How To Cook Steak In The Oven
Steaks make a perfect main course for any weeknight or a special occasion. Whatever the occasion might be, choose your favorite cut and learn how to cook steaks in the oven. Making steak in the oven is quick and easy, no grill needed.
Table of Contents
I you have about 20 minutes, you can make amazing steaks right at home!
Because of how fast and easy it is to make a gorgeous and the best tasting steaks, you can actually make it any day of the week. No need to go out to a fancy restaurant and it doesn’t have to be a special occasion. What makes the steak special above all, is the meat itself. The rest is up to the preparation.
So the first thing to do when planning a steak dinner is to pick your favorite cut of beef. Everyone in my family prefers a different cuts of steak. Some like ribeye, some like NY Strip steak, others prefer a top sirloin steak, and of course, who would ever say no to a perfect filet mignon.
Another thing to consider when selecting steaks is the size. I usually ask my butcher to cut me thicker cuts because a pre-cut steaks at the grocery store tend to be thin. Feel free to ask the butcher in your grocery store’s meat department and most of them will be happy to cut you a new piece to your specifications. Ask for steaks to be equal is size too.
No matter which cut you are choosing, try to pick out the piece with more fine marbling of fat throughout the piece. Marbling is fine lines of fat that runs throughout the meat. More fine marbling means juicier, more tender steaks. (You want more fine marbling and less concentrated chunks of fat.)
Seasoning For Steaks
When you have a good steak, DON’T overwhelm it with seasoning!
All you need is salt and pepper.
To finish the cooked steaks, you will need butter, salted or unsalted.
PRO TIP: For best tasting steak, you are looking for a lot of fine marbling of fat throughout the slice as opposed to thick fat lines concentrated in certain areas.
PRO TIP: When choosing your steaks, try to get prime or choice grade and remember that you will get what you pay for.
What Materials Are Needed
Cast Iron Skillet – the best pan for cooking the steak is the cast iron skillet. It is easy to go from stove-top to the oven, hold the heat very well, and cooks evenly throughout. (If you don’t have cast iron skillet, use another pan that is oven-safe to be able to go from stove to oven.)
Leave-in Thermometer – if you’re cooking meats in the oven or grill on regular bases, invest in a instant read leave-in thermometer. It’s actually not very expensive but a must-have to cook meats. The meat temperature is measured the whole time it’s cooking and the timer will alert you when the temperature is reached. No need to open the oven and let the air out just to check the temperature.
Note: If you do not have a leave-in thermometer, use a regular instant read digital meat thermometer to take the temperature of the steaks. Just make sure to take the skillet out of the oven to take the temperature and close the oven door to keep the heat in.
Metal Tongs – tongs are best to use for flipping the steaks and holding it in place while inserting the meat thermometer. Use metal tongs to hold the steak in place while cutting it as well.
How To Cook Steaks In The Oven
To cook steaks at home, without the grill, the best way is to use steakhouse method. This is great for those thick, juicy steaks and will give you the best results in the end.
What is the Steakhouse Method? Steakhouse method starts with a sear in a hot skillet on stove-top and then you move the steaks into preheated oven to finish them.
(If you don’t have an ability to use the stove-top and the oven, you can make pan seared steaks on stove-top).
Prepare The Steaks
Step 1: Take the steaks out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before cooking. Cold meat will seize if it hits high heat suddenly so for the best results, remember to take out the steaks and let them to warm up.
Simply leave the steaks on the cutting board for about 30-45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450°.
Step 2: When ready to start cooking, pat each steak dry with a paper towel all around.
Step 3: Right before searing, season steaks generously with salt and pepper on all the sides.
PRO TIP: insert the leave-in thermometer probe through the side of the steak, towards the middle. Try to get it as centered as possible so it reads the temperature of the very center of the thickest steak.
Cooking steaks:
Step 4: Sear the steaks! So much wonderful flavor is going to come from searing the meat at high heat.
Make sure that your cast iron skillet is seasoned well before every use. Preheat skillet on stove-top over medium-high heat for a few minutes and add a little bit of oil to the bottom.
Add steaks to the hot skillet and sear for 45-60 seconds and flip the steaks. Sear for another 20-30 seconds and move the skillet to the oven.
Step 5: Finish steaks in the oven. Move steaks to the oven and remember that the skillet is hot, use oven mitts.
Cook the steaks until they are about 5 degrees away from your desired temperature. Take them out of the oven.
Take the steaks out of the skillet right away and place them into the cutting board to rest. Let the steaks rest for about 5-10 minutes before cutting! Add a couple of slices of butter on each steak while it’s resting.
PRO TIP: It is impossible to tell you how long it will take for the steak to reach the temperature because every steak is different in size, anatomy, and thickness. Time can vary for every steak, it could take as fast as 5-6 minutes or as long as 15 minutes. It depends on desired temperature as well as the steak itself.
