Hanger Steak vs Skirt Steak: Butcher’s Cuts, Different Flavors, Different Methods

Hanger steak and skirt steak are both “butcher’s cuts” pulled from the underside of the steer, both deeply beefy, both built for high heat and fast cooking. They are not interchangeable. Hanger steak hangs from the diaphragm and delivers a denser, more iron-forward chew. Skirt steak comes from the plate and the flank side of the diaphragm, runs leaner and longer-grained, and drinks marinade better than almost any cut on the animal. Below, the differences that actually matter at the cutting board and the grill.

The Two “Butcher’s Cuts” Explained

Old-school butchers had a habit of taking certain cuts home instead of putting them in the case. Hanger steak earned the nickname “butcher’s steak” because there is only one per animal, it is awkward to break down, and it tasted too good to sell to strangers. Skirt steak shared a similar history before fajitas turned it into a restaurant staple in the 1980s and pushed wholesale prices up several hundred percent (Texas Monthly).

Both cuts share traits that make them prized:

• They come from hard-working muscles near the diaphragm, which means dense myoglobin and concentrated beef flavor (USDA FoodData Central).
• They cook quickly, in minutes rather than hours.
• They reward proper slicing more than almost any other cut.
• They are forgiving on the wallet compared to ribeye or strip, while delivering more pure beef intensity.

What separates them is where they sit in the animal, how they are structured, and how they respond to heat.

[QUOTE PLACEHOLDER 1: Circle 7 head butcher on why hanger and skirt are the cuts he takes home.]

What Is Hanger Steak

Hanger steak is the thick, hanging muscle (officially the crura of the diaphragm) that supports the diaphragm between the last rib and the loin. It is part of the broader diaphragm group along with the skirt, but it sits deeper and behaves differently (North American Meat Institute, The Meat Buyer’s Guide).

A few defining facts:

• One per animal. A single hanger weighs roughly one to two pounds trimmed. That scarcity is why it stays harder to find than skirt or flank.
• Two lobes around a tough central sinew. The silver-skin membrane running down the middle is inedible. A trained butcher splits the hanger lengthwise, removes the sinew, and leaves two clean lobes. You do not want to skip this step.
• Beefier and more iron-rich. Because hanger does not bear weight (the diaphragm pulls air, not load), it stays tender despite its work, and the myoglobin concentration gives it a flavor closer to liver-adjacent beef without crossing into organ territory.
• Dense, slightly looser grain than skirt. The grain is visible but tighter, and the cut holds its shape better on the grill.

Hanger is sometimes called “onglet” in French butchery and “arrachera” in parts of Mexico, though arrachera more often refers to skirt depending on the region (Larousse Gastronomique).

For the home cook, the practical takeaway is this: if you want the most pure-beef hit per dollar, hanger is the cut. It pairs well with simple seasoning, hot fire, and a sharp knife. See our overview of premium beef at Circle 7 for context on how hanger sits in the broader cut chart.

Hanger Steak Anatomy in One Sentence

Hanger steak hangs from the underside of the diaphragm between the last rib and the loin, one per steer, split into two lobes by a central sinew that must be removed.

[IMAGE 1 SPEC: Annotated diagram of a beef carcass showing the hanger steak’s position underneath the diaphragm, between the last rib and the loin. Alt text: “Hanger steak anatomy diagram showing position under the diaphragm.” Filename: hanger-steak-anatomy.jpg]

What Is Skirt Steak

Skirt steak is the diaphragm muscle proper, a long, flat, ribbon-shaped cut that runs along the plate primal. Where hanger is one chunky muscle, skirt is two distinct cuts: the outside skirt and the inside skirt (Certified Angus Beef cuts library).

Outside Skirt vs Inside Skirt

This is the single most useful distinction most home cooks have never been told.

Outside skirt steak is the diaphragm muscle on the outside of the rib cage, the part that does the actual breathing work. It is:

• Thicker (typically 3/4 to 1 inch).
• Wider grained.
• More tender.
• More marbled.
• The cut used in the original Texas fajita and the cut most steakhouses serve when the menu says “skirt steak.”
• Roughly two to three times the wholesale price of inside skirt (North American Meat Institute).

Inside skirt steak is the diaphragm muscle on the inside of the rib cage. It is:

• Thinner (often less than 1/2 inch).
• Tighter grained.
• Slightly chewier.
• Leaner.
• The cut you most often find pre-packaged at supermarkets, often labeled simply “skirt steak.”
• The cut that most rewards a marinade.

