6 Rules To Follow
Make Perfectly Grilled Steak Dinner
Better Than A Pro

How to make a perfectly grilled steak? Thanks to my hubby for this recipe. He is definitely the man of the grill like many families. I personally rarely handle the grill. The major reason is that I don't like to be the bait of the bugs. Repellent or not, I just attract bugs.

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Inactive Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 20 Minutes  Serving: 4

We have tried many different cut of meat, cooking temperature and cooking time for 2 years before coming up this recipe.

Making a nice grilled steak dinner at home, it definitely saves a ton of money. Let's do a quick math. 2 steak dinner costs around $50-100 depending where you have it. Some are cheaper. Some are more expensive.

If you use $50, you could buy 4 pounds of steak which can serve 4 people. Does it make more sense to do it at home? I think you got the answer already.

How To Make A Perfectly Grilled Steak?

How to make a perfectly grilled steak?  Here are 6 rules for you to follow:

1. Meat matters
2. NO Salt
3. What is the best cut?
4. How thick?
5. Temperature
6. Meat must rest

Jump start to Perfectly Grilled Steak Recipe

#1 Meat Matters The Most

The piece of meat makes a H.U.G.E. difference.

The price and the name of the store does not mean anything to the quality of a piece of steak.

Paying premium price at a gourmet store is no guarantee that you will have good quality, not to mention, the best.

Of course, Angus beef is the best. But you don't have to buy Angus. We tried the steak from literally every store in our area. We narrowed down to one store only, Hannaford.

Even their non-Angus beef is way much better than the Angus beef of the other giants in the area.

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#2 NO Salt

Salt makes raw beef gets tough. Except the salt in the spices or rub you buy in the jar that you are going to put on the steak, otherwise, stay away from salt until serving.

If you have salt-free steak rub, that would be the best. But so far, I still haven't seen much, almost none.

My hubby didn't believe me until he experimented it and finally admitted to me and said, "You were right. Salt makes it tough." Now he learned his lesson, he had never put salt on any raw beef since.

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This is the Porterhouse. The left side is the stripe steak. The right side is the filet mignon.

#3 What Is The Best Cut?

What is the best cut for your perfectly grilled steak? My husband likes stripe steak, filet Mignon and porterhouse. I myself likes porterhouse and rib eye steak. 

The bone and the marble pattern of fat on the meat makes it tastes better.

A side note, T-bone and porterhouse looks very similar. One side is stripe steak and the other side is filet Mignon. But porterhouse has a bigger piece of filet.

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#4 How Thick?

How thick should it be? We tried from 3/4", 1" to 1 1/4" thick. 1 1/4" is the perfect thickness. Of course, it means more meat, more money. This perfectly grilled steak recipe works fine with 1" and 1 1/4" steak. For a different thickness, the cooking time definitely needs to adjust a little bit.

(How many pieces of steak you are going to cook matters, too. We served 8 people a few times in the past. Even the grill can take on the big capacity like this, more meat on the grill at the same time does take up the heat. At the end, we needed to leave them on the grill for a longer time.)

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#5 Temperature

Temperature makes a big difference. We always let the meat sit in room temperature for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

One time, my hubby stopped on the way home to pick up 2 pieces of steak. It was a 2-hour drive. By the time he came back, the steak was in room temperature. It only took 10 minutes for it to absorb the flavor from the steak rub before grilling. Men...that was the best and, definitely, the perfectly grilled steak ever.

(Assume your grill is outdoor. Does outside temperature affect your grill cooking temperature? From our experience, it actually has very slight influence.)

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#6 Meat Must Rest

Meat must rest. Even you are dying to dive into your delicious dinner badly, you must allow at least 5 minutes for the steak to rest after getting off the grill. The juice
will redistribute. So, it will be juicy on every bite.

Did you follow these 6 rules?  Are you ready to get grilling?

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Recipe Ingredients and Tools

Perfectly Grilled Steak Recipe and Instructions

Instructions

1. Put on the dry rub on both sides of the steak.
2. Let the meat sit in room temperature for at least 30 minutes before cooking.
3. Preheat grill at high heat for 10 minutes.
4. Put the meat on the grill.
5. Once it is on the grill, don't move it and let it cook for 5 minutes.
6. Flip the meat over to the other side and cook for another 5 minutes.
   (Set yourself up to make the perfect grill mark. When you flip the steak, try your best not to turn in any direction. No left, no right. Just flip it upside down. Try your best to make the grill mark on both sides of the steak parallel to each other. When you turn it later, you know where you are going to turn. And it will give you the perfect grill mark.)
7. Turn down the heat to medium.
8. Turn the meat at 90 degrees to make the grill mark and cook for 5 minutes.
   (Since you know that the grill mark is parallel with each other on both sides when you flipped it before.   Therefore, when you turn 90 degrees, you know where you are going to turn just by looking at the grill mark on the steak.)
9. Flip it over to the other side for another 5 minutes.
   (Just like the first time when you flipped the steak, make both sides grill mark parallel with each other. Then, you should get the perfect grill mark on the meat. Give your shoulder a pad because you are a pro now.)
10. With this setting, the steak is medium well.  Thermometer immediate reading is 170F at the center
    (Just like oven, different grill has different personalities. You may need the thermometer for the first few times. Once you get the hang of it, you don't need any gadgets.)
11. Take the meat off the grill and rest for 5-8 minutes before serving.

What Do You Do with Leftovers?

What's the odd to have any grilled steak leftover?  You may think that it will never happen.  But anything is possible.  If that's the case, switch it up the flavor and use the leftover to make this new dish, Pepper Steak with Chinese Black Bean Sauce.

Money Saving Tips

When steaks are on sale, I tend to get a bit more than usual and store them away in the freezer.  How can you do that without freezer burn?  Check out the tips in this newsletter.

Don't forget to get the latest tips, recipes and member exclusive information by signing up my newsletter.

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Last Updated: Jun 28, 2024