The Perfect New York Strip Steak Recipe, Pan-Fried, Oven-Roasted
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The Perfect New York Strip Steak Recipe
This is probably my most popular post in this 16 year old blog. It’s simple. It works. It’s delicious.
I’m proud to say I love meat and I especially love steak. Meat is very pricey right now and is a splurge for most people. While I love a good ribeye, the next favorite is the New York strip steak. You can find them in family packs at Costco for a decent (still not cheap) price.
Choose a Steak with Fat Cap
Most butchers agree that a cast iron pan is essential for cooking a good steak. We talk about how to best sear, and we look for steaks that has that nice fat cap. Fat equals flavor!
The New York Strip Steak
The New York Strip steak gets its name from the first fine dining restaurant in New York. In 1937 Delmonico’s opened and served the short loin cut of meat. There are differing stories as to whether the Delmonico steak was a strip steak.
Today when you order the delmonico steak at Delmonico in New York City, you most likely will get a rib eye steak.
What is a New York Strip Steak?
It’s comes from the short loin of the cow, is not as tender as filet, but tender enough to be cooked quickly and still be tender. It can be lean but if it’s prepared properly, it’s still tender and has an exceptional taste. I like thick strip steaks about 2 inches thick.
My New York Strip Steak Recipe: Cast Iron Pan fry and oven finish.
I get a cast iron pan smoking hot and then sear the steak on one side, turn it over and stick it in the oven. Make sure you put on your exhaust fan and open windows or your smoke alarm will probably go off.
- Salt the steak 24 hours in advance. It goes into the meat overnight, adds moisture and enhances flavor
- Don’t cover steaks in the fridge. The outside of the steak should be dry if you want to sear them. Put them on a rack so both sides dry.
- Make sure the steak is dry, before searing. When ready to cook, I used to think my steak needed to come down to room temperature, but I now find that I get a better sear with a cold steak, as long as the steak is dry. It’s the water that comes out of the steak that prevents that nice sear, also known as the mailard effect.
- Start with a very hot cast iron pan.
- Do not add oil until pan is hot.
- Use a round grill press, if you can, but no worries if you don’t have one.
What is the Maillard Effect?
The Maillard reaction is a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring the addition of heat. It’s what happens when the meat is seared, creating a much deeper flavor profile.
My New York Strip Steak Recipe
The seasonings are up to you. Sometimes I just use salt and pepper. Other times if I don’t see enough marbling in the steak, I will marinate it in an olive oil, red wine, and minced garlic. When I do that, I will still dry my steak before searing.
I like a steak medium rare and will take it out of the oven at 135 degrees F. I use my oven probe. This meat thermometer works well too. Then, let your steak rest for five to ten minutes. During that time, make a nice salad from the list below.
If you’re a meat and potatoes type, (like me) make these smashed buttery fingerling potatoes or purple lemon dijon roasted potatoes.
My Best Salad Recipes
- Chopped Kale Salad with Toasted Almonds
- Arugula Salad with Strawberries
- Lemon Vinaigrette
- Wedge with Blue Cheese
- Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Baby Peas, Toasted Almonds
- Caprese Salad with Pesto
How to Cook a Perfect New York Strip Steak
Ingredients
- New York Strip Steak
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
Marinade (Optional)
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
- 1 clove garlic minced
- sea salt
- black pepper
Kitchen Tools for this recipe- Cast Iron Pan ORDER HERE
- Meat ThermometerORDER HERE
- Grill Press ORDER HERE
Instructions
- If you have a few days, salt steak and place uncovered on open rack to dry out. If you don’t have days, salt at least for 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Heat frying pan on medium to medium high heat for a few minutes. Add small amount of oil.
- Heat a few more minutes.
- Use paper towel to make sure steak is dry.
- Add in steak. Place grill press over steak if you have one. Don't worry if you don't have one.
- Turn over at 3 minutes when steak easily moves. If it's not moving easily, give it another minute.
- Turn over, place in oven and cook for 5 more minutes for rare, 7 minutes for medium rare, 9 minutes for medium. These are approximates. Use a meat thermometer to check.
- Remove from oven at 135 degrees for medium rare.
- If you want to add butter and thyme, add a tablespoon of butter to pan when removing from oven.
- As butter melts, spoon on top of the steak.
- Allow to rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Please follow me on instagram. If you make this recipe, please tag me #spinachtiger.
If you love this recipe, please give it five stars. It means a lot. xoxo
I have a question: when you say salt the steak, do you mean season it or just put salt on the steak?
Just salt.
How long do you marinate? And is the salt after or before the marinate?
Can’t wait to try.
Marinate for at least an hour. You can marinate longer if you want. As far as salt, I usually salt first. But, honestly, if it’s a good steak, I don’t marinate. I will salt and leave out for an hour before cooking so it cooks evenly.
Been using this method for a couple of years now. I usually buy ribeyes, so I tried the recipe with the ribeyes. I can FINALLY cook a medium steak. We skip the marinade but follow the rest of the directions for a medium steak. Excellent excellent excellent! Critical step to dry out steak in fridge and grill cold rather than room temp!
I always have my husband cook our steaks because he does a great job, but today I did it, using this recipe — it turned out PERFECTLY! Directions are spot on.
So glad to hear this. Happy New Year!
Are you only searing one side of the steak here? It says put in pan and after 3 mins turn over and place in oven. What about searing the other side and what about searing the fat?
Yes, searing just one side and flipping over.
Thank you so much for this recipe I love steak and can’t wait to try your recipe but I dont have a cast iron pan. Can you please tell me where to buy it and what make, I look in stores but i have no idea which one to buy some have lines in it some are flat. I just like to know which brand and where is the best place to buy it.
