Description
For restaurant-level, perfectly cooked New York strip steak in 20 minutes, sear it in a super hot cast-iron skillet and finish it in the oven.
Ingredients
Scale
1 New York strip steak – 8 ounces, 1-inch thick
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper – freshly ground
½ tablespoon butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 500°F.
- Heat a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over high heat until smoking hot, 5-7 minutes.
- Meanwhile, blot the steak dry with paper towels and sprinkle both sides with kosher salt and black pepper.
- Place the steak in the hot skillet. Cook, without moving, for 2 minutes on each side. This will create a nice crust. Cook the fat strip for 30 more seconds.
- Using oven mitts, transfer the skillet to the hot oven. Roast the steak for 3-4 minutes for medium rare (135°F) or 4-5 minutes for medium (145°F). Check with an instant-read thermometer to make sure the steak is done to your liking. If not, keep it in the oven until it is.
- Place the steak on a plate. Loosely cover it with foil. Allow it to rest for 5 minutes, then top it with butter and serve.
Notes
- If you have a smoke alarm near your kitchen, open your kitchen windows and run your range hood fan on high.
- There’s no need to bring the steak to room temperature. A cold center lets you sear the steak well, creating a beautiful crust while keeping it medium-rare. However, I don’t recommend cooking from frozen. It’s best to thaw the steak in the fridge overnight before cooking it.
- The cook times suggested here are a guideline. Many variables can affect how long you’ll need to cook the steak, including your stove (electric stoves get hotter than gas ones, for example), the skillet you use, your steak’s initial temperature, and its thickness. There’s no escaping the need to adjust recipes to what happens in your own kitchen.
- The CDC recommends cooking steaks to 145°F with a rest time of three minutes.
- If you don’t have a cast-iron skillet, carbon steel and stainless steel skillets are good options, though not as good as cast-iron. If you don’t have those, use what you have, but adjust your expectations – you will only get a good sear on the steak with the right tool. Don’t use a nonstick pan – you can’t get those hot enough to sear a steak.
- If you’re not using a pre-seasoned cast-iron skillet, add a tablespoon of avocado oil or clarified butter. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until shimmering – for about 3 minutes – before adding the steak.
- To finish the steak in the oven, if the skillet isn’t oven-proof, carefully transfer the steak to a rimmed baking sheet that can handle a temperature of 500°F (or preheat the oven to 450°F). Place the baking sheet in the oven to preheat so that when you put the steak on it, it’s not cold.
- If you like steaks and cook them often, I highly recommend getting a pre-seasoned cast-iron skillet.
- Steak is best when served freshly cooked, but you can keep the leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Instead of reheating them and risking overcooked meat, I slice the leftovers and add them cold to a salad. However, if you wish, you can reheat the leftovers, covered, in the microwave at 50% power.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 steak
- Calories: 488 kcal
- Sodium: 414 mg
- Fat: 24 g
- Saturated Fat: 11 g
- Protein: 66 g