How to Cook Chuck Eye Steak in Cast Iron Skillet on the Stove

Last Updated on September 8, 2015 by SteakEat

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This guide explains how to cook chuck eye steak in cast iron skillet on stove top to medium-rare level of doneness.

Cast iron is a great inexpensive alloy that can accumulate a lot of heat. 😉

Why does this even matter?

Well, the more hotter is the skillet and the longer it can maintain itself hot, the higher are the chance of actually searing  (and browning) the steak.

This is how deliciousness is created…

Heating up cast iron skillet takes a good while, but once it gets hot, it stays hot for a long time.

Contents:

• Part 1: Cooking Ingredients & Tools
• Part 2: Cooking Chuck Eye Steak in Cast Iron Skillet – 5 Steps

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Part 1: Cooking Ingredients & Tools

In order to help you understand the general idea behind cooking chuck eye in cast iron skillet, I will be using a simple salt-n-pepper recipe:

• 14oz/400g chuck eye steak
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Kosher/flaked salt
• Coconut oil or ghee

Also be sure you have the following tools:

• Cast iron pan with grill marks (ideally)
• Tongs
• Paper towels
• Instant meat probe
• Oven meat thermometer (optional – for thicker sirloin cuts)

Got everything? Let’s SteakEat!

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Part 2: Cooking Chuck Eye Steak in Cast Iron Skillet – 5 Steps

The process is pretty simple.

You will need to really heat up the skillet (sometimes up to 10-15 minutes) and sear the steak, rotating it by 90 degrees for the grill marks to appear.

And these are the steps in more detail…

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Step 1: Chuck Eye at Room Temperature

A perfect steak starts with perfect preparation – take it out from the fridge 40 minutes before starting to cook.

Warmer steak will help the hot skillet to preserve its high temperature, when placed inside…so it will actually get seared and develop the browning.

Larger piece of chuck eye can well take up to 2 hours!

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SteakEat Tip:

If you don’t have the 40 minutes, use the microwave to warm up your chuck eye!

Place it inside (use a ceramic plate) and set the power to the lowest wattage (but not the defrost though).

Hit the ‘start’ button and wait for 3-5 seconds.

Stop.

Open the door and flip the steak.

You will notice how the side that’s in contact with the plate is warming up much quicker (that’s why we flip the steak).

Repeat the cycle for 4-6 times.

This is how I get my steaks to room temperature in less than 60 seconds!

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Step 2: Heat the Cast Iron Skillet to High Heat

Assuming your cast iron pan is already seasoned*, place it over high heat and wait for a good while (sometimes up to 10-15 minutes) for it to reach the right temperature.

I usually wait for a light smoke to appear taking off the skillets surface, then count another 40 seconds and start searing the steak.

Remember that even though cast iron skillets are great at retaining heat, they are pretty bad at thermal conductivity (i.e. take a while to heat up entirely and evenly), that’s why you should really let them to sit on the stove top.

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*Seasoning:

Cast iron skillets are prone to rusting and stickiness, that’s why seasoning, the process of covering them with a thin layer of fat, is very important.

You should only really do it once – cast iron skillets are not made for washing (use paper towels to clean them).

To season a cast iron skillet, add a table spoon of ghee/coconut oil inside and heat it up to medium-high temperature, distributing melted fat evenly.

Take the pan off the stove and let it cool down.

Use paper towels to remove excess fat, rubbing the entire skillet.

It is now seasoned, so you can get back to cooking and heat it up again!

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Step 3: Chuck Eye Paper Towels & Salt

While the skillet is heating up, get your steak ready.

Use paper towels to pat it dry and remove excess moisture from its surface – it really helps browning!

After that, season your chuck eye with flaked/Kosher salt.

I recommend starting with 2-3 pinches per side, but this amount is totally adjustable.

I do not add pepper now, because I dislike the charred flavor it produces after burning at high heat inside the skillet (add it later).

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Step 4: Brown Chuck Eye

As soon as your skillet is hot enough (i.e. has been heating up for 10-15 minutes) and the steak is seasoned, place it inside the skillet.

You should hear some sort of sizzling – that’s moisture from the steak’s surface quickly evaporating.

As a rule of thumb, to get to medium-rare level of doneness (i.e. 55C / 130F) with the steak of 1 inch, you will need to sear it for  2,5-3 minutes per side.

For the #-style grill marks to develop, turn the steak by 90 degrees after 1,5 minutes on each side.

I highly recommend using meat tongs, because they make all this steak manipulation much easier and meat thermometer, which is your best friend when it comes to cooking perfect steaks every time.

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SteakEat Tip:

The medium-rare doneness is like a guarantee that your chuck eye will end up juicy, tender and chewable!

This is why I recommend not going beyond this state and using meat probe for precision (I hate guesswork).

My personal favorite is rare (50C / 122F or even less), but you might prefer medium (60C / 140F), which is totally fine.

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SteakEat Tip #2:

The searing method is best for chuck eye less than 2.5cm, or 1 inch thick.

If your steak is thicker than that, I recommend searing it and then finishing in oven to preserve tenderness and juiciness.

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Step 5: Time for the Steak to Rest & Pepper

The total chuck eye cooking time would then average to around 7-8 minutes, because you will need some time to quickly sear the lateral sides.

After the steak is all taken care of, remove it from the skillet and place it on a plate or cutting board.

Now I season it with black pepper and cover it with tin foil for 3-5 minutes to let it rest and stabilize the juices inside (this way they will not soak out, when you cut into the thing).

After that, cut the eye (chuck 😉 ) across the grain (i.e. perpendicular to the muscle fibers) and…you know what to do – eat’n’joy!

Good job.

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How to cook chuck eye steak in cast iron skillet to medium-rare doneness?

The method is all yours now.

Happy Steaks!

SteakEat
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