Nobody likes an overcooked steak. Whether it causes it to be more done than you want or it’s just chewy, how can we make sure we don’t overcook steak? I’ve always seen how leaner steaks are easily overcooked and get chewy and I wanted to know why.
Check steak doneness with a thermometer, let the steak come to room temperature before cooking, and marinating steak, can keep the steak from overcooking and becoming chewy.
There are a lot of things you can do to keep the steak from overcooking. Here is a list of a few things:
- Use a thermometer: this allows you to cook your steak to the correct temperature for the doneness that you want, for example, medium rare, medium, medium well
- Bring steak to room temperature before cooking: by letting the steak rest to bring it to room temperature before cooking, you will be able to cook the meat more evenly than if it was from right from the fridge because the steak should be the same temperature throughout
- Marinate the steak: because most lean steaks easily dry out and will overcook and get chewy, marinating it in fruit enzymes will prevent it from becoming chewy
I wrote about how to marinate steak in a post you can check out here.
What is an overcooked steak?
An overcooked steak is chewy, dry, and grey all the way through. It will be tough throughout because it was cooked too fast, meaning it was cooked for too long on too high of heat.
Does steak get more tender the longer you cook it?
The longer you cook a steak the more chewy it gets. As the steak cooks it will get drier and begin to overcook. This process easily happens with lean steak but not so much with a fatty steak that will stay juicy because of all of the fat.
There is one caveat, you can cook steak low and slow for it to get tender. When you do this the collagen and protein will break down and make the steak more tender instead of chewy. But to do this it’s almost like braising, something you would do with short ribs in liquid over a long time. Like in a crockpot for hours.
You can do something similar with a steak like cooking it on the lowest heat on a grill or on the lowest heat in an oven. So, it can cause the steak to be tender if the heat is low.
If the heat is medium to medium-high or high then the steak will definitely become chewy rather quickly. For instance, when you sear a steak on medium-high to high heat you don’t do it for like 15 minutes per side, no, you do it for a few minutes on each side of the steak then that’s it.
How do you not overcook thin steak?
Putting a short sear on both sides of a thin steak may be enough to fully cook thin steak but not overcook it. With a thin steak, the cooking time will be a lot shorter. Depending on how thin the steak is, you may not be able to use a thermometer to check the internal temperature.
Most steaks at the local store that are precut are probably half an inch thick which is still kinda thin. You can get even thinner steaks where they call them thin-cut steaks which are closer to a quarter inch thick as well. These steaks are best for only flipping once or less often because they will cook faster.
To get a thicker cut of about an inch thick you may have to ask for it to be custom cut. These steaks will not overcook so easily.
Depending on how thin the steak is, I only recommend putting a short sear on both sides of the steak. This is probably good enough to cook the steak fully through for a really thin steak. If you want the inside less done like a medium to medium-rare then you make sure that the short sear is extra short.
Try to minimize flipping as it causes the steak to cook faster, I would only flip once if possible.
I do not recommend the reverse sear method where you cook the steak first and then sear it last. This is because of the steak is thin then it will overcook the steak. Your best bet is to do a nice quick sear and be done.
What is steak doneness?
There are 5 different types of steak doneness: rare, medium-rare, medium-well, and well-done. Rare has the most red in the steak with it being the least cooked and well done has the most grey in the steak with it being the most cooked.
You can measure steak doneness with an internal thermometer. You will know the steak is to the right type of doneness once it reaches the correct internal temperature range. The internal temperature range for steak doneness is below.
- Rare: 120-125 degrees Fahrenheit
- Medium-rare: 125-130 degrees Fahrenheit
- Medium: 130-145 degrees Fahrenheit
- Medium-well: 145-160 degrees Fahrenheit
- Well done: 160-165 degrees Fahrenheit
This is just a guide, and everyone puts out a steak doneness cook temperature guide that is slightly different by a little bit when talking about the degrees of Fahrenheit for each doneness.
But, if you want your steak to be a specific doneness and you go too far over with the internal temperature then you can consider it overcooked and it will not be the way you like it.
Should you flip a steak multiple times?
Flipping a steak causes it to cook faster. When you flip a steak the surface facing up, it starts to cool and dry slightly. So, when you flip a steak constantly the surface of each side of the steak has less chance to cool and more to cook.
Some people seem to think that by flipping only once that you will get a better sear on each side. This is not true. By flipping the steak multiple times (about once every 45 seconds) you can turn up the heat slightly higher.
This will allow you to cook the steak faster with the same amount of searing and without burning or overcooking it. Because every 45 seconds each side of the steak gets a chance to cool down a little for 45 seconds before being heated up again.
How long do you let a steak sit before flipping it?
For a steak a half inch or less, let it sit and cook for about 1.5-2 minutes on slightly lower than normal heat to sear steak. Steaks that are at least an inch thick you can flip multiple times about every 30-45 seconds on slightly higher than normal heat to sear a steak.
How do you sear a steak without overcooking it?
To sear a steak without overcooking you have to cook it for a shorter period of time. Searing is something done on medium-high to high heat for only a few minutes per steak. The searing process will be slightly different depending on the thickness of the steak.
Is it better to cook steaks on high or low heat?
It is better to sear steaks on high heat and cook them internally on medium to medium-low heat. You want to cook steaks internally on a lower heat so that you do not overcook them for them to dry out and be chewy.
Should you close the lid when grilling steaks?
Close the lid when grilling a steak to broil it and cook it internally (like an oven). This is best when cooking a thicker steak but not so much for a thin steak as they are more prone to overcooking especially when broiling. When the lid of the grill is open you are doing more of a sear method.
Conclusion
I think the most important defining factor in how to not overcook a steak depends on the thickness of the steak. The thickness of the steak will let you know whether you should sear and broil (cook internally using radiant heat such as an oven) or sear.
If you liked this post you might be interested in my post about how to make steak taste better here.