Strip steak (also called a New York Strip Steak, or New York Strip) is a beautiful cut of beef that requires little more than high heat, simple seasoning, and some solid technique. In this post, I’ll give you the tools to cook a better-than-restaurant quality strip steak at home.
What is Strip Steak?
A strip steak is cut from the short loin of the cow. This muscle doesn’t do too much work, making the strip steak a rather tender cut of meat. It’s not quite as tender as the nearby tenderloin, but it’s still a great option for a nice, typically boneless steak that cooks evenly and quickly with a great beef flavor and nice chew.
Strip steaks have many names, including Kansas-city steak, New York strip steak, top loin, and a hotel-style steak. No matter what you call them, they are delicious and tender and a popular restaurant steak. Strip steaks are best when they are well-marbled with nice, white fat weaving through the muscle of the steak.
New York Strip Steak
This recipe for cooking New York strip steak is inspired by Tyler Florence’s steakhouse. He seasons massive porterhouse steaks with only salt before searing at extremely high temperatures and then sprinkling with cracked black pepper after cooking. I took similar principles and adapted them for home cooking (because we don’t all have access to $5000 professional salamander machines in our backyards!), so you can cook your own perfect New York strip steak at home.
When the process is this simple, you need to make sure your ingredients are high quality. Use a bright red steak that is at least 1.5 inches thick. Season with coarse kosher salt or sea salt. Fresh crack your black pepper, if possible. When you focus on meat, fire, and simple seasoning, you’ll be happier with the result than if you had purchased an expensive steak from a restaurant.
How to Cook New York Strip Steak
You can always use the Reverse Sear method for New York strip steaks (I’ve detailed that method HERE), but that process takes quite a bit of time and effort. Sometimes the best things in life are simple and allow the flavor of the beef itself to shine through. I think the best way to cook a NY strip steak is with salt, pepper, a little butter, and a screaming hot grill.
Here’s my method for cooking New York strip steak:
- Season the steak. When you are 30 minutes out from grilling your steaks, remove them from the fridge, season both sides with kosher or coarse salt, and allow them to come up in temperature.
- Preheat your grill. Preheat your preferred grill to High heat, aiming for around 900 degrees F on the grates.
- Prep the butter. Combine all ingredients for the compound butter in a small bowl and spoon butter directly on the serving platter underneath where the steak will be placed.
- Grill those strip steaks! Place the steaks directly on the grill grates on a diagonal. For med rare: cook 2-3 minutes then rotate 45 degrees (for those beautiful criss-cross grill marks) and grill another 2-3 minutes. Flip the steaks and repeat on the other side. Grill for more or less time depending on your preferred doneness.
- Remove from heat and rest. Remove the steaks from the grill and place them on the buttered serving platter. Allow them to rest for 8-10 minutes.
- Slice and serve. Slice the steaks and sprinkle with black pepper just before serving.
Tips for Making Strip Steak
As I mentioned earlier, strip steak is extremely easy to make and doesn’t require a lot of ingredients or fuss. With this in mind, here are some of the most important things to focus on when grilling strip steak:
- Get your grill hot, hot, hot! Turn on your grill as high as it’ll go, and make sure to allow the grill to fully preheat before cooking your steaks. A nice, hot grill is key to ensuring these steaks cook perfectly and remain nice and juicy.
- #restingbutter. That compound butter? It’s just a tiny bit magic. By placing your hot steaks directly on the butter while it rests makes for the most flavorful steak ever. Do not skip this step! This resting butter is a complete game-changer, and you’ll never eat strip steaks without it again.
- Use a reliable thermometer. Make sure you are using a trusty meat thermometer to keep track of the internal temperature of your steaks while they are on the grill. My family prefers steaks cooked to medium-rare, but as always, cook to the doneness you prefer. I highly recommend cooking your steaks to medium-rare or medium for maximum flavor and juiciness. Anything over medium begins to dry out and become tougher to chew.
More Steak Recipes
Here at Hey Grill Hey, we love grilling steak. If you’re looking for a collection of steak recipes to add to your recipe book, I highly recommend a few of these below:
- Marinated and Grilled Flank Steak
- Rib Eye Steaks with Balsamic Red Wine Glaze
- Grilled Flat Iron Steak with Chimichurri
New York Strip Steak Recipe
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Strip Steak
Video
Ingredients
- 2 strip steaks
- coarse Kosher or sea salt
- coarse ground black pepper
Garlic Thyme Compound Butter (optional)
- 4 Tablespoons salted butter (softened)
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves)
Instructions
- Season the strip steaks. 30 minutes prior to grilling, remove your steaks from the refrigerator, season on both sides with the coarse salt and allow to come up in temperature.
- Preheat the grill. Preheat your grill to High heat. You're looking for temperatures around 900 degrees F on the grill grates.
