For many of us, steak is a rare treat – but it's surprisingly easy to get wrong, which is why it’s so tempting to just leave cooking it to the experts. However, with just a few handy tips, you can achieve perfectly juicy and tender, restaurant-quality steak at home in no time. To help you get the best out of your beef, we’ve rounded up some clever ways to avoid common mistakes, from knowing your cuts to the importance of correct seasoning.
Have you been cooking steak wrong your whole life? Click or scroll through our gallery to discover the most common mistakes people make when cooking steak, and learn how to get it right, every time.
There's usually a good offering of steaks at the supermarket nowadays, but if you’ve got a good local butcher or farm shop, they should always be your first stop for top-quality beef. Butchers are highly knowledgeable and passionate about meat and can advise on cuts, cooking times and provenance. Try to buy local, grass-fed and organic if you can afford to.
Choose the right cut, depending on what you want from your steak, how you intend to eat it, and what you can afford. Rump steak (sirloin in the US) is fatty and full of flavour. It can be fried, grilled or sliced for stir-fries. Tenderloin fillet, or filet mignon, is pricey, but tender and lean. It’s ideal for raw meat dishes such as carpaccio and tartare. Rib-eye, meanwhile, is perfect for grilling or barbecuing, and should be served with minimal embellishment – a classic sauce will let the meat shine.
Flash fry or barbecue a flank steak (also known as bavette) – it's flavourful and cheaper than other cuts. As well as being a good bistro steak, it can be sliced and added to salads, stir-fries and burritos. Flat iron steak is also gaining favour – it’s particularly good when marinated. New York strip steak (also known as the Kansas City steak) is well-marbled and succulent, whereas hanger steak (also known as onglet) is inexpensive and tasty. Skirt steak (not to be confused with hanger) is often used for fajitas and is best cooked either hot and fast or low and slow.
A T-bone is two steaks in one: part sirloin and part tenderloin fillet. It needs careful cooking on the grill and doesn’t suit being well done. Porterhouse is effectively the same as T-bone but has a bigger tenderloin. One of the most expensive cuts is chateaubriand, which refers to a large steak cut from the thickest part of the fillet. It's tender and relatively lean, yet juicy and flavoursome.
Marbling (streaks of fat running through meat) depends on a number of factors including the cow breed, age and diet, the cut and how long the meat has been aged. Breeds known for intricate marbling include Angus and wagyu, while well-marbled cuts include flat iron and rib-eye. Marbling infuses flavour into meat as the fat melts during the cooking process. If you want to keep your meal lean, go for fillet.
A cardinal rule when cooking steak is to always remove the meat from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature before cooking. This way, the muscle fibres won't seize and toughen when added to a hot pan. The steak will cook more evenly and you'll be able to achieve the desired temperature (the level of doneness) much more easily.
The best steaks have that all-important seared crust, but this is almost impossible to achieve if your steak is too moist. The Maillard reaction is a chemical process that releases new flavour compounds when meat is seared – when you dry the surface of the steak you remove moisture, allowing for better browning and caramelization during cooking, thus enhancing the flavour. Before cooking, simply dab your meat dry using kitchen paper. It’s a simple step, but makes a big difference.
Pan-frying is the most common way to cook steak, followed by grilling and barbecuing (for those partial to a smoky aroma and charred lines). But certain cuts can be thinly sliced, flash fried and eaten in salads, sandwiches and stir-fries. Fillet can be eaten raw in carpaccio and steak tartare. Cheaper, tougher cuts, such as chuck and brisket, need to be braised or slow cooked to break down the connective tissue and tenderise the meat.
Cooks have varying opinions as to which fat is best when cooking steaks. Some like groundnut oil because it has a high smoke point, while others swear by animal fat such as lard, which makes for meatier-tasting steaks (although it does have a fairly low smoke point). Olive oil is generally avoided due to its low smoke point which means that it starts to burn at a lower temperature, producing toxic smoke.
Opinions differ whether you should cook steak in butter or not, but we think it's an excellent way of adding richness and flavour. It's advised for thicker or leaner cuts of steak if you cook it by basting it. Add the steaks to a smoking hot pan to sear and render any fat, then add a few knobs of butter, some woody herbs, like rosemary, and a few garlic cloves with the skin on. Using a spoon, baste the steak with the garlic and herb-infused butter to cook and caramelise as well as add more flavour.
Do you always oil your pan before frying? That’s the case for many foods but the general consensus is that it’s better to brush steaks – not the pan – with oil or fat, and massage it in before cooking. If you prefer the other way, don’t use too much oil and make sure it’s so hot it separates before adding the steak to the pan.
Generously salt the meat with salt flakes just before cooking. If you do it too early, the salt will start drawing out the moisture from the steak. When you think you've seasoned your steak enough, get it straight in the pan – the coarse salt crystals will help create caramelisation on the surface. Season with finely ground black pepper before cooking, but reserve coarsely ground peppercorns for after, otherwise they'll burn. Finish with a light sprinkle of salt flakes just before serving, to intensify the flavours.
A thick-based frying pan, griddle or skillet is perfect for frying steaks. Heavy pans evenly distribute and retain more heat, and get really hot – enough to char the meat. Cast iron is particularly good, as are non-stick pans.
The pan should be so hot it starts to smoke a little before the meat is added. The heat sears the meat and helps render the fat. For safety, turn on the extractor fan and be prepared in case the pan flares up (if it does, just put a lid over the top and it will die down).
Many chefs will advise you to cook steak fat-side down first, especially when it comes to sirloin which has a strip of fat running down its side. This renders the fat (meaning it melts in the pan), which then helps to cook the meat and create a crust of caramelisation around it.
