Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Make the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, whisk together melted butter, Dijon mustard, Kinder's Cowboy Butter Seasoning, chopped parsley, and lemon juice until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning or lemon as needed. Set aside (keep warm or reheat gently before serving).
- Season the steaks: Pat ribeyes completely dry with paper towels. Press Kinder's Cowboy Butter Seasoning generously into both sides of each steak. Let sit at room temperature 15–30 minutes.
- Heat the skillet: Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 full minutes until very hot (a drop of water should evaporate instantly). Add neutral oil and let it shimmer.
- Sear the steaks: Add steaks to the hot skillet — you should get an aggressive sear immediately. Cook 3–4 minutes per side for medium-rare (internal temp 130–135°F), adjusting time for preferred doneness.
- Baste: In the last 60 seconds of cooking, add 2 Tbsp butter to the pan. As it foams, tilt the pan and continuously spoon the hot butter over the steaks repeatedly for the full minute.
- Rest: Transfer steaks to a cutting board and rest 5–10 minutes (tent loosely with foil if desired).
- Serve: Slice against the grain if desired, or serve whole. Drizzle or serve the Cowboy Butter Dipping Sauce on the side.
Nutrition
Notes
- Preheat the full five minutes — Cast iron needs time to reach an even, intense heat. Five minutes over medium-high is the minimum. Test it: a drop of water should evaporate instantly on contact. Anything less and you're steaming instead of searing.
- Bring steaks to room temperature — Pull ribeyes from the fridge 30 minutes before cooking. Cold meat dropped into a hot pan immediately drops the surface temperature. Less heat means less crust and more of that gray overcooked band just under the surface.
- Use a thermometer, not a timer — Timing varies by pan, stove, and steak thickness. Pull at 130°F for medium-rare, 140°F for medium. Ribeyes are best at medium-rare — that's where the intramuscular fat renders properly and the flavor peaks.
- The butter baste is the finish — Continuously spoon hot butter over the steak for the full 60 seconds. It cooks the top from above, blooms the seasoning, and builds a glossy, golden crust you can't replicate any other way. Don't skip it.
- Rest before you cut — Five to ten minutes on a cutting board lets the juices redistribute. Cut too early and they run straight onto the plate.
- Keep the dipping sauce warm — Make it first and hold it over very low heat or a bowl of warm water while the steaks cook. Cold butter sauce breaks fast.
- Creamy mashed potatoes are the natural companion — starchy, rich, and built to catch the cowboy butter dipping sauce as it pools. Roasted asparagus with a drizzle of that same sauce ties the plate together without competing for attention.
- Leftover ribeye has a strong second life as steak tacos. Slice thin against the grain, warm briefly in a skillet, and serve in corn tortillas with pico de gallo. Kinder's Chipotle Lime Dipping Sauce is the right finish there.
- The cowboy butter dipping sauce also works as a finisher on roasted potatoes or grilled bread — make a full batch even if you're only cooking two steaks.
- Cooked ribeyes keep refrigerated for up to 3 days. For best results, reheat in a 275°F oven on a wire rack for 10–12 minutes, then finish with a 60-second sear in a hot cast-iron pan to re-crisp the crust. Avoid the microwave — it heats unevenly and toughens the meat.
- The cowboy butter dipping sauce keeps refrigerated for up to 1 week. Reheat gently in a small saucepan over low heat, whisking to bring it back together. Don't let it boil.