The Perfect Steak

3.1/5 (117 Reviews)

Ingredients

  • 2 steaks, 1-1/2 to 2-inches thick, preferably ribeye or strip
  • Big Green Egg Ancho Chile & Coffee Seasoning, to taste

Instructions

Trim the steaks of any excess fat. Apply the seasoning to both sides of the steaks. Allow to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before grilling.

Set the EGG up for direct cooking (no convEGGtor) at 650°F/343°C. To increase sear marks use a cast iron cooking grid; for extra flavor add wood chips.

Place the steaks on the grill and sear for two to three minutes. Carefully open the dome and flip the steaks onto a new section of the grid. After two to three more minutes, flip the steaks once more.

Completely shut down the EGG by closing the damper top and draft door. Let the steaks continue cooking for 3 to 4 minutes, until they reach the desired internal temperature (check with a meat thermometer).

Remove the steaks and let them rest for 5 minutes before serving.

43 thoughts on “The Perfect Steak”

  1. Help !!!New grilled on Big Green Egg!! My temp never get above 200!Im cooking 2 filets that are thick , medium well! My husband doesn’t grill !! I’m learning as I’m from Texas ! You’re born knowing how to grill !! Ha!! Help me !!!

    1. Dear David,
      We had the same experience. We decided to cut our steak into 1 inch (length). Time in the egg was 3min one side and then after 2 min cooking on the other side we dicided to Thales them out of the egg. Steak was medid well perdectly cooked! Hope our cooking time and steak length cut can help you out for next time.

  2. Don’t understand the need to rest steaks, roasts sure, but not steaks. The only rest mine gets is the time to plate up and sit down. Like my steak warm and any juices escaping is soon mopped up.

  3. I have a large bge, and need to cook 5 porterhouse steaks tonight. Should I cook two at a time or try to put them all on at once? I’m worried about shutting the dampers down and still be able to bring the temp right back up three times in a row (if cooking steaks two at a time).

  4. I found this recipe to be extraordinarily successful. Only real concern with this is the amount of time I have to finish a heavy pour of bourbon while cooking. 2/3/4 is easy to remember as well…

    Also pressure / temperature equations are linear so relative Pressure changes only vary 10% between our normal living elevations; thus cooking time changes not relevant as only changing 10% for higher elevations (outside BGE cooking temperature precision control or CPK). I will say that when I take my BGE on hikes to the peak of Mt McKinley I typically double coking times however (20,000 feet).

  5. Just tried this. Excellent results. The rub was a game changer. Highly recommend. 600 degrees. 3 mins per side. Shut down for 3.5 minutes. Get the green egg ancho Chile rub and use generously

  6. I’ve tried several methods and this may be my favorite. I just did a 1.5 inch NY Strip and it turned out excellent. I used S&P instead of the rub, 2.5 mins each side and took it off when the meat hit 120, maybe after about 1.5 min. It was a near perfect mid rare after a 10 min rest. I may target 115 next time, the wifey likes hers a bit less done than I do, then leave mine on a tad longer. I live in GA, not sure why that’s relevant, but seems to be important to some folks on this thread. Happy cooking.

  7. Would this same recipe work well for a whole beef tenderloin? I love it for steaks but want to see if I could do the same thing for a piece of meat that large.

  8. First time cooking on big egg after curing seal. This is a perfect recipe. Steak was juicy and absolutely perfect! I counted down exactly as recipe said. This will be my standard for future use!

  9. Two ways:
    1. 500 , direct, 4 minutes 1st side, 3 min 2nd for med. rare. Secret: Pat of butter melted on each steak before serving.
    2. 500, direct, 1 minute a side for grill marks, switch to place setter, place grill, lower temp to 350, 3 minutes a side. Pat of butter on each side. Steak comes out med. rare, not dry, very soft and melt in your mouth. Longer for medium, still comes out juicy , not dry, melt in your mouth. Hey I think I’ll do one now. This second method is not unlike planking with indirect heat.

  10. I’m a little late to the BGE party but just tried this method for my first use of my egg….was the best steak I’ve ever had hands down! I forgot to cap the top but didn’t matter-these steak rocked-prep was easy, the cook was easy and the clean up was easy!

  11. Thicker steaks call for longer time. Cooked 1 1/2 inch filets at 600* for 3 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2 for just barely medium

  12. I’m very satisfied with the doneness factor. My issue is when you close the Egg down at 550-600 degrees, the sudden lack of oxygen makes for a lot of smoke, leading to a smokey tasting steak. Maybe I need to keep the top damper open a bit to let some of that smoke out?

  13. Haven’t used the green egg yet. Ordering my first but to seer keep the lid open. The whole point of seeing your steak is creat an outer crust to keep internal juices in. Closing the lid during initial seering process allows for more juice to exit the steak. Seer on both sides lid open then shut and close down all vents until its desired temp. Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting into

    1. It’s different on the egg. Know what you are saying but the temp stays up 650-700 when you keep the lid closed. Does the same thing.

    2. You need to learn how to use an Egg, dude. You gonna cook with the lid open you may as well use a $20 grill from Walmart and don’t waste a $1000 on an Egg.

  14. Cooked 2+ inch Kansas city Strips using this method….OMG – Best steak ever!
    Seared 3 minutes each side (about 550) and closed it it down for 2. They sat for about 10 minutes. Perfect Medium rare .

    1. cooking time was spot on but holllyyy cow this came out wayyy too salty.. I double checked cause I thought a 1/4 of salt was a lot and it was or maybe it was supposed to be rubbed off? idk ill try again with much less salt

  15. Yikes!! An inch and one half New York strips. Got the egg up to 800* before opening lid. Put 6 strips on and closed the lid. Temp decreased to 625*. Steaks were finished in four minutes. Not sure this technique is atmospheric pressure sensitive. Here in Georgia at 1550 ft I would try decreasing the heat ’bout 100* F in the future. Meanwhile, the steaks were med. well to well, juicy, and down right delicious. Will attempt again in the future and will submit results.

    1. You were too hot, ant they were too thin. I just did 2 3 inch NY stations (rub w/olive oil – gotta see the grill marks….). 700 degrees, 2 1/2 min, turn…2 1/2 minutes (650-700), close vents…4 minutes. Put in sealed pot to rest got 10 minutes and it was as good as Peter Lugers . Perfect medium rare.

        1. I had that problem for a while but cleaned out the egg and it’s been fine since. Air flow is key so I bet I had some of the bottom grate holes clogged.

        2. Allow the charcoal to get hot before closing the lid. White all over the cookign spot. Watch the temp guage climb and be ready to close lids and damper.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *