Does Longhorn Steakhouse Serve Grass-Fed Beef?

If you've gone grocery shopping for beef in recent years, then you've probably seen all types of added labels on meat, including farm-raised, grass-finished, and grass-fed. And that might have gotten you thinking about the steaks you get at your local steakhouse, and what kind of beef they serve, including what they eat. If you're wondering whether LongHorn Steakhouse serves grass-fed beef for their seven different popular cuts of steak (sirloin, filet, ribeye, New York strip, T-Bone, and porterhouse), the answer is a little complicated (and both yes and no).

Turns out, pretty much all cattle raised in the U.S. spend part of their lives feeding on grass, which means that nearly all U.S. cattle is "grass-fed" to some extent. It's in the latter part of the life cycle that things change, and for the vast majority of U.S. cattle, that means feeding on grain. Even beef that's labelled "grass-fed" doesn't necessarily mean cattle that fed exclusively on grass — since 2016, the USDA has stopped certifying claims of grass-fed, so producers can create their own standards and claims. According to a LongHorn Steakhouse business manager on Yelp, the chain serves "fresh, never frozen, USDA Choice grain-finished beef that is aged to ensure tenderness and flavor," and confirming specifically that "our suppliers use grain in the latter part of the life cycle." Although their beef is grain-finished, it is also technically grass-fed.

The fact that LongHorn Steakhouse serves grain-finished beef is actually a good thing. According to some steak experts (like Pat LaFrieda), grass-fed is actually the one label that you can ignore when shopping for high-quality steak. That's because the flavor of grain-fed steak is more likely to beat its grass-fed counterpart: Grain feeding leads to more marbling (or fat, which is more important than you realize on a steak), and what makes steaks so juicy, tender, and tasty. Grain feeding also allows cattle to get to weight faster, which means you're likely to have a younger (and more tender) beef. Grain-fed beef also requires fewer resources and also costs less than grass-fed beef.

So the next time you're at LongHorn Steakhouse — whether you go for their cheapest steak, the Renegade Sirloin or a pricier Flo's Filet, the best LongHorn Steakhouse steak, according to our taste test — you'll know that your beef was both grass-fed and grain-fed for the best of both worlds and a tasty steak.