So I’m sure you have seen lots of those meal delivery ads for Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, and other similar companies, right? They’re all the rage right now, and I can fully see why – SUPER convenient. Seth and I tried one a few years ago for one week just for fun to see if the food was any good. It was a fun week, but we still prefer just coming up with our own dinners!

In February, when I was in North Carolina, I was staying with my in laws, and they have one of those subscription boxes called Sun Basket. So we cooked a few of them each night (since there were more than just two of us) and that’s what we had for dinners that week! They were actually super delicious, and I would highly recommend Sun Basket if you are looking for a meal delivery service.

P.S. This is not an ad for Sun Basket – I don’t work with them. In contrast, it’s actually me totes stealing one of their ideas from a meal that I had with my in laws…😬. So…thanks for the idea, Sun Basket friends!

There was one night where our Sun Basket meal was salmon with cilantro jalapeno sauce, and that sauce was the inspiration for this recipe. I decided to go more of a chimichurri route with this one, but it has the same bright, refreshing, crisp elements that pack in the perfect balance of delicious flavors. It’s easy to prepare and pushes any meat to the next level – BIG TIME.

It also gives you a sauce without having to go through the effort of cooking anything, reducing anything, thickening anything, etc…All you need for this delicious combo is a cutting board, knife, and bowl! Whatuupppp.

And the steak itself is just as delicious, cooked to perfect medium rare and crusted in a flavor bomb cocoa and chili rub. The bold, rich flavor of the steak is the PER-fect avenue for the fresh, bright jalapeno chimichurri. A match made in heaven! Like ice cream and chocolate sauce. Pancakes and maple syrup (Aunt Jemima Butter Lite = childhood). Bacon and eggs. Catch my drift?

The chimichurri is SUPER simple to make and comes together in less than 10 minutes…here’s whatcha got goin’ on:

Cilantro
Parsley
Jalapeno
Garlic
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar

^^That’s it! Super finely mince the herbs and veggies, add in the oil and vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and you DUN, girl.

The rub for the steak is super simple too – just unsweetened cocoa powder and chili powder. Rub that on there, get a nice, deep sear on each side, let it rest, slice it up, and load that chimichurri on top! It really is a super easy meal that has a craaaazy crazy amount of yummy, bold flavor.

Alright, are you guys ready to here the most tragic Whole 30 story of all time? It was so humorously ironic that we were laughing sadly about it all night, wondering if there is some Whole 30 curse out there that brought this absurdity onto us…So this past Friday night, Seth and I went out on a date. We went to Chipotle and then went to a local coffeehouse called Radina’s.

We get to the front to order our coffee, and the dude says “Hey! Today we have a special going with buy one get one free croissants and pastries! Are you guys interested?” Seth and I look at each other with an I-want-bread-and-dessert-so-badly-that-I’d-break-your-arm-for-it look and then declined.

We’re sitting at our table with our unsweetened, half steamed almond milk coffee (yay…) when the same dude comes over again and says, “Hey guys! We are going to have to throw away all of our bread tonight because we bake daily – do you guys want to bring it home with you?” Again, we look at each other and laugh a little, and then I explain to this super nice guy that we are on Whole 30 and can’t eat bread for the month.

So then he asks if we want to bring some to anyone else because it’s all about to get thrown away. Usually on week days, they give the leftover bread to a local non-profit called Flint Hills Breadbasket, but they don’t operate on weekends, and this was Friday night. We were also the only two people in the coffee shop because they were closing in five minutes. Soooo we’re like…sure…we can bring some to my brother and sister-in-law and Ford’s babysitter to take home with her.

You guys…this dude goes back there and loads two MASSIVE brown paper grocery bags full of AT LEAST fifty dollars worth of freshly baked, extremely fancy bread and hands it over to us, and we have to walk out of that coffee shop with approximately four hundred loaves of bread in hand. I have pictures…standby.

IT’S A CRUEL WORLD.

We will end this post on a happy note with more steak + chimichurri goodness.

Cocoa and Chili Crusted Steak with Jalapeno Chimichurri

Paleo and Whole 30 approved!

Author: Annie Chesson
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 6 minutes
Total Time: 21 minutes
Yield: 2 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the steaks

2 strip loin steaks (mine were 10 oz each)*
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ghee (or butter if not paleo/Whole 30)
Salt
Olive oil for cooking the steak

For the jalapeno chimichurri

1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro, about 1 bunch (measure after you’ve chopped the herbs)
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley, about 1/2 bunch (measure after you’ve chopped the herbs)
1 jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed, finely minced
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

Instructions

Bring the steaks to room temperature, if possible, before cooking. At the very least, take them out of the fridge while you make your chimichurri
For the chimichurri, add all the ingredients (cilantro, parsley, jalapeno, garlic, olive oil, and red wine vinegar) to a bowl and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let this sit while you do everything else so that the flavors can develop and come together
Add your cocoa powder and chili powder to a small bowl and stir to fully combine
Season both sides of your steaks with salt, and rub the cocoa/chili mixture into both sides of the meat until you have used it all (should be 1/2 teaspoon per side of each steak)
Heat your ghee and a good drizzle of olive oil over medium high heat in a skillet
When hot, add your steaks. Sear for 3 minutes per side (or until a meat thermometer reads 145) and remove the steaks to rest for at least five minutes. Cook time may vary based on size of steaks, so the meat thermometer comes in handy
Once the steaks have rested, slice them and top with chimichurri sauce

Notes

*Strip loin steaks are also called strip steaks or New York strip steaks.

The recipe makes about 1 cup of chimichurri, so you will probably have some extra left over!

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 steak + 1/4 cup chimichurri
Calories: 350
Sugar: 0 g
Sodium: 35 mg
Fat: 38 g
Carbohydrates: 2 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 1 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg

If you make this or any of my other recipes, be sure to Instagram it and hashtag #thegarlicdiaries!

In the mood for more Whole 30? Check these out:

Whole 30 Week One Recap

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup with Fried Sage Leaves

Creamy Vegan Cashew Curry Sauce

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