How to Cook the Perfect New York Strip Steak

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:

1. 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.
2. Preheat your grill. Preheat your preferred grill to High heat, aiming for around 900 degrees F on the grates.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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

Ready to become the master of steak? Join my members-only group The Grill Squad to access my Steak Masterclass (and so much more!) to increase your confidence of all things BBQ. Let me help you make better BBQ, feed the people you love, and become a backyard BBQ hero!

Making good food should be easy, and Hey Grill Hey is here to help! Over at Patio Provisions, we have sauces, rubs, and more to save you time and energy when you’re busy at the grill. Check it out today!

 

**This post was originally published April 2018. It has since been updated with more information and helpful tips. The recipe remains the same.