Main course · Stovetop, garlic butter

Pan-seared steak

A pan-seared steak is cooked entirely on the stove in a heavy, very hot skillet: a 2.5 cm / 1 in steak, dried and salted, sears for 6–8 minutes turned often, is basted with butter, garlic and thyme at the end and comes off at 51 °C / 124 °F for medium-rare.

Also known as: garlic butter steak · Bife a la sartén · bistec a la sartén · Bít tết áp chảo · Steak poêléLast reviewed 26 Oct 20265 sources

At a glance

Thickness: 2.5–4 cm / 1–1½ in
In the pan, 2.5 cm: 6–8 min, turned often
Pull at: 51 °C / 124 °F for medium-rare
Finish: Butter, garlic, thyme; pan sauce
Time: 20 min active, 60 min total

What it is

Pan-searing is the most common way of cooking a steak at home: the steak is cooked from start to finish on the stove, in a heavy pan hot enough to brown the surface quickly, and finished with butter and aromatics. Unlike a reverse sear or a steak in the oven, it needs no oven, and unlike grilling it keeps the browned juices in the pan, where they become a sauce.

The method works for any tender steak 1.5–4 cm / ½–1½ in thick: striploin (New York strip), ribeye, rump or top sirloin, flat iron. Thinner steaks overcook before they brown; thicker ones brown too much before the centre is done. The general method, with every cooking technique side by side, is in how to cook steak; a version for ribeye alone is the pan-seared ribeye.

Ingredients

Ingredient	Amount	Note
Steaks	2 × 250–300 g / 9–11 oz	2.5–4 cm / 1–1½ in thick
Coarse salt	about 1% of the meat's weight	5–6 g / ¼ oz for 550 g / 19 oz
Black pepper	to taste	freshly ground, at the end
Neutral oil	1–2 tbsp / 15–30 ml	high smoke point (peanut, rice bran, refined sunflower)
Butter	30–50 g / 1–2 oz	unsalted
Garlic	2 cloves	crushed in their skins
Thyme or rosemary	3–4 sprigs	fresh
For the pan sauce	1 shallot, 120 ml / 4 fl oz red wine or stock, 20–30 g / ¾–1 oz cold butter	optional

Your steak: time and temperature

Set the thickness, the doneness and the method: the minutes, the temperature to pull it at and the rest change with them. The same numbers as the tables of Steakpedia.

Units:

Start cooking · Cooking assistant →

Thickness (cm)

Doneness

Method

We eat at (optional)

Estimates to plan with, not a guarantee: every piece, butcher and grill is different. Nothing you type leaves this page. The full calculator, with a timer and a start-time planner →

Method

At least 40 minutes ahead, or up to a day before, dry the steaks with paper towels and salt them all over with about 1% of their weight in coarse salt; leave them uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator (see salting steak).
Heat a heavy 25–30 cm / 10–12 in skillet over medium-high heat for 5–10 minutes, until a drop of oil smokes as soon as it touches the metal.
Dry the steaks again, add the oil and lay them in the pan, away from you. Leave them until they release on their own, 45–60 seconds.
Turn them every 30–60 seconds. Frequent turning cooks the centre more evenly; a single turn halfway gives a slightly darker crust and a wider grey band.
Hold steaks with a fat edge, such as striploin, on that edge with tongs for 30–60 seconds to render it.
When the centre is 8–10 °C / 15–18 °F below the pull temperature, lower the heat to medium, add the butter, garlic and herbs, tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter over the steaks for 1–2 minutes.
Take the steaks off at the pull temperature for their thickness (table below), read with an instant-read thermometer from the side into the centre.
Rest them on a rack for about 5 minutes (why), make the pan sauce meanwhile, then slice across the grain and season with pepper.

Times by thickness

Total time in the pan for a steak straight from the refrigerator, in a well-preheated heavy skillet, turned frequently. Every row aims at medium-rare: 52–56 °C / 126–133 °F after resting. The centre keeps rising a few degrees off the heat, more in thick steaks, which is why the pull temperature falls as the thickness grows. Other doneness levels are in the temperature chart.

