How To Grill a Steak Without a Grill
Learn the keys and how to grill a steak without a grill! This technique yields perfect results every time using a cast iron skillet!
Really, the $30 collapsable camping slash tailgating rusted piece that is sitting on our deck doesn’t really count as a grill. No one should play a game of Grill Your Steak Before the Gas Runs Out on propane bottles that run out ever third time you use it, which naturally leads to half cooked steak, mostly raw dogs and burgers a unappetizing shade of half cooked gray. Last year Ben decided against getting the new grill that I wanted to get him in lieu of a chest freezer. Five propane canisters and an aching back later – I’m so over that grill, and I learned how to grill a steak without a grill and in our oven with perfect results every time. It’s faux-grilling at its finest!!
If you haven’t yet, go invest in a cast iron skillet. You will love incorporating cast iron into your kitchen because it lasts forever, it holds heat incredibly well and the added iron into your diet is actually good for you!! Can’t say that about cheap non stick cookware, can ya? A few months ago we learned how to properly clean and season your cast iron skillets – now you get to put it to good use. If you don’t have any cast iron on hand, use an oven-safe skillet for this recipe instead.
Tips for a Perfect Steak
1) Take your steak out of the fridge and bring it to room temperature. Or at least take the chill off. Start this at least 30 minutes before it goes into the pan. But one hour is BEST.
2) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. – I know, it’s summer. But it won’t be on for very long at all. I promise.
3) Preheat your cast iron pan over medium to medium high heat.
Now you’re ready to grill.
How To Season A Steak
We keep seasoning simple on steaks ’round them these hurr parts.
FIRST, pat dry your steak with lots of paper towels. A wet steak doesn’t sear, it steams. Gross.
Then, season both sides of your steak with sea salt and freshly ground pepper. Pat it into the meat to make sure it sticks. If your cast iron is dry and not well seasoned, add a little olive oil to your pan and let it come up to temperature. If the oil starts to smoke, turn down your range.
Next, lay your steak into the pan and let it start to sizzle and sear. Depending on the thickness of your steak, you might have to sear it for a minute, or up to three minutes on each side. This will help seal in those juices. Let the steak sear until it easily releases from the pan. Don’t try and turn it to soon and risk ripping off all of the gorgeous searing you just created because you were in a rush. Flip the steak and repeat on the other side.
Once both sides are seared – use your trusty oven mitts and place the cast iron skillet in the oven. Depending on your thickness of your steak – your may have to add or subtract time to your steak. For the 2 inch New York steak for this post, the steak was in the oven for 10 minutes. Plus or minus a minute or two. Ten minutes got us to a perfect 145 degree internal temperature.
After your steak comes out of the oven the next crucial step is to let your steak rest. Resting allows the juices to redistribute themselves within the steak. Cutting your steak too soon will release all of the juices leaving your will a dull, lifeless and worst of all DRY steak. Ain’t nobody got time for that!
After that painfully long (when it comes to a perfectly rare steak) wait you’re ready to eat! Slice into that beautiful faux-grilled beast and devoured it unabashedly. Maybe Ben not getting a grill as a wedding gift wasn’t such a bad idea. At least I know I won’t be eating any boomerang charred steaks any time soon…
Check out these other handy How-To’s ::
How to Season Cast Iron Skillets
How to Make Chocolate Magic Shell
Print
How To Grill a Steak Without a Grill
- Prep Time: 20 Minutes
- Cook Time: 15 Minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 2 Steaks 1x
- Category: Beef
- Method: Cast Iron
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
2 1-pound Thick Cut (2-inch) New York Steaks
2 tsp Sea Salt
¾ tsp Ground Pepper
1 ½ tsp Olive Oil (optional)
Instructions
Remove steaks from fridge and allow to come to room temperature, about 20 minutes before cooking.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cast iron skillet (or other oven-safe skillet) on stove top and preheat over medium to medium-high heat. Add olive oil to pan if skillet is dry or not properly seasoned. Swirl to evenly coat bottom of pan.
Season steaks with salt and pepper evenly over all sides of the steak.
Place steaks into preheated skillet and sear for 2-3 minutes on each side, until a golden crust begins to form and the steaks easily release from the pan. Turn over and repeat on other side of steak. Once steaks have been seared on both sides, carefully place skillet into the pre-heated oven.
Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on the thickness and desired “doneness” of your steak. For a 2-inch Thick Cut New York Steak 10 minutes came to 145 degrees or medium rare.
