Pan-Seared Strip Steak

This pan-seared strip steak has a deep, dark, crispy crust and a juicy, evenly cooked center, with a small gray band under the crust, which is normal for a hard pan sear. Finished with garlic-herb butter, it’s incredibly rich, flavorful, and surprisingly simple to make at home.

In this recipe, I show you one of the easiest ways to sear strip steak in a pan: no butter basting, no complicated techniques. The goal is simple: build a good crust, control the internal temperature, and cook the steak as close as possible to your target doneness.

I keep the searing step simple. After the steak comes off the heat, I finish it with either compound butter or a quick garlic-herb butter made in the same pan while the steak rests. Both options give you rich garlic-herb butter flavor without making the searing process harder than it needs to be.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Ingredient Notes

• Strip steak: I developed this recipe for a boneless strip steak (New York Strip) about 1 to 1 1/2 inches (2.5-3.8 cm) thick. A steak about 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) thick gives you more room for error and makes it easier to build a good crust without overcooking the inside. When buying strip steak, choose a well-marbled cut; it will be more flavorful, juicy, and tender.
• Oil: Use a neutral, high-smoke-point oil for searing. I highly recommend refined avocado oil because it has a neutral flavor and a very high smoke point.
• Kosher salt: Salt is the most important seasoning here. A good rule is to use about 1% of the steak’s weight in salt, or up to 1.5% if you prefer a stronger, more seasoned flavor.
• Black pepper (optional): Finely ground black pepper works best. You can season the steak before cooking or add the pepper after searing if you’re worried about it burning.
• Compound butter: A simple mix of softened butter, garlic, herbs, salt, and pepper. It gives you almost the same garlic-herb butter flavor as butter basting, but with less effort and more control over the steak’s doneness.
  • Butter, garlic, and rosemary, thyme, or a mix (optional): This is the alternative finish to compound butter in this recipe. While the steak rests, use the same pan you seared it in. Briefly cook the garlic and rosemary, then add the butter and let it melt. Spoon the garlic-herb butter over the sliced steak before serving.

Tools You’ll Need

• Wire rack and baking sheet (optional): Useful for dry brining. A wire rack lifts the steak off the baking sheet, allowing air to circulate on all sides so the surface dries more evenly.
• Pan: A cast-iron skillet is my top choice. That’s what I use most of the time, and it’s the pan I used when developing this recipe. A carbon-steel pan or a heavy-bottomed stainless steel skillet works too. Avoid nonstick pans; they’re not designed for the high heat needed for a proper sear.
• Tongs: For flipping and handling the steak safely.
• Meat thermometer: An instant-read thermometer works well; a leave-in probe gives you even more control.

How to Pan-Sear a Strip Steak

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

2. Optional: Make the compound butter. While the steak is dry-brining, mix softened butter with salt, black pepper, garlic, and parsley or rosemary. Set aside, or chill until needed.

3. Heat the pan. Place a heavy pan over medium-high heat for 3-4 minutes, add a high-smoke-point oil, and let it heat for about 1 more minute. Pat the steak dry again and season with black pepper, if using.

4. Sear the steak. Start by rendering the fat cap for 60-90 seconds, then lay the steak flat and sear, flipping every 30 seconds. Keep cooking until it’s about 20°F (11°C) below your target doneness (see the temperature chart below), then remove it from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes.

5. Finish with aromatics. While the steak rests, you can leave it as is, top it with compound butter, or prepare a quick garlic-herb butter in the same pan. For the pan finish, lightly brown the garlic, then add the butter and rosemary or thyme. Let the butter melt while the steak finishes resting.
6. Slice and serve. Once the steak has rested for 5 minutes, thinly slice it. If you made the garlic-herb butter, spoon it over the slices before serving.

Pan-Seared Strip Steak Temperature Chart

These guidelines apply only to strip steaks, pan-seared exactly as described in this recipe. Use this chart as a pull-temperature guide. The pull temperature is the internal temperature at which you remove the steak from the pan, not the final temperature after resting.

With this recipe, I expect about 20°F (11°C) of carryover cooking during a 5-minute rest for steaks 1 to 1 1/2 inches (2.5-3.8 cm) thick. That’s why I remove the steak from the pan before it reaches the final target temperature.