Both are legitimate. Both can be excellent. They are not the same product. If your recipe specifies “outside skirt,” substituting inside skirt without adjusting marinade time and cook time will not deliver the same result.

Skirt Steak Anatomy in One Sentence

Skirt steak is the long, ribbon-shaped diaphragm muscle of the steer, divided into a thicker, more tender outside skirt and a thinner, leaner inside skirt.

[IMAGE 2 SPEC: Side-by-side comparison of raw outside skirt and inside skirt, labeled with thickness measurements. Alt text: “Outside skirt steak vs inside skirt steak side by side.” Filename: outside-vs-inside-skirt.jpg]

Side-by-Side Comparison Table

Attribute	Hanger Steak	Outside Skirt	Inside Skirt
Location	Hangs from diaphragm	Outside of rib cage	Inside of rib cage
Pieces per animal	1	2	2
Typical trimmed weight	1 to 2 lb	2 to 3 lb each	1 to 2 lb each
Thickness	1 to 1.5 in	0.75 to 1 in	0.25 to 0.5 in
Grain	Medium, tighter	Wide, loose	Wide, tighter
Flavor profile	Beefiest, iron-forward	Beefy, buttery, marbled	Beefy, leaner
Marbling	Moderate	Highest of the three	Lowest of the three
Best cook method	High heat sear, 3 to 4 min/side	High heat sear, 2 to 3 min/side	Screaming heat, 1 to 2 min/side
Ideal doneness	Medium rare (130 to 135 F)	Medium rare (130 to 135 F)	Medium rare (130 to 135 F)
Marinade needed?	Optional	Optional	Strongly recommended
Slice direction	Across the grain	Across the grain	Across the grain
Common uses	Steakhouse plate, bistro steak	Fajitas, carne asada, steak salad	Fajitas, tacos, stir-fry

Internal temperature guidance follows USDA safety guidelines, with the recognition that whole-muscle beef can be safely consumed at lower internal temperatures than ground beef when seared properly (USDA Food Safety).

[IMAGE 3 SPEC: The comparison table rendered as a clean infographic with cut icons. Alt text: “Hanger steak vs skirt steak comparison table.” Filename: hanger-vs-skirt-comparison-table.jpg]

Flavor Differences

This is where most cooks get the wrong impression from blogs that lump the cuts together.

Hanger tastes beefier. Higher myoglobin content gives it a denser, more iron-driven flavor that lands closer to a rare ribeye edge than to a flank steak. Some tasters describe a faint mineral or liver-adjacent note. That note is what bistro chefs in Paris and Lyon prize when they put onglet on the menu (Le Figaro Cuisine).

Skirt tastes fattier and more “barbecue-forward.” The higher intramuscular fat content in outside skirt, in particular, gives it a buttery quality when seared hard. The wide, loose grain catches char and marinade in ways hanger does not. This is why skirt became the workhorse of Tex-Mex and Argentine asado kitchens (Argentine Beef Promotion Institute).

If you served both blind, side by side, most tasters describe the contrast as:

• Hanger = concentrated, mineral, “old-school beef.”
• Skirt = buttery, smoky, “char and fat.”

Neither is better. They are different tools.

[QUOTE PLACEHOLDER 2: Pull quote from a chef or sommelier on pairing hanger with red wine vs skirt with chimichurri.]

Texture and Grain Direction

Both cuts have grain that runs visibly in one direction across the muscle. The grain is what makes or breaks the final bite.

• Hanger grain runs the length of the lobe and is tighter than skirt’s grain. The fibers are still long, but they sit closer together. Hanger holds its shape on the grill and slices into thick, chunky pieces.
• Outside skirt grain runs across the width of the cut and is the widest and most open of any common steak. You can see the individual fibers without leaning in.
• Inside skirt grain also runs across the width but is tighter and shorter than outside skirt. The cut is thinner overall, so the grain feels denser per bite.

Wide grain plus long fibers equals chew if you slice the wrong direction. Both cuts must be sliced across (perpendicular to) the grain. We will come back to that in a dedicated section because it is the single most common mistake home cooks make.