Remove carefully from oven using hot mitts. Tent lightly with foil and allow the steaks to rest for 8-10 minutes, allowing the juice to redistribute into the meat. Serve immediately.
Keywords: Beef, Steak, Cast Iron, Grill
I love a simple grilled steak (with or without a grill). Definitely craving this for dinner tonight!
Beautiful steak, girl! My husband is so against using cast-iron for steak. I need to prove him wrong!
Love doing this – especially the 9 months out of the year we can’t grill!!
Yum!! We don’t have a grill, so this is how we always do steaks – I actually like it best this way!
I love this How To Tuesday!! I don’t have a grill so I either have to use my beloved cast iron or a George Foreman and I totally agree that the cast iron is the way to go!!
I’ve always wanted to try this but everyone in my house is so darn picky about their steaks! My kids always want it the perfect Medium Rare and I like it just slightly a little more done…just slightly. But we have an indoor and an outdoor grill so it’s hard not to grill at all.
This is a great post!! Now I know how to do a steak in the winter without freezing my butt off in the snow!
Perfection! My husband and I are currently grill-less and most methods we try aren’t perfect. It looks like a cast iron skillet will do the trick!
This steak is calling my name!
I just got a new grill and I’m in love with it, I want to grill all the things.
But I also love my cast iron skillet, it’s my #1 favorite cooking tool in my kitchen. And my favorite way to cook indoors.
And how gorgeous does your steak look ?!
I’m totally craving steak and potatoes now. Do I have the ingredients? NO but I just might be calling my husband to pick some up before he heads home. Thanks!
This steak looks fabulous! We used to have similar problems with our bbq until I bought Ryan one for his first Father’s day last year 🙂
Don’t you just love having a cast iron skillet? I have that same one and it has a permanent spot on my stove since I use it so frequently. My newest obsession is using it to cook pizza. It makes the most perfect pizza crust ever.
Omg I’ve never cooked pizza in a skillet before! Clearly I must now!!
Yum! I want that steak with a good-sized pat of garlic butter on top. *Licks chops
Our “grill” is shameful too, so I’m glad I have an alternative now.
Nice, I rarely eat steaks but this puts me in the MOOD!
I have a sudden need to go watch the beverly hillbillies lol I think it was the ’round them these hurr parts” – part. 😉
I love cooking steaks in the cast iron skillet. I have 3 castiron skillets and love, love, love them! This steak looks wonderful!
So mouthwatering! I love how you kept the seasonings so simple! I’d love to serve this with an herb butter or avocado salsa.
Herb butter is always amazing on steak!! should go make another one – just because!! 🙂
Great tip! I need to get me a nice cast iron pan!
I need to find my cast iron pan and start grilling indoors from now on. Not that my grill is bad — it’s actually quite nice — but uh, this steak looks out of this world. And also, steak smells are insane. I want my entire everything to smell like steak.*
*but maybe just for a little bit, because smelling like steak constantly would be kind of weird, you know?
What a sexy steak that is!!! I’m totally trying this over the weekend!
Gorgeous photos darlin!!! I love searing steaks in cast iron! Except I go mad and char that sucker until dark golden brown then skip the oven for a medium rare steak. I’m totally weird! You’re right s&p is all you need. Now I want steak. Thanks a lot!
Ha your hilarious! Ah yes the dreaded sucky grill. What you need is a 16 year old to back over your grill…this will solve all your grilling problems! it did ours…I got myself a brand new grill out of the deal!
I love cooking with a cast iron skillet! This is a great tutorial 🙂
That sounds like frying to me. I would rather use my waffle iron! That is more grill like!
I get FRUSTRATED with many recipes for STEAKS & ROASTS, as the TIMES/TEMPS are USUALLY ONLY GIVEN FOR RARE & MED-RARE, as if nobody would ever want their steak cooked to MEDIUM, OR WELL-DONE. It seems ALL – OR MOST of the TOP CHEFS ONLINE (NOT YOU) BELIEVE THAT IF A STEAK IS COOKED MORE THAN MED-RARE IT IS RUINED !!! ALSO I wouldn’t know where to buy a steak 2 inches thick. All that said: I LOVE MY CAST IRON SKILLET, but since I’m disabled I can’t cook a steak myself, but have to ask my husband to do it & for some reason he doesn’t disclose he doesn’t want to do it in the CAST IRON Skillet. Can you please tell me the time/temp for a 1 inch thick Striploin?
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