Use the sous vide method to make the perfect steak. Sous vide allows you to play around with variables like temperature and time, and gives you an amazing amount of control over your finished meal.
Originally Posted: March 19, 2022
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes – 2 hours 10 minutes
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When I first learned about sous vide (and just haaaaaad to get myself one), the first thing I ever cooked was steak. Steak is likely the easiest meat to learn the sous vide process with. It’s very forgiving, it’s great for learning the searing process, and you have a lot of different cuts to choose from.
I usually like to use New York strip, London Broil, or Sirloin, but I’ve also had good results with Filet Mignon and Flank Steak. A note about choosing a steak cut though: sous vide is really good at improve aspects of cheaper cuts of meat, and while still delicious, cooking a filet mignon this way won’t necessarily add to the experience. Tasty, but the return on investment isn’t the same as cooking a sirloin.
This is also a great recipe if you have a smaller sous vide setup. Once you get into it, you can make yourself a larger sous vide basin using a cooler and a hole saw, and then you’re ready to cook a whole Sous Vide Beef Tenderloin or a Sous Vide Smoked Brisket.
Ingredients
- Steak
- I’ve found that New York strip, London Broil (top round), and sirloin are some of my favorite steaks to cook with the sous vide method, but there are many choices here.
- Herbs
- I usually use rosemary, but you can use many different herbs here.
- Butter (optionally, compound butter)
- Cooking Oil
- Salt & Pepper
Equipment
- Sous Vide Circulator (such as the Anova; Amazon link here)
- Cast Iron Skillet (I like Lodge; Amazon link here)
- Vacuum Sealer (in my experience, the less fancy, the better; Amazon link here)
- Laser thermometer (optional, but I like to use mine to check my skillet temperature before searing meat; Amazon link here)
Written Instructions
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes – 2 hours 10 minutes
Vacuum seal steak(s) with butter and your herbs of choice. Set your sous vide to cook steak to your preferred doneness (120°F/49°C for rare, 129°F/54°C for medium-rare, 135°F/57°C for medium, 145°F/63°C for medium-well, and 165°F/74°C for well-done (but how dare you)). I like my steaks medium-rare, and I like to set my sous vide to 127°F/53°C to give me a little more leeway when I sear the steak to finish it later on.
Vacuum seal your steak(s) with a pat of butter, some salt, and your choice of herbs. I’ve experimented with adding a compound butter (or flavored butter) in the vacuum bag, but I think that compound butter is better for basting during the searing step. You could also use it at both parts.
Once your sous vide is heated to your desired temperature, add the vacuum sealed steak(s). I usually cook them for 1 to 2 hours, but many online resources say you can cook them as long as 4 hours. Once the timer is finished, remove the steaks from the water and the vacuum bags, then pat completely dry. This will help get a better sear.
Dust all sides of the steak with salt and freshly ground pepper. Heat a cast iron skillet until it’s at least 400-450°F-/204-232°C, which is a good searing temperature range. Add cooking oil, then sear the steaks on all sides until you form a good brown crust.
Optional: Set steaks aside, lower the skillet temperature, then add butter and herbs. Add steaks back to the skillet, then use melted herbed butter to baste the steaks to add flavor and moisture.
Allow steaks to rest for at least 10 minutes, then slice against the grain and serve (or allow your diners slice them themselves). Serve with a side of Quinoa & Feta Salad or some Roasted Butternut Squash.
Alternate Searing Method
Instead of using cooking oil, many people have taken to coating their steaks in mayonnaise and using that as a searing oil / crust former. Between the oil and the egg in the mayo, the steak has everything it needs to form the perfect seared crust.
However, rather than using regular old mayo, I’ve taken to using homemade toum, or Lebanese-style garlic sauce (recipe and tips here). It’s an emulsion similar to mayo, but with minced garlic taking the place of egg yolks. This gives steaks a great garlicky taste in their crust. You can even go one step further and make a toum that’s flavored with horseradish or wasabi. I do love the flavor of horseradish paired with red meat.
Sous Vide Steak
Equipment
- 1 Sous Vide Circulator
- 1 Cast Iron Skillet
- 1 Vacuum Sealer
- 1 Laser Thermometer (optional)
Ingredients
- Steak (my favorite cuts include New York strip, sirloin, and top round)
- Herbs
- Butter
- Cooking Oil
- Salt & Pepper
Optional Ingredients
- Compound Butter (for basting)
- Mayo or Toum (for searing, instead of oil)
Instructions
- Preheat sous vide to your desired temperature (120°F/49°C for rare, 129°F/54°C for medium-rare, 135°F/57°C for medium, 145°F/63°C for medium-well, and 165°F/74°C for well-done).
- Place steak(s) in vacuum seal bags along with butter, and herbs, and a little salt.
- Once sous vide comes to temp, add sealed steaks and cook for 1 – 2 hours.
- Remove cooked steaks from sous vide and from vacuum bags, then pat them completely dry to aid in searing. Dust all sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat cast iron skillet to searing temperatures (400-450°F-/204-232°C), then add cooking oil.
- Add steaks and sear on all sides until you have a nice brown crust.
- Optional: Cool skillet, add butter and herbs, and baste steaks.
- Allow steaks to rest for at least 10 minutes, then slice against the grain and serve.