[IMAGE 4 SPEC: Close-up macro photo of grain direction on hanger, outside skirt, and inside skirt, side by side, with arrows showing slice direction. Alt text: “Grain direction on hanger, outside skirt, and inside skirt steaks.” Filename: steak-grain-direction.jpg]

Marinade or No Marinade

The short answer:

• Hanger: optional. Many bistro preparations use only salt, pepper, and a finishing pat of compound butter. The cut has enough fat and flavor to carry itself. A short 1 to 2 hour acid-free marinade (olive oil, garlic, herbs) is the most a hanger usually needs.
• Outside skirt: optional but excellent. The wide grain catches marinade beautifully. 2 to 4 hours is plenty. Avoid going past 8 hours with acidic marinades, which start to mush the surface.
• Inside skirt: strongly recommended. The leaner, tighter cut benefits from 4 to 8 hours of marinade with acid (lime, vinegar, citrus), oil, salt, and aromatics. This is the classic fajita treatment.

A working marinade ratio for skirt steak: 1 part acid, 2 parts oil, salt, garlic, herbs or chilies. Cook’s Illustrated and Serious Eats have both tested this ratio extensively and arrived at similar conclusions (Serious Eats marinade testing).

A few rules that apply to both cuts:

1. Marinades flavor only the outer few millimeters of muscle. They do not “tenderize” deeply in any meaningful way.
2. Salt does the most useful work. Apply 30 to 45 minutes before cooking minimum, or marinade overnight, but not in between (the “salty wet” middle ground is the worst).
3. Pat dry before searing. Wet surfaces steam instead of brown.

[IMAGE 5 SPEC: Overhead of a marinated skirt steak in a glass dish next to a plain salted hanger on a board. Alt text: “Marinated skirt steak next to salted hanger steak.” Filename: skirt-marinade-vs-hanger.jpg]

Best Cooking Methods: High Heat, Short Time

Both cuts demand the same fundamental approach: as much heat as possible, as little time as possible, finished at medium rare. The reason is muscle structure. Both come from active muscles and contain enough connective tissue that any cook past medium turns the protein dense and chewy. Both have enough surface area relative to mass that they cook through in minutes.

For hanger steak:

• Pat dry, season aggressively with kosher salt and pepper.
• Get a cast iron pan or grill grate to 500 F or hotter (a properly heated pan should smoke lightly when oil hits it).
• Sear 3 to 4 minutes per side for a 1-inch lobe.
• Pull at 125 to 130 F internal (it will carry to 130 to 135 F resting).
• Rest 5 to 7 minutes loosely tented.
• Slice across the grain, 1/4-inch slices.

For outside skirt steak:

• Pat dry, season or finish a marinade.
• Get the surface as hot as your equipment allows. A chimney-full of charcoal directly under the grate is ideal.
• Sear 2 to 3 minutes per side for a 3/4-inch piece.
• Pull at 125 F internal.
• Rest 3 to 5 minutes.
• Slice across the grain, 1/4-inch slices, on a slight bias.

For inside skirt steak:

• Marinate.
• Sear over the hottest fire available, 1 to 2 minutes per side.
• It will hit medium rare faster than you expect.
• Rest 2 to 3 minutes.
• Slice across the grain, 1/4-inch slices, on a stronger bias.

Sous vide is not the right call for either cut. The whole point is the contrast between deeply seared crust and rare interior, and these cuts are too thin to benefit from a slow equilibration. If you want sous vide steak, run a tomahawk or a thick ribeye instead.

For the science of high-heat sear and the Maillard reaction temperature thresholds, the canonical reference is Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking (Scribner edition).

[QUOTE PLACEHOLDER 3: Quote from a grill expert or food scientist on why these cuts must be cooked fast.]

[IMAGE 6 SPEC: Hanger steak searing on a cast iron pan with visible crust forming. Alt text: “Hanger steak searing with crust on cast iron.” Filename: hanger-steak-searing.jpg]

Both Need Slicing Against the Grain

This single technique matters more than every other decision in this article.

Cutting across (perpendicular to) the long muscle fibers shortens each fiber on the plate to roughly the thickness of a slice. Cutting with the grain leaves long, intact fibers that the diner has to grind through. The same exact steak, cooked the same exact way, will read as tender or tough based on slicing alone.

For both hanger and skirt, the grain is highly visible. You can see it under the kitchen light. Look at the raw cut before you sear it, note the direction, and rotate the cooked steak 90 degrees on your board before slicing.

