Prep Time:  15 mins
Cook Time:  90 mins
Total Time:  105 mins
Servings:  2

In the words of Chef Tony, this reverse-sear recipe results in “deliciously awesome, phenomenal beef-candy.” Yep, that’ll do it. With such eloquence from our on-camera expert, why do we even have copywriters? Anyway, we think you’ll agree with Chef Tony’s assessment when you give reverse-seared steak a try. This method has steadily gained popularity because it removes excess surface moisture for a better sear, and puts you in greater control of target doneness. While Chef Tony executed this recipe on the Masterbuilt Gravity Series smoker — which drew rave reviews from our expert — it’s worth noting that you can use a grill or oven when reverse-searing steak. It’s all beef-candy in the end.

Ingredients

  • 1½-inch or thicker bone-in, tomahawk-style ribeye (or other thick-cut beef)
  • Coarse salt (to taste)
  • Cracked black pepper (to taste)
  • High-temperature oil (for coating steak)

Items You'll Need

Instructions

  1. Preheat your grill, smoker, or oven to 250°F.
  2. During preheat, generously coat the outside of the steak with salt and black pepper to taste. Follow that with a coating of high-temperature oil (coconut, grapeseed, and avocado oils all do the trick).
  3. Place the steak in your preheated grill, smoker, or oven and allow it to cook, with the lid closed, until its internal temperature is around 100°F (for rare) or 110–115°F (for medium). This should take about 45 minutes to 1½ hours, depending on your desired finished temperature. Of course, you’ll need a BBQ thermometer to stay updated on the internal temperature of your steak.
  4. Once the internal temperature is where you’d like it, remove the steak from whatever cooker you used and begin preheating your grill for searing. This temperature will vary depending on your grill, but we shot for 700°F on the Masterbuilt — plenty enough heat for searing steaks.
  5. While the grill preheats, give the steak another coating of oil. This will aid in searing because oil transfers heat better than surface moisture does.
    Massive bone-in tomahawk ribeye searing on hot grill
  6. Once the grill preheated, set your steak on the grates and allow it to sear for 45 seconds to a minute. Rotate the steak 45 degrees to create crosshatched sear marks. After another minute or so, flip the steak over and repeat this step to get sear marks on the other side. (Pro tip: if you’re trying this recipe on a Masterbuilt Gravity smoker, keep the lid closed between turns while searing. This Masterbuilt model is designed to cut off the fire-stoking fan when the lid is open, which would work against the high heat you need for searing.)
  7. At this point, you should check the steak with an instant-read thermometer. You’re looking for 125°F for rare, and 135°F for medium.
  8. Once you’ve confirmed your desired internal temperature, remove the steak from the grill, lightly tent with foil, and let it rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
  9. To make slicing your steak easier, run your knife down the bone to remove it from the rest of the steak. From there, cut the steak in half and slice each half as thinly as possible across the grain. This will give you slices of steak that almost melt in your mouth. At that point, how can you do anything but enjoy?
    Close up of chefs knife slicing through steak