How to Reverse Sear the Best Steak of Your Life

I used to hate cooking steak at home for one big reason: the smoke. I rent an apartment in Brooklyn, which means I have to deal with a close and sensitive smoke alarm. But even without the threat of a piercing siren, steak was always one of those “sometimes” foods that ended up making more of a mess than I care to clean up.

That is, until the concept of reverse searing entered my life, and changed everything. Now I can make myself a perfect steak, and you can too.

What is reverse searing?

Searing is the classic way to prepare a steak: simply pop it in a screaming hot pan and sear it until it’s done. “Reverse searing” is the catchy phrase for baking a roast low and slow in a conventional oven, and tossing it in a hot pan afterward to get some nice color on the outside. The steak effectively cooks almost completely in the oven; you pan-sear it simply for the glorious browning and flavor the process brings. 

You can reverse sear (almost) any steak

You can use this method for almost any type of steak or roast. You can reverse sear rib-eye steaks, filet mignon, New York strip steak, or a pork tenderloin. The only caveat is thickness: It's hard to reverse sear anything thinner than an inch thick—between the baking and searing, a thin cut of meat will likely cook past the medium-rare point before you can catch it. Try to aim for steaks and roasts that are an inch and a half or thicker.

Reverse searing is totally worth it

Reverse searing helps the steak to brown more evenly than simply pan searing. Searing a steak over high heat will cook the protein fibers on the outside much more rapidly, shrinking the outer layer and causing the middle to bulge, and that warping of the meat makes it hard to get an even sear. Searing is primarily to add flavor, so an uneven sear actually minimizes flavor. 

Reverse searing cooks the meat gently and slowly. Most often, you'll start the process with an oven set to 225°F or 250°F, and leave the steak in there for 20 to 50 minutes, depending on how you like your steak (and a few variables I will discuss later). Slow cooking allows the meat to warm up and heat through more evenly, keeping its shape nice and flat. The best part, if you ask me? No smoke. There is no opportunity for scorching when using this cooking technique. Well, not yet anyway. (You do sear it briefly at the end, but it’s for no where near as long.)

Moreover, it’s lower stress: Cooking this way allows you to do other things in the kitchen while the steak cooks away in the oven, and you can use a probe thermometer every 10 minutes or so to see how it’s coming along. If you have a terrible habit of overcooking your steak, this method nearly guarantees you won’t overcook it. 

The right way to reverse sear a steak

A dryer surface sears better, so the evening before you're ready to cook, pat your steak with some paper towels and let it sit on a wire rack over a sheet pan in the fridge overnight. If you forget to do this, you can simply do it in the morning for a few hours. Worse case scenario (which has certainly happened to me several times), just pat it dry before you put it in the oven.

1. Preheat your oven

Set your oven to 250°F. Place a wire rack over a sheet pan. There won’t be much that drips off the steak, but elevating the meat allows the warm air to flow around all sides.

2. Set your target temp and bake the steak

Thoroughly season your steak and place it on the wire rack. You’re aiming for an internal temperature 10 to 15 degrees below the target finished temperature. Consider that the steak will sear in a hot pan, and also experience carry-over cooking. 

Here's a chart with target temperatures that the center of your steak should reach before you sear it in a pan.

I like my steak around medium which is about 140°F. I subtracted 15 degrees, and aimed for 125°F -ish. It took me 45 minutes to get to 122°F, with two temperature tests after the first 25 minutes.

There are variables to keep in mind. How thick is your steak? Was it fridge-cold or room temperature? My ribeye was one-and-a-half inches thick, and still chilly from the fridge. After 25 minutes, it had just reached the internal temperature fit for a rare steak, about 102°F. My advice is to keep in mind the thickness of your steak and check on it after 10 minutes for a thin steak (around an inch and a quarter thick), and after 20 or 25 minutes for a thicker one (an inch and a half or more). Once you have an initial reading, you can adjust the cooking time from there. 

3. Sear in a hot pan

Once your target internal temperature has been reached, remove the steak from the oven. Heat a frying pan, or cast iron skillet on medium heat until it’s very hot, which usually takes a few minutes. Sear the steak on all sides with a knob of butter, for about one minute per side. Serve immediately.

If it’s your first time reverse searing, you might be dismayed by how ugly and gray your steak looks out of the oven. Hang in there. Once you sear it, you’ll understand what it’s all about. Reverse seared steak has great flavor and looks beautiful. Although you miss out on some nice pan drippings, to me the benefits outweigh the missing fond. So say goodbye to scorching, and hello to a more relaxing, better steak experience.