Doneness	Temperature	Description
Rare	120°F / 50°C	Cool red center, very soft texture
Medium Rare	130°F / 55°C	Warm red center, tender and juicy
Medium	140°F / 60°C	Warm pink center, slightly firmer texture
Medium Well	150°F / 65°C	Light pink center, firm texture
Well Done	160°F / 70°C	Brown throughout, firm texture

Safety

Cooking beef steak safely

Cook to proper internal temperature

Use food thermometer

When in doubt, use a food thermometer, it's the only reliable way to know your beef steak is safely cooked.

Cooking a great steak is really one skill, hitting the doneness you want, and that's a number on a thermometer, not a guess. Learn the temperature ladder from rare to well, salt ahead, sear hard for the crust, and rest before slicing, and any steak becomes something you nail on purpose.

I · Choosing

How to Choose

Steaks vary by cut, but a few universal signs separate a good one from a poor one whatever the name on the label. Thickness, in particular, matters more than most people realize.

✓ Buy steaks at least 1¼ inches thick. A thick steak lets you build a deep crust while keeping the interior at your target doneness; thin steaks overcook before they brown.
✓ Look for even marbling, the fine white threads of intramuscular fat running through the muscle, which melts as it cooks and bastes the meat from within.
✓ The surface should be bright to deep red and slightly tacky, not slimy or gray, and any fat should be creamy white, not yellow.
✓ Choose steaks of even thickness across the cut so they cook uniformly; an uneven steak will have an overdone thin end.
✓ Look-up the cut to set expectations, tender quick-cooking cuts (ribeye, strip, tenderloin, sirloin) suit high-heat searing, while tougher cuts are better braised.

II · Preparation

Prep Before You Cook

A steakhouse-quality steak comes down to a dry, well-salted surface and a screaming-hot cooking surface. These steps set both up.

Salt the steak generously with kosher salt at least 45 minutes ahead, or up to two days uncovered in the fridge. Early salting seasons the interior and dries the surface so it browns deeply.
Pat the steak dry just before cooking. Any surface moisture has to boil off before browning starts, and that wastes time and steams the crust.
For steaks over 1½ inches, use the reverse sear, warm the steak in a low (250°F/120°C) oven until it's about 15°F below target, then sear hard in a ripping-hot pan. This gives even doneness and a great crust.
Get your pan or grill genuinely hot before the steak goes on; a cast-iron skillet should be nearly smoking. The crust comes from high-heat browning, the Maillard reaction.
Add pepper after searing, not before, on very high heat pepper can scorch and turn acrid. Finish with flaky salt and a knob of butter if you like.

III · Pitfalls

Common Mistakes

Guessing doneness instead of measuring it

The "press the steak and compare it to your palm" trick is unreliable, and cutting into it lets the juices out. An instant-read thermometer is the only sure way. Learn the ladder, rare about 125°F (52°C), medium-rare 130–135°F (54–57°C), medium 140°F (60°C), medium-well 150°F (66°C), well done 160°F+ (71°C+), and cook to a number.

Forgetting carryover heat

A thick steak keeps cooking after it leaves the heat, climbing roughly 5°F as it rests. Pull it about 5°F below your target, a medium-rare steak comes off the heat at around 128–130°F and coasts up to 135°F. Wait until the thermometer reads your target in the pan and you'll overshoot.

Skipping the rest

Slicing a steak straight off the heat spills the juices onto the board. Rest it 5 to 10 minutes, loosely tented, so the juices redistribute and the temperature evens out. The crust stays crisp and the meat is juicier when you finally cut.

Cooking a cold, wet steak

A fridge-cold steak forces you to overcook the outer layers to bring the center up to temperature, and a wet surface won't brown. Let the steak lose its chill, and pat it bone-dry, before it meets the heat.

Buying steaks too thin

A thin steak is overcooked by the time it develops a crust, there's simply no time to brown the outside and keep the inside rare. Buy steaks at least 1¼ inches thick (and ideally closer to 1½) so you can have both a deep sear and your chosen doneness.

IV · Pairings

What to Serve With It

Sides

A baked potato or hand-cut fries
Creamed spinach or sautéed mushrooms
A sharp wedge or green salad to cut the richness
Grilled or roasted asparagus
Garlic bread or a crusty roll for the juices

Sauces & Marinades

Compound butter (garlic-herb, blue cheese, or anchovy) melting over the top
A pan sauce of shallots, red wine, and butter
Chimichurri or salsa verde
Peppercorn or Béarnaise sauce
A spoonful of horseradish cream

Drinks

Bold reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Syrah)
A robust porter, stout, or amber ale
Sparkling water with lemon, or a dark cherry soda

V · Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the internal temperatures for steak doneness?

Measured at the center, the ladder runs, rare about 125°F (52°C), medium-rare 130–135°F (54–57°C), medium 140°F (60°C), medium-well 150°F (66°C), and well done 160°F+ (71°C+). Most steak lovers aim for medium-rare. Remember to pull the steak about 5°F early, since it keeps cooking as it rests.

Why can a steak be eaten rare when a burger can't?

On a whole cut of beef, bacteria live only on the outside surface, which a hot sear sterilizes; the interior of an intact muscle is essentially sterile, so it's safe even when rare. Grinding beef spreads that surface bacteria all through the meat, which is why burgers must be cooked to 160°F while a steak can be served rare.

What is reverse searing, and when should I use it?

Reverse searing means cooking the steak gently first, in a low oven, until it's just below your target temperature, then searing it hard in a hot pan to build the crust. It gives even, edge-to-edge doneness and an excellent sear, and it's the best method for thick steaks (1½ inches and up).

How long should I rest a steak?

About 5 minutes for a normal steak, up to 10 for a very thick one, loosely tented with foil. Resting lets the juices redistribute through the meat instead of running out when you cut, and lets carryover heat finish and even out the cook. A rested steak is noticeably juicier.

Should I salt a steak ahead of time or right before cooking?

Either well ahead or right before, but not in the in-between zone. Salting 45 minutes to two days ahead lets the salt season the interior and dry the surface for a better crust. Salting right as it hits the pan is fine too. Salting 10–30 minutes before is the worst window, the surface is wet with drawn-out moisture but hasn't reabsorbed it yet.

Storage & food safety

Refrigerator: Keep steaks on the bottom shelf at or below 40°F (4°C) and cook within 3 to 5 days of purchase. Leaving a salted steak uncovered in the fridge for a day actually improves it by drying the surface for a better sear.
Freezer: Wrap tightly or vacuum-seal and freeze at 0°F (−18°C) for up to about a year. Freeze steaks individually and flat so they thaw quickly and evenly.
Thawing: Thaw in the fridge overnight, or seal in a bag and submerge in cold water, about an hour for a thick steak. You can also cook a steak from frozen, sear the outside, then finish in a low oven, which can give a great edge-to-edge result.

Cooked steak keeps 3 to 4 days. Reheat it gently in a low oven to avoid overcooking, or, better, slice leftovers thin and serve at room temperature over a salad or in a sandwich.

Continue reading: the full guide

Steak is one skill wearing many names

Ribeye, strip, sirloin, tenderloin, flat iron, the names multiply and the prices climb, but cooking any of them well comes down to a single skill: getting the meat to the doneness you actually want. Everything else, the cut, the seasoning, the sauce, is a variation on top of that one fundamental. And doneness isn’t a feeling or a guess or a poke with your finger. It’s a temperature, and the cooks who consistently turn out great steaks are simply the ones who measure it.

So before anything else, learn the ladder. Measured at the center of the steak: rare is about 125°F (52°C), medium-rare 130–135°F (54–57°C), medium 140°F (60°C), medium-well 150°F (66°C), and well done 160°F and up. Medium-rare is where most steak lovers live, warm red center, fully tender, the fat just beginning to soften. Once you can put a number on the doneness you’re after, a steak stops being a gamble.

Carryover and the rest

Two things turn that target temperature into a perfectly cooked steak. The first is carryover: a thick steak keeps cooking after it comes off the heat, its stored heat driving the center up roughly 5°F as it sits. That means you pull the steak before it reaches your target, a medium-rare steak comes off the heat at around 128–130°F and climbs to 135°F while it rests. Wait until the thermometer reads 135°F in the pan and you’ll be eating a medium steak.

The second is the rest itself. Give the steak 5 to 10 minutes, loosely tented, before you cut it. During cooking the juices are driven toward the center; resting lets them redistribute so they stay in the meat instead of flooding the board the moment your knife goes in. A rested steak is measurably juicier, and the brief wait also lets carryover finish evening out the doneness from edge to center.

Why your steak is safe rare (and your burger isn’t)

People sometimes worry about eating beef rare, but a whole steak cooked rare is safe, and the reason is worth understanding because it’s the same reason a burger isn’t. On an intact cut of beef, harmful bacteria live only on the outside surface. The interior of a whole muscle is essentially sterile. A hot sear blasts that surface, where the bacteria are, while the never-exposed inside was safe all along, which is why you can enjoy a medium-rare steak with a cool red center.

Grinding destroys that geography by mixing the surface all through the meat, so ground beef has no clean interior and must be cooked to 160°F throughout (see our ground beef guide). For a whole steak, though, sear the outside well and the inside is yours to cook to whatever doneness you like.

The crust, and the reverse sear

The other half of a great steak is the crust, the deep brown, savory exterior created by the Maillard reaction between proteins and sugars at high heat. To get it, start with a dry, well-salted surface (salt at least 45 minutes ahead, or up to two days in the fridge, to season the inside and dry the outside) and a genuinely hot pan or grill. For steaks up to about 1½ inches, sear hard, flip, and check the temperature. For thicker steaks, the reverse sear is the pro move: warm the steak through in a low oven until it’s about 15°F shy of target, then sear it in a ripping-hot pan for a minute a side. Cooking it gently first gives even, edge-to-edge doneness with no gray band under the surface, and the dry, warm exterior crusts almost instantly. The per-method guides below cover grilling, pan-searing, broiling, smoking, sous vide, and reverse searing in detail.

Sources & further reading

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Broiling Beef Steak

Sous-vide Beef Steak

Reverse-Searing Beef Steak

Temperature Guide