Desired doneness	Pull at internal temp	Final temp after resting
Rare	105°F (41°C)	125°F (52°C)
Medium-Rare	115°F (46°C)	135°F (57°C)
Medium	125°F (52°C)	145°F (63°C)
Medium-Well	135°F (57°C)	155°F (68°C)
Well-Done	145°F (63°C)	165°F (74°C)

Recipe Success Tips

When to Salt Strip Steak

A dry steak surface is the key to a great crust, and moisture is the biggest enemy of a good sear. After you salt the steak, the salt pulls moisture to the surface. Over the next 40–60 minutes, most of that salty liquid gets reabsorbed into the meat, and the exposed surface starts to dry.

Here’s the main point: salt your strip steak at least 1 hour before cooking, then place it on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Don’t leave it flat on a plate or cutting board, because the bottom can sit in the moisture pulled out by the salt. A wire rack lets air circulate on all sides, which helps the surface dry more evenly before the steak hits the pan. That way, you don’t waste the first minutes of searing evaporating surface moisture instead of building a crust.

For even better results, place the strip steak uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 4-6 hours. This is the best option if you want a great sear while minimizing the gray band inside. Just keep in mind that the longer the steak sits salted, the larger the gray band forms under the crust (no matter how you cook the steak).

From my testing, 4-6 hours in the fridge is the sweet spot; it significantly boosts flavor, dries the surface nicely, and minimizes the gray band. That said, if you don’t care about a really thick gray band and want even more flavor, leave the salted strip steak in the fridge overnight. I often do this when I want a deeper, saltier flavor.

Avoid searing a strip steak between 2 and 30 minutes after salting. During that window, the surface is wet, and that will ruin your crust.

For more details on timing and technique, see my article: How to Salt a Steak.

Use the Right Pan and Oil

Do not sear the steak in butter. Butter burns too quickly over the kind of heat you need for a proper sear. For pan-searing, always start with a neutral, high-smoke-point oil.

Your pan needs to reach at least 400°F (204°C) and ideally closer to 500°F (260°C), so you can’t use just any oil. You need a high-smoke-point oil. Refined avocado oil is one of my favorites and the one I use most often. It has a high smoke point and a neutral flavor. If you don’t have it, the table below lists other oils that work well for pan-searing.

For the pan, choose one with a thick bottom that holds heat well and can handle high temperatures. A cast-iron skillet is my go-to for a really hard sear, but a good, heavy-bottomed stainless steel or carbon steel pan works too. Avoid nonstick pans, as they aren’t designed for the high heat needed to cook a steak safely.

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

Cook to Temperature, Not Time

Treat recipe times as rough estimates, not exact guidelines. Cooking time varies based on several factors, including the thickness of your strip steak and the equipment used, such as the stove, burner power, and pan type. That’s why I always recommend using a meat thermometer.

If you don’t own one yet, get an instant-read thermometer. It’s one of the simplest and most affordable ways to quickly check the steak’s internal temperature and know when to remove it from the pan.

If you want even more control, use a leave-in probe thermometer or a wireless thermometer. These let you monitor the steak’s internal temperature from start to finish as it cooks, which makes it much easier to hit your target doneness. They cost more than a basic instant-read thermometer, but they’re worth it if you cook steak often.

A meat thermometer is the most reliable way to hit the doneness you want consistently.

How to Get a Great Crust on Strip Steak

For the best crust, focus on three things:

1. A properly preheated pan
2. A dry steak surface
3. Frequent flipping

The pan is the most important one. Without enough heat, the steak won’t brown properly. For pan-searing, use a heavy pan and preheat it until the surface reaches about 400–500°F (204–260°C). That gives you enough heat to build a good crust before the inside overcooks.

The second key is a dry steak surface. Moisture is the enemy of browning. When you place a wet steak in the pan, that moisture has to evaporate first before the surface can start browning. That wastes valuable time and heat, especially with thinner cuts, where you don’t have much room for error.

That’s why, right before the steak goes into the pan, always pat it dry again with paper towels. Even if you dry-brined it earlier, moisture can still collect on the surface while the pan heats up. A dry surface browns much faster and gives you a much better crust.

Finally, flip the steak every 30 seconds. Frequent flipping helps the crust develop more evenly.

