Pan-Seared Filet Mignon

This pan-seared filet mignon recipe is simple and made entirely on the stovetop – no oven required. A hot pan builds a deep, crispy crust, while a simple garlic-herb butter finish adds rich flavor without making the cooking process more complicated than it needs to be.

Pan-searing is one of the quickest ways to cook filet mignon, but it is also one of the least forgiving methods for beginners. The main challenge is building a deep, browned crust without pushing the center past your target doneness, especially with thinner steaks around 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick.

Filet mignon is naturally extremely tender, but it is also very lean. Compared with fattier cuts like ribeye or well-marbled strip steak, it has much less intramuscular fat (marbling) to keep it juicy. Once it’s cooked much past 140°F (60°C), it starts to taste noticeably drier. That’s why precise control of doneness matters so much with this cut.

Many recipes rely on basting with butter to boost the steak’s flavor, but I’m not a big fan of this technique in general. It makes the cooking process harder, speeds up cooking when the steak is already close to the target doneness, and increases the risk of overcooking. There are simpler ways to achieve a similar flavor boost with much less effort and better control over the final result.

To keep this recipe as simple and controlled as possible, I skip the butter basting and finish the steak with compound butter instead. I explain what butter basting is (and why I recommend skipping it for this recipe) in the FAQs.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Ingredient Notes

• Filet mignon: Aim for a tenderloin beef filet 1 to 1 1/2 inches (2.5–3.8 cm) thick. That’s the sweet spot for building a good crust without overcooking the inside if you’re aiming for medium-rare to medium. Choose well-trimmed, evenly shaped pieces; avoid poorly trimmed ones with silver skin still attached.
• Oil: Use high-smoke-point oil for searing. I like refined avocado oil because it has a neutral flavor and a high smoke point of about 500°F (260°C), which works great for searing over high heat. Don’t sear the steak in butter; it burns quickly over high heat.
• Salt: Use a coarse or flaky salt, such as kosher salt or Maldon sea salt. Avoid fine table salt because it’s much easier to overseason the steak with it. Use about 1% of the steak’s weight in salt, or up to 1.5-2% if you prefer a stronger, more seasoned flavor. For the most consistent results, measure the salt by weight, not volume, because different salts vary widely in density.
• Black pepper (optional): Use finely ground black pepper. It stays close to the surface, helping the steak make better contact with the pan. Coarsely cracked pepper can create small gaps between the meat and the pan, making it harder to get an even sear.
• Compound butter: A flavored butter made with softened butter, herbs, aromatics, spices, or other seasonings. It’s my preferred way to finish filet mignon because it adds rich butter flavor while the steak rests, without making the searing step harder to control. For this recipe, I highly recommend garlic-herb compound butter, but you can use another type if you prefer. Make it using the quick bowl method, or roll it into a log and store it in the fridge for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. For more flavor ideas and step-by-step instructions, see my full list of steak butter recipes.

Tools You’ll Need

• Wire rack with baking sheet (optional): Useful for dry-brining the steak. The rack keeps the steak raised, allowing air to circulate around it and dry the meat’s surface more evenly. The baking sheet underneath catches any moisture the salt draws out of the steak and keeps your fridge clean.
• Pan: I highly recommend a cast-iron skillet because it retains heat well and helps form a deep crust, but a carbon-steel pan or a heavy-bottomed stainless steel skillet works too. Avoid nonstick pans because they’re not designed for the high heat needed for a proper sear.
• Tongs: Use long, comfortable tongs that let you flip the steak easily while keeping your hands away from the hot pan and oil splatter.
• Meat thermometer: An instant-read thermometer is great for quick temperature checks, while a leave-in probe thermometer lets you monitor the steak from start to finish. Both work well, so use whichever one you’re more comfortable with.

How to Pan-Sear Filet Mignon

Here’s a bird’s-eye view of the process, but to ensure success, I highly recommend following the step-by-step instructions, with photos and ingredient quantities, in the recipe card below. Also, be sure to read the “Recipe Success Tips” and FAQs section below.