Skirt steak is especially unforgiving here because the grain is so wide. A wrong-direction cut on skirt is what causes the “tough, stringy” reputation it sometimes gets in home kitchens. The cut is not tough. The slice was wrong.

A 45 degree bias slice gives wider, more visually appealing pieces and works particularly well for tacos, fajitas, and steak salads. A straight 90 degree slice gives squarer pieces better for plate presentation.

For more on muscle structure and slicing, see the meat science work of Dr. Antonio Mata or Cook’s Illustrated’s extensive testing on slicing direction (America’s Test Kitchen science archive).

[IMAGE 7 SPEC: Top-down shot showing the wrong-direction cut on the left and correct cross-grain cut on the right, both on the same skirt steak. Alt text: “Slicing skirt steak against the grain compared with slicing with the grain.” Filename: against-the-grain-slicing.jpg]

When to Choose Hanger Steak

Choose hanger when:

• You want a steakhouse-style plated steak with no marinade involvement.
• You want the most pure-beef flavor per dollar.
• You are pairing with a structured red wine (Cabernet, Malbec, Northern Rhone Syrah) where iron-forward beef is the point.
• You are cooking for two to four people. A whole hanger feeds that range cleanly.
• You want a “bistro at home” feel with compound butter, frites, and salad.

Choose hanger over skirt specifically when you do not want to babysit a screaming-hot fire. Hanger’s slightly thicker profile gives a 10 to 15 second window of forgiveness that thin inside skirt does not.

A simple hanger steak recipe: season heavily with kosher salt 45 minutes ahead, sear 3 to 4 minutes per side in cast iron with a tablespoon of beef tallow or neutral oil, baste with butter, garlic, and thyme in the last 60 seconds, rest 5 minutes, slice across the grain. Serve with chimichurri or compound butter.

When to Choose Skirt Steak

Choose skirt when:

• You are cooking fajitas, tacos, carne asada, or any dish where the steak is sliced thin and served with bold accompaniments.
• You want marinade flavor as a starring element.
• You are cooking for a crowd. Skirt scales to feed eight to twelve cleanly from a few pieces.
• You want maximum char-to-meat ratio. Skirt’s thin profile and wide grain catch fire better than any other cut.
• You are cooking over live fire. Skirt was made for direct flame.

If you are at the counter and the case offers outside skirt at a premium and inside skirt at a discount, pay the premium when the steak is the centerpiece (Argentine asado, churrasco-style, plain grilled). Stick with inside skirt and a strong marinade when the steak is going into something built around its surface area (fajitas, tacos, banh mi, stir fry).

A simple skirt steak recipe (inside): marinate 4 to 6 hours in 1/4 cup lime juice, 1/2 cup olive oil, 4 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1 chopped jalapeno. Pat dry. Sear over the hottest fire you have, 90 seconds per side. Rest. Slice across the grain on a bias. Serve with warm tortillas, lime, and salsa.

Where Each Comes From in the Animal

Both cuts live on the underside of the steer near the belly, but they belong to different primals in standard US carcass breakdown (North American Meat Institute primal chart).

• Hanger is classified under the plate primal in most US butcher systems, though it physically hangs from the diaphragm between the plate and the loin. It is a single anatomically distinct piece.
• Outside skirt is also part of the plate primal and represents the costal portion of the diaphragm, the part attached to the inside of the ribs.
• Inside skirt is technically part of the flank primal in US breakdown, representing the transverse abdominal muscle adjacent to the diaphragm.

In Argentine and Uruguayan breakdown, the same general region is divided differently and the cuts have different names (entraña, vacio, matambre). In French breakdown, onglet (hanger) and bavette (skirt-adjacent) are sold as distinct, prized counter items (Institut de l’Elevage).

This matters at the counter because the label “skirt steak” without further qualification can refer to either inside or outside, and the wholesale price difference is significant. Reputable butchers will tell you which one you are buying. If they cannot, that is a signal worth noting.

For Circle 7 customers, our skirt steak is always labeled by inside or outside, and our hanger is hand-trimmed of the central sinew before it leaves the cutter’s table. See our premium beef collection and our Wagyu cross flat iron for cuts in the same flavor-forward family.

