Have you ever tried reverse searing a steak in your kitchen? It’s one of the best ways to cook a steak! Reverse searing involves baking the steak in an oven until it reaches the desired internal temperature (anywhere from 95º to 105º F. depending on how you like your steak).

Then, sear it on a cast iron pan until it reaches the final internal temperature (anywhere from 120º to 130º F. depending on how you like your steak).

You can cook this tasty dinner with any sort of steak, with the best results being a sirloin, tri-tip, or flank steak.

This recipe will be using a tri-tip steak, but feel free to use whichever steak cut you prefer. It’s important to note that thicker steaks like filet mignon are hard to get right, whereas tri-tips, sirloins, and ribeyes are a little easier. 

Ingredients

• 1-1 ½ pound tri-tip steak (For this recipe, I used a 1.37 lb tri-tip)
• ⅓ cup red wine
• ⅓ cup water
• ¼ cup dry rub seasoning
  • Enough to coat your steak
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

On a cutting board, coat tri-tip with dry rub seasoning.

A ⅓ cup should be enough, but make sure you can completely cover the steak! 

1. Marinade the steak.

Place the steak into a medium or large ziplock bag. Mix red wine and water together, and lock the bag, and shake for 10-15 seconds.

Marinate your steak for as long as you’d like, for at least 1 hour. For this recipe, I marinated mine for 36 hours!

2. Preheat your oven to 275º F.

When you’re ready to cook your steak, move a rack to the middle of the oven, and preheat your oven to 275° F. Put your cast iron pan on the bottom rack to warm in the oven.

3. Bake until internal temp reaches 95°F for medium rare, or 105°F for medium.

Once preheated, take the steak out of the bag, place onto a large pan and bake until internal temp reaches 95°F for medium rare, or 105°F for medium. Use a meat thermometer to check the temperature.

4. When the steak is at your desired internal temperature, *carefully* take out your cast iron pan with oven mitts.

It will be VERY HOT!

5. Place your cast iron pan on a large burner, and turn the heat to high. 

6. Pour in your olive oil; when it starts to smoke, turn on your range hood or OTR microwave fan.

7. Take out your steak, and carefully place it onto your smoking cast iron pan.

It’ll make a loud crackling sound, which is okay!

8. Sear steak on one side for 2 minutes, then flip and repeat on the opposite side.

9. Retake the internal temp (120°F for rare, 130°F for medium rare)

The total cooking time on your cast iron pan should be about 4-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of your steak.

10. Carefully remove your steak from the pan, and place onto a clean cutting board to cool for 5 minutes.

11. Slice the steak against the grain and serve warm.

Making A Tasty Sauce

If you have extra marinade, you can make a yummy steak sauce! This is what I did, and it was absolutely delicious! Here are the directions:

1. While the steak rests on the cutting board, add the marinade to the cast iron pan. Set the heat to medium-low.
2. Stir constantly for a few minutes or until the marinade starts to thicken. 
3. Once thickened, pour into a heat-resistant serving dish, and top your steak with this thick sauce!

Chef’s Tip

The longer you marinate a steak, the more flavor seeps into it! You can extract many delicious flavors from the marinade in your steak.

The marinade also helps tenderize your steak. So even if you cook it too long, you can still have a tender and juicy cut of meat!

Making the sauce is easy and I highly recommend it. It adds great flavor and gives it that extra punch you may be craving. Since it’s made with your marinade, it pairs perfectly with your steak.

If you’re a wine drinker, Pinot noirs, Malbecs, and Cabernets will taste great. I paired a 2018 Malbec which was a little dry, but perfectly balanced the juiciness of the steak.

Pair With…

Potatoes, pasta, or rice! A classic midwestern dinner is meat ‘n’ taters. You can find a yummy potato recipe right here! Steamed veggies and a salad will top off this dinner. 

We hope you can make a delicious reverse sear steak! If you’re interested in other cast iron recipes, check out our articles below. Have a great day and happy cooking!

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