- Make the compound butter. Combine all ingredients for the compound butter in a small bowl. Place one spoonful of butter directly on your serving platter underneath where each steak will be placed. Do this before you get your steaks on the grill so when they come off, you can set each steak on a spoonful of the butter. Set aside the remaining butter for the top of the grilled strip steaks.
- Grill the steaks. Place the steaks directly on the grill grates at a diagonal. For a medium rare steak, cook 2-3 minutes, then rotate 45 degrees and grill for 2-3 more minutes.
- Finish grilling the steaks to your preferred doneness. Flip the steaks over, cook 2-3 minutes, then rotate 45 degrees and grill for 2-3 more minutes. Increase or decrease cooking time as needed to reach ideal internal doneness. For a rare steak, cook to 125 degrees F, Medium Rare to 135 degrees F, Medium to 145 degrees F, Medium Well 155 degrees F, Well Done to 160 degrees F.
- Place the steaks on the resting butter. Remove the steaks from the grill and set each steak on the dollop of prepared compound butter.
- Rest the steaks before slicing and eating. Let the steak rest for at least 8-10 minutes before slicing. Sprinkle with the black pepper just before serving.
Nutrition
**This post was originally published April 2018. It has since been updated with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.
what happened to the remaining butter mixture
Spooned on top of the hot steaks while they rested.
Cooked it exactly per your instructions I was certain that it would be to well done but I stuck to your script and got the perfect medium rare most tender results. Thank you
That’s fantastic! Way to nail it!
I’m going to try this tonight. I am afraid though because every time I follow a steak recipe, I overcook them. 5-6 minutes per side seems like a lot at that high temperature. I will probably just reduce the time and hope for the best. I am curious to what I have been doing wrong when grilling steaks.
Always go by temp and not time!
I dont have anything that hits heat like your side grill. Any other suggestion?. Most of the time I do a reverse sear.
Fabulous looking steaks though!!
Try a cast iron skillet that has been preheated as high as you can get it! I always get a nice crust that way.
Outstanding! My gas grill caught on fire in the first few minutes but it ended up being a blessing in disguise as the steaks had a nicely seared outside. Everyone loved them!
Oh man! I’ll bet that was fun for a minute!
Hey Grill Hey my steaks were awesome. I always thought I needed a bunch of different seasonings! Not. I followed the recipe to the T. Including the butter. I have a charcoal grill. It probably wasn’t as hot as 900 degrees. But it worked. Mmm mmm good!!!!!
Awesome! This makes me so happy! Thanks for your comment!
Came out great
Have you ever tried putting the steak in a smoker with high smoke and low temperature to add some flavor?
Also, the rage here is sous vide cooking, especially steaks. I season, bag, cook, then sear for the final finish.
Would appreciate your comments on both!
You can definitely do a reverse sear method on the steak and add some smoke like I do in the following recipe. I have had Sous Vide and it definitely is all the rage right now, personally I prefer the old school hot grill method myself. https://heygrillhey.com/grilling-the-perfect-steak/
The Garlic Butter mixture was the ticket for me. I’ve recently used the Oven/Sear method for my steaks as they’ve turned out PERFECT and literally impossible to mess up. The Garlic Butter rest and on top was the cherry on top. Thanks again!
Thanks so much Mike!! I can’t get enough of butter and garlic, they make everything better!
Hi I tried your recipe and it turned out perfectly. I just change a little bit by seasoning the beef with pink salt then putting the blue cheese on the top of the steak. The below is still same butter mix as your recipe. Thank you so much! Everybody love it.
Love the blue cheese addition!! Sounds like they will be back for more! Thanks for your comment!!
I made this tonight as a nice meal for me and my husband & oh my goodness! It is the best steak I have ever made. I was out of propane so couldn’t grill it so used my cast iron skillet with butter and some oil & it still turned out with so much flavor & very tender. I didn’t have thyme so used oregano for the butter mixture. I will definitely be making this again.
Thanks so much for your comment Leshae!! I am so happy it turned out so good for you!!
Great recipe especially the butter my only problem I had was at the temperature of 900 plus degrees it caused my gardening gloves to catch fire which was a momentary setback. Steaks came out great.
Oh no!! Sorry about the gloves!!
That’s the key issue: gardening gloves don’t do well with 900 plus degrees.
We made this steak just as the recipe recommends. It was an excellent steak…paired with a beautiful Cabernet and roasted butternut squash – it was better than any fine dining steakhouse in Charleston! Thank you for posting!
Thanks so much Lynne!! And hopefully a lot cheaper than the steakhouse!!
Made these tonight on my charcoal grill. Used a fork to spread the butter on the steaks in the last few minutes while they were still on the grill and they came out fantastic! Recommend turning the steaks every 2 minutes for a less done steak. Turned mine every 3 minutes and were more done than we like but excellent flavor. Will be using this recipe from now on, thank you!
Awesome!! Thanks Anthony!!
BEST steak I’ve had in a long time…so tender and dripping in delicious! Who knew it was so easy?