Steak Temperatures
125°-130° = Rare
135°-140° = Medium-rare
145°-150° = Medium
150°-155° = Medium-well
160°-165° = Well
(*First number is when to take it out of the oven.)
Recipe FAQs
USDA Prime – this is the highest quality. Comes from young, well-fed cattle and has a lot of intramuscular marbling. It is not as widely available as choice quality so if you see it, I highly recommend you get it.
USDA Choice – high quality and much more widely available. These cut will have less fat content and less marbling than prime but still a good choice.
USDA Select – these are lower quality steaks and therefore much cheaper. There is less marbling so it is leaner, tougher, and less juicy.
When you have a good steak, the best way to season it is with salt and pepper! No need for crazy steak seasonings, let the meat shine. Finish it with a little unsalted butter at the end and those are the only three ingredients you need. The main idea here is to enhance the natural flavor of a good steak, not to cover it up.
Potatoes are always our go-to to serve with steaks, so comforting and so many ways to cook them: roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, fingerling potatoes.
Vegetables make an easy light and can be a comforting side: haricots verts, pan roasted brussels sprouts, green beans, roasted carrots, sauteed mushrooms.
Salads are another nice and light options for a steak dinner: Caesar salad, apple salad, Greek salad.
When you do want a nice steak sauce, you have several options like red wine steak sauce, a delicious creamy steak sauce, and our favorite peppercorn sauce. All are super fast and simple to cook right in the skillet after you take out the steaks.
What Types of Steaks Are Best To Choose
Ribeye steak – juicy and tender steak that is sliced from the primal rib section. This cut of steak has a great amount of marbling throughout, which makes it tender, juicy, and flavorful. For best tasting steak, you are looking for a lot of fine marbling of fat throughout the slice as opposed to thick fat lines concentrated in certain areas.
Rib steak – is also called bone-in ribeye. It is the same as ribeye but with the rib bone still attached.
Top Sirloin – also known as sirloin, this cut comes from the primal loin section located in the upper middle part of the cow. It’s a flavorful and juicy cut of beef that is as good cooked whole or cut into pieces and cooked as a kebab. This cut of steak is leaner than a ribeye cut and therefore, not quite as tender when cooked. Top sirloin is also much more tender than bottom sirloin so don’t mistake the two.
New York Strip – also knows as strip steak, it’s one of the more tender cuts of beef that comes from the area below the backbone. Same area as other tender cuts like tenderloin, T-Bone, and Porterhouse steaks come from. If you’re familiar with a T-bone steak, strip steak is the larger piece of meat on the side of the T-bone. One side of the T-bone is the strip steak and the other side is the tenderloin.
Filet Mignon – also known as a tenderloin steak. A true Filet Mignon comes from the smaller, narrower end of the tenderloin. This is the leanest and yet, the most tender piece of steak. And for that reason, it’s usually the more expensive one.
How Long Does It Take To Cook Steaks?
I get this question so often and it is actually my least favorite one. I can understand the ease of setting a timer and wanting the steak to take that exact time and voila, it’s perfect. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way, especially when making steaks in the oven.
REMEMBER: You have to track the steak’s temperature and not the time! Each steak is different in amount of fat, thickness, muscle structure, and simply the way it will react to cooking.
To get truly the steak you want at the level of doneness that you want, use a meat thermometer to check the temperature. The times that I will give you below is just the estimates and to be used as a guide and not exact measurement.
For thick steaks that are around 1 1/2 inches thick and cooking at 450°:
Rare (125°) – 2 minutes to sear and 9-11 minutes in the oven
Medium-rare (135°) – 2 minutes to sear and 13-16 minutes in the oven
Medium (145°) – 2 minutes to sear and 16-19 minutes in the oven
Medium-well (150°) – 2 minutes to sear and 18-20 minutes in the oven
Well (160°) – 2 minutes to sear and 20-24 in the oven
For steaks that are around 1 inch thick or less and cooking at 450°:
Rare (125°) – 2 minutes to sear and in 3-4 minutes the oven
Medium-rare (135°) – 2 minutes to sear and 5-7 minutes in the oven
Medium (145°) – 2 minutes to sear and 8-10 minutes in the oven
Medium-well (150°) – 2 minutes to sear and 10-12 minutes in the oven
Well (160°) – 2 minutes to sear and 12-15 minutes in the oven
PRO TIP: different steak thickness will take different amount of time!
Try Some More Steak Recipes
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Cooking Steak In The Oven
Equipment
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Leave-in Meat Thermometer
- Metal tongs
Ingredients
- 2 steaks – ribeye, top sirloin, strip steak, or tenderloin filet choose steaks about 1 inch in thickness*
- coarse salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable or avocado oil for cooking
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter
Instructions
Prepare the steak
- Take the steaks out of the refrigerator about 30-45 minutes before cooking. Cold meat will seize in it hits high heat suddenly so for the best results, remember to let it warm up.