If you’re cooking more than one steak, don’t add too many to the pan at once. The meat will steam rather than fry, and will boil itself to a tough and tasteless state. The general rule of thumb is that you should only ever fill 50% of the pan if you want to sear anything.
You'll often hear chefs referring to the temperature of the steak. This means they're talking about the level of doneness. The most commonly used terms are blue – for purple, barely warm steak that will feel very spongy – and rare for dark red steak that still has red juice flowing. Medium-rare is when the steak is pink and juicy in the middle yet cooked throughout. Medium steak will be pale pink in the middle while well-done steak will only have a trace of the pink colour.
Whether on the barbecue or in a pan, steak is best left alone. Don't poke, prod or move it while it's cooking until it's ready to be flipped. You'll know when to flip either by how long it's been cooking or when it releases from the pan. If you move it and flip it often, you won't get the lovely crust on the outside.
For most steak cuts you can do all the cooking on the stove, but another option is searing the steak in an ovenproof pan on a high heat for around 30 seconds on each side, before transferring to the oven to finish cooking. But keep in mind that this only works for thick-cut steaks as thinner cuts will instantly overcook. Close the oven door, leave for a couple of minutes on one side, flip the steak and cook for a further two minutes for medium-rare. Cook for four minutes for medium before removing.
To tell when a steak is cooked, try the 'OK' test. Put the tips of your thumb and forefinger together in an OK sign then, with your other hand, press down on the fleshy part of the palm, just below the thumb. That’s how a rare steak should feel. Put your middle finger and thumb together and do the same test to know how a medium-rare steak should feel when pressed. Repeat with your ring finger and thumb for a medium steak texture, and your little finger and thumb to gauge a well-done steak.
If you prefer absolute precision, use a meat thermometer to test if the steak's cooked as you want. Most guides suggest around 55°C (131°F) for rare, 60°C (140°F) for medium-rare, around 65°C (149°F) for medium and 75°C (167°F) for well done.
Steak needs a minimum of five minutes to rest (the larger the steak, the more time it needs). This allows the juices to soak back into the tissue as the fibres relax, which results in moist, tender meat. Cover with foil to retain the heat, but make sure it's loose – otherwise, the heat won't have anywhere to escape, and your steak will overcook.
When serving, cut against the grain to shorten the fibres, resulting in less chewy meat. The grain is the way muscle fibres run in meat. For example, if you see the muscle fibres running horizontally from left to right, then slice vertically rather than parallel to the grain.
Hungry for more? Keep scrolling for our ultimate sauce recipes that should be in every steak lover's repertoire, followed by some tasty ideas for using up any leftover meat.
Sauces lift steaks and most take just minutes to make. Béarnaise – a hollandaise with tarragon – is a blend of butter, egg yolks, shallots, tarragon and white wine vinegar. Once made, keep warm (ideally in a bowl over not-quite-simmering water) to keep it from splitting.
Get the recipe for steak and chips with Béarnaise sauce here
Not everyone loves the pungent aroma and flavour of blue cheese but for those that do, nothing beats it on a juicy steak. It can be made a number of ways – the simplest recipe is to mix blue cheese, garlic, pepper, wine and the meat juices from the cooked steaks.
Mushroom sauce, often called sauce Diane, is creamy and rich so best served with thick and meaty cuts. It usually consists of beef stock or the cooking juices, cream, garlic, mushrooms, shallots and herbs. Steak Diane is a much-loved classic.
A red wine sauce (also called reduction or jus) is a fail-safe pairing with steak. There are a number of variations but it’s worth sticking to a simple recipe of butter, onion, red wine, stock and vinegar. If you'd like, you can infuse the sauce with herbs like rosemary or thyme.
Salsa verde literally translates to 'green sauce' so it's not surprising the main ingredient is a variety of herbs. It's also made with capers and anchovies, with the latter emphasising the meatiness. It’s a sauce that requires no cooking and is often served with lamb but goes just as well with steak.
Another herby sauce great with steak is chimichurri, an Argentinian condiment. Fresh mint, parsley, coriander and dill are mixed with minced shallot, garlic, red chilli, red wine vinegar and extra-virgin olive oil. It would pair brilliantly with skirt steak.
Rich and decadent, peppercorn sauce is a creamy addition to beef. Made with crushed peppercorns, shallots, butter, brandy, stock and cream, it's one of the classic steak sauces.
Putting a steak on the barbecue at home? Mix it up with a bold Japanese-inspired teriyaki sauce. Soy, mirin, Japanese rice wine, sake and sugar are key ingredients.
An unlikely combination but you better believe us when we say this mix of bitter dark chocolate, sweet brown sugar and cayenne pepper works well with steak. The mixture is first used as a marinade for thin steaks, to tenderise and flavour the meat. Then it's reduced down to a sauce, to drizzle over the cooked meat.
Mustard sauce, made from Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, sugar, oil, water and dill, is ideal for cold cuts of beef. Use the sauce and leftover steak in a green salad or in a steak sandwich.
Garlic butter is incredibly easy to make – mix softened butter with chopped parsley and garlic, roll into a cylinder, wrap in cling film and refrigerate. After your steak is cooked, add a thick disc of butter and flash under a hot grill until the butter begins to melt.
If you need to feed a crowd or make a steak go further, there are plenty of dishes to try. A stir-fry is a great option as it'll work well with a lot of different cuts, plus it's a great way to use up any veg hanging around. Our recipe uses pork, but you can swap for whatever steak you have.
The crowd-pleasing flavour of Philly steak with nachos is a winning combination. This brilliant sharing dish sees crunchy tortilla chips topped with creamy cheese sauce, thinly chopped steak (which has been marinated in pickle brine) and sliced jalapeños.
When the seared beef hits the greens of this Vietnamese salad, the leaves wilt slightly and the beef juices and dressing blend together into a tangy sauce. It's great spooned over rice or other grains.