The Perfect Prime Rib Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the most important thing to do before roasting a prime rib roast? ›

Rule #7: Season Well, and Season in Advance. For best results, salt your prime rib on all surfaces with kosher salt at least 45 minutes before you start cooking it, and preferably the day before, leaving it in the fridge uncovered overnight. Initially, the salt will draw out some moisture and end up dissolving in it.

Prime Rib Tips

Here is the formula: Multiply the exact weight times 5 minutes. For me it was 5.35 x 5 = 26.75 minutes, which we round up to 27. You'll cook your room-temperature prime rib at 500 degrees F for exactly that many minutes.

How do restaurants make prime rib so tender? The secret to restaurant-style prime rib is cooking the meat super slow at low temperatures. I recommend cooking prime rib at no higher than 200 degrees F. This cooks the meat very slowly, turning the fat into butter and rendering the proteins juicy and soft.

Start by cooking your prime rib at 500°F for 15 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 325° F and cook for 10-12 min per pound for rare, or 13-14 min per pound for medium rare, or 14-15 min per pound for medium well. A meat thermometer is essential to ensure you cook it perfectly!

Brown the roast at 500°F (or as high as your oven will go) for 15 minutes. Lower the oven to 325°F to finish roasting: Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. Roast in the oven until the thermometer registers 115°F for rare or 120° for medium rare, and 130°F for medium.

Rub the prime rib with olive oil. In a small bowl, combine the salt, pepper, herbs and garlic powder. Rub this mixture onto the prime rib. Place the prime rib in a roasting pan, fat-side up, and insert an ovenproof meat thermometer so the tip is centered in the thickest part of the roast.

Searing is an important part of roasting a prime rib. Searing the roast first will kill the surface bacteria, which is a nice touch, especially when you are roasting at lower temperatures.

Salt the Prime Rib Overnight

Rub a good quality kosher salt all over the meat the day before you want to cook it. Now, place it in the refrigerator overnight, UNCOVERED in order to enhance the beefy flavor while dissolving some of the proteins, which yields a buttery-tender, juicy roast.

Let it sit on the counter for 2 to 3 hours before smoking; this will help it cook more evenly.

Do you cover prime rib roast when cooking? You can cover rib roast when cooking after searing it to help it retain some of its moisture, but it's not necessary. For the best results, leave the roast uncovered until you remove it from the oven or grill and place it at room temperature for resting.

Do you cook prime rib bone up or down? ›

Place the roast fat side up, bone side down, in a large roasting pan. Cook for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 325°F. This allows the heat to sear the roast, trapping the juicy flavors inside while the rest of the meat cooks. On average, each pound of rib needs 15 minutes to cook (i.e., a 4 lb.

It's no secret that roasts need to cook slow and slow, but for that killer crust on a prime rib the secret is to hit it with a lot of heat first. Like our other prime rib recipes, this rosemary-rubbed prime rib cooks at 450F for 20 minutes before cooking for another 60 to 90 minutes at 350F.

Overcooking the Prime Rib

That's why prime rib is so expensive: it's a huge piece of extremely good beef. Therefore, it's important not to cook it beyond medium-rare. Going past that temperature means the roast will no longer be tender.

The salt helps trap the heat to better cook the prime rib. “It conducts the heat and seals it,” says Betz.

Prime rib has a large “eye” of meat in the center, which is juicy, tender, and marbled with fat. This eye has a fat-marbled muscle around it, and the whole thing is surrounded by a thick cap of fat. This means that prime rib is tender, juicy, and extremely flavorful because the muscles aren't heavily used.

If you don't have a meat thermometer, a general rule of thumb is to first cook the prime rib at 500 F for 20 minutes, then cooking it at a reduced heat of 325 F at 20 minutes per pound of meat – for the 5 pound Prime Rib that this recipe calls for, at a medium rare cook, that would be 1 hour of cook time.

Slow roast Prime Rib stays pink and juicy, especially on the inside. If you want a little more browning and a firmer texture on the exterior, it's best accomplished with a reverse sear. Standard searing involves browning the meat in a pan on all sides before the rest of the cooking begins.