Easy Peppercorn Sauce For Steak

This easy Peppercorn Sauce recipe can be made ahead of time and reheated whenever you need it. You can keep the flavour you get from the steak juices without waiting until after your steak is cooked to whip up your steak sauce. I guarantee you’ll be making it again and again due to its simplicity and absolute tastiness for minimal effort!

It’s creamy and rich with the perfect hint of heat from the ground peppercorns and zing from the red wine vinegar. And if you use my steak sauce hack below for the ultimate flavour boost, you’ll have a winning peppercorn sauce that will wow whoever you’re cooking for (even if it’s just yourself!)

Jump to:

• Why You'll Love This Peppercorn Sauce recipe
• Can I Make Peppercorn Sauce Ahead of Time?
• Ingredients for Peppercorn Sauce
• How To Make Peppercorn Sauce
• Can I Add Mushrooms To My Peppercorn Sauce?
• What Can I Serve Peppercorn Sauce With?
• Storage and Reheating
• Other Steak Sauces You Might Love
• Easy Peppercorn Sauce For Steak (15 minutes)

If you need some help or direction in cooking beef, then why not check out my post on How To Cook The Perfect Steak.

Why You'll Love This Peppercorn Sauce recipe

• No huge chunks of peppercorns to munch through! The only scenario where this is acceptable is using fresh peppercorns, but they aren’t easy to source. And even when a restaurant uses whole fresh peppercorns, I still prefer this version. 
• It's a tried, tested and ‘couldn’t be simpler’ recipe that requires minimal ingredients and very limited skill. 
• With young kids, I tend to like making this sauce earlier in the day, or even the day before. Means I have one less thing to worry about when cooking and serving dinner. Check out my tips below to maximise flavour, whilst minimising time and pressure.

Can I Make Peppercorn Sauce Ahead of Time?

The typical way of improving flavour (recommended by everyone) is to cook any steak sauce in the pan juices whilst your steak is resting. This puts pressure on you to make the sauce in the timeframe that the steak rests. I'm all about minimising stress and pressure these days!

One of the best things about this peppercorn sauce recipe is how perfectly it lends itself to being made ahead of time.

I often whip it up earlier in the day or even the day before steak night - especially when juggling little ones - so I can focus on the main event without extra stress.

Just store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4-5 days, then gently reheat by adding your pre-made sauce to the pan after you’ve cooked the steaks. You'll de-glaze the pan with the sauce itself.

You get all the flavours from the steak, without the time restriction and pressure of making the sauce whilst the steaks are resting – win win!

This make-ahead approach not only saves you precious minutes but also lets the flavours deepen; making your next steak dinner even more delicious!

Ingredients for Peppercorn Sauce

• Salted Butter: I use salted butter, but we are using a stock cube (which has fairly high salt content) so unsalted butter would also be fine.

• Onion: I use brown onion simply because I tend to have it most often in the house, but shallot is also a great option, as it has a slightly more subtle flavour than onion. Ensure to either blend the onion into a puree or chop very finely to achieve the best consistency.

• Black Pepper: this is the element that sets this Easy Peppercorn Sauce recipe apart from the rest! Using freshly cracked black peppercorns (I simply use my pepper mill but you can use a Mortar and Pestle too) or ground black pepper means you won’t be crunching on whole peppercorns in the sauce. 

This is my husband’s favourite aspect of this sauce versus some of its restaurant counterparts.

• Dijon mustard: English Mustard is slightly hotter than Dijon mustard, but it can be used. If using English mustard, reduce volume to ½ teaspoon.

• Red Wine Vinegar:  substitutions include white wine or cider vinegar. I haven’t trialled it with any other vinegars, so if you choose to use a malt vinegar for example, I wouldn’t be able to confirm taste suitability.

• Chicken Stock: I like to use Chicken Stock for the flavour, but if you’re vegetarian you could switch it for vegetable stock. And I alternate between using a stock cube or bullion powder (which isn’t readily available in UK supermarkets so stock cube is the obvious choice). 

• Double cream: I use double cream as it has a higher fat content which means it’s less likely to separate in dishes. This is the equivalent (although it has approx 10% more fat) to heavy whipping cream in the US.

You can opt for a lower fat cream if you want to reduce the calories. I would highly recommend Marks & Spencer extra thick single cream as it has the consistency of double cream, but half the calories – I love it!

How To Make Peppercorn Sauce

Melt butter in a pan then add finely chopped onion (bonus tip: blend the onion until you have a puree-like consistency if you like a thick steak sauce consistency).

Add cracked or ground black pepper and dijon mustard 

And red wine vinegar then cook until softened (approx 5 mins)

Add chicken stock to the steak sauce and simmer for 5 mins. I use the 'zipline test' to determine if / when the peppercorn sauce has reduced enough to progress to the next stage (see below)

Then pour in double (heavy) cream and simmer for another 5 minutes or so

If using straight away: add the finished peppercorn sauce to the pan you just cooked the steaks in and 'de-glaze' the pan with the sauce. This will pick up all of the steak juices and deepen the flavour.

If planning to use later: add to an airtight container and store in the fridge until needed. Then add to the steak pan whilst your steaks are resting so you can re-heat the peppercorn sauce whilst absorbing all of that steak flavour.

Can I Add Mushrooms To My Peppercorn Sauce?

I occasionally like to add mushrooms into the sauce itself, 'cause everyone loves mushrooms with steak don't they?! So why not incorporate them directly into the dish then serve with some roast tomatoes on the side.

Simply fry some sliced mushrooms in butter until golden brown and then stir through the prepared peppercorn sauce and enjoy!

What Can I Serve Peppercorn Sauce With?

Peppercorn Sauce goes with a whole host of things. But I already use it in my Haggis Hoagie and Chicken Balmoral recipes:

Or alternatively, serve it poured over some deep-fried chips alongside your perfectly cooked steak.

Storage and Reheating

Once made, the peppercorn sauce can be stored in the fridge for 4-5 days.

You can also freeze this sauce for up to 3 months. 

It can then be gently reheated on the hob (ideally in the pan you've just cooked the steaks in). Simply add a splash of cream or stock to loosen it if it thickens too much.

Other Steak Sauces You Might Love

If you fancy trying a few different steak sauces, then why not try:

• Blue Cheese Sauce (creamy blue cheese and cream)
• Chimmichurri Sauce (chilli, garlic and herbs in a delicious zingy oil)
• Diane Sauce (mushrooms, brandy and cream)

If you have any questions please leave a comment and I'll get back to you. Or I would really appreciate it if you left me a review below.

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