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. 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 and is typically quite tender. Not quite as tender as the nearby tenderloin, but 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 are best when they are well marbled with nice white fat weaving through the muscle of the steak.
How to Cook NY Strip Steak
You can always use the Reverse Sear method for NY 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.
This recipe for cooking New York Strip steaks is inspired by Tyler Florence’s steakhouse. He seasons massive porterhouse steaks with salt only 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) Ha!
When the process is this simple, you need to make sure that your ingredients are high quality. Use a bright red steak that is at least 1.5 inches thick. Season with coarse Kosher 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.
New York Strip Video
New York Strip Steak Recipe
- 2 Strip Steaks
- Coarse Kosher or sea salt
- coarse ground black pepper
- 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
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 your grill to High heat. You're looking for temperatures around 900 degrees F on the grill grates.
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.
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.
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.
Remove the steaks from the grill and set each steak on the dollop of prepared compound butter.
Let the steak rest for at least 8-10 minutes before slicing. Sprinkle with the black pepper just before serving.
what happened to the remaining butter mixture
Spooned on top of the hot steaks while they rested.
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.
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!
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!!
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!!