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This juicy and tender steak recipe will be your new go-to recipe for a fail-proof steak dish. Learning how to cook meat, especially leaner cuts is difficult to do if you’re not a seasoned cook or chef. If you’re noticing you’re unable to get that restaurant-quality steak recipe down, I’d suggest investing in a sous vide cooker for the perfect steak each and every time. When I choose to consume steak, it’s typically a strip steak, ribeye, or tenderloin (filet mignon).
While I much prefer someone else to cook meat to avoid interior smells, the downfall of eating any meat product at a steakhouse or a restaurant is that you cannot guarantee it’s organic, grass-fed, or grass-finished. In this post, you’ll learn how to cook the perfect steak just like the steakhouse does.o
Making This Juicy Steak At Home
If you’re living in an apartment like me, you may not have access to a grill. With smoke and strong aromas coming from the steak’s cooking process, it’s impossible not to create a cloud of smoke or at least a smell that lingers. Reducing the smell of perfectly cooked steak is a difficult task. While that smell is both delicious and inviting when hungry, I don’t necessarily want the smell of steak in my bedroom at night.
That is enough for me to not want to cook it inside. However, what other ways do you get a juicy steak at home?
Enter a sous vide cooker. This is a fantastic way to achieve a tender and juicy cut of meat. Using it is much less nerve-wracking than frantically eyeing your steak in a pan or on the grill. The cooking process with a sous vide cooker is to slowly cook the meat while finishing the steak in a hot cast-iron skillet. This results in a steak with a juicy interior and a crusty, perfectly seared exterior.
Steak Recipe Ingredients
For this recipe, you’ll only need a few ingredients to make a flavorful and tender steakhouse-style dinner. I suggest choosing a strip steak or a ribeye depending on how lean you like your steak. Here’s what you’ll need:
New York Strip Steak or Ribeye: I choose to select only organic, grass-fed, & grass-finished cuts of meat. You may buy either packaged cuts, or select a cut at the meat counter in your grocery store. Be sure to read my notes regarding the temperature of the meat before cooking.
Choosing between NY Strip or Ribeye steaks, you’ll want to decide which one you prefer, mainly based on fat content. A ribeye steak will have more internal marbling or what is; fat. This cut is still on the leaner side compared to other steaks. For the New York Strip, you’ll also get a good amount of fat however it runs down the side which is sometimes easier to cut off & often comes to a thinner peak at the edges creating less tender areas.
I prefer using a ribeyes versus a NY strip as a ribeye is a softer cut of meat most often. A NY Strip will still be quite tender but it has a chewier consistency which isn’t always a bad thing depending on the selected piece! For example, making this steak recipe for dinner is a great meal prep for the following day.
Seasonings: I enjoy both freshly cracked salt and pepper while also using steak seasoning. Most times steak seasoning will contain salt so be sure to check the ingredients prior to using additional salt. Be generous with this seasoning as it will only help to infuse more flavor into your steak!
Aromatics: This will consist of fresh herbs, onions or shallots, as well as garlic. Both of these items will provide additional flavor to the meat as it slowly cooks in the water bath. I recommend using fresh rosemary or thyme.
Dairy-Free Butter or Regular Butter: This is an important ingredient as it helps to provide that charred crust that we’re looking for on the exterior of our steak when pan-searing. Be sure to look out for the instructions on how to best achieve this.
Steak Recipe Tips & Tricks:
- Choose The Freshest Cuts: When selecting your meat from the meat counter, the freshest cut of meat will always be at the part of the display that is closest to you, not the side where the butcher is. This is known as FIFO, or “first in, first out” and a commercial culinary practice meant to be upheld.
- Set out your steaks at least 30 minutes before you’re ready to add them to the water bath.
- Be heavy-handed with seasonings & aromatics: Being heavy-handed with aromatics helps to lock in the flavor while much of it is slowly being incorporated due to a low and slow cooking process.
- Adjust my recipe based on your preference if needed! Most recipes will call for 1 piece of garlic. This sounds ridiculous to me: You need at least 4 or more! Adjust where you feel it is necessary.
- Don’t add oil: For sous vide steak, we won’t be adding oil as a cooking agent as it isunnecessary.. Some people enjoy adding a bit of butter however it’s unnecessary in the initial water bath cooking process. If you choose to sear your steak prior due to a lot of fat needing to be rendered, you’ll need an oil of some sort prior to sous vide cooking.
- Determine to pre-sear, post-sear, or double-sear. There is a lot of controversy over whether or not we sear a piece of meat prior to sous vide cooking. In my opinion, pre-searing is necessary when there is a lot of fat & marbling. This will not break down enough in a lower cooking temperature resulting in a chewy steak. This will be left up to you to determine based on your individual cut of meat!
The Perfect Steak Cooking Process
- Sear if there is a lot of fat or large marbling! Fat does not cook down in the way we need if we do not sear it. This process is the maillard reaction. It is the chemical breakdown of amino acids (proteins.) In laymens terms: a cut of meat is a cut of a muscle & protein. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Doing this prior to the sous vide bath, helps for a more tender final product.
