How to Cook Rib Eye on Stove & Oven Medium-Rare

Last Updated on September 9, 2015 by SteakEat

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This guide shows how to cook rib eye stove and oven to medium-rare level of doneness, so it’s juicy and delicious.

Contents:

• Part 1:  Required Ingredients & Cooking Tools
• Part 2: Cooking Rib Eye on Stove & in Oven – 8 Steps

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Part 1: Required Ingredients & Cooking Tools

That’s all the ingredients we need:

• 230g / 8oz rib eye steak
• 1 tsp ghee/coconut oil
• Kosher/flaked salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

And the following tools:

• Thick-walled heavy skillet (forged aluminum is great for its non-stickiness)
• Paper towel
• Tongs
• Instant-read meat probe (or an oven-safe meat thermometer)
• Oven tray (optional, if you have an oven-safe frying pan)
• Tin foil (optional)

Let’s get going and SteakEat!

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Part 2: Cooking Rib Eye on Stove & in Oven – 8 Steps

The method is simple – first, we sear rib eye on the skillet; second, we finish it by cooking in oven.

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1. Room Temperature Rib Eye

Take rib eye out of the fridge and leave it at room temperature before you begin the actual cooking.

Based on our experience, we recommend doing that at least 40 minutes before – even longer for thicker cuts.

We need to warm up the steak, so, once you start searing it on the frying skillet, it will get that famous steak browning as opposed to getting boiled (this happens when the temperature it too low).

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Pro Tip:

If you really have no time and want your rib eye fast, do this.

Take it out from the fridge, transferring it on a microwave-safe plate and put it inside the actual microwave.

Choose the lowest power setting (not the defrost option though) and get it running for 3-5 seconds.

Then stop it. Flip the steak on the other side and repeat for a few cycles – you will notice that the steak is warming up quite quickly.

N.B. Be careful though – you don’t want to bake it there!

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2. Dry the Steak With Paper Towels

Lightly tap your rib eye with paper towels – they will absorb excess moisture from the surface and help browning later on.

Don’t use toilet paper though – it will stick easily to the steak.

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3. Preheat the Oven

If you are not using an oven-safe frying pan (i.e. the one with plastic handle), get your oven tray covered with tin foil (it helps to clean up afterwards) – we’ll be transferring your rib eye here in a short while.

Preheat the oven to 130C / 265F with the fan option (or 150C / 300F without the fan).

We use relatively low temperature for one main reason – slow oven cooking helps to keep more juices inside the steak, making it more tender and, of course, flavorful.

You can play with the temperature next time. The lower you set it, the more delicious your steak will be (it will take more time though, but it’s worth it).
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This is Page 2 of the ‘How to Cook Rib Eye on Stove & Oven’ guide. Click to Page 1.

4. Season the Rib Eye

Kosher/flaked salt is ideal for searing beef on the skillet – you can put quite a lot of it on the steak’s surface, without actually overshooting the mark (that’s because of it’s lower density, when compared to, for example, table salt)

As a starting point – use 2 three-finger pinches of salt (i.e. thumb, forefinger and middle finger) per side. You can change that in future to suit your requirements.

Note that we don’t recommend using freshly ground black pepper at this stage, as it tends to burn at high heat, leaving unpleasant flavor.

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5. Heat Up the Skillet

Add the teaspoon of coconut oil or ghee to the pan – fats, ideal for high heat pan-searing.

Don’t use more than that – rib eye is a fairly fatty cut and you will see more fat melting from it, when you start pan searing.

Turn your stove top to maximum power and place the pan over it.

How long to heat it for?

Here is a heuristic – once you see gentle fumes arising from the skillet’s surface (anywhere between 2 and 10 minutes, depending your skillet and stove top), wait for another 20 seconds and put the steak inside.

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6. Sear Both Sides

All we need now is a quick sear on both sides, so we get that browning (a.k.a. Maillard reaction) sorted.

We recommend 1 minute per side – this should be enough for the browning to develop.

Flip the steak using a pair of tongs (students may use forks).

Why only 1 minute?

The less time you cook steak on stove, the more moisture (i.e. juiciness) it keeps inside. That’s why cooking is a balancing act – there should be just enough of it (not more/less).

Total searing time is then 2 minutes.

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7. Transfer Steak to the Oven

Once you are done searing – transfer your steak to the oven tray you have prepared.

Now, using the instant read meat probe, check the inside temperature of your rib eye steak (we strongly encourage you to get a meat thermometer and eliminate all the guesswork once and for all).

We are going medium-rare, so our target inside temperature is 130F / 55C.

You will be missing a couple of degrees – that’s perfect.

Now is the time to finish your steak in the oven – place it inside.

This oven baking will take around 20 minutes, but you shouldn’t trust our word.

If you have an oven-safe thermometer, stick it inside your rib eye and check the temperature through the oven door. Once it reaches 130F / 55C, you are good to go.

If you have an instant meat probe, we advise checking every 7 minutes or so. You will need to open the oven door to do that, which is fine.

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8. Resting & Cutting

The final step.

Once you got your rib eye to medium-rare, take it out from the oven, covering with tin foil.

Give it 3-4 minutes to calm down – this way you will not let any of delicious juices out, preserving all the flavor inside.

Cur against the grain (i.e. perpendicular to muscle fibers) and enjoy!

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Pro Tip: While steak is being finished in oven, insert the serving plates inside as well. Hot plates will help to keep the steak warm for longer.

Pro Tip #2: Guests are late and you don’t want the steak to cool down? Set the oven to 50C / 120F and insert the plate with the steak on it right inside – it will stay nice and warm, so you don’t need to worry anymore.

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How to cook rib eye steak in pan and oven to medium-rare, so it’s tender and delicious?

Well, you know the answer now. 😉

Happy Steaks!

SteakEat

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