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The Best Prime Rib Recipe You Should Totally Make

December 17, 2023

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Making prime rib feels difficult, doesn’t it? Just the sound of it is intimidating. Two obvious reasons for that are how expensive it is (hate to mess up an $80 6lb roast!) and how complicated most recipes are. Everyone seems to have this trick or that to make the best prime rib recipe, but how necessary is all that?

The Best Prime Rib Recipe You Can Do Perfectly

Cutting Board | Towel (similar) | Meat Thermometer

In my opinion, not necessary at all. I’ve been making my prime rib this same way year after year, and it’s nothing but smiles, praise, and satisfied “Ahs” after the meal. This recipe makes it so easy, you’ll be making prime rib on a random tuesday!

The Best Prime Rib Recipe You Can Do Perfectly

Knife Sharpener | Knife

Prime rib has a lot of flavor all on its own. It even has a small amount of naturally occurring sodium, so anything I do to it is to not mask its amazing flavor, and complement it instead. I make a simple seasoning “paste” for the outside of the roast, with all real ingredients and no spice powders. You don’t want the outside fully covered in it – just rub it all around the outside in a thin layer.

The Best Prime Rib Recipe You Can Do Perfectly

Kitchen Sources

We start with a hot roast for 10 minutes at 500 degrees, then drop the temperature to 350 and lay a loose piece of foil over top to keep the outside from over browning as it comes up to temp. Once you hit 130 internal, take out and let rest, and you’ll have the most tender, juicy prime rib of your life.

The Best Prime Rib Recipe You Can Do Perfectly
The Best Prime Rib Recipe You Can Do Perfectly
Print Recipe
5 from 5 votes

The Best Prime Rib Recipe You Can Do Perfectly Every Time

An easy prime rib you can nail every time. Great balance of flavor, perfectly roasted and juicy. Great for any holiday, special occasion, or a slow Tuesday afternoon.
Course: Main Course
Servings: 5

Ingredients

  • 6 lb Prime rib roast bone-in preferable

For the Seasoning Paste

  • 1 tbsp avocado oil
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1 tbsp coarse grain mustard
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 5-6 cloves garlic peeled, stem trimmed
  • 2 tsp peppercorns
  • 2 tsp rosemary needles dried
  • 2 tsp coriander seed
  • 2 tsp fennel seed

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 500 degrees, and place a low-sided oven-safe pan inside as it heats. Cast iron is preferable, but stainless steel also works.
  • Trim any excess fat from the prime rib roast and set aside.
  • In a mortar and pestle, combine the garlic cloves, peppercorns, rosemary needles, coriander seed, and fennel seed. Smash together until a paste forms. Add the remaining ingredients and combine until a uniform paste is achieved.
  • Evenly rub the paste on the outside of the roast. It should not be a thick coating. Place a wire-lead thermometer into the center of the roast.
  • Once the oven is up to temp, quickly remove the pan from the oven and close the door to prevent heat loss. Place the roast, bone-side down into the pan. Quickly place the pan back in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Open the oven door and reduce the temperature to 350. Loosely lay a piece of foil over top the roast and close the oven door.
  • Roat to desired temperature – I find that 130 in the center tends to be safest for most crowds, delivering a good medium rare in the center and more medium toward the ends. For rare, remove at 115 or 120 internal. Carve and serve warm.

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What do you think?

  1. Andrea says:

    5 stars
    Hi, just wanted to comment on how delicious this roast is. The seasonings are so good! I made 2 6lb roasts (bone-in) for the holiday, and followed the directions almost completely. Added a few minutes to the initial bake to account for the extra roast, and forgot to tent them for the next 10 minutes or so, but it didn’t matter. The roast was flavorful and juicy. We had one that ended up medium rare and one slightly more medium, which was perfect for our crowd. I enjoyed this recipe more than the ones where the oven gets turned off. Less room for error if someone opens the oven too soon. I forget how long it took overall, but was pretty close to the 10-15 minutes per pound, suggested in the comments. I checked after an hour, and it took probably about 30 more minutes.
    Will be making this again, thanks for the recipe.

