How to Broil Rib Eye Steak in Electric Oven Without Broiler Pan

Last Updated on September 9, 2015 by SteakEat

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This guide explains how to broil rib eye steak in electric oven to medium-rare level of doneness without using broiler pan.

Would you like a grilled rib eye steak without actually grilling it?

All you need is an electric oven with the broiler, the grill-like heating element located on the oven’s ‘ceiling’. 🙂

And a thick juicy rib eye of course… 😉

This method doesn’t not require broiler pan – we’ll use a simple oven grill rack, which is a basic thing every oven has.

Contents:

• Part 1: Ingredients for Broiling & Cooking Tools
• Part 2: How to Broil Rib Eye Steak in Oven in 6 Steps

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Part 1: Ingredients for Broiling & Cooking Tools

I want you to enjoy the best steak possible, that’s why my primary attention here is explaining the actual cooking technique, rather than diving into complex recipes…that’s why we’ll keep it simple and only use salt’n’pepper.

The ingredients:

• 8oz / 230g 1-inch thick rib eye steak
• Kosher/flaked salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

And the tools:

• Oven grill rack
• Dripping pan
• Meat temperature probe
• Paper towels
• Tin foil
• Meat tongs

Whenever you are ready – SteakEat! 😉

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Part 2: How to Broil Rib Eye Steak in Oven in 6 Steps

Before we kick in…a little warning.

The method, even though quite simple, takes a bit of practice – don’t even think that you ‘can’t do it’, if you screw it up the first (second or even third) time – steaking like a pro needs a bit of time. 😉

Home oven broiling is a tricky thing for one main reason – conventional home broilers are not very powerful (reach around 500-550 degrees F), when you compare them with professional devices (reach up to 2200F).

Why do we care?

Well, the lower the temperature, the more time it takes to brown the steak.

The more time it takes to brown the steak, the higher is the chance that you will overcook it (and get medium doneness level and not medium-rare).

We don’t want to overcook our rib eye in oven, that’s why we’ll do these two things:

1. We use 1-inch thick rib eye, which needs more time to cook inside.
2. We are not going to wait until it reaches room temperature before starting to cook – we’ll use it directly from the fridge.

These two tricks do exactly that – give us more time for the surface browning to appear while the inside does not overcook.

Now that you got the idea, let’s look at broiling step by step.

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Step 1: Switch the Broiler Mode On

First of all – get the oven broiler running at maximum heat.

You will also need to open the oven door fully and keep it open for the entire duration of the broiling process – this helps to keep the actual broiler as hot as possible (so the rib eye can brown asap).

Take the drip tray covered with tin foil, placing it on the lowest oven rack (i.e. the first one from the bottom).

The drip tray will be collecting all the steak drippings, so that your oven stays nice and clean.

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Step 2: Dry With Paper Towels & Add Salt

To speed up the rib eye browning process you’ll need to pat dry the steak surface with paper towels – light tapping motions is all you need.

Remove as much excess surface moisture as possible.

As soon as that’s done, add Kosher/flaked salt on top of the rib eye’s side #1.

I recommend 2-3 pinches to begin with (don’t be afraid to add too much salt, because this type of salt is less dense than standard table salt).

Don’t add any salt to side #2, because it will fall off once you start broiling the rib eye.

We are also ignoring pepper at this stage – it tends to burn at high heat producing charred, burnt flavor. We’ll be adding it later on.

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Step 3: Broil the Rib Eye

Once you are done seasoning and the oven thermostat light starts going on and off, transfer the rib eye on to the oven grill rack.

Then take the grill rack and put it as close to the heating element as you can without the rib eye actually touching it.

Once again, our goal now is to broil side #1 so it gets browning quickly without overcooking the inside.

Every side will need a certain amount of time to get browned, but…how long will it take?

It depends on many things, including your oven’s power and so on…

My oven does the job in about 7 minutes per side.

Play around and see how long you will need to brown each side – it gets easier as you broil more and more 🙂

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This is Part 2 of the ‘How to Broil Rib Eye Steak in Oven’ guide. Click here for Part 1.

Step 4: Broil Side #2 & Check the Temperature

Soon enough side #1 will get browned.

Once it’s there, use meat tongs to flip the steak and get ready to brown side #2.

But before that – check the steak’s inside temperature using meat thermometer.

How far are you from medium-rare level of doneness? (i.e. 55C / 130F)

Medium-rare doneness is like a guarantee that your rib eye steak will be juicy and tender (however you surely can enjoy rare and medium rib eye, 50C / 122F and 60C / 140F respectively).

Now, season side #2 with salt just like you did with side #1 and start broiling it.

By the way, it should take a bit less time broiling than for side #1, because it’s already warmed up a bit.

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Step 5: Check the Temperature & Oven Finish the Steak (if necessary)

Once you noticed the browning to develop to your liking (e.g. “oh, it looks golden brown – I like it”), take the rib eye out from the oven.

Stick the meat probe inside it once again – what temperature does it show?

If it is ~ 55C / 130F (i.e. medium-rare), skip to the next step.

And if it is slightly lower, you have two options:

1. Enjoy a slightly rare rib eye (I’d do that) – skip to the next step once again.
2. Finish the rib eye in oven, but at lower heat so to preserve tenderness and flavor.

If you choose second option, switch the oven into usual no-broiler mode and set the temperature at 135C / 275F with fan on (150C / 300F with fan off).

Lower temperature like that is just what we need for ‘low & slow’ type of oven cooking, because it gradually increases the rib eye’s inside temperature without letting too much juices, flavor and tenderness out.

To finish the steak in oven you may use the same oven grill rack.

Insert it inside for 10-20 minutes (depending on how many degrees you are missing) and check the doneness level every once in a while.

That’s why I highly recommend a meat probe.

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Step 6: Rest the Rib Eye & Cut It

Steak at medium-rare?

Take it out and finally season it with freshly ground black pepper.

Now, final thing – cover it with tin foil and let it rest for 3-5 minutes.

This is a final trick to keep the juices (read – tenderness and flavor) inside your broiler rib eye.

Cut, serve and enjoy!

Good work. 😉

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Now you know how to broil rib eye steak in oven to medium-rare without using broiler pan.

Thank you for sharing. 🙂

Happy Steaks!

SteakEat

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