Bavette Steak substitute

Best substitute

Flank steak

Use the same amount by weight as the bavette steak you are replacing

Best for fajitas

Close match

The best substitutes for bavette steak are flank steak or skirt steak, which have the same loose open grain and the same fast high-heat cooking, or hanger steak if your butcher has it, which is the closest of all in tenderness and flavour. Flat iron and thin-cut sirloin also work. Bavette is doing a specific job: it is a thin steak with a coarse grain that grabs marinade and chars quickly, so it must always be cooked no further than medium-rare and sliced across the grain, and the same is true of every substitute.

Other bavette steak substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Skirt steak
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
The most intensely flavoured of the group, which is why it is the traditional cut for carne asada and arrachera.
What changes
Even looser-grained than bavette and thinner, so it cooks in as little as two minutes a side over ferocious heat and chars beautifully. It is also chewier, with a more pronounced fibrous pull, and there is a membrane on outside skirt that must be trimmed. Buy inside skirt for tenderness or outside skirt for the best flavour, and slice it thin at an angle.
Best for
carne asada, tacos, fajitas, very high heat grilling
Do not cook it low or slow. Skirt is at its best charred outside and rare within.
3Hanger steak (onglet)
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
The cut bavette is nicknamed after, since faux hanger means false hanger, and the closest match in every respect: deeply beefy, loose-grained, tender, and a bistro standard for steak frites.
What changes
There is only one hanger per animal, so it is not always available and it costs more than flank. It has a tough central sinew that has to be cut out, leaving two long strips. Cook to 130F, no more, and slice across the grain.
Best for
steak frites, pan-searing with a shallot sauce, bistro cooking, grilling
Ask the butcher to remove the central sinew, or split it yourself before cooking.
4Flat iron steak (top blade)
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Well marbled and genuinely tender, with a rich sweet beefiness close to bavette's.
What changes
The grain is much finer and tighter, so it eats smoother and less chewy, which some cooks prefer and which does mean it holds less marinade on the surface. It is a similar thickness and cooks in the same two to three minutes a side. A reliable, widely stocked, good-value choice if the loose fibrous texture is not the specific thing you were after.
Best for
pan-searing, grilling, sliced steak plates, good value
Buy it with the central gristle line already trimmed out.
5Sirloin flap cut from a whole bottom sirloin, or thin-cut top sirloin
Different texture
Use the same amount by weight
Worth knowing that flap meat and sirloin flap are the same thing as bavette under different labels, so before substituting anything, ask the butcher for flap meat, since many American shops carry it and simply do not use the French name.
What changes
If none is available, a top sirloin steak cut thin at three quarters of an inch is a decent stand-in: beefy and firm, but with a tighter grain and less fat, so it is drier and needs slicing very thin and a butter or chimichurri finish.
Best for
grilling, steak sandwiches, when the butcher uses a different name
Always ask for flap meat, bavette, sirloin flap and vacio by all four names before giving up.
6Tri-tip or picanha, sliced thin
Close match
Use the same amount by weight
Both come from the same general sirloin region and share bavette's forthright beef flavour, with picanha's fat cap giving extra richness.
What changes
They are thicker, more roast-shaped pieces, so cook them whole to 130F and then slice thin rather than treating them as a flat steak. Tri-tip's grain changes direction halfway along, so cut it in two at the bend and slice each half separately. Both are excellent value and hold up to chimichurri and salsa exactly as bavette does.
Best for
grilling for a group, chimichurri and salsa verde, Brazilian style, budget cooking
Cook whole then slice. Trying to cut them into thin steaks first wastes their advantage.

What is Bavette Steak?

Bavette Steak is Bavette steak, also sold as sirloin flap, flap meat, faux hanger or vacio, is a loose-grained, well-marbled cut from the bottom sirloin near the flank, thin and intensely beefy and meant to be cooked fast and sliced thin.

Cooking tips

Slicing across the grain is not optional with any of these cuts, it is the entire difference between tender and unchewable. Look for the direction the long muscle fibres run and cut at ninety degrees to them, in slices no thicker than a quarter inch. A perfectly cooked bavette sliced the wrong way eats like a rubber band.
Cook to no more than 130-135F. Loose-grained cuts have connective tissue running between the fibres that never gets the chance to melt in a fast cook, so pushing them to medium-well simply tightens everything. If you want beef well done, choose a different cut entirely, because this family cannot do it.
Get the pan or grill hotter than feels reasonable. These steaks are thin, so the only way to build a crust before the middle overcooks is very high heat and a dry surface. Blot the meat with paper towels after marinating, or the marinade steams instead of searing.
Marinade suits these cuts unusually well because the open grain lets it in. Two to eight hours in oil, garlic, lime or vinegar and cumin or oregano does real work here, unlike on a thick tight-grained steak where marinade barely penetrates the surface. Longer than about eight hours in acid and the surface turns mushy.
Rest for five minutes, not fifteen. These are thin steaks that cool fast, so a long rest leaves them lukewarm, while cutting straight away loses the juices onto the board. Five minutes loosely tented is the sweet spot, and slice just before it goes to the table.

Frequently asked questions

Is bavette the same as flank steak?

They are close relatives but not identical. Bavette, also called sirloin flap or flap meat, comes from the bottom sirloin, while flank steak comes from the abdominal wall just behind it. Bavette is usually a little fattier, more tender and more marbled, and flank is leaner and firmer. They cook by the same method and are interchangeable in almost any recipe, so flank is the standard substitute when bavette is unavailable.

What is bavette called in American butcher shops?

Most often flap meat or sirloin flap, and sometimes faux hanger or, on Argentine and Uruguayan menus, vacio. Because the French name is the one that appears in recipes and the English names are the ones on the label, plenty of people conclude the cut is unavailable when it is sitting in the case. Ask for all of those names before you substitute, and try a Mexican carniceria, where flap meat is a staple.

Can I use bavette or its substitutes for a slow-cooked stew?

It is a poor choice. These cuts are thin and lean with fibres that separate rather than melt, so long cooking makes them stringy and dry rather than tender in the way chuck or brisket become. If a recipe braises for hours, use beef chuck, shin or short ribs instead. Save bavette, flank, skirt and hanger for fast, high-heat cooking served pink.

Can I just leave the steak out?

In fajitas, tacos or a steak salad the meat is one component and the dish survives without it, especially if you replace the volume with hard-seared portobello mushrooms, thick-cut king oyster mushrooms or charred peppers and onions in the same marinade. In steak frites there is nothing left to remove. Either way, keep the marinade and the char, because that is most of the flavour.

Which substitute has the most flavour?

Skirt steak, by a clear margin, which is why it is the traditional choice for carne asada and arrachera. It is also the chewiest, so it needs the thinnest slicing. Hanger steak comes next and is more tender. Flank is milder and leaner than either, and flat iron is the mildest of the group but the most tender, so pick according to whether you care more about intensity or about a smooth bite.

Related substitutes

More meat & protein substitutes

Bavette Steak substitute

Other bavette steak substitutes

2Skirt steak

3Hanger steak (onglet)

4Flat iron steak (top blade)

5Sirloin flap cut from a whole bottom sirloin, or thin-cut top sirloin

6Tri-tip or picanha, sliced thin