Filet mignon substitutes

The genuine insider swap. It is a small muscle from the shoulder that is nearly as tender as tenderloin and costs a third as much, so a butcher who has it will usually tell you it is the best value in the case. It has more actual beef flavour than filet, which most people count as a gain, and a slightly looser grain, so it is marginally less pillowy. Cut a whole teres major into two or three thick medallions, sear hard, and cook to 130F.

Best for

steak dinners, medallions, pan-searing with a sauce, best value tenderness

Ask by name at a real butcher counter. Supermarkets rarely label it.

Not a different cut, but usually a much cheaper way to buy the same one. A whole tenderloin, sometimes sold as a peeled or unpeeled tender, costs significantly less per pound than pre-cut filets, and you slice your own two-inch steaks from the centre and use the tapered tail for stir fry or stroganoff. Identical flavour and texture, since it is literally the same muscle. The only cost is fifteen minutes of trimming and the need to freeze what you do not use.

Best for

cooking filet often, dinner parties, saving money without changing the cut

Tie each medallion with string so it holds its round shape in the pan.

The straightforward supermarket answer. Ask for a two-inch-thick piece and you get something that looks like a filet on the plate and costs a fraction as much. It is much beefier in flavour and distinctly firmer and chewier, with a definite grain you notice when you cut it. That means it wants slicing across the grain rather than serving whole, and it must not go past 130F, since lean sirloin dries out fast. A red wine or peppercorn sauce closes most of the gap.

Best for

steak dinners on a budget, grilling, sauced steaks, anniversary dinner at home

Buy the thickest piece the counter will cut. Thin sirloin cannot imitate a filet at all.

One of the most tender cuts after the tenderloin, well marbled, and about a third of the price. It is richer and more deeply beefy than filet, and softer than sirloin, so it splits the difference nicely. The shape works against you: flat irons are wide and thin rather than thick and round, so you cannot serve one as a tall medallion. Cook it two to three minutes a side and slice it across the grain into fanned strips, which plates beautifully in its own right.

Best for

pan-seared steak, sliced steak plates, steak salads, good value tenderness

Buy the version with the central gristle line already removed.

The same muscle on a pig and, like beef tenderloin, exceptionally tender and very mild. Cut it into inch-and-a-half medallions, press them lightly flat, and sear them, or wrap them in bacon as filet often is. Pork is sweeter and lighter and has no beef depth at all, so a peppercorn or bearnaise sauce that flatters filet tastes odd here. Switch to mustard cream, apple, or a mushroom and thyme sauce and it becomes an excellent dish. Cook to 145F and rest five minutes.

Best for

elegant weeknight dinners, very cheap tender medallions, mustard or apple sauces

Do not overcook. Pork tenderloin is as lean as beef filet and just as unforgiving past done.

Two honest fallbacks. The tapered tail of the tenderloin is the same meat sold cheaper because it will not cut into neat rounds, and it is ideal for medallions or stroganoff. A small ribeye is the other direction entirely: far more marbled and richly flavoured, but noticeably chewier than filet, so someone who orders filet because they dislike chew and gristle will not be satisfied by it. Choose the tail for texture and the ribeye for flavour, and be clear which one you are after.

Best for

stroganoff and stir fry, medallions, flavour-forward steak dinners

There is no cut that is both as tender as filet and as cheap as chuck. Pick which quality matters.