1. Prep the steak: Pat the filet mignon dry with paper towels, then season it on all sides with kosher salt. Place it uncovered on a wire rack set over a baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or ideally 4–6 hours, for the best balance of flavor, crust, and a minimal gray band. Remove it from the refrigerator 15 minutes before cooking.

2. Optional: Make the garlic-herb compound butter while the steak is dry-brining. You can keep it simple and mix everything in a bowl or roll it into a log if you want to store it and slice off portions more easily later. For both versions, see my step-by-step garlic-herb compound butter recipe.

3. Preheat the pan: Place the pan over medium-high heat and let it heat for 3–4 minutes. Add a high-smoke-point oil and let it heat for about 1 more minute.
4. While the oil heats, pat the filet mignon dry one more time with paper towels. If using black pepper, season the steak with finely ground black pepper right before searing.
5. Sear the steak: Carefully place the filet mignon in the hot pan and press it down gently for full contact. Sear, flipping every 30 seconds, until the internal temperature reaches about 25°F (14°C) below your target doneness (see the temperature chart below).
6. Then turn the steak onto its side and sear the edges for up to 1 minute total, rotating as needed. After searing the edges, remove the steak from the pan and let it rest uncovered for 5 minutes.

7. Finish the steak: While the steak rests, you can leave it as is, top it with compound butter, or make a quick garlic-herb butter in the same pan.
   • If using compound butter, place it on top of the hot steak so it melts as the steak rests.
   • If making garlic-herb butter in the pan, spoon it over the sliced steak right before serving.

Pan-Seared Filet Mignon Temperature Chart

These guidelines apply only to filet mignon seared in a pan from start to finish as described in this recipe.

Use the “Temp Before Searing Sides” column as your guide. Once the steak reaches that temperature, turn it onto its side and sear the sides for about 1 minute total, rotating as needed. Then remove the steak from the pan and let it rest uncovered for 5 minutes. The “Final Temp” column shows the expected temperature after resting.

With this method, a filet mignon about 1 to 1 1/2 inches (2.5 to 3.8 cm) thick will continue to rise by about 25°F (14°C) from the time you start searing the sides to the end of the rest. That increase comes from the final minute of side-searing plus carryover cooking during the 5-minute rest, which is why the chart tells you to start searing the sides about 25°F (14°C) below your target final temperature.

Desired doneness	Temp before searing sides	Final temp after resting
Rare	100°F (38°C)	125°F (52°C)
Medium-Rare	110°F (43°C)	135°F (57°C)
Medium	120°F (49°C)	145°F (63°C)
Medium-Well	130°F (54°C)	155°F (68°C)
Well-Done	140°F (60°C)	165°F (74°C)

Tips for the Best Pan-Seared Filet Mignon

• Dry-brine the steak for 4–6 hours for a much better flavor and crust, but avoid going much longer if you want to keep the gray band from getting thicker.
• Preheat the pan until it’s very hot, around 450-500°F (232-260°C).
• Use a high-smoke-point oil for searing.
• Do not sear the steak in regular butter.
• Pat the steak dry right before searing to remove surface moisture.
• Flip the steak every 30 seconds for more even cooking.
• Use a meat thermometer instead of relying on cooking time.
• Skip the butter basting and finish the steak with compound butter instead.
• Cook the steak on the flat sides until it reaches about 25°F (14°C) below your target doneness. Then lightly sear the sides for no longer than 1 minute and remove the steak from the pan.
• Do not skip the rest. Let the steak rest uncovered for 5 minutes. As it rests, its internal temperature will continue to rise due to carryover cooking, bringing the steak close to your target doneness.

For more details on why these steps matter, see the Recipe Success Tips section in my complete guide to pan-searing steak on the stove.

FAQs

Can I sear a 2-inch (5 cm) thick filet mignon in a pan?

