How to Cook a Frozen Steak

Chef Ali here. Most of the meat that leaves Whitt's Place goes home to a freezer, so I hear this one a lot: it's five o'clock, the steaks are still frozen solid, is dinner ruined? Not even close. Depending on how much time you have and what you're making, there are three ways I cook a steak straight from the freezer, no thawing at all. Here's how I do each one, plus the right way to thaw when you do have the time.

Why cooking from frozen works

That gray band of overcooked meat under the crust is what happens when the outside of a steak sits at searing heat while the middle slowly catches up. A frozen steak fights that for you. The icy center stays cold while you build the crust, so by the time the middle reaches medium-rare, less of the outside has overshot. Done right, you get more edge-to-edge pink than a steak you rushed through thawing. The trade is time, and for the first two techniques you'll want a steak at least an inch thick (our standard cut), a cast iron skillet, and an instant-read thermometer. The thermometer is not optional here - the clock will lie to you.

Technique 1: Oven first, then a hard sear

This is the reverse sear, and it's the one I reach for when I have the time. It gives the most even cook and the best crust of the three; it just takes the longest. Unwrap the steak, brush off any frost, and set it on a wire rack in a sheet pan so hot air can get all the way around it. Slide it into a 275 degree oven. After 10 or 15 minutes the surface will have thawed, so pull the pan out for a second and season with coarse salt and fresh-cracked pepper (salt won't stick to ice, which is why you don't season at the start).

Bring the steak to about 10 degrees below where you want to end up: 115 for rare, 120 to 125 for medium-rare. A one-inch steak usually takes 45 minutes to an hour. While it finishes, get the cast iron ripping hot with a thin film of high-smoke-point oil, then sear 45 to 60 seconds per side. The slow oven dries the surface out, so the crust comes fast and deep. A reverse-seared steak barely needs to rest - give it a couple of minutes and slice.

Pros: The most even edge-to-edge pink of the three, and the deepest crust, because the slow oven dries the surface before the sear. The temperature climbs gently, so it's hard to overshoot, and the steak barely needs to rest.
Cons: The slowest route, close to an hour for a one-inch steak, and it ties up the oven and the stovetop both. You'll be checking with the thermometer a few times along the way.

Technique 2: Sear first, then finish in the oven

The faster route to the same dinner. Unwrap the steak and brush or pat off any frost - loose surface ice hitting hot oil is what splatters, so take a few seconds here. Pour enough oil into the skillet to coat the bottom, about an eighth of an inch, and get it good and hot until it shimmers. The extra oil matters more than usual because it bridges any spot where the frozen surface isn't sitting flat against the pan. Sear about 90 seconds per side, until you have a deep brown crust. The frozen center can't overcook while you do this, which is the whole trick.

Season the steak right after it comes out of the skillet, while the crust is hot and glistening - it grabs the salt and pepper just fine. Then set it on the wire rack in the sheet pan and finish in a 275 degree oven. A one-inch steak usually takes 20 to 30 minutes; check with the thermometer and pull it at 125 degrees for rare, 130 to 135 for medium-rare. Rest about five minutes and it's ready.

Pros: The fastest way to a proper thick steak, about half an hour start to finish. The sear happens first, so the back half is hands-off while you cook everything else.
Cons: A frozen surface meeting hot oil means more splatter, so brush that frost off well. The crust softens a touch during the oven finish, and the finish moves quicker than a reverse sear, so keep the thermometer handy.

Technique 3: Slice it thin while it's still frozen

This one isn't about steak-and-potatoes night, it's about cheesesteaks, stir fry, and fajitas, and the freezer is actually doing you a favor. Paper-thin slices are nearly impossible off a thawed steak - the meat squirms under the knife. A mostly-frozen steak slices like it came off a deli slicer. Let it sit on the counter just until a sharp knife will bite, usually 10 to 15 minutes, then shave it as thin as you can across the grain with your longest knife.

From there it's the fastest steak dinner there is: get a skillet screaming hot with a little oil, season the slices, and toss them in for two or three minutes until they're browned. No thermometer needed - slices that thin cook through in moments. Sirloin is my favorite for this, but it works with whatever steak is in the freezer.

Pros: The fastest dinner of the three, maybe 15 minutes counting the time on the counter, and no thermometer needed. The freezer is doing real work here: a thawed steak squirms under the knife, so frozen-firm is the only way to get deli-thin slices at home. It's also the one frozen method that makes sense for thin cuts like skirt and flank, which would thaw and overcook before a whole-steak method got going. And thin slices stretch one steak across a whole skillet of cheesesteaks or stir fry.
Cons: You give up the steakhouse experience - no rosy medium-rare center, no thick crusted slab, since slices that thin cook through. It also asks the most of your knife: long, sharp, and a steady hand.

If you have time to thaw instead

Planning ahead is still the gentlest route. Best is overnight in the fridge, on a plate on the bottom shelf to catch any drips. In a hurry, a cold water bath works: seal the steak in a leak-proof bag (the package it came in is fine if it's still sealed), submerge it in cold tap water, and a one-inch steak thaws in about 30 to 45 minutes. Swap the water if it loses its chill. What I'd steer you away from: thawing on the counter, hot water, and the microwave, which starts cooking the edges before the middle has let go of the freezer.

Which steaks this works for

The first two techniques want a thick steak: ribeye, New York strip, sirloin, filet. Thin cuts like skirt or flank thaw so fast in a water bath that there's no reason to cook them whole from frozen - though they shave beautifully with technique 3. And one exception worth repeating from my dry-aged steak guide: dry-aged beef shouldn't go in the freezer in the first place, so it never needs any of this.

The best part of all this is what it does to your week. Keep a few steaks from our freezer on hand and a proper steak dinner is somewhere between 10 minutes and an hour away with zero planning. You'll find every steak we cut on the preorder site, and you can choose frozen right on each cut when you order.