Thickness	Time in the pan	Pull at	Rest
1.5 cm / ½–¾ in	3–5 min	53 °C 127 °F	2–3 min
2.5 cm / 1 in	6–8 min	51 °C 124 °F	5 min
4 cm / 1½ in	9–12 min	49 °C 120 °F	5 min
5 cm / 2 in	12–16 min, or reverse sear	48 °C 118 °F	8–10 min

The pan sauce

The brown film left in the pan, the fond, is the concentrated juice of the steak caramelised on the metal, and it is the base of a classic French pan sauce. With the steaks resting, most of the fat is poured off, a finely chopped shallot is softened in what remains for about a minute, and the pan is deglazed with 120 ml / 4 fl oz of red wine, stock or a splash of brandy, scraping the fond loose with a wooden spoon.

The liquid is reduced by about half, 2–3 minutes, the juices from the resting plate are added, and the pan comes off the heat. Whisking in 20–30 g / ¾–1 oz of cold butter in pieces, a step French cooks call monter au beurre, thickens and glosses the sauce; it should not boil again or it separates. A spoonful of mustard or cream varies it; with crushed peppercorns and cognac it becomes the sauce of steak au poivre.

Which pan, which oil

Heavy pans that store heat sear best, because they stay above the temperature browning needs, about 140 °C / 284 °F at the surface, when a cold steak lands on them (see the Maillard reaction). Cast iron and carbon steel hold the most heat; clad stainless steel heats more evenly and leaves more fond, which makes the better pan sauce. Non-stick pans are not suited to searing: their PTFE coatings start to break down above about 260 °C / 500 °F, a temperature an empty pan on high heat can pass in minutes.

The oil goes in just before the steak, a thin layer only. Refined oils with a high smoke point, such as peanut, rice bran or refined sunflower, tolerate searing heat; butter and extra-virgin olive oil burn at it and are added at the end. Smoke is normal: the extractor goes on before the steak goes in. Two steaks in a 25–30 cm / 10–12 in pan is the limit; a crowded pan cools below browning and the steaks steam grey.

Frequently asked questions

How long do you pan sear a steak?

It depends on thickness. For medium-rare in a very hot pan: 3–5 minutes in total at 1.5 cm / ½ in, 6–8 minutes at 2.5 cm / 1 in and 9–12 minutes at 4 cm / 1½ in, turned every 30–60 seconds. A thermometer is more reliable than the clock.

When do you add butter to a pan-seared steak?

In the last 1–2 minutes, after lowering the heat to medium. Butter burns at searing temperature; added at the end with garlic and thyme and spooned over the steak, it browns without blackening.

Can you pan sear a steak without cast iron?

Yes. Carbon steel and heavy clad stainless steel both sear well; stainless leaves more browned juices for a pan sauce. Non-stick pans should not be heated empty on high heat and brown less.

Should a steak come to room temperature before pan searing?

It changes little: 30–60 minutes on the counter warms the centre only a few degrees. Drying and salting the surface matter more for the crust.

What temperature should a pan-seared steak reach?

For medium-rare, 52–56 °C / 126–133 °F in the centre after resting, so a 2.5 cm / 1 in steak comes off at about 51 °C / 124 °F. The USDA safe minimum for whole beef steaks is 63 °C / 145 °F with a 3-minute rest.

Keep reading

Sources

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, rev. ed. New York: Scribner, 2004.
Myhrvold, Nathan; Young, Chris; Bilet, Maxime. Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Bellevue: The Cooking Lab, 2011.
Larousse Gastronomique, rev. ed. London: Hamlyn, 2009.
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart. 2023. www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/safe-temperature-chart
López-Alt, J. Kenji. The Food Lab: Better Home Cooking Through Science. New York: W. W. Norton, 2015.