Easy Steak au Poivre Baked Potatoes

Steak au Poivre Baked Potatoes are a surprisingly easy meal that makes weekdays feel special.

Baked potatoes make an excellent base for pan seared steak in a rich pepper cream sauce. It can be made in an hour with traditional methods or speed things up by using our tips below.

Before Kevin and I were married (like eons ago) his parents took us on a trip to France. It was my first trip abroad and I was more than a little excited. In high school I studied French and was in love with the idea of French culture. The food, the wine, the architecture…

I’m happy to say that the experience more than lived up to my expectations. The pastries were divine, the wine was plentiful (in large part due to my father-in-law generously filling and refilling my glass at every meal) and oh my goodness the beautiful culture!

From Paris to the French countryside, we took in cathedrals, monuments, and museums, eventually landing on the hallowed beaches of Normandy. In a week we saw some of the best and worst of human legacy. There were awe inspiring works like Mont Saint-Michel and the Bayeux Tapestry that towered in scale and subtler works like the Mona Lisa.

I loved everything so much I longed to take everything home with me. But alas the part of French culture that travels best are the memories….well that and the food!

The meal that stuck with me the most was a pepper steak at Les Trois Rois. It had the most amazing little soft peppercorns in a luxurious cream sauce. I came home intent to learn how to make it. Luckily, I discovered a Martha Stewart recipe that was very similar to the one I had loved in France.

I adore that recipe, but wanted to create a weekday version that was just as delicious, but a little more practical. Just like my slogan says, I love a great twist on an old favorite. Viola! Steak au Poivre Baked Potatoes!

We’ve lightened up the sauce a bit, reduced the steak to a shareable portion and served it over a baked potato. It hits all the right notes with the essence of cognac, thinly sliced steak and the brined peppercorns…all gloriously loaded onto a baked potato.

What I love about this as a weeknight meal is that it’s only 9 ingredients and about 30 minutes of hands on time. I also love that the specialty ingredients (cognac and brined peppercorns) are shelf stable and the rest of the ingredients are easy to find (or might already be in your kitchen).

We’ve served these Steak au Poivre Baked Potatoes with Caesar salad (sinfully good pairing!) but if you are concerned about calories, steamed broccoli is a perfect accompaniment.

We recently got an Instant Pot, so for one of the test runs of this recipe we “baked” the potatoes using the instructions below. It was faster, but we decided to crisp up the potatoes in the oven after they had cooked in the Instant Pot to get a firmer skin. We still preferred the oven baked potatoes, but if time is an issue, check out the recipe notes. We’ve included some links for faster “baked” potatoes.

By far the best advice we can give for a faster potato is by choosing smaller potatoes. Not only will it help with portion control, they bake faster.

Steak au Poivre Baked Potatoes

Brined peppercorns are what makes this sauce extra special. If you can't find them in your grocery store they are available from Amazon. 

5 from 3 votes

Print Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: French

Prep Time: 5 minutes mins

Cook Time: 55 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 208kcal

Author: Charity Beth Long

Ingredients

Baked Potatoes

• 4 half pound Russet potatoes
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or canola oil
• 1 tablespoon sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Pan Seared Steak

• 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• 1 10 oz steak (I tried this recipe with sirloin and strip steak)
• sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Au Poivre Sauce

• 1 medium sized yellow onion, diced
• 2 tablespoons salted butter
• 1/2 cup cognac
• 1-1/2 cups beef stock
• 1-1/2 cups half and half
• sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons green peppercorns in brine

Instructions

Baked Potatoes

• Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with foil.
• Wash the potatoes and poke them with a fork.
• Rub the potatoes with oil and generously sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
• Bake the potatoes until they are soft, about an hour.

Steak

• When the potatoes are halfway done, sprinkle both sides of the steak with salt and pepper.
• In a large skillet, heat oil over high heat.
• Cook the steak to medium rare- about 120-130F and then transfer to a plate, cover with foil and let rest.

Au Poivre Sauce

• Wipe the pan out with a paper towel and heat butter over medium high heat.
• Once the butter is hot, saute the onions until they are golden brown.
• Pour in the cognac and let boil for a couple minutes, scraping any browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
• Add in stock and half and half and bring to a boil.
• Cook sauce, stirring often.
• When the sauce is thick and reduced, season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Right before serving, thinly slice the steak and add to sauce with brined peppercorns.

Serving

• Slice baked potatoes and top with steak and sauce. If you'd like to
• If you'd like to garnish the potatoes, parsley, grated parmesan and freshly cracked pepper make a beautiful presentation.

Notes

For quicker potatoes consider these methods:

Crock Pot Baked Potatoes
How to Bake a Potato in the Microwave
Instant Pot Potatoes in 25 Minutes

Nutrition

Calories: 208kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 26mg | Sodium: 276mg | Potassium: 135mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 282IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it turned out for you! Scroll down to leave a comment below.

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