Thank you so much in advance 😊
Cast iron pans are sold everywhere and on amazon. They are inexpensive. Just use a cast iron frying pan.
Delicious and the directions are spot-on!
Thank you so much.
The steakwas AWESOME ! Juicy, tender, flavorful.
Thank you !!!
***** stars !
Thanks for letting me know.
Best steak we ever ate.
That’s such good news to hear.
Absolutly delicious….couldn’t figure out how to put a pic on bere… but its freaking delicious…follow these instructions
I’m so glad.
I was soooo very afraid of cooking NY Strip Steaks. No more!! This recipe is PEEERFECT! OMGeeeee my fam of 5 loved every single bite! Thank you so much for sharing. I will most certainly be making these steaks again.
Excellent! The whole family loved it.
I’m so glad.
Made this for my husband and inlaws when visiting and it was PERFECT! ( not to toot my own horn ) . We paired it with steamed cauliflower heads under hollandaise sauce and a side garden salad. I only seasoned it with salt and pepper and added a garlic and herb finishing butter ( just a little over each steak ) when i pulled them out of the oven to rest. Will always use this as a steak reference.
Excellent! Came across recipe, read it, read the reviews and decided to try it! I’m so Happy I did! Husband LOVED it!
Followed directions, simple enough, however it sounded confusing until I read it a few times! I used Himalayan Pink salt, but recommend regular ionized salt! The meat does absorb the salt flavor and the stronger salt isn’t the way to go! Husband loves the salt flavor, me, not so much! Strip Steak can be tough if not cooked the right way, this is the way to go! I would also advise adding the butter, it made a great Au Jus! Thanks, I’ll be making this again!
I did it! And let me say it was spot on…the best steak I have ever cooked. Perfect and delicious. Thank you so much
Best steak I ever had
I don’t consider myself to be a great cook. It’s difficult to prepare meals for one person, I often throw leftovers away. I’ve never cooked a good steak…until using your recipe. It was fantastic!!!! I adjusted the oven time because it was a little too pink for me, but it was delicious!!! I also never give reviews because my dishes always turn out “meh”. Thank you for sharing.
Perfection – my husband thanks you – he is in a meat coma ha ha . Drying out the steak made all the difference
Perfect
Made this today according to directions…turned out perfect! Thanks so much!
I’m going to try it for my Easter dinner today.
Very delicious – on a no grill snowie spring day.
I’m going to try it for my Easter dinner today.
My husband always grills our strip steaks but was tired tonight so I followed this recipe and he was amazed how good it was. I followed the time for medium and didn’t even use a meat thermometer and it was perfect! Awesome will be doing this again. Thank you I can finally be the steak cooker as well.
Rachel, ever since I discovered this way to cook the steak, we never grill it anymore. I’m so glad it worked for you.
How long do you marinade for? And if you use the marinade, how do you get the steak dry again?
In retrospect and after making this steak recipe so many times, I probably wouldn’t marinate. If I did decide to do that. I would probably dry with a paper towel to get that nice char. In the past I marinated in a mix of olive oil, garlic, red wine or worcestershire, salt and pepper.
I’m confused. First you say to let steak get to room temperature and then say it is better to cook when it is cold?
You’re right. I decided to change that and sear them cold to get a better sear.
Delicious and the directions are spot-on!
Most flavorful and perfectly cooked steak I have ever done myself.
Thank you so much for letting me know.
Your recipe is not complete. For some reason it skips the part that we use the rest of the ingredientes. Such a bad feeling that i had everything ready and not really sure how to finish it
Those ingredients are the marinade which is an option, not a requirement.
Wow I’m really sorry that due to someone not being able to read the instructions you received one star. I’m using your recipe which I tested last night for my Culinary Class final. It is definitely worth 5 stars.
Kudos to You, Schuyler Scarborough. In my opinion we all need to work on our manners and kindness.
Thank you for defending a fellow Pinterest contributor.
Have a blessed day!
Oh my Angela what a great recipe. When I put mine in the oven I added some onions and mushrooms to the pan and a splash of white wine and let them be cooked by the juice of the steak 🥩 it came out fabulous and I had a little gravy for our potatoes 🥔. Soo good! Thanks for the great recipe.
Waoooo thank you so much for this amazing recipe i love steak and i will definitely use your procedure, but i have a question: what is a grill press?
Thanks Angie
You could look on Amazon. It’s like a heavy weight that you put on bacon or meat on the stove. Even grilled cheese.
Amazing worth every star
Thank you so much Nathan.
I made this recipe and it is BOMB. The instructions were perfect. I made my 1st medium rare steak!! I’m about to cook another one now 🤗🤗
That’s good to hear! Thanks for letting me know.
👍👍👍🍺🌮
Wow!!!!!! That actually makes a lot of sense n I’m gonna do it your way tonight for dinner , I’ll let ya know how they turn out!!!
Not gonna lie… that steak literally made my mouth water! Great tips to make the perfect NY Strip! Saving this!!
Oh my that looks amazing. I love a good steak. I’ve had a cast iron pan for a while now but haven’t seasoned it properly so haven’t used it yet. I really need to so I can cook my steak properly!
I’d always assumed Whole Foods was vegetarian – shows how much I know. I’ve recently bought a proper cast iron pan and now I’ve finally got it seasoned properly, I’m absolutely loving it. The perfect thing for your steak.
Whole Foods does carry wondeful produce, but they also have a full butcher department and seafood department.
This looks absolutely incredible. What a dish. I bet it tasted incredible.
Great post – I have actually learned some great tips!!