Prime Rib

Your holiday dinners won’t be complete without a perfect Prime Rib at the center of the table. Prime Rib, aka standing rib roast, is beautifully soft and tender after slow roasting in the oven. This steak shines on its own but you can also serve it with Au Jus or horseradish sauce.

There are many main dish choices for holidays, so make sure to also check out my Roast Beef and Beef Tenderloin when making your dinner plans. 

What Is Prime Rib?

Wondering what is prime rib anyway? It’s a cut of meat that comes from the primal rib area and can be as small as 2 ribs or as big as 7 ribs. The meat cut that is attached to the rib is actually the ribeye steak. So next time you order a ribeye, that is the cut that came from the prime rib with bone and extra fat trimmed off. 

Prime rib is also known as the standing rib roast because it is cooked “standing” on the ribs. Although, many people don’t even cook this meat with a bone on.

Prime Rib Roast is a beautiful holiday main dish because of how good this steak really is. It is incredibly soft, tender, and flavorful. It’s called “prime” rib for a reason, because it comes from a Prime grade beef.

When choosing the meat, always remember that it will taste as good as the the meat you choose. So choose a better quality meat for the best results.

Keep at least half of the fat cap on the steak as well. Remember that fat will contribute a lot of flavor and tenderness to the meat during the cooking process. Choose a cut that has great marbleization throughout.

How Much Per Person?

When getting prime rib, estimate 3/4 – 1 lb per person, depending on the type of dinner. For a large holiday dinner with many additional sides, 3/4 lb per person will be plenty. For a light family dinner, estimate 1 lb per person. 

You can carve thicker or thinner slices of steak as well, depending on the dinner.

Bone On or Off?

There has been some school of thought that keeping the prime rib on the bone will help with the flavor and the tenderness. Although, many people still believe it and abide by it, there hasn’t been much evidence to support it. When I cook prime rib with the bone or without the bone, I do not notice a difference in the tenderness or flavor.

What I do notice, is that you don’t get the beautiful sear and seasoning on the outside on all four sides. Bone has to come off before serving, so all that beautiful sear and seasoning on the bottom comes off with it.

In short, I do recommend that you get the prime rib roast without the bone. If your only option at the store is to have it with the bone, you can ask the butcher to take the bone off and tie the roast for you.

If you don’t have an option of asking the butcher, you can easily cut the rib bone off at home using a pairing knife:

1. Stand the prime rib on the cutting board, rib bone up.
2. Using a pairing knife, carefully slice along the rib bone to separate the bone from the roast. Try to get as close to the bone as you can and follow the curve of the bone!
3. TIP: don’t discard the rib but add it to the bottom of the roasting pan and hopefully it will add some juices to the pan drippings.

Tips For Preparing the Meat:

There are a few little things that I do to take the prime rib to the next level: 

• The day before cooking prime rib, you will need to salt it generously and let it sit in the refrigerator. 
• You can ask the butcher to separate the rib from the meat and tie it back up or you can do it yourself at home. 
• If you notice too much fat on the outside, you can cut off about half of it. You don’t want to cut off all of it or the meat will not be as juicy.
• Before salting, you will want to score the fat cap on top by slicing it in a crisscross pattern.
• Generously rub the meat all over with coarse salt. Make sure to get in between the cuts in fat and on the side where the ribs separate from the meat. Place it on the plate, cover tightly with plastic wrap and then aluminum foil, and refrigerate overnight or up to 18 hours. 

Seasoning for the Prime Rib:

Usually, with a wonderful cut of meat like this, we like to stick to simple salt and pepper. Although, no-one can resist the beautifully seasoned prime rib crust.

So for my prime rib roast, we use almost a wet rub. I combine olive oil with fresh garlic, dried rosemary and thyme, salt, pepper, and some garlic powder.

Cooking Tips and Instructions:

Make sure to pull the meat out of the refrigerator 2-3 hours before cooking and let it get to room temperature. 

Since you already salted the meat the day before, you don’t need to add more salt. So combine pressed garlic, olive oil, dried herbs, black pepper, and garlic powder in a bowl and mix.

Place the salted prime rib into a rimmed baking sheet and pour the wet rub over it. Rub the whole piece of meat with the seasoning mix all over, on all the sides. Try to get it as even as possible.

Place the seasoned prime rib roast in the prepared roasting pan, onto the inserted wire rack. Make sure to use the leave-in thermometer to track the temperature of the meat! Insert the probe into the middle of the meat to track the temperature of the very center.

Preheat the oven to 500°. Place the roasting pan into the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes to sear the meat. Lower the temperature to 250° and cook until the roast reaches your desired temperature.

Leave-in meat thermometer is the best to use to track when your meat is done because you can read the internal temperature of the meat without opening the oven. If not, take the prime rib out of the oven to measure internal temperature and keep the oven closed. This will prevent temperature drops in the oven.

Tips For Cutting:

Once the meat reached the temperature, take it out of the oven but do NOT cut into it yet.

Place prime rib on the cutting board and tent it with aluminum foil. Take off the cooking twine and let it rest for about 20 minutes. 

Using a long, sharp knife, slice the prime rib against the grain, into steaks that are about 1/2 an inch thick.

You can carve a little thicker or a little thinner depending on the sides you plan to serve (…and how much you love your guests.) 

Serving Suggestions

First things first, you will need some Au Jus or Horseradish Sauce. To prepare the au jus, use dry wine like Cabernet or Merlot, and make sure to use the drippings and juices accumulated from roasting prime rib.

Sauteed Mushrooms is a great side dish and a topping to go with beef. Classic vegetables like asparagus, green beans and carrots also compliment beef nicely. 

Mashed potatoes is a wonderful comforting side dish that you can top off with au jus as well.

Roasted potatoes or smashed potatoes will make a delicious alternative to mashed potatoes. 

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