The Best Cuts for the Grill on a Budget

A ribeye at $18 a pound is easy. The real skill is making a $4 cut taste like you spent $12, and it comes down to picking the right cheap cut and cooking it the way it wants to be cooked.

These nine cuts all punch above their price. I have listed rough per-pound prices, though they move with your region and the season, so treat them as a guide, not a quote.

Chicken thighs: the best value at the grill

Boneless, skinless thighs run about $2 to $4 a pound, and bone-in with skin can be even less. They are nearly impossible to dry out because dark meat stays juicy well past the point where a breast turns to sawdust.

Grill them over medium-high, direct heat for about 5 to 6 minutes a side, and pull them at 175 to 185 F. Yes, that is higher than the 165 F safe line, and it is on purpose: dark meat gets more tender the higher you take it, up to a point.

Season simply and they are the most forgiving thing you can put on a grill. For a crowd, a pack of thighs feeds more people for less money than almost anything else.

Chuck steak and chuck eye: the poor man's ribeye

Chuck eye steak comes from right next to the ribeye and tastes remarkably close for about $6 to $9 a pound, roughly half the price. Regular chuck steak is a bit tougher but still full of beefy flavor.

Cook these hot and fast, 3 to 4 minutes a side over high heat, and pull at 130 F for medium-rare. Slice against the grain in thin strips to shortcut any chewiness. A generous salting 40 minutes ahead does a lot here.

Sirloin and tri-tip: lean and honest

Top sirloin runs about $7 to $11 a pound and gives you a lean, genuinely beefy steak without the marbling tax of a ribeye. It rewards not overcooking; take it to 130 F and no further.

Tri-tip, a triangular roast popular on the West Coast, is a budget hero at roughly $7 to $10 a pound. Grill it with a two-zone fire: sear all sides hot, then move it to the cooler side to finish to 130 F, about 25 to 35 minutes total for a 2-pound roast. Slice it against the grain, and note the grain changes direction partway through the roast.

Flank and skirt: made for marinade

Flank steak and skirt steak are thin, fibrous cuts loaded with flavor, running about $9 to $14 a pound. Prices have crept up as they got trendy, but they still stretch: one pound feeds three people in tacos or fajitas.

Marinate them 2 to 8 hours, then grill hot and fast, 3 to 4 minutes a side, and pull at 130 F. The non-negotiable step is slicing thin against the grain. Cut with the grain and even a perfect skirt steak chews like a rubber band.

Pork shoulder: the low-and-slow bargain

At $2 to $4 a pound, pork shoulder (also sold as pork butt) is the cheapest path to a pile of pulled pork that feeds a party. It is tough and fatty raw, which is exactly why it becomes tender and rich when cooked long and slow.

Smoke or indirect-grill it at 250 F for roughly 1.5 hours per pound, until it hits 203 F internal and pulls apart with two forks. An 8-pound shoulder takes 10 to 12 hours and feeds 10 to 12 people. Pork steaks, cut from the same shoulder, run $3 to $5 a pound and grill fast over medium heat in about 12 to 15 minutes.

A quick reference

Here is the whole lineup at a glance.

Two rules that make cheap cuts taste expensive

First, slice against the grain. Look at the direction the muscle fibers run and cut across them, not along them. This shortens every fiber and is the single biggest lever on tenderness for cheap beef.

Second, do not overcook lean cuts. Sirloin, flank, and skirt have little fat to protect them, so 5 extra minutes turns them gray and tough. A $25 thermometer and a 130 F target save more budget steaks than any marinade.