Beef Top Butt Steaks, aka Beef Top Sirloin Steaks. Top Butts (as we call them around LGCM) come from the sirloin portion of an animal, which is towards the rear of the loin. No, a Top Butt steak doesn’t come from the butt of a beef.

Top Butts are a larger, boneless steak that generally weigh around 1 pound each. They have a small fat cap on the top of the steak and a moderate amount of interior marbling. Since they are larger steaks, we do generally recommend serving the steak for several people. When sliced into strips, like you see in the photo at the top, the steak will easily feed two as an entree or it can feed more as an appetizer.

Why are Top Butts Such a Good Deal?

Compared to the Tenderloin, located right on top of it, or the New York Strip, located right in front of it, the Top Butt steak is priced much lower. The reason for the lower price is that Top Butts aren’t quite as tender as some of the other more “premium” steaks. This isn’t to say they’re chewy, because they’re not. They’re just not quite as tender. Since they’re less tender, they cost less money, as simple as that.

It’s easy to compensate for the small loss in tenderness just by cutting the steak into strips across the grain of the meat. This will help break up the muscle fibers so that you don’t get chewy bites. If you’re okay with this tradeoff, you can get a flavorful steak that’s great on the grill for a less money than you’d pay for a New York Strip!