How to reverse sear a steak: temps, times, and steps

A traditional sear puts the steak over high heat first. The outside browns fast, but the interior keeps cooking unevenly as the heat pushes inward. You end up with a gray band of overcooked meat under the crust.

Reverse searing solves that by warming the steak gently all the way through before the crust ever forms. When you finally hit it with high heat, the inside is already close to done. The sear only needs 45 seconds to 3 minutes per side to build color, not cook the center.

According to Serious Eats, this method also dries the surface of the steak slightly during the low-heat stage, which helps the crust form faster and more evenly when it hits the hot pan.

Reverse searing pays off most on thick cuts. Serious Eats recommends steaks at least **1.5 to 2 inches thick** for this method. Thinner steaks heat up too fast in the low stage and give you almost no window before they overshoot your target temp.

These cuts are the best candidates:

• Ribeye (bone-in or boneless), cut at least 1.5 inches thick
• New York strip, same thickness rule
• Porterhouse or T-bone, which benefit from the even cook across two muscles
• Tomahawk ribeye, where the long bone makes a traditional sear awkward anyway

Bob once pulled his steak at the wrong temp and ended up with a well-done center. Flip's fix is simple: use a probe thermometer and trust the numbers, not the clock.

1. 1Season the steak generously with salt and pepper. For best results, salt it uncovered in the fridge for at least 45 minutes or up to overnight.
2. 2Set your oven or indirect grill zone to 225 F. Place the steak on a wire rack over a sheet pan so air circulates around it.
3. 3Insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the steak. Set an alarm for 10 to 15 F below your target. For medium-rare, that means pulling at 115 F. Per ThermoWorks, setting the alarm about 20 F below final temp gives you a safe buffer.
4. 4Expect roughly 25 to 30 minutes in the oven for a 1.5-inch steak at 225 F, but go by temp, not time.
5. 5Pull the steak and let it rest on the rack for 5 minutes while you heat a cast iron skillet or grill grate until it is smoking hot.
6. 6Sear the steak 45 seconds to 3 minutes per side depending on how hot your surface is. Press it flat for even contact. Add butter and garlic in the last 30 seconds if you want.
7. 7Check the final internal temp. Target: 125 F for rare, 130 to 135 F for medium-rare, 140 to 145 F for medium.
8. 8Rest for 5 minutes, then slice against the grain.

Pull temps and finish temps are different numbers. The low-heat stage ends at the pull temp. The sear brings it up to the finish temp. ThermoWorks recommends pulling at about 15 F below your preferred doneness when using indirect grill heat around 220 F.

Here are the numbers to keep on hand:

• Rare: pull at 105 F, finish at 120 to 125 F
• Medium-rare: pull at 115 F, finish at 130 to 135 F
• Medium: pull at 125 F, finish at 140 to 145 F
• Medium-well: pull at 135 F, finish at 150 to 155 F

Most problems with reverse searing come down to two things: the wrong pull temp or a sear surface that is not hot enough. If your crust is pale and steamy, the pan was not hot enough. Pat the steak dry before searing and give the pan a full 3 to 5 minutes to preheat.

If your steak overshoots doneness, you likely skipped the probe or pulled it too late. A leave-in probe thermometer is the single most useful tool for this method. Check out the gear page for what we use. Also, thinner steaks have almost no margin, so stick to cuts that are at least 1.5 inches thick. For more ways to get a better cook on thick proteins, see our guide on juicy smoked burgers, which uses a similar low-and-finish approach.