Why I Skip Butter Basting for This Recipe

I’m skipping butter basting in this recipe because it makes pan-searing harder, especially with thinner steaks. It looks simple, but in practice, it gives you more things to control at the worst possible moment. You have to add butter, lower the heat, tilt the pan, spoon hot fat over the meat, and keep an eye on the internal temperature. That leaves less room for error and makes it much easier to overshoot your target doneness.

Butter basting also keeps the top side of the steak hotter between flips. Normally, when you flip a steak every 30 seconds, the side facing up gets a short moment away from direct contact with the pan, so it cools slightly. But when you keep spooning hot butter over it, that cooling effect is much smaller. As a result, the steak cooks faster, the outer layers stay hotter, and the carryover rise is stronger once the steak comes off the heat.

In my opinion, it’s not worth the extra effort. I also don’t like how much butter it uses. You can get almost the same rich garlic-herb butter flavor much more easily by using compound butter or making a quick garlic-herb butter in the pan while the steak rests.

But if you still want to butter-baste your steak, here are a few tips. Use a thicker steak, ideally about 1 1/2 inches (3.8 cm) thick, so you have more room for error. Add the butter when the steak reaches about 90°F (32°C) if you’re aiming for medium-rare/medium, or about 100°F (38°C) if you’re aiming for medium/medium-well. Then lower the heat so the butter doesn’t burn.

Once the butter melts, baste the steak, or tilt the pan, place the steak in the pooled butter, and flip it every 30 seconds. Keep going until the steak is about 25°F (14°C) below your target doneness, then remove it from the pan and let it rest for 5 minutes.

Easy Ways to Finish the Strip Steak After Searing

Here are my favorite options:

1. Compound Butter

This is the easiest option. Place a small amount of compound butter on top of the steak right after it comes out of the pan. As the steak rests, the butter melts on the surface, adding rich garlic-herb butter flavor with almost no extra effort.

This works especially well if you make the compound butter ahead of time. I like to keep a batch in the fridge so it’s ready whenever I cook steak. What’s great is that you can make it in many different ways, so it’s easy to experiment with different herbs, spices, and other ingredients until you find the flavor you like most.

Bonus: you can use it for way more than just steak – I love using it for quick garlic bread or serving it with other kinds of meat.

2. Quick Garlic-Herb Butter

This is the second option and a simple alternative to compound butter. While the steak rests, use the same pan you seared it in. Lower the heat to medium and add a few peeled garlic cloves. Sear them until lightly browned, then add a couple of sprigs of rosemary or thyme and 2 tablespoons (30 g) of unsalted butter. Once the butter melts and turns lightly golden, turn off the heat and pour it over the sliced steak.

This option is best if you want more of that pan-finished flavor: lightly browned garlic, crispy herbs, and warm golden butter spooned over the steak right before serving.

3. Simple Resting Butter

If you don’t want to make compound butter or cook aromatics, just add a small piece of plain unsalted butter to the hot steak as it rests. It won’t give you the same garlic-herb flavor as the other two options, but it still makes the steak taste better with almost no effort.

For most home cooks, these finishing methods are a better choice than butter basting. You still get the rich buttery flavor, but with less effort, less stress, and a much lower risk of overcooking the steak.

Don’t Ignore Carryover Cooking

The steak doesn’t stop cooking the moment you take it out of the pan. As it rests, the internal temperature continues to rise because heat from the outer layers keeps moving toward the center. This is carryover cooking, and with fast, high-heat methods like pan-searing, the increase can be significant, from 15°F to even 30°F (8°C to 17°C), depending on the steak’s thickness, cooking temperature, and resting time.

That’s why removing the steak from the pan at the right moment and letting it rest matters. If you slice the whole steak right after cooking, you’ll release heat quickly and significantly reduce the effect of carryover cooking. So please don’t touch the steak while it rests unless your thermometer shows it’s already at your target doneness and you want to stop it from cooking any further.

Keep in mind that this kind of high carryover increase usually happens with fast, very hot cooking methods like pan-searing or grilling over direct heat. Don’t follow these exact guidelines for gentler cooking methods, such as sous vide or reverse searing.

For more details, check out my guide: Resting Steak After Cooking: Why You Should and for How Long.

FAQs

How long does it take to sear a strip steak on the stove?

