Stuffed Balsamic Flank Steak Pinwheels
These Stuffed Balsamic Flank Steak Pinwheels look and taste like an upscale restaurant meal, but can be made right at home! Butterflied flank steak is pounded thin, immersed in a balsamic marinade, and wrapped around Feta and Mozzarella cheeses, bacon, sun-dried tomatoes, basil, and fresh spinach leaves. Then you’ll just slice it into pinwheels, sear it to perfection and finish it in the oven. I love the smokiness of the bacon with the sweet and tangy sun-dried tomatoes and the salty Feta cheese in the stuffing. The balsamic marinated steak and the cheesy filling are so flavorful, and the finished pinwheels look worthy of a special occasion, or just a delicious home-cooked dinner. Treat yourself to some steak! Each decadent Stuffed Balsamic Flank Steak Pinwheel is just 294 calories and 4 grams of carbs, or 5 WW Points on the Weight Watchers program. To view your current WW Points for this recipe and track it in the WW app, click here.
Here’s a look at the marinated butterflied flank steak pounded out with the stuffing added:
Then you’ll add the torn spinach leaves:
Then you’ll roll it up, tie it with twine, and draw together any tears with a toothpick:
Recipe Notes
- Flank Steak: You’ll want to get a flank steak that’s about 1 ½ pounds for this recipe and you’ll need it butterflied. I did it myself this time, but you can definitely ask the butcher in the meat department at your grocery store to butterfly it for you. If you’re doing it yourself, there are a lot of handy videos online that show you exactly how to do it, like this one!
- Sun-dried Tomatoes: I use the dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes in this recipe, rather than the ones that are packed in oil. These are usually packaged in a bag instead of a jar, and I’ve found them sold by the jarred sun-dried tomatoes or by the salad toppings. I use these julienned ones from California Sun Dry.
- Bacon: I pretty much always use center cut bacon, and Oscar Mayer Center Cut is my favorite. Center cut is just a leaner cut of regular bacon, so it tastes delicious, crisps up beautifully, and is a bit lighter.
- Marinade: This recipe uses a super simple marinade that I also use for my Strawberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken. You can stick it in the marinade in the morning so that it’s ready to work with at dinner time, or marinate overnight.
- Tracking the Marinade: I measured the bag of marinade before adding the steak and then 12 hours later after removing the steak, and determined that about ¼ of the marinade was absorbed. I used this information in determining the WW Points and nutrition information and only tracked ¼ of the marinade ingredients since the remainder is discarded and not consumed.
- Sealing up your steak roll: Using butcher’s twine to tie your rolled steak really works best at holding it together. You can ask for some at your grocery store’s meat department, or buy some to keep on hand. I have this one (affiliate link) from Amazon. If your steak splits at all while you’re rolling it, or you cut through a bit while butterflying it, don’t fret! Use toothpicks to draw together any splits in the exterior of the rolled up steak.
- How to Serve: These Stuffed Balsamic Flank Steak Pinwheels are full of delicious flavor and pair well with lots of different side dishes. The pinwheels are pictured served with a side salad, but they would also be great alongside rice, roasted vegetables, pasta, or potatoes.
More Tasty Lightened-Up Beef Recipes
Looking for more tasty lightened up beef recipes like these Stuffed Balsamic Flank Steak Pinwheels? Check out my Garlic Parmesan Flank Steak Pinwheels, Teriyaki Steak Lettuce Wraps, Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy, Black and Blue Steak Salad, Beef and Bean Chimichangas, Meat and Potatoes Bake, Open-Faced Greek Steak Sandwiches, Slow Cooker Beef and Barley Soup, Southwest Steak Salad, Beef Stroganoff, Beefy American Goulash, Spicy Steak Tacos, Black and Blue Steak Wraps, Slow Cooker Beef Stew, Barley Beef Skillet, and so many more in the Beef section of my recipe index!
Stuffed Balsamic Flank Steak Pinwheels
Ingredients
Marinade and Steak:
- 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 ½ lbs uncooked lean and trimmed flank steak
Stuffing and Searing:
- 4 slices center cut bacon
- 2 oz shredded 2% Mozzarella cheese
- 3 oz crumbled Feta cheese
- 1 oz dry-packed sun-dried tomatoes, chopped (I use California Sun-Dry)
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 cup torn spinach leaves
- 1 tablspoon olive oil
- *You will also want to have butchers twine/cooking twine on hand. Often times you can ask for some at the butcher counter at your grocery store, but you can also just buy your own to have on hand. I have this one from Amazon (affiliate link).You can also use toothpicks to seal it shut, but twine is easier.
Instructions
- Butterfly your steak (here is a helpful how-to video…you can also ask the butcher at your grocery store to do this for you) and pound to an even ½ inch thickness. Close the steak back up (fold it back together after butterflying) and place it in a gallon ziplock bag. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to make the marinade. Pour the marinade over the steak in the bag. Seal the bag, removing any excess air, and toss/massage the contents until the steak it coated in marinade. Refrigerate the bag, allowing the steak to marinate for at least one hour/up to 12 hours.
- When the steak is marinated, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Cook the bacon to package instructions until crispy and then allow it to drain on paper towels. Chop or crumble into small pieces.
- Remove the steak from the marinade and allow excess to drip off into the bag. Open the butterflied steak and lay it flat on a cutting board, marinated side down.
- Sprinkle the shredded Mozzarella evenly over the top of the surface of your butterflied flank steak, leaving about an inch of space at the end you plan to roll toward. Top with the crumbled Feta, crumbled bacon, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, and chopped basil. Lay the torn spinach leaves over the top.
- Roll the steak up tightly over the filling and tie with twine in six evenly spaced segments (or use toothpicks) to seal and keep your steak and filling rolled snugly. If you have any splits or tears in the exterior of the steak roll, draw them together and seal with toothpicks. Using a sharp knife, slice your roll between pieces of twine into six pinwheels.
- Add the tablespoon of olive oil to a large skillet/sauté pan and bring to medium-high heat. Add the pinwheels cut-side down and sear for 2-3 minutes. Flip them over and sear for another 2-3 minutes until browned on both sides.
- Transfer the pinwheels to a 9x13 baking dish (or if your skillet is oven-safe, you can keep them in there) and place them in the heated oven. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with aluminum foil for 5 minutes to rest.
Notes
294 calories, 4 g carbs, 1 g sugar, 16 g fat, 6 g saturated fat, 31 g protein, 1 g fiber, 380 mg sodium (from myfitnesspal.com) Weight Watchers Points Plus:
7 per pinwheel (PP calculated using a Weight Watchers PointsPlus calculator and the nutrition information)
Make these last night for family dinner, and they were delicious! What a great combo of flavors. Highly recommend!