One of my favourite steak sauces – a creamy Peppercorn Sauce made with brandy or cognac, beef broth/stock, cream and plenty of crushed peppercorns. The creamy pepper sauce with juicy steak is a match made in heaven and calls for just 4 ingredients. FOUR!!!
Creamy Peppercorn Sauce – a Steakhouse classic
Creamy Peppercorn Sauce was always my first choice at steakhouses which I frequented quite regularly back in my corporate days. Having traded in suits and heels for an apron, there’s no corporate lunches for me anymore. I make my steaks at home!
There are a handful of truly great sauces in this world that are deceptively simple to make, and this creamy pepper sauce for steak is one of them. It’s the same sauce used in Steak au Poivre, a French classic, except the steak is not crusted with cracked peppercorns so there is more in the sauce. This recipe is more straightforward because you don’t have to worry about burning cracked peppercorns when searing the steak or finishing the steak in the oven to avoid that problem.
How to make Creamy Peppercorn Sauce
This is an exceptionally simple sauce to make with few ingredients, making for a quick dinner any night:
Cook steak to your taste, then remove and rest while you make the sauce;
Make sauce: In the same pan, add brandy or cognac, simmer rapidly for 1 minute until the alcohol smell is gone;
Add beef broth/stock, and simmer rapidly until it reduces by half (intensifies the flavour);
Stir through cream and crushed peppercorns. Serve over steak!
TIPS:
The alcohol brings incredible depth of flavour to the sauce, it’s the secret ingredient. Classic creamy peppercorn sauce is made cognac or brandy, but I’ve made this plenty of times with marsala too. I love ’em all!
Using freshly crushed peppercorns are best for a really great pepper flavour. Or use canned green peppercorns for less heat.
PS Note how I’m searing the sides of the steak ↑↑↑ Always sear the fat strip. Nobody likes a big fat rubbery strip of fat on their steak!
Quick for midweek!
Serve it up with Crispy Smashed Potatoes or Paris Mash and a quick Garlic Spinach side for a true Steakhouse experience! – Nagi x
PS It’s worth getting a decent steak for this one. If you get a really good value economy steak, try my Steak Marinade instead – it will tenderise and add subtle flavour. 🙂
Try these on the side:
For a Steakhouse experience – Paris Mash and Garlic Sautéed Spinach
And more great steak sauces:
A Mushroom Sauce for Steak
Garlic Thyme Butter Basted Steak – a simple, amazing Cheffy technique for cooking steak
Mushroom Gravy – use the sauce in this Chicken with Mushroom Gravy
Creamy peppercorn sauce for steak
Watch how to make it
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Steak with Creamy Peppercorn Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 300g/10oz New York Strip / Porterhouse steaks (or other of choice, Note 1)
- Salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Sauce:
- 1/3 cup (85 ml) brandy or cognac (or marsala) (Note 2)
- 3/4 cup (185 ml) beef broth/stock , low sodium (important! Note 3)
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) cream , heavy/thickened
- 2 – 3 tsp coarsely crushed whole black peppercorns (or canned green peppercorns, drained) (Note 4)
Instructions
- Take the steaks out of the fridge 20 minutes before planning to cook.
- Crush the pepper using a rolling pin, mortar and pestle or the side of a hardy knife.
Steaks:
- Just before cooking, sprinkle both sides of steak generously with salt and black pepper.
- Heat oil in a skillet over high heat until smoking.
- Add steaks and cook the first side for 2 minutes until it has a great crust, then flip and cook the other side for 2 minutes (for medium rare).
- Stack the steaks on top of each other, then use tongs to sear the fat strip.
- Transfer to plate, cover loosely with foil to rest while you make the sauce.
Sauce:
- Add brandy or cognac into the same skillet and let it simmer rapidly, scraping the bottom of the pan, until it has mostly reduced and you can no longer smell the harsh alcohol smell (~1 min).
- Add broth, bring to simmer and let it simmer rapidly for 2 to 3 minutes or until it reduces by half.
- Turn heat down to medium. Add cream and pepper, stir, then simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes until it thickens (do not let it boil rapidly).
- Taste sauce, adjust salt (and pepper!) to taste.
- Transfer steaks to warmed serving plates. Spoon over sauce. Serve immediately! Pictured with Crispy Smashed Potatoes and Garlic Spinach. (Note 6)
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Mandatory post knee-op daily icing involves building blocks, frozen veg and Dozer with his eyes closed the whole time – “OMG it’s so cold, it’s so cold, it’s soooo cooold!!!” (Update: Happy to report he made a full recovery and was bounding around like a loon within weeks!)
Hi Nagi!
LOVED this sauce. My fave steakhouse in Melbourne (station hotel in footscray) does an amazing peppercorn sauce and this rivaled it.
My only note (and I’m sure it was obvious to everyone else haha) was that I passed the sauce through a sieve after it was ready – otherwise I had too many peppercorn bits in the sauce and made the texture a bit weird.
Also I (stupidly) used eye fillet for this – no pan juices. Lesson learned for next time. Can’t wait to make it again.
Thanks for your wonderful recipe!
Ps Hi Dozer!
Hi Adi! Glad you were able to adjust this to your taste! And thanks for the reminder re: eye fillet, I will add a note about this! (I use loads of butter when I cook eye fillet 🙂 ) N x
Update – I cooked this again with porterhouse and used some shallots as well. Mind BLOWN.
Thank you so much, Ms. Nagi! I just found your website this evening as I was looking for a ‘smash potato’ recipe. I made them straight away; they were fantastic!