With this recipe, a 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick strip steak usually takes me about 4–5 minutes to reach an internal temperature of around 115°F (46°C). After about 5 minutes of resting, it rises to medium-rare, around 135°F (57°C).

A 1 1/2-inch (3.8 cm) strip steak usually takes closer to 6–8 minutes to reach a similar pull temperature. But use these times only as a rough guide because the exact timing depends on the steak’s thickness, how long it rests, the pan you’re using, the pan temperature, and the power of your stove or burner.

For the best results, use a meat thermometer and remove the steak based on temperature, not time.

When do I remove the strip steak from the pan?

With this recipe, there’s a lot of carryover cooking, so remove the steak from the pan about 20°F (11°C) below your target temperature and let it rest for 5 minutes. For example, for medium-rare, around 135°F (57°C), remove the steak from the pan at about 115°F (46°C).

For all doneness levels, use the temperature chart above.

What is the best doneness for pan-seared strip steak?

Medium-rare to medium is, in my opinion, the best doneness range for strip steak, depending on how well-marbled it is.

For a leaner strip steak, I’d aim for medium-rare. For a really well-marbled strip steak, I’d consider cooking it slightly more, to around 140–142°F (60–61°C). That’s still the lower end of medium, but the extra heat helps melt more of the fat without pushing the steak too far.

Here’s why: a good strip steak has a decent amount of intramuscular fat (marbling). When the steak is undercooked, that fat stays firm and waxy. It starts to melt more significantly at about 130°F (54°C), so cooking the steak to medium-rare or even the lower end of medium gives that fat enough time to soften and render while keeping the steak tender, juicy, and flavorful.

Definitely avoid going too rare, since the fat won’t have enough time to melt properly. On the other hand, cooking a strip steak past medium will start to dry it out, making it noticeably less tender and less flavorful.

To learn more about the different doneness levels, check out my definitive guide to steak doneness, where I explain each level in detail and include examples, descriptions, and temperature charts.

Can I use a thicker strip steak, for example, 2 inches (5 cm) thick?

This recipe works best for strip steaks between 1 and 1 1/2 inches (2.5–3.8 cm) thick. A 1 1/2-inch (3.8 cm) steak is ideal because it gives you enough time to build a good crust without overcooking the center.

A strip steak that’s closer to 2 inches (5 cm) thick, or even thicker, shouldn’t be cooked only over direct high heat. The problem is simple: with a steak that thick, the outside cooks much faster than the center. You’ll often end up with a very dark crust, a thicker overcooked gray band near the surface, and a center that’s still too red or undercooked. With steaks much thicker than 2 inches (5 cm), the crust can even start to burn before the inside reaches the right doneness.

The photo below is a good example of what happens when you cook a steak thicker than 2 inches (5 cm) using only a pan. This is a thick filet mignon, but the same problem applies to a thick strip steak. Notice the contrast between the red center and the more cooked meat closer to the surface.

For thick steaks like that, the most reliable option is a two-stage cooking method. You can cook the steak low and slow first, then sear it hard at the end for a crust, which is the reverse sear method. Or you can do the opposite: sear the steak first, then finish it gently in the oven at a lower temperature, which is the forward sear method. Sous vide also works, but it takes much longer with a thick cut like this.

Is a gray band normal on a pan-seared strip steak?

Yes, it’s completely normal. Compared with gentler methods like sous vide or reverse searing, hot-and-fast pan-searing creates a more noticeable gray band under the crust. That’s because the steak is cooked over very high direct heat, so the meat near the surface gets much hotter than the center.

During dry brining, the steak sits uncovered in the fridge, exposed to air. The surface dries out, and some oxidation happens. Salt also speeds up that color change. Add very high pan heat on top of that, and you have the perfect setup for a thicker gray band under the crust.

That said, you can minimize the gray band, and this recipe already includes the most effective ways to do that. The two most important ones are shorter dry-brining, around 4–6 hours instead of overnight, and flipping the steak every 30 seconds while searing. Both help you build a good crust while keeping the gray band as thin as possible.

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More Pan-Seared Steak Recipes To Try

• Pan-Seared Ribeye Steak
• Pan-Seared Filet Mignon
• Pan-Seared Picanha Steak
• Pan-Seared Flat Iron Steak
• Pan-Seared Porterhouse Steak