- When ready to start cooking, pat each steak dry with a paper towel all around.
- Season steaks generously with salt and pepper on all the sides. Insert the probe for the leave-in thermometer through the side of the steak, towards the middle.
- Preheat the oven to 450°.
Sear the steak
- Make sure that your cast iron skillet is seasoned well before every use. Preheat skillet on stove-top, over medium-high heat and add a little bit of oil to the bottom.
- Add steaks to the hot skillet and sear for 45-60 seconds. Flip the steaks, and sear about 20-30 more seconds and move the skillet to the oven.
Finish in the oven
- Once both sides have been seared, move the skillet into the pre-heated oven.
- Set thermometer to the desired temperature if you want it to alert you or just watch it.*If you are not using a leave in thermometer, you will need to manually take the temperature of the steak. Take the skillet out of the oven and close the oven door. Take the temperature by inserting thermometer through the side of the steak, towards the middle.
- Once steaks reach the temperature about 5 degrees away from your desired temperature, take them out of the oven. Take the steak out of the skillet immediately and let the steaks rest for about 5-10 minutes before cutting it. (You can let steaks rest on the cutting board or on the plate.)
- Add thin slices of butter to the top of each steak while it's resting.
- Remember to slice against the grain.
Video
Notes
- Nutrition NOTE: nutrition is calculated for NY strip steak. If you want to know the nutritional information for other types of steak, consult the steak packaging.
- *When choosing steaks: try to get prime or choice grade and remember that you will get what you pay for. Also, try to get steaks that are about 1 to 1.5 inches in thickness. (Ask the butcher if none available on the shelf.)
- Steak Temperatures: Rare = 125°-130°; Medium-Rare = 135°-140°; Medium = 145°-150°; Medium-Well = 150°-155°; Well = 160°-165°
- Remember to REST the steak for 5-10 minutes after cooking and slice your steaks against the grain.
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles on June 7th, 2019.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
Used this technique for the first time with ribeyes for my family on Valentine’s Day when our grill decided to die. Served with fried green beans, loaded mashed potatos, and red Argentine shrimp grilled on a griddle. Came out amazing.
Hi Erik,
Sorry about your grill but I am glad you liked them!
This was an awesome recipe to go by. I’ve tried to cook STEAKS in the oven before without success, thanks this actually works and STEAKS were tender.
So glad it worked out for you!
Do not have a thermometer. What can you do.
I would highly recommend getting a digital read thermometer but you can do it by touch or cutting it. As for touch that can take time to learn but softer is less done, and harder is more done. I can’t give you an exact time since I don’t know the size or cut of the meat you will be using so I would say cut would be your best way.
Hello Lyuba,
The steak that stays in my memory was a NY strip cooked in a skillet on the range. I was a college student living off-campus. It so far exceeded any steak I had had up to that point that it has become a legend. Now, as a (much) older adult, I like grilling steaks on the back patio with my husband, having a beer, eating boiled peanuts, and talking, while we wait for the charcoal fire to come up. In other words, the steak is great; but I like the ritual, too.
That sounds good!
So easy! Turned out great! And looks so similar to grilled! Def love this one!
Yay! Glad you liked it, Deb!
About how long to cook on each side for medium done. Article doesn’t say thermoter reading .ty
Hi, I go over temperature and cook times at the bottom of the post but you must have missed it.. it is a long post. 🙂
For thick steaks that are around 1 1/2 inches thick and cooking at 450°: Medium (145°) 2 minutes to sear and 16-19 minutes in the oven or thinner steaks that are around 1 inch thick and cooking at 450°: Medium (145°) 2 minutes to sear and 8-10 minutes in the oven.
I hope this helps and that you enjoy them!
Great information! My husband could eat steak every meal, every day!
Thanks! 🙂
Dont have cast iron skillet. What’s next best to use?
Hi Katherine,
Use any pan that is oven save. Oven safe pans can tolerate temperatures up to 500° in the oven and do not have plastic or wooden handles. It would say on the packaging if the pan is oven-safe. Think cast iron skillets, stainless steel, many non-stick saute pans with metal handles. Make sure to always use oven mitts!
Hope this helps 🙂
I can answer some questions here. Your answers are variable because steaks do not come in a specific package size or fat content therefore creating variable times to cook. Your only to follow the internal temperature to know when to remove from the oven and from the hot pan, to rest your steak an a.plate covered.
It is impossible to tell ? Uh…no it’s not. What was it for what thickness? That’s just laziness in not knowing how long to cook things for and not providing information on what thickness and how long it was when you did do it. You just fluffed your article up with “yay put in oven take temperature teehee”.
Wow your mean. If you don’t have anything Nice to say don’t say anything at all.
Ida
Very helpfull articles