Free Steak Timer — Perfect Doneness for Every Cut

Steak Internal Temperature and Time Chart

Times below are for a 1-inch thick steak (about 2.5 cm) cooked on a preheated cast-iron pan or grill over high heat. Internal temperatures are the pull temperatures — the steak should hit the final target temperature during the rest, after about 5°F of carryover cooking.

Times by Cut and Thickness (Medium-Rare)

The Science of Cooking Steak

Steak cookery is the controlled application of three things: heat, time, and protein denaturation. The Maillard reaction — a non-enzymatic browning between amino acids and reducing sugars that begins around 285°F and accelerates above 350°F — is what gives a properly seared steak its deep brown crust and roasted-meat flavor. The reaction is named for French chemist Louis-Camille Maillard who described it in 1912 and remains one of the most studied reactions in food chemistry.

Inside the steak, muscle proteins denature in stages: myosin around 122°F, the connective tissue collagen begins to shrink at 140°F, and actin at 150°F. Each stage squeezes out moisture. This is why a medium-rare steak (130–135°F) holds its juices — only myosin has denatured. Past 150°F you have lost the moisture battle, which is why well-done steak feels dry no matter how good the cut.

The definitive modern reference is Nathan Myhrvold's Modernist Cuisine (2011), which documents the temperature curves for every common cut with laboratory precision. Kenji López-Alt's work at Serious Eats, particularly The Food Lab, translated those findings into practical home-kitchen technique. Both authors converge on the same conclusion: temperature, not time, is the only reliable indicator of doneness. A leave-in probe thermometer (the ThermoWorks Smoke or DOT, or the Meater wireless probe) eliminates the guessing entirely.

Cooking Methods Compared

Pan-Sear

Heat a cast-iron pan over high heat until smoking. Add neutral oil with a high smoke point (avocado, grapeseed, or refined safflower). Dry the steak with paper towels, salt generously, and lay it away from you in the pan. For 1-inch steaks, 3–4 minutes per side gets you medium-rare. Add a knob of butter, a smashed garlic clove, and thyme in the last minute and baste constantly — a technique called arrosage. Total time: 8–10 minutes plus rest.

Grill (Direct Heat)

Get the grill blazing hot — 500°F or higher. Oil the grates with a tongs-held paper towel dipped in oil. Same 3–4 minutes per side for medium-rare on a 1-inch steak. For thicker cuts, sear over direct heat for 2 minutes per side, then move to indirect heat to finish.

Reverse Sear

For steaks 1.5 inches or thicker, the reverse sear delivers more consistent doneness edge-to-edge. Place the steak on a wire rack in a low oven (225–275°F) until the internal temperature is 10–15°F below your target — about 30 to 45 minutes for a 1.5-inch steak. Then sear in a screaming hot pan or grill for 60–90 seconds per side to develop the crust. Kenji López-Alt popularized this method for home cooks; it is now standard at steakhouses too.

Sous Vide

The most foolproof method. Vacuum-seal the steak, drop it in a water bath set to your final target temperature (130°F for medium-rare), and leave it for 1 to 3 hours. The steak cannot overcook because the water is at the target temperature. Finish in a screaming hot pan or with a torch for the crust. Douglas Baldwin's A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking is the technical reference for time-temperature combinations.

Oven Broil

Use as a backup when you cannot grill. Position the rack 3–4 inches below the broiler, preheat for 10 minutes, then broil 4–5 minutes per side for a 1-inch medium-rare. Crust development is inferior to pan or grill but adequate.

Resting and Carving

Resting is non-negotiable. During cooking, the proteins contract and force juices toward the center of the steak. If you slice immediately, those juices spill out onto the cutting board. A proper rest lets the proteins relax and reabsorb the moisture. The Serious Eats experiment measuring juice loss showed that a 1-inch steak rested for 5 minutes retains roughly 40% more moisture than one sliced immediately.

Rest times: 5 minutes for a 1-inch steak, 7–8 minutes for 1.5-inch, 10–12 minutes for 2-inch and thicker. Tent loosely with foil if your kitchen is cold; otherwise let it rest uncovered to keep the crust crisp. Carve against the grain — perpendicular to the muscle fibers — for the tenderest bite. This matters especially for flank, skirt, and hanger steaks where the grain is pronounced.

Common Steak Mistakes

Cooking Cold Steak Straight from the Fridge

Let the steak sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes before cooking. A cold center extends cooking time and creates a larger gray band of overcooked meat beneath the crust. (Food-safety note: the USDA two-hour rule applies — do not leave meat out longer than that.)

Under-Seasoning

Salt generously at least 40 minutes before cooking — or right before cooking. The middle zone (5 to 30 minutes) draws moisture to the surface without enough time to reabsorb, producing a steamy sear. Use kosher salt; iodized table salt over-seasons quickly and tastes metallic on a hot crust.

Cooking by Time Instead of Temperature

Time charts (including this one) are starting points. The only reliable indicator of doneness is internal temperature measured with an instant-read thermometer (Thermapen ONE or Thermoworks Classic).

Flipping Too Often

Counter-intuitive but tested: flipping a steak every 30 seconds actually produces more even cooking with a thinner gray band. The "flip once" rule is more about presentation than chemistry. Both methods work; the multi-flip method works better for thicker cuts.

Skipping the Rest

The most damaging mistake. A perfectly cooked steak sliced immediately is a worse steak than one cooked 5°F over and rested properly.

Food Safety

The USDA's safe minimum internal temperature for beef steaks is 145°F (63°C) with a 3-minute rest. Below that, you are accepting a small (whole-muscle steaks are very low risk) but nonzero pathogen risk — primarily E. coli O157:H7 contamination on the surface. Searing the exterior to 165°F kills surface pathogens, so a rare or medium-rare steak from a reputable source is generally considered safe by food scientists, but the USDA does not officially endorse this temperature for at-risk populations (pregnant individuals, young children, elderly, immunocompromised).

Ground beef is a different story: bacteria from the surface are distributed throughout the grind, so burgers must reach 160°F internal. The same applies to mechanically tenderized "blade-tenderized" steaks — the perforation pushes surface bacteria inside.

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