A TikToker said he always eats pineapple with steak, then explained the enzyme behind it, and 2 million people said they had no idea

A video posted on TikTok by Adam Haney recently went viral, racking up more than 2 million views, after he shared his go-to method for enjoying steak. In the clip, he makes a straightforward claim: eat pineapple alongside your steak to help your body break the meat down more efficiently. “Always remember when you eat steak or meat to eat pineapple with it so it breaks it down quicker,” Haney stated in the post.

It turns out the tip holds up scientifically. As detailed by BroBible, the mechanism behind it is bromelain, a natural mixture of two protein-digesting enzymes found in pineapples. Scientists have studied these enzymes since the 1890s and found that bromelain is highly effective at breaking down the peptide bonds that link proteins together. In a steak, those proteins form the collagen that gives muscle tissue its structure, and separating those bonds softens the meat, making it much easier to chew.

Tough steak usually comes down to collagen, which acts as the structural binding for muscle tissue. While some cuts, such as beef shank, are naturally firm due to high amounts of connective tissue, even standard steaks can be a chore if not prepared correctly. Cooking and mechanical methods like mallet-tenderizing or piercing break down those fibers, and pineapple offers a more natural, chemical approach to the same result.

Pineapple is doing more work on your plate than most people realize

Bromelain is most concentrated in the stem of the pineapple and has a range of commercial uses beyond meat preparation. It is used to treat inflammation and swelling, and is added to beer to prevent cloudiness in a process known as chill-proofing.

HowStuffWorks notes that if fresh pineapple has ever left your tongue feeling sensitive after eating it, that is the bromelain at work, briefly breaking down surface proteins before your body regenerates the cells and metabolizes the enzyme. Amid wider viral interest in how food interacts with the body at a chemical level, a viral electric salt spoon that manipulates taste perception through sodium ion concentration has drawn similar fascination online.

Timing and method matter when putting this into practice. The enzymes in bromelain are neutralized by heat at around 158 degrees Fahrenheit (70 degrees Celsius), meaning they stop working the moment the meat is cooked. For the technique to be effective, pineapple needs to be applied as a marinade before the meat goes on the grill. Leaving the meat in bromelain for too long can make it overly mushy, so the goal is to soften the texture enough to improve the eating experience without losing the firmness of the cut.

The response to Haney’s video drew thousands of comments. One commenter wrote, “I actually needed this advice,” while another said, “Look at me cooking steak for dinner tonight.” Some joked about pairing their steaks with a pineapple margarita. The consensus was largely that the tip could make a heavy steak dinner sit lighter. Amid that reaction, a TikTok video breaking down the science behind human behavior recently drew similar engagement, with viewers in the comments offering more grounded answers than the clip itself.

Pineapple functions as a natural biological tenderizer, and the same principle applies to other tough cuts like pork shoulder. Whether you are dealing with a budget cut or just want a better result from a ribeye, incorporating pineapple into your marinade is a practical use of food chemistry that most home cooks have not considered.