How to Cook a Steak in a Cast Iron Skillet on the Stove?

Are you craving a juicy, tender steak? No need to visit fancy, expensive restaurants when you can cook that for yourself. If you have a cast-iron skillet at your place, the steak is just a few instructions away. You might be wondering how to cook a steak in a cast-iron skillet on a stove. Well, it’s not that hard. Dive in to know the whole process.

Who doesn’t want to have that juicy steak with roasted broccoli and asparagus with some mashed potatoes, right? Have that satisfying feeling of cooking yourself while saving large in your pocket.

All confused since you have never cooked a steak before. Don’t you worry as you are going to love that just by adhering to the instructions below? Well, you will be intimidated for sure. However, we have tried our best to keep it simple and easy. This uncomplicated recipe is definitely going to win your hearts. This detailed and simple guide consists of kosher salt, a cast iron skillet and obviously a raw steak piece. If you do not own a cast iron pan, we insist you get one as you are missing out on the best cookware.

Table of Contents

How to Cook Steak on Cast Iron Skillet- The Detailed yet Simple Recipe

Let us first get to the ingredients of one of our favorite recipes.

Kosher salt
A steak piece

The Detailed Recipe

Seasoning of the Steak

When you start cooking the steak, you need to first season it. You do not need to unnecessarily add a lot of spices to make it taste heavenly. Even a few spices would do. In our case, we are going to use only salt to season the steak. However, make sure to select the kosher salt and not just any salt.

Kosher salt is selected as it consists of large and coarse grains. This imparts a better flavor to the steak. On the other hand, the table salt has smaller granules. These granules break further and give it a strong briny flavor.

To start the seasoning process, take out the freezed steak from the freezer. You need the first season. The steak and then let it attain the room temperature. Thus, sprinkle a large quantity of kosher salt. You need to be generous while sprinkling it. After you have covered all the sides of the steak, you can leave it. Make sure to completely unfreeze it. That takes around half an hour to 45 minutes.

This time is crucial to the steak cooking process. It lets the meat take in all the seasoning. Moreover, it lets it cook evenly and perfectly so that it is soft and tender. Make sure to follow this process carefully so that you end up with perfect, juicy steaks.

Prepping the Steak

After you have seasoned the steak, another important step comes. This is heating the pan well. Cast iron pan is the best choice as it offers uniform heating. Moreover, it has exceptional heat conduction which allows efficient heating. The cast iron has the capability to retain heat for very long. Thus, it is ideal for making steaks.

First, preheat the cast iron skillet for a couple of minutes so that it is sizzling hot. Now take your steak and pat it using a clean cloth. This will dry the steak. Season the steak a little more. Now is the right time for searing the steak.

Searing the Steak

Then you have to cook the steak on the stove for long enough until it gets off the skillet. This takes around a couple of minutes. Now flip the steak and cook the other side. Now keep the steak moving every half a minute. This will ensure even cooking. Moreover, the steak will be cooked fast.

This step comes with thick smoke. Therefore, it is advised to do this in an open atmosphere. Keep the area well ventilated by opening the windows. It is also advised to turn the exhaust on.

Cooking

Continue cooking the steak until it is completely tender. Make sure to flip it and move it around. After it has been cooked perfectly, leave it for around 10 minutes. Then cut the steak into pieces.

Final Verdict

This extensive guide reveals the right method on how to cook a steak in a cast iron skillet on a stove. This is one of the easiest methods you can blindly rely on if you want to enjoy juicy, tender steaks. All you have to do is to season the steaks using kosher salt. This is followed by preheating the pan and then adding the steaks. Finally you have to cook them according to your degree of doneness. Why wait? Try making steaks in your cast iron skillet today!

Frequently Asked Questions

It takes only a couple of minutes for the steaks to be cooked in a cast iron skillet. However, this varies depending upon what level of doneness you require. The major time is taken by meat preparing and heating the cast iron skillet, rest is done quite swiftly.

Yes, you do use oil when cooking steak in a cast iron skillet. However, you don’t use just any oil but the one having a great smoke point. The oils which qualify under this category are peanut oil, avocado oil or canola oil. These are others as well such as vegetable oil. Thus, one has to use an oil but a specific kind of it.

This varies depending upon the level of doneness you require. If you are going for a rare steak, you should keep it for no longer than 3 minutes per side. If you are opting for a rare medium, time should exceed a couple of minutes and should be around 4 minutes per side. Lastly, if you want to go for well-done, that should be around 5-6 minutes per side.

lilley

I’m Lilley, a Best Cast Irons author, Reviewer, and Foddy. I have experience over 5 years to reviewing kitchen products. My goal is to give you the confidence and knowledge to Buy Kitchen cookware and bake from scratch. We review some most important cookware for your kitchen, pot, skillet, pan, dutchoven, etc.

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How to Cook a Steak in a Cast Iron Skillet on the Stove?