Considering the success of the potatoes, I decided to browse your recipe index. I am blown away with all of the fantastic options, and looking forward to trying them all. However, this recipe is the next on my list.
When I was a little girl I was allowed to choose anything I’d like to eat for my birthday dinner. Every year I selected the same thing; steak with a creamy peppercorn sauce, macaroni and cheese, and spinach. My father’s peppercorn sauce used whisky in place of the cognac, but that’s the only alteration I’ll make. My birthday is just over a week away, and now I’m looking forward to ushering in my 30th year with your steak and macaroni and cheese. Thank you for the fond memories of yesterday, and tomorrow. God bless you, your loved ones, and this website. <3
An early HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you Ann!! I love hearing your birthday food choices – YUM!!!
Should I pour away the oil leftover from cooking the steak before I start making the sauce?
My sauce is too watery for some reason, I followed the recipe exactly but halved the amount since it was for one steak. Is it ok to continue simmering the sauce until it is creamy enough? Will the steak be overcooked? Or can I make the sauce first instead?
I love this dish; an old favorite I’ve made many times. The calorie content listed on the nutrition information seems off.
Hi Phyllis! I’ll have a look at it now – thanks for noting that! N x
Omg. Put the brandy in and whoosh. Fire ball. Dogs went berserk. Made me laugh. Husband thought I was burning the house down
Woah! Glad you were level headed about it!!! Miss the skillet?? Yes brandy will catch on fire!!!
Hi Nagi! Can I substitute the brandy/cognac with red wine?
Thanks!
Madi
Hi Madi! Not for this one, sorry! You’d need a lot more red wine to make a red wine sauce. Will post one soon! N x
Hi Nagi. How long should I cook the steak if I would like it to be medium instead of medium rare? Thanks!
Nagi this recipe is absolutely yummy. My husband and daughter even commented about how lovely this meal was. Thank you for this recipe.
Made this tonight! Wow, it was delicious, excellent recipe.
That’s so great to hear Tracy! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N x
Hi Nagi,
Thank you so much for all the incredible recipes over the years… Your blog has been my go to for a while now.
Today, something else in addition to the recipe has caught my attention…the song….what is the name of this song??
Hi Tanesha! So glad you’re enjoying my recipes, thank you! I will try to dig out the video file to find out the name of the song 🙂 It’s just a stock song I purchased!
Made this tonight. The sauce is amazing and so good with steak.
That’s great to hear Hayley! Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed this! N x ❤️
AMAZING sauce I made last night with chicken. As I tend to puke with cream, I swapped for greek yoghurt and it was delish. Today on leftover veges = perfection!
Dear Dozer, you’ll be back to yourself before you know it. LOL…MOTH didn’t need such a big packet of frozen veges.
Woah, you made this ALREADY???!!! so glad you enjoyed it Barb! N xx
Yum…… just yum!
We had the steak with the silver beet and the crunchy potatoes and it was simply delicious!
Glad you enjoyed it Tania, thanks for letting me know! N x
Did I miss the recipe for the :smashed potatoes”? how do you make them?
Boil whole small red potatoes. Put on on sheet tray lined with foil. Smash potatoes with fork. Drizzle with olive oil or melted butter or both. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Add fresh or granulated garlic . Fresh gratted or jar Parmesan cheese. Broil till crispy.
Last evening I received this while pondering a sauce to go with a fine piece of well marbled pork we were having. So I got craking on your recipe for the pepper sauce. Used a five pepper blend instead of just black pepper and subbed our Swedish Flaggpunsch for the brandy. It was perfect, the bite of the pepper with the sweetness of the pork was tasty indeed.
Dozer, those water physio sessions can be murder. I’m glad you found a use for those dreadful bags of frozen mix veggies…
Ok. I just had to try this recipe tonight but didn’t have the right steak in the freezer – so, I made it with chicken thigh fillets! And, it was absolutely delicious
Hi,
I was trying to look for the garlic spinach sides recipe – is that available yet?
Hi Lltan! I popped the recipe in the notes 🙂 It’s super quick, I make it in the same skillet before I make the steak 🙂 N x
You and me both, Nagi, as far as the non-stop corporate lunches and dinners (in the past tense) went 🙂 ! Loved them to bits! Have never worked with a female in my business life . . . loved that also !! I mean you had two choices: either impressed ’em with your knowledge or charmed their p. . . . off !!! What glorious fun – as is this recipe . . . the steak has to be good – sirloin strip for me often and there are tricks to getting it right: I normally eat ‘blue’ but ‘rare’ seems right for this ? Dozer darling: been there, done that !. . . some vegie packs remained in the fridge for ages as they did the in/out sequence so often . . . .
Love your attitude Eha!!! I bet you were a riot to work with… 😜 N xx
Oh is THAT NEW ICEPACK FOR DOZER? When I working in Rehab Hospital for ever Frozen Peas WOULD BE given given to patients.Some things never change Just Like YOU recept.use to make alotrop OF IT in the past. Love THAT YOU useing brandy/cognac. We use IT to marinade apples when making frrites. Yum, thank YOU. Good week, keep warm and healthy.
Frozen veg is the BEST!! No other ice packs moulds like frozen peas!!
Dozer is such a good pup. I can’t believe how patient he is with that ice pack. He is just precious!! I bet he loves that steak (sauce and all) 🙂
Well, I scraped all the sauce off for him…. pepper. Too hot for pooches!!😂