- Cook at a controlled heat: Set your sous vide cooker temperature to 130F after your steak has been out for about 20-30 minutes.
- Cook for a set amount of time: You will cook your steak for about 45 minutes to 1 hour in your sous vide cooker at this temperature. Be sure to add your cast iron to an oven of at least 400 degrees. If you’d like to use a gas burner, simply heat your cast iron on high on your stovetop. I recommend oven-heating your pan if you have an electric stovetop. You’ll finish this steak recipe in the pan.
- Don’t oversear: If you oversear your steak you’ll defeat the purpose of the sous vide cooking method. Getting the pan extra hot prior to adding in your steak is key to perfecting this juicy and delicious steak recipe. Temp your steak and take it off at 125 degrees to rest if you want medium rare steak.
Questions For Purchasing A Sous Vide Cooker:
- Choose a sous vide cooker that best suits your family’s needs. If tech is of your preference getting one that is controlled through your phone. Keep in mind this could result in Bluetooth malfunction if this is the only option. I like to only use the device in front of me, not my phone!
- What capacity of water will it control if you’re making a little vs. a lot based on your family size. If you need a larger pot to cook this amount, factor this into your kitchen equipment space & budget!
- What is the temperature capability of this sous vide cooker?
- Is watts usage important to you with your sous vide machine?
- Is price important to you? If so, be sure to ask the above sous vide cooker questions while also factoring what you’re willing to spend.
Tender and Juicy Steak Recipe
Ingredients
STEAK RECIPE INGREDIENTS
- 1 organic grass-fed & finished New York strip steak or Ribeye about 1"-1.5" thick
- 4-6 large garlic cloves (fresh whole cloves only, not jarred chopped garlic)
- 1 medium thinly sliced shallot optional!
- 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1-2 sprigs rosemary
- 1/2 tsp freshly cracked pepper
- 1/2-1 tsp steak seasoning a must in my opinion!
SEARING INGREDIENTS FOR STEAK
- 1-3 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp avocado oil (optional if needing more oil)
- 1 tsp steak seasoning (optional)
PAIRING INGREDIENTS FOR STEAK
- 1 carton baby portobellos optional
- 1 large viadallia or yellow onion. optional
Instructions
- Start off by removing your steaks from the fridge and generously seasoning them. Use your best judgement on the amount depending on the size of you steak.
- Leave the steaks out for around 30 minutes to come closer to room temperature.
- Follow this with adding water to a large dutch oven and attaching your Anova Sous Vide Cooker and set to 130 degrees farenheiht.
- Next, preheat your oven to 425 to add your cast iron pan to.
- Once the steak has come closer to room temperature add your steak to your stasher bag along with your thyme or rosemary sprigs as well as your garlic cloves. I like to add two pieces of garlic per side.
- Cook your steaks for 45 minutes to 1 hour in your sous vide cooker at 130F. Set a timer. (See notes below)
- Once the timer has gone off, remove the meat and pat down with clean paper towels.
- Remove your casts iron pan and turn your stovetop knob to high. Add in your butter, garlic, rosemary, and immediately add your steak ensuring you are placing it AWAY from yourself to ensure you do not splash yourself with butter!
- Sear it no more than 1 minute per side. You only want to complete this to get a sear on the exterior. To ensure a crunchy exterior your pan must be scortching hot! Do not overcook. Temp your steak to get to around 130 to take off for medium rare.
- Once cooked, let the meat rest slightly, temp, and then cut into desired pieces. You should have a finished product that is medium rare. (Check below for thermometer recommendations)
- If you would like to cook mushrooms or onions for this dish, be sure to add them after cooking the meat for additional flavor. Reduce the heat to low and allow them to caramelize.
- Serve & Enjoy!
Notes
How To Make This Steakhouse Favorite More Plant-Forward
- Share the steak with a partner, family member, or friend reducing your consumption of red meats or animal products in general.
- Imagine meat dishes as “toppings” or garnishes to your dishes. If you choose a large salad, you can add it as a “topping” such as to this dairy-free “feta” salad.
- Make other menu options that work best for your family that are veggie-heavy. Whether that be seared asparagus after letting the steak rest, or simply a large salad with various shaved veggies, making the veggies the star of the meal. For example, using mushrooms as your main course like what I have done in my cauliflower puree and mushroom steaks is a great way to add a meaty smokey flavor without as much meat!
- Save half of your steak for breakfast the following morning. My favorite choice is breakfast tacos. Be sure to slice it extra thin so that it’s the perfect cut for tacos.
A few dish recommendations to pair or enjoy a steak leftovers meal:
- Dairy-Free Mashed Potatoes (This is a great dairy-free steak recipe side!)
- Dairy-Free Kale Caesar Salad (Add it as a “garnish!”)
- Salsa Macha (Use it in morning breakfast tacos as a steak recipe leftover meal or a steak sauce!)
hot pan to sear! so right gives a wonderful taste
I couldn’t agree more! It helps tremendously especially with this method!