect for this.
Once all the ingredients are added, pop it in the oven for about 1.5 hours, and you are set – just make sure you made enough for everyone to have seconds!
Find all the details of the recipe here.
20. Garlic Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts
Another recipe that can be enjoyed without any misgivings regarding nutritional value, this delicious way to prepare the humble Brussels sprout is sure to make its way into your “go-to” list of side dishes.
Parmesan not only adds a cheesy twist but also forms an irresistible crust on the sprouts.
These are a breeze to prepare. All you need to do is throw them in the oven along with whatever you are cooking for the main meal.
Depending on the heat of the oven, expect them to be ready in anywhere between 30 and 50 minutes. You don’t even have to feel bad about popping a couple in your mouth before you serve them up because they are that good for you!
Recipe: Garlic Parmesan Roasted Brussels Sprouts.
Wrapping it up
A good side dish can transform a steak dinner into a well-rounded, healthy (or descendant) meal.
Luckily, they don’t have to be complicated or take up much of your time to prepare.
Why not pick your favorite from this list and give one a go tonight?
What is your go-to side dish to accompany steak? Let us know in the comments section below.
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