Technically, yes, but I don’t recommend cooking a 2-inch (5 cm) thick filet mignon in a pan from start to finish.

The problem is that a steak this thick starts to cook unevenly over direct, high heat. The outside cooks much faster than the center, so by the time the middle reaches your target doneness, you can end up with a very dark crust, a thicker gray band under the surface, and a center that is still not as evenly cooked as it should be.

When you slice into a thick steak cooked this way, the doneness gradient is usually more noticeable. It goes from gray near the surface, through some pink, to a red or undercooked center (see the photo below).

For thicker filet mignon steaks, it’s better to combine a hard sear with a slower cooking method. Use a pan-sear-and-oven-finish method, reverse sear, or sous vide instead. These methods give you better control over the inside while still letting you build a good crust.

What can I use instead of refined avocado oil for searing filet mignon?

If you don’t have refined avocado oil, use another neutral fat with a high smoke point. Here are the best options:

Type of Fat	Smoke Point ºF	Smoke Point ºC
Refined Avocado Oil	520ºF	270ºC
Refined Safflower Oil	510ºF	266ºC
Beef Tallow	480ºF	250ºC
Pecan Oil	470ºF	243ºC
Refined Peanut Oil	450ºF	232°C

What is butter basting, and do I need to do it for filet mignon?

In short, no. I don’t recommend butter basting for this recipe because it makes the cooking process harder and increases the risk of overcooking the steak.

Butter basting is a pan-searing technique where you add butter, garlic, and herbs to the hot pan near the end of cooking, then repeatedly spoon the melted butter over the steak. It adds rich butter flavor, lightly infuses the steak with garlic and herbs, and can help build a slightly better crust.

It looks simple in videos, but in practice, it gives you more things to control at the worst possible moment. You have to lower the heat, add the butter, tilt the pan, spoon the hot butter over the steak, flip as needed, and keep an eye on the internal temperature all at the same time. That’s a lot to manage when the steak is already cooking quickly. One small mistake is enough to overshoot your target doneness.

Butter basting also changes how the steak cooks. When you flip a steak every 30 seconds, the side facing up gets a short break from direct contact with the hot pan and cools slightly. But when you keep spooning hot butter over it, that cooling effect is much smaller. The steak cooks faster, the outer layers get hotter, and the carryover cooking rise is stronger after you remove it from the pan.

That matters even more with filet mignon. Since it doesn’t have much intramuscular fat, it doesn’t benefit from higher doneness the same way a well-marbled ribeye does. Once you push it too far, it quickly becomes less juicy and less tender.

That’s why I prefer to keep the method simple: sear the filet mignon first to build a good crust, then finish it with compound butter as it rests. You still get that rich garlic-herb butter flavor, but with less effort and much better control over the final doneness.

What is the best doneness for filet mignon?

Filet mignon is a very lean cut, so you can cook it rare or even blue if you like. Personally, I think it’s best around medium-rare, about 135°F (57°C).

Filet mignon is extremely lean, with very little intramuscular fat (marbling) to melt, so it doesn’t benefit from longer cooking. It’s naturally tender but not very juicy, and once you push it past medium, it dries out quickly. That’s very different from cuts like ribeye, which stay juicy even at medium doneness thanks to all that marbling.

If you’ve never eaten filet mignon before, I recommend sticking with medium-rare, or medium at most, if you prefer a slightly less pink center. Just don’t cook it any further than that. Push it too far, and it will lose what makes filet mignon special in the first place, its extremely tender texture.

Are beef tenderloin and filet mignon the same?

Not exactly. Filet mignon is a tenderloin steak, but not every tenderloin steak is filet mignon. The photo below gives you a quick visual example. I explained the difference in detail in my full guide to beef tenderloin.

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More Pan-Seared Steak Recipes To Try

• Pan-Seared Ribeye Steak
• Pan-Seared Top Blade Steak
• Pan-Seared Hanger Steak
• Pan-Seared Flat Iron Steak
• Pan-Seared Porterhouse Steak