[IMAGE 8 SPEC: Annotated beef carcass diagram showing plate, flank, and the location of hanger, outside skirt, and inside skirt highlighted in different colors. Alt text: “Beef carcass diagram showing hanger steak, outside skirt, and inside skirt locations.” Filename: beef-carcass-skirt-hanger-diagram.jpg]

Infographic Spec: “Skirt vs Hanger Anatomy”

A single shareable graphic for Pinterest, blog hero placement, and email.

• Title: Skirt vs Hanger Anatomy.
• Format: 1200 x 1800 px vertical, Circle 7 brand colors (cream, deep red, charcoal).
• Top panel: Silhouette of a steer with three call-outs in different colors: hanger steak (hanging from diaphragm), outside skirt (along outside of ribs), inside skirt (under flank).
• Middle panel: Three cut cards side by side. Each card shows a raw photo, weight per animal, thickness, grain pattern, ideal cook time, and best use.
• Bottom panel: A single “slice this way” diagram with arrows showing cross-grain slicing for each cut.
• Footer: Circle 7 Meats logo, URL, and a one-line CTA (“Shop premium beef cuts at Circle7Meats.com”).

Order Premium Beef from Circle 7

The difference between a great steak and a frustrating one is almost always in two places: the source and the slice. Circle 7 controls both ends, raising regenerative cattle, dry-aging on premise, and hand-trimming hanger and skirt before they ship.

If you want to taste the contrast between a properly trimmed hanger and a real outside skirt in your own kitchen, order from our premium beef collection. Pair them in a single weekend, blind taste them with your household, and the difference becomes obvious. Customers also frequently order our Wagyu cross flat iron in the same basket since it shares the butcher-cut DNA: deeply beefy, fast to cook, forgiving on the budget.

For broader context on cuts, cooking, and sourcing, browse our cooking guides, our marbling score guide, our dry-aged vs wet-aged primer, our wagyu vs angus comparison, and our tomahawk cooking guide. For the butcher-cut family specifically, see also our notes on buying a half or whole cow, where the hanger and the skirts always end up in the most-requested boxes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is hanger steak the same as skirt steak? No. Hanger steak hangs from the diaphragm and there is only one per animal. Skirt steak is the diaphragm muscle itself, divided into outside skirt (along the outside of the rib cage) and inside skirt (along the flank side). They are anatomically distinct and have different flavor, texture, and ideal cooking methods.

Which is better, hanger steak or skirt steak? Neither is universally better. Hanger is beefier and denser, ideal for plated steakhouse-style meals. Skirt is fattier, more char-friendly, and ideal for fajitas, tacos, and live-fire grilling. Choose based on the dish.

Why is hanger steak called the “butcher’s steak”? Because for generations, butchers kept the hanger for themselves rather than putting it in the case. There is only one per animal, it requires careful trimming to remove the central sinew, and it has outsized flavor relative to its price.

What is the difference between inside skirt and outside skirt? Outside skirt is thicker, more tender, more marbled, and roughly two to three times the wholesale price. Inside skirt is thinner, leaner, tighter grained, and benefits more from a marinade. Both come from the diaphragm region but on opposite sides of the rib cage.

How long should I marinate skirt steak? Outside skirt: 2 to 4 hours. Inside skirt: 4 to 8 hours. Avoid exceeding 12 hours with acidic marinades, which can break down the surface texture and turn it mushy. Hanger steak does not require a marinade, though a 1 to 2 hour oil and herb soak is fine.

What temperature should I cook hanger or skirt steak to? Both cuts are best at medium rare, pulled from heat at 125 to 130 F internal and carrying to 130 to 135 F during a short rest. Cooking past medium turns the dense muscle fibers chewy. Use a USDA-compliant approach for ground beef separately; whole-muscle cuts have different food safety considerations (USDA Food Safety).

Why is slicing direction so important on these cuts? Both cuts have long, visible muscle fibers. Slicing across (perpendicular to) the grain shortens each fiber to the width of a slice and produces a tender bite. Slicing with the grain leaves long fibers intact and produces a chewy, stringy bite. The same steak can read as tender or tough based entirely on slicing direction.

Where can I buy real hanger steak and outside skirt? Most supermarkets carry inside skirt, often unlabeled as such. Hanger and true outside skirt are best sourced from a dedicated butcher or a direct-from-ranch supplier like Circle 7 Meats, where each cut is labeled by anatomy and trimmed by hand. If your local supplier cannot tell you whether a “skirt steak” is inside or outside, that is a signal to ask elsewhere.

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