Fire up the grill and get ready for a steak night that goes beyond the basics. This grilled ribeye recipe pairs rich, marbled beef with a bold, spicy mustard sauce that cuts through the fat in all the right ways. Fast, flavorful, and designed for anyone who wants a restaurant-worthy steak with minimal fuss and maximum payoff. Whether you’re hosting friends or treating yourself, this ribeye recipe is all about big flavor made simple.
Table of contents
Why Ribeye and Spicy Mustard Work
Ribeye steaks are famous for their perfect amount of marbling which makes them America’s favorite steak for grilling. Big beefy flavor, tender and juicy, quick and easy to cook, it’s a steak griller’s dream. Simply seasoned with salt and pepper, it’s delicious on it’s own.
But if you’re looking for a sauce recipe for grilled ribeyes, a mustard sauce is simply a fantastic pairing for a grilled steak. A creamy, spicy mustard sauce is an excellent partner because of the way it’s key components balance and contrast the rich, smoky flavor and texture of the steak.
Here’s a breakdown of the flavor dynamics at play:
- The acidic “zing“: Mustard get’s its punchy flavor and tang from acidic liquid such as vinegar or white wine (like in Dijon mustard).
- Pairing Effect: The acidity in the sauce cuts through the richness of the beef and any rendered fat. Which will prevent the dish from feeling too heavy. It’s also cleanses the palate, making each bite of steak taste fresh and flavorful.
- Mayo’s Role: Mayonnaise adds a luxurious, velvety texture and a layer of smooth fat. It also mellows the strong sharp bite of the mustard and binds flavors together. Perfect for a perfectly cooked ribeye.
- The Spicy Kick: Spicy Mustard is made with brown/whole grain mustard seeds and sometimes includes a bit of added horseradish, which provides a bit of warm heat. An added shake or two of your favorite hot sauce will most certainly wake up those taste buds and compliment the smoky flavor of the Maillard reaction crust.
- A Little Bit Of Sweet and Savory: Ketchup adds a bit of sweet balance to the sauce, and Worcestershire brings savory umami.
In short, it’s a classic culinary strategy. The sauce is acidic and spicy to cut the fat and creamy to balance the heat. It’s basically addictive with flavor.
This recipe is compliments of the chefs at The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association where I was invited to attend a demonstration and steak cooking class in their state of the art on-site kitchen.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Best Ribeye For Grilling – Which Cut To Buy
- Thick Cut: Choose steaks that are at least 1″ to 1 1.5″ thick as they’re easier to control on the grill. It’s easier to get a good crust without overcooking the center.
- Marbling: Look for a well marbled steak for more flavor and tenderness. Higher grades like USDA Prime are a good choice.
- Bone-In vs. Boneless: You can choose either. Anytime there’s a bone involved with cooking any meat, there’s bound to be more flavor. However, I prefer a boneless ribeye steak, simply because it’s easier to handle and the grilling process results in more even cooking. The bone creates more heat for the meat immediately surrounding it.
Ingredients For The Mustard Sauce
- Ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, Spicy Mustard, Mayo, Hot Sauce and Steak Sauce.
- About the spicy ingredients: Hot Sauce: Use your favorite brand. We’re Cholula fans, as well at Tabasco Sauce. Steak Sauce: We’re A-1 loyal, but use your favorite brand.
Step by Step Instructions – It’s So Easy
- Step 1: Prepare the Spicy Mustard Sauce: Simply combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl, to make the spicy mustard sauce. Use a whisk to make quick work of that blending. Set aside and grill the steaks.
- Step 2: How to Grill a 1.5″ Ribeye: Preheat a grill to 500 degrees to get those grates nice and hot. Turn the heat down to 350 – 400 degrees.
- Pat room temperature steaks dry with a paper towel.
- Step 3: Season the steaks. We like to use Montreal Steak Seasoning, or simply use salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Place steaks on the sizzling grill grates. Cook, without moving, for about 5 minutes. Turning only once, turn the steaks and cook according to desired doneness. Make sure you have some good crusty grill marks before turning the steaks the first time. And use a digital meat thermometer to determine the interior temperature of the steak. If the steaks have a good crust, but the thermometer indicates it’s too rare for you, move the steaks to indirect heat, close the lid and let the heat continue to cook the interior.
Pro Tip: Once the steak is cooked, tent loosely with foil. Letting the meat rest will allow the steak to absorb it’s juices. Keeping the meat nice and fork tender. It will also help keep that crust nice and crisp.
Guide To Steak Cooking Temperatures
- Rare: (cool red center) 115 - 120 degrees F
- Medium rare: (red center) 115 - 120 degrees F
- Medium: (warm pink center) 125 - 130 degrees F
- Medium well: (slightly pink center) 140