How Ina Garten Achieves A Perfect Grilled Steak Every Time (And You Can Too)

Ina Garten may be the Barefoot Contessa, but even she isn't immune to worrying about messing up her steaks on the grill. Grilling can be a challenge for a lot of people, with the potential for overcooking or undercooking always looming. She credits her method to one of the owners of Lobel's of New York, who she claims explained how to properly cook a steak without fail. Following her steps, it's easy to cook your steaks just right every time.

In an Instagram Reel, Garten demonstrated how she manages to perfectly cook her steaks without fear of ruining the cuts of beef. Firstly, she buys one-and-a-half-inch thick New York strips, ensuring consistent timing. Next, she follows one of the key tips for grilling with charcoal: She makes sure that the grill is properly heated, with one half filled with hot charcoal and the other half empty. This creates two zones, one hot and one cold, for different types of cooking.

When it's time to put the steaks on the grill, she sears them on the hot part for two minutes per side, before moving them to the cool part to cook with the lid on. She says that for rare steaks, the right time is eight minutes, while medium rare should stay for two more minutes. Afterward, she covers them in foil to rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving them.

Following Ina's methods should result in excellent steaks no matter what, but there are details to keep in mind. Firstly, while she didn't mention it in her Reel, you should make sure to flip your steaks while they cook. This helps to ensure they're cooked evenly, rather than being well-done on the bottom and rare on the top. Some might argue that flipping a steak more than once is a great way to guarantee the meat is cooked as evenly as possible, but this runs the risk of letting out too much heat.

It's also important to check the temperature often with a meat thermometer, to guarantee that the temperature is right for your doneness preference. Garten says that for a medium-rare steak, the thermometer should read 130 degrees Fahrenheit, which should give the meat a bright-red center. Note that the USDA recommends a minimum temperature of at least 145 degrees, along with three minutes rest to complete the cooking safely, which should result in a medium steak.

Finally, there's resting. This is one of the most important steps in preparing a steak, and it does more than finish the cooking. You should always rest your steaks for at least 10 minutes to allow the muscle fibers to relax within the meat, resulting in the most tender and juicy steaks. Grilled meat tends to have enough residual heat from cooking that it won't cool down much, either, so you don't need to worry about serving a cold steak to your guests.