How to Season a Steak Like a Pro (2024)

What makes a restaurant steak better than your homemade effort? No, it’s not the wine you ordered. It’s not the price. It’s not the sauce or the fries served on the side. It’s the fact that the chef knows how to season a steak. Really, truly season it.

A lot of home cooks are afraid of salt. Maybe it was passed down from your grandmother’s timid palate, or maybe it came from your dad’s health-conscious tendencies. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t change the fact that to make steak—or anything rich and fatty—taste good, you need to season aggressively.

The first thing you need is kosher salt. Not super-fine table salt. Not the iodized stuff. We use kosher salt (Diamond Crystal in our test kitchen) for seasoning steaks, because its crystal size allows for prime absorption into the outer layer of the steak. Partnered with freshly ground black pepper, it’s an absolute essential steak prep step.

Now, you make it rain kosher crystals on that meat. Coat both sides of the steak, and its sides, with salt and freshly ground black pepper, so a visible layer of seasoning exists on every surface. The salt shouldn’t pile up, but it should coat the meat. The steak is essentially putting on a t-shirt made of salt and pepper. A skin tight t-shirt. It’s weird, but that’s just what steak likes to wear. Don't judge.

Make it raaaaaaaaaain!

Now, seasoning a steak isn’t a one-time salting deal. After you’re finished seasoning it, searing it, letting it rest, and slicing it across the grain, there’s more work to be done. We’re going back in for another hit of salt, but this time, it will be large, flaky sea salt, like Maldon or Jacobsen. The crunchier the salt, the better the steak will be. The point here is to make sure the rosy, juicy, tender interior of the steak is every bit as flavorful and delicious as that crusty-seared exterior. Fan your steak slices out in an artful, restaurant-y way, and sprinkle the large flakes overtop. (If you don't have any flaky salt, a bit of that kosher salt will do the trick just fine.)

Now you know how to season a steak. That’s all you need to do to get your steak to taste like you paid big money for it. If you have a beautiful cut of steak, it’s not going to taste great without salt. If you have kosher salt, flaky salt, and some good old-fashioned confidence, you’re golden.

Let's get cooking!

How to Season a Steak Like a Pro (1)

A juicy, buttery, steakhouse-worthy dinner in 30 minutes flat.

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How to Season a Steak Like a Pro (2024)

FAQs

How to Season a Steak Like a Pro? ›

For cooking the steak, we also need a high smoke point oil (such as sunflower oil), plenty of salt and freshly ground black pepper, a little butter, and if you want to to add some extra flavour, a few cloves of garlic and some fresh thyme or rosemary sprigs.

How to properly season your steak? ›

The best way to season steak is to add a generous amount of salt to both sides about 45 minutes before cooking. Then, just before cooking, add your other spices, like black pepper and garlic powder, ensuring that you cover both sides of the steak.

What seasonings go best on steak? ›

Look for something with dried herbs like oregano, basil, thyme, and rosemary. Flaky Sea Salt: I LOVE Maldon sea salt in this steak blend. Cavender's Greek Seasoning or Generic All-Purpose Seasoning: Adds more flavor and a mix of aromatics.

How to make the most flavorful steak? ›

Add some chopped herbs such as thyme, rosemary or sage to your salt to make a flavored salt for your steak. For restaurant-quality steaks, baste them in butter and herbs during the final few moments of cooking. This will impart the delicious buttery flavor you know and love from your favorite steakhouse.

What do top chefs season steak with? ›

For the ultimate chef's steak preparation, if you don't have this steak seasoning, marinade your steak with a pink of sea salt, coarse ground black pepper, and minced garlic – this combo gives your chef's steak the ultimate caramelization and nice thick crust that we all love so much.

What do most people season steak with? ›

Ingredients for Steak Seasoning
  • 2 Tablespoons kosher salt.
  • 2 Tablespoons black pepper.
  • 2 Tablespoons garlic powder.
  • 2 Tablespoons smoked paprika.
  • 1 Tablespoon onion powder.
  • 2 teaspoons dried rosemary.
  • 2 teaspoons dried thyme.
Feb 7, 2023

Do you put olive oil on steak before seasoning? ›

On seasoning:

There's nothing better than to let the natural flavours of the meat sing. I keep it simple by first coating the meat with a bit of olive oil and then adding lots of coarse salt just before cooking so it doesn't dissolve, as this helps to create a nice surface texture.

How long do you leave salt on steak? ›

Moral of the story: If you've got the time, salt your meat for at least 40 minutes and up to overnight before cooking. If you haven't got 40 minutes, it's better to season immediately before cooking. Cooking the steak anywhere between three and 40 minutes after salting is the worst way to do it.

How to season a ribeye? ›

Before you start cooking your ribeye steak on the stove, it's important to prepare it properly for the best taste and texture. Seasoning the Ribeye Steak: To make your ribeye steak really tasty, sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides. You can also add garlic powder or your favorite seasonings for extra flavor.

What's the best seasoning to tenderize steak? ›

Musgrave says that a combination of vinegar, lemon juice, and soy sauce are all used to break down the proteins in the steak, thus making it more tender and, she assures us, "juicy and delicious" to boot. A hint of cayenne, she says, "adds just a pinch of spice to the marinade."

Should you rub seasoning into steak? ›

Yes, you can use a rub or a marinade with steak. If you plan to grill the steak, a rub is the best option for adding flavor.

How to perfectly season a steak? ›

You want to evenly cover a steak on all sides with salt and pepper. We recommend 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper per pound of meat.

What brings out the flavor of steak? ›

Adding black pepper on all sides of your steak along with good quality salt on every surface is going to bring your steak to life and give those lovely dark flavor notes. There is one school of thought that says adding freshly ground Black Pepper after cooking only and one that says before cooking only.

How do you season a steak to taste like a restaurant? ›

Pat your steak dry with a paper towel then massage in a tablespoon of high smoke point oil like Avocado Oil or Tallow. Season very generously on all sides with a good Kosher Salt, Sea Salt, or Himalayan Pink Salt plus freshly ground Black Pepper mix.

How to make steak tender and juicy? ›

7 Ways to Tenderize Steak
  1. Pounding. Using a meat mallet (or kitchen mallet) to pound steaks helps soften and tenderize the meat. ...
  2. Salting. Most cuts of steak benefit from being salted up to an hour in advance of cooking, but especially tougher cuts. ...
  3. Marinating. ...
  4. Velveting. ...
  5. Slow Cooking. ...
  6. Enzymatic Application. ...
  7. Scoring.
Oct 18, 2022

How do pros cook steak? ›

How to cook steak
  1. Season the steak with salt up to 2 hrs before, then with pepper just before cooking.
  2. Heat a heavy-based frying pan until very hot but not smoking.
  3. Drizzle some oil into the pan and leave for a moment.
  4. Add the steak, a knob of butter, some garlic and robust herbs, if you want.

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