Last Updated on by SteakEat
If you are reading this, then you want to know how to cook rib eye steak in skillet, so it tastes delicious, feels tender and is gorgeous after all!
There are 2 main problems that steak aficionados often encounter, but…before I go there…
Here is what you can find below (click to get there):
- 2 Proven Ways to Spoil Your Rib Eye Steak
- Part 1: Tools & Ingredients to Use
- Part 2: How to Cook Rib Eye Steak on Stove Top – 8 Steps
2 Proven Ways to Spoil Your Rib Eye Steak

Every cooking guideline should consist of both, things that you should and shouldn’t do, in order to cook a beautiful steak.
Hence, before we get into a proper instruction in Part 1 below, let’s look at the 2 mistakes people often make with this cut:
#1 Low Heat Pan
Taking too little time to warm up the skillet backfires immediately – forget about the beautiful surface browning.
This happens when people think their skillet is hot, but it actually isn’t.
This is especially true for older electric stove tops which require ages to heat up themselves…not even talking about the skillet.
#2 Overcooking Rib Eye Steak
Even though rib eye is still ok when cooked to well-done doneness, it shouldn’t be done that way.
Overdoing your steak will cause it lose a ton of delicious juices and flavor.
Some people think that it helps to kill bacteria, which is true…if only there was any inside on the first place. There is nothing to kill on the inside of the steak (it hasn’t touched the atmosphere where all the bacteria come from).
Now that we have looked at the two most obvious mistakes, let’s see how to cook rib eye steak in skillet so it’s tasty, delicious and all that… 😉
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Part 1: Tools & Ingredients to Use
We start with tools and ingredients.
This is what you’ll need:
- 400g / 14oz ribeye steak (ideally 1-inch thick, organic grass-fed and matured)
- 1 tsp ghee/coconut oil
- Pack of kosher/flaked salt
- Freshly ground pepper
Plus these basic tools:
- Thick-walled heavy skillet (forged aluminum is great for its non-stickiness)
- Tongs for flipping the steak
- Instant meat thermometer
- Paper towels
And with that, we’re ready to go…
Let’s SteakEat!
Part 2: How to Cook Rib Eye Steak on Stove Top – 8 Steps
Step 1: Get Your Ribeye Back To Room Temperature
For a 14-oz. steak, I recommend 40 minutes to return it back to room temperature. Some suggest 20 minutes but I don’t feel this is sufficient. Some larger cuts can take up to an hour.
Getting it back to room temp is crucial in order to maintain a proper heating surface in your skillet.
You want your heating surface to be a balanced temperature across the entire skillet, and putting cold meat in undermines this.
It can also help reduce overall cooking time while also avoiding having a ribeye that’s cool at its center. This becomes quite important when cooking at more rare levels.
Step 2: Secret To Proper Browning
You want your rib eye to have that perfect seared and brown texture, and something that can help with that is pulling excess moisture from the surface of the meat just before cooking.
Using a paper towel, pat down each side of the steak. Avoid thinner napkins or tissue as this can cause a mess.
Step 3: Full Heat For The Skillet
Don’t be afraid to turn that heat all the way at this stage, we want to achieve top temp for fast searing.
Coat the skillet with a teaspoon of either coconut oil (I use coconut oil) or ghee and wait for it to wisp away in white smoke. This will be your cue that it’s hot enough – give it another 10 seconds at this level and continue on.
It’s important to remember that on electric stovetops, this might take up to 10 minutes.
Step 4: Season With Salt
As you’re heating up your skillet, go ahead and season both sides of your ribeye with the kosher salt.
The proper amount here is about two 3-finger pinches for a 14-oz. steak. That means using your thumb, forefinger and middle finger for two pinches per each side.
Naturally you can adjust this to personal tastes.
Remember we’re using Kosher salt with its lower density and less sharp salty flavor per pinch. This gives you more room to work with while avoiding over-salting.
For maximum flavor here, we will hold off on the pepper until after we’ve almost fully cooked the ribeye.
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Step 5: Time to Cook
Now that you’ve seen the white smoke for at least 10 seconds rising from your skillet, it’s time to quickly position your steak in the center.
It will naturally come to a fast sizzle as the remaining moisture on the surface is cooked away. It’s music to our ears.
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BARE IN MIND:
This technique is written for a medium-rare ribeye, considered the best balance of cooking and flavor for many steaks.
Too much heat for too long and you’ll have an overly-chewy result, whereas undercooked cuts will not have the desired texture or flavor.
Trust your handy instant-read thermometer to make sure everything is properly cooked.
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Step 6: Time to Flip
For medium-rare, I recommend giving each side 3 minutes for a total of 6 minutes overall.
While this can be affected by a number of concerns, 6 minutes usually allows just what you need for medium rare.
Issues that can trip this up include your type of stove, the thickness of the skillet and how hot your surface will get.
If you ask a pro, they’ll tell you to always try to only flip a steak once. Rely on a kitchen timer for precision cooking and remember to have those tongs handy.
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BARE IN MIND:
Rely on your meat thermometer about half a minute before finishing the second side, with a range for medium-rare around 55-57C / 130-135F. If needed, add an extra 30-60 seconds per side.
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Step 7: Relax a Bit & Take a Breath
Here we finally pepper both sides based on personal taste, and get ready to rest.
The resting stage helps seal up those flavors for the full effect you want. Let your ribeye sit for 5 minutes under a strip of foil after you’ve peppered it.
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Step 8: Where to Cut
Imagine that the muscle fibers in the steak are like a wood’s grain. You’ll want to cut against this, or perpendicular. This stops the flavor from escaping much more broadly across your plate too early.
Add a tasteful garnish and you’re ready to go.
[box title=”|Get This Article in PDF (for FREE)|” border_width=”2″ border_color=”#dd9933″ border_style=”dotted” bg_color=”#ddb982″ align=”left” text_color=”#ffffff”]Would you like to cook your steak, so it’s tasty, juicy and delicious? If YES, then get this 8-step ‘How to Cook Steak’ SteakEat guide for FREE.
>>[thrive_2step id=’4103′]Click here to get it now. [/thrive_2step][/box]
How to cook rib eye steak in skillet?
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