Thumbs up
Hey there,
is there any other alternative meat we can use instead of the New York strip steak (for example Rib Eye?)
I cant find New York Strip steak in my country so easy.
Rib Eye is a great option if you can’t find New York Steaks. This is my recipe for Rib Eye. https://heygrillhey.com/perfectly-grilled-rib-eye-steaks-with-balsamic-red-wine-glaze/
Worked out great! But are you supposed to close the lid of the gas grill? I did, because I thought you always are supposed to do that, but you didn’t on your video. Mine got a little more well done than I expected (guess I could have taken its temperature earlier), but the steak tasted really good. I like the butter addition and the recipe’s simplicity.
You can definitely close the lid of the grill if you are keeping an eye on the temperature.
Very good followed exactly
the only problem i saw was make sure the people ask the butcher for a nice steak. not everyone can pick out a good steak.i was a meatcutter for 40 yrs and loved to help people buy the right steak.not every steak in the meat case is good.please ask.
That is the truth!
Used this recipe to make my wife a strip loin for mother day supper. I can easily say that this was the best steak I have ever cooked. Thank you for the instructions, I will be making this again soon!
Fantastic! I’m so glad it turned out well for you!
The Garlic Thyme Compound Butter is fantastic! And all the ingredients could be found in our kitchen at the last minute — no running to the store, no forward looking planning… and, of course I need to add, my wife absolutely loved her steak!
It is so good!
Made this last night with bacon wrapped asparagus and baked potatoes. Needless to say it was a big hit. The Worcestershire sauce was a nice add to the butter. I’ve done garlic and thyme many times just not with Worcestershire. Cooked over mesquite .
Best anniversary dinner! Easy, fast and delicious.
Awesome! I’m so glad you liked it! Happy anniversary!
Fantastic
Thank you so much!
Can they successfully be cooked on a regular stove with a regular pan?
Yes you can! A regular skillet will work just fine!
Can I broil these in the oven? I don’t have a grill and I don’t have a cast iron pan, but they sound good
Using the broil setting may cause them to be overcooked. You don’t need cast iron, any regular frying pan will do the trick!
I live in an apartment with NO grills available (BOO)
Also when I bought my first ever cast iron pan all I had was a burnt disaster ???? I pre seasoned the pan and ultimately returned the pan.
My favorite cut of steak is NY strip!! Your recipe is making me drool! Can you please recommend a pan to use on my horrid electric stove!!
HELP, HELP, HELP PLEASE
I honestly would say to try the cast iron again. They are my absolute favorite pans but there is a tiny learning curve with them.
A regular frying pan would work too.
One of the best steaks I have ever ate, and I cooked it!! Thanks for the share! Truly amazing!
Strip steak is the best! Tender, flavorful, and a good size for individual servings. I always order it when we go out to a steakhouse, and cook them at home also. Most places put the pepper on before they grill the meat, have to remember to specify no pepper. You can add your own at the table.
Thank you for the recipe! The steaks turned out just right, juicy crispy and flavorful!
TThis was exactly what I needed! My husband was a grill master. I just lost him in June and have had not one steak since until tonight. Your guidance was perfect, even on a skillet! Thank you for getting me over the hurdle!
Thank you for this delicious recipe. My New York steaks were the best . The butter topped them off! I will make them again.
This is the perfect example of less is more. Super delish and easy. I did this in an apartment on the stovetop with a cast iron grill pan that I heated on low for half an hour so it was evenly hot and then cranked the heat to high for about five minutes before I put the steak in. Didn’t set off the fire alarm and had a perfect rare steak. Yum.
My only observation / comment is that after the steak had sat with the salt there was quite a bit of surface moisture. I patted the steak dry because I thought it would steam rather than sear in the pan if it was wet. Moisture may not be a concern if the steak is put on a flaming hot grill, but I think you do want a dry surface if cooking in a pan.
My wife said this was the best steak she’s ever had! I was more than impressed. Will be making this again whenever I want to impress guests
Hi there, I was wondering how thick the steak is supposed to be so the timing will be right ?
You want a steak at an inch or more thickness wise! In regards to timing, don’t worry about it so much. Always cook to temperature especially with steak so you can make sure it’s done exactly how you want it.
Thanks for sharing! If the steaks rest for 8 minutes, it usually cools down too much, how do you make sure the steak is not served cold?
You could wrap it loosely in foil to help keep the heat in.
These came out great. Followed the directions grilled on gas grill. Juicy and tender and wifey prepared balsamic soy sauce marinaded mushrooms as a side. It’s a keeper. .
Thank you.
Ok! This was the best flavored Steak I have ever made!
Cheated a bit and smoked in a vault smoker and seared on the Weber Kettle. Will probably get a cast iron grate for better seat marks. Also, used the Resting Butter! Smoked, seared, and buttered! Hands down the most flavorful steak ever! 10/10 would recommend!!!!