4 Best Ways To Cook A Steak

This one is for the steak lovers out there. I have four ways to cook the juiciest, most tasty steak you have ever made. Each technique and recipe is really easy, but they are full of helpful tips that you may not have known. Hint: if your steak is not at room temperature before cooking it, you are doing it wrong!

If you need some side dish recipes for steak, check out my dairy free creamed spinach and my ultimate mashed potatoes.

Here are the four steak recipes and techniques we will be learning in the post:

• Reverse seared steak with a spice rub: The best way to cook a thick cut steak is probably the opposite of what you have been doing your whole life. You first want to cook it in the oven and then sear it after. The result is the most evenly cooked, crustiest steak you can imagine.
• Pan seared rib eye steak basted in butter: It’s all about flipping the rib eye steak every two minutes in a hot cast iron pan and finishing it with a generous bath of butter, garlic, and thyme at the end. The sear mark never gets too deep and the recipe could not be any easier.
• Spice crusted skirt steak with salsa verde recipe: Coffee and smoked ancho skirt steak cooked in a hot cast iron pan and finished with a zesty salsa verde sauce.
• Sous vide steak recipe: Quite possibly the most juicy steak you will ever make. All you need is an immersion circulator and a hot cast iron pan.

How To Reverse Sear a Steak

This could be my favorite method for making a juicy, thick cut steak. The goal is to gently cook the steak in a 275 F oven until it reaches 115 F and then sear it in a hot cast iron pan to make the crust golden and charred. This method is probably the opposite from what you have always done, but it’s all about making sure that gray sear mark does not go too deep into the steak.

You know the feeling when you cut into the steak and you see that gross looking dark gray line – that means the steak has seared too long and the meat is overcooked.

Season a thick cut NY strip steak or rib eye steak with a generous pinch of salt and spice rub all over. Try to use a steak that is at least 1.5 inches thick, the thicker the better. For best results, let the steak marinate overnight in the fridge. Set on a wire rack on top of a sheet tray.

This will allow the seasoning to penetrate deep into the meat and bring serious flavor. If you don’t have the time, just allow it to sit at room temperature on a wire rack for 30 minutes.

Cook the steak in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until a probe thermometer reaches 115 degrees F. It’s really important to buy a digital probe when cooking thick steaks and roasts. It is the only way to know when the meat is done to your liking.

Finish the steak by searing all sides in a cast iron pan set right below high heat. Sear for 1 minute on each side or until well charred. Watch the video below to see how I do this. Let the steak rest for 5 minutes and then enjoy!

How To Make A Pan Seared Steak With Garlic Butter

To make a crusty pan seared steak, make sure you have a rib eye or NY strip steak that is at least 1.5 inches thick. By the time the crust forms, the inside of the steak will be perfectly cooked.

To ensure the cast iron pan is evenly heated, place in a 500 degree F oven for 30 minutes. If you are in a rush, preheat the pan over medium-low heat for 6 minutes and then raise the heat to medium-high for another 3 minutes.

Season the steak with a generous amount of salt and a few cracks of black pepper all around. I have found that most home cooks don’t use enough salt, especially on steak. Salt makes the steak taste more beefy, so be generous and allow the steak to sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes. A cold steak in a hot pan will cook unevenly.

Here’s how the pan seared steak recipe works. Set the preheated cast iron pan over medium-high heat and add enough oil to coat the bottom. Place the steak in the pan and press down with your hand so the meat is making good contact with the pan.

Set a timer for 2 minutes and then flip the steak and cook another 2 minutes. Flip again and turn the heat down to medium low and cook another 2 minutes. Flip one more time and immediately add 1 tablespoon of cubed butter on top of the steak along with a few smashed garlic cloves and fresh sprigs of thyme.

Cook the steak one more minute while continually basting the steak with the melted butter using a spoon. Tilt the pan back and spoon as much butter over the meat as possible.

Remove steak from pan and allow to rest 5 minutes before cutting. This technique for pan seared steak ensures that the sear mark never goes too deep into the meat, that is why we flip it every two minutes.

Spice Crusted Skirt Steak Recipe

Skirt steak is a less expensive cut of meat that is extremely easy to cook. All you need is a hot cast iron pan and a good spice rub. It’s best to buy outside skirt steak. It’s more tender and will eat like a steak as compared to inside skirt steak which is a tougher cut of meat.

Season the skirt steak with a generous pinch of salt and coffee & smoked ancho spice rub all over. This spice rub is my take on a BBQ pitmaster’s secret rub – the coffee and chili flavors are brilliant together. Allow the skirt steak to marinate a few hours in the fridge or at room temperature for 30 minutes before cooking.

Preheat a cast iron pan over medium-high heat with enough oil to coat the bottom. Once the oil is hot, cook the skirt steak for 3-4 minutes of each side.

You can poke the meat with your finger. If it feels soft, it is still rare. If it’s a bit firm but has some give, it’s ready. Allow the steak to rest and then cut against the grain. Otherwise the muscle fiber are too long and the meat will be chewy.

How To Make A Salsa Verde Recipe

Once the skirt steak is sliced, spoon over some zesty salsa verde. It will compliment the flavor of the beef and cut through the richness. For the salsa verde recipe, you will need some really good extra virgin olive oil, capers, stone ground mustard, lemon zest & juice, fresh parsley, and pepper flakes.

You can make the salsa verde ahead of time and store in the fridge for days.

The salsa verde is the easiest sauce you can make for skirt steak, but will also work on other cuts of meat, chicken, or pork. Try spooning some of the salsa verde over my crispy skin chicken thighs with red cabbage slaw.

Also, take advantage of my $1 olive oil promo code from The Oil Club. It’s some of the best extra virgin I have ever tasted and the promo is a steal!

How Do I Sous Vide A Steak?

Cooking a sous vide steak is a lot easier than you think. The only piece of equipment you will need is this immersion circulator. Prices have really come down for that, and all you need to do is set the circulator in a large pot of water and set it to the desired temperature that you want your steak. I set my sous vide to 127 degrees in the video below and allowed the steak to cook for 3 hours.

To seal the steak in the bag, don’t bother buying a vacuum sealing system. Just buy a good quality zip-top bag and use the water displacement technique. Cheap plastic bags will leach chemicals into the meat, so buy good ones. Season a thick cut rib eye or strip steak with a generous pinch of salt and pepper all over and place in the bag.

Place a few thyme sprigs on top of the steak and close the zip-top bag almost all the way. Place the bag in the pot of water almost all the way to the top and allow the water to push out the air and seal the bag. Clip the bag to the side of the pot and make sure the steak is submerged in the water.

Once the steak has cooked for 3 hours, remove it from the bag and pat it dry with paper towels. It’s very important that you get the steak as dry as possible before searing in a very hot cast iron pan. Otherwise it won’t get crusty and golden.

Just like the recipes above, preheat the cast iron pan with just enough oil to coat the bottom. Then sear on all sides until very crusty for about 1 minute per side. Let the steak rest for 5 minutes and enjoy the juiciest sous vide steak ever.