How to Cook Steak in a Cast Iron Skillet
By puter_dr
Great Steak Can Be Made at Home
With the current economy, not everyone has money to eat out. Occasionally you want to have a good steak, and this is a way to cook a perfect steak time after time, and enjoy good eating at home.If you don't have a cast iron pan, you can buy new ones at any decent store that sells cookware, but if money is an issue, you can pickup good cast iron at second hand stores, flea markets and the like.
What you will need
You need a seasoned cast iron skillet, tongs, safflower or peanut oil, sea salt or kosher salt, and I will assume you have a range and oven. It does not matter whether the range is electric or gas. Good results can be had with either. Also good oven mitts are a must. Any type steak will work, but in this example I am using a ribeye that is a bit over an inch thick. Ribeyes generally have a good flavor so they do not need a lot of seasoning.
If you just acquired your cast iron pan, you will need to season it properly. Most cast iron pans these days come seasoned, but if yours is not, it is easy. Set the oven to 450. Brush cooking oil on the inside surfaces of the pan. Put it in the oven for 1 hour. When it comes out of the oven, let it cool, and wipe any excess oil off. Your pan should look black when it is properly seasoned.
Getting things going.
Pull the steaks out of the refrigerator and let them warm up a bit. We need to preheat the oven to 450 degrees. As the oven heats up, put the cast iron skillet on a large burner and heat it up to high temperature. As things are heating up, place the steak on a plate and pour a little safflower or peanut oil on it. Rub the oil in, then add salt and pepper and rub that in. If you want to add any other seasonings, this would be a good time for dry seasonings. Sometimes I use a mixture of onion and garlic powder with seasoned salt. Turn the steak over and repeat. Now it is time to cook.
Cast Iron Cookware
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Cooking the steak
Once our skillet is nice and hot, take the tongs and place the steak in the skillet, and sear each side for 30-40 seconds. Then take your oven mitt, and place the steak in the 450 degree oven. Luckily, everyone at my house likes their steak medium rare, so all my steaks will have the same cooking time. You will let the steak cook in the oven, 2 1/2 minutes per side. If your taste tends towards medium, you will want to go for a bit over 3 minutes. At the 2 1/2 minute mark, you will pull the pan out of the oven, then turn the steak over, and then put it back in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 more minutes.
Once it has cooked on both sides for the allotted time, take the pan out of the oven and let it set for a few minutes, giving the steak a chance to rest. If you have aluminum foil, loosely cover the steak with the foil while they rest.
While you wait, you can plate your other side dishes. then once a few minutes have passed, take the tongs and put the steak on the plate and enjoy.
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If you tried the recipe, did it work for you?
How did your food come out?
See results without votingComments
Sounds good. I'm a steak lover so I'll definately try this. Thanks.
Cooking Steak in Cast Iron Skillet
This article is very helpful to me
Try using 0 calorie cooking spray to cook your steak. Cuts a lot of calories in half. Great article.. very detailed.
I will try this , thank you
I tried this, and it worked great! Smokes up the house a bit though, so if you live in an apartment, might want to turn off the smoke detectors for a bit and run some fans, hahaha.
I tried this last night. Came out great. Thanks for the recipe.
I just got done using this technique. I didn't have any oil so I substituted red wine instead and it turned out wonderful. Thank you very much to the one who posted. This was my first time ever really cooking. I also made a salad using salsa and red wine for the dressing which also turned out wonderful along with potatoes and of course red wine to drink. Thanks again.
Ah man, my mouth is watering so much right now.
Nearly dribbled on the keyboard a bit!
Definatly gonna be trying this one. Tasty hub!
I'm using it now. I will let you know how it turns out. From the sound of everyones comments, it will turn out fine!
Really delish! Fell off the bone
Thanks for the comments, it usually does come out the same everytime. Did a couple ribeyes tonight and they came out great.
We used thick steaks and did as directed--every 5 min. we checked and it probably took 15-20 min. on each side before done to our liking. It was the juiciest steak we've had in a long time!! Will do very often this way!! Delish flavor and very moist!!
I was just a little confused about...
You will let the steak cook in the oven, 2 1/2 -3 minutes per side. If your taste tends towards medium, you will want to go for a bit over 3 minutes. At the 2 1/2 minute mark, you will pull the pan out of the oven, then turn the steak over, and then put it back in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 more minutes.
...are we putting it back in for a second time on each side?
Sorry for the delayed response. Actually, you would increase the time per side depending on the doneness you prefer. If you like medium rare, 2 1/2 does it, if you want medium, 3 minutes or 3:15 might work best for you.
Since I don't have an outdoor grill, I use cast iron to get a good sear on my steaks. I love the Lodge products, cheap, American, and effective.
a wonderful article
Ever since I read this article I found this the best method for cooking steaks! I do not have a grill where I live. It took me a couple of times to get this method down and now I have it perfect! Thanks!
I just tried this tonight. Thicker steak took 4 mins on each side in the oven. Perfect. Thank you.
Glad it went well for you and thank you for the comment
Gonna try this tonight! It is how it is done in the top end restaurants!! Sounds delish!
Hope it works well for you. I always goes well for me.
I really don't see the need to do them in the oven. Isn't that what a top is for? I warm up the pan over a medium-high heat, sear the first side for 3 mins, do the second side for 2 mins, turn off the heat, put the top on the pan and just let the steak finish off for about 5-7 mins depending on thickness. Cast iron holds heat so well that oven time isn't necessary.
The oven time just finishes the steak to the desired doneness. It is thought that the additional oven heat just helps to make the heat more uniform in the steak.
If you are happy with your method, there is no reason to change.
Thanks for the comment
what is a skillet
A skillet is a pan that is used for frying or cooking. Usually they have at least one handle to make it easy to handle. In this case, the skillet is made of cast iron.
Cooking steak in a iron skillet was very easy and tasty!
Thank you for the comment.
Glad you enjoyed this method of cooking. It is an easy way to get professional results.
Steaks are incredible, but for a thick ribeye it takes a LOT longer than 3min per side, I think we ended up at 8-10min per side.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, it depends on how thick the steak is to determine the cooking time.
This turned out amazing. Nice work puter_dr
Glad it worked out for you. Thanks for reading my hub.
jim10 3 years ago
I have always gone with the grill in the warmer months. But, I always use the broiler the rest of the year. I will have to give this a try. It looks fantastic.