  2. Ro says:

    5 stars
    Amazing delicious! We had my son and his wife over for Christmas dinner and prepared the prime rib with your paste and we got amazing flavor! We will definitely keep this recipe, thank you!!

  3. michelle says:

    Merry Christmas! The honey, mustard and fennel grabbed me–gonna give this a try on our 7 ribber today!

  4. Ota says:

    5 stars
    You the best in the west

  5. Joyce says:

    Awesome roast. Made and it was delicious

  6. Dennis Stamos says:

    I’m trying this!
    A few of questions:
    1. Are the directions the same if it’s boneless?
    2. Will it make a huge difference if I use olive oil instead of avocado?
    3. Should I cook the fat trimmings with the prime rib to improve the Au jus ?
    4. Any recommendations to make the au jus a bit thicker?

    • Chris says:

      1- Yes
      2- possible you may get more smoke in the oven and some burned oil on your pan, but the roast itself would be fine.
      3- Definitely could
      4- I didn’t take the time to make a jus here, but all you’d need to do is add stock and thicken it with your thickener of choice. If you are grain free like we are, then I would cook some finely diced vegetables up in the pan with the stock until completely tender – like 1 cup of vegetables (onions, celery, carrots, squash, garlic, parsnips) for every quart of stock, then blend in the blender and pass through a medium mesh sieve if you want a smoother texture.

  7. Ron Green says:

    Where are you getting a 6lb bone-in prime rib roast for $80.00? Try $165.00 at Cub in Mn.

  8. Venus C Walker says:

    Will be trying this recipe for my Prime Rib this Christmas.

  9. Michael Krug says:

    5 stars
    I am going to try this recipe,we love prime rib ☺️❗

  10. More salt depending on the roast size?

  11. Thomas A Temofonte III says:

    Mine is also easy. I follow the recipe that calls for a light butter and herbs de provence spice only (maybe a little salt and cracked pepper). Cook at 500 degrees, 5 minutes per pound, then turn off oven and walk away for 2 hours (do not open door). Perfect every time and minimal effort. I have dine this way for years and it never fails me.

  12. David says:

    I do mine pretty much the same but I use a formula of wgt.x 5=cooking time. Eg: 6lb roast x 5 =30 minutes cooking in hot oven.Then turn oven OFF COMPLETELY AND DO NOT OPEN DOOR until temp is 135. PERFECT!! Except there is always 1o2 that don’t appreciate and consider this under cooked. To solve this problem Working as a butcher 35 plus years and part time restaurant, we cooked the whole primal rib this way, slicing as it was ordered. We kept a pot of ajus made from packaged gravy mix simmering.For med well, or we’ll done use tongs and dip meat in till you get that nice gray color.(YECCH)

  13. Donna Kelahear says:

    This method is a game changer, thank you!

  14. Isabel says:

    Looks delicious and I can’t wait to try it! However, I do not own a mortar and pestle. Do you have any ideas on how to make it work? Or a recommendation on which one to get? Thank you!!

  15. Noah Levi says:

    What can replace Garlic if someone is allergic to Garlic?

    • Chris says:

      Really, garlic is the only thing that tastes like garlic so there’s not really a “replacement”, but you can increase the herbs and it’ll still be great!

  16. Sarah Lovinger says:

    About how long is the total cooking time? thanks

  17. Libby says:

    This sounds simple and delicious! About how long, maybe per pound? Just for an idea of how long to plan for! THANK YOU

  18. Donna Hoyne says:

    Thanks for the recipe. Approx how long will a 6lb roast take to reach 130 using this method?

  19. Ingrid Burton says:

    Looks wonderful and easy! Do you have a recommendation for a meat thermometer? Thanks!

  20. Jill Stedman-Myette says:

    5 stars
    What wire-lead thermometer do you use/recommend? Can’t wait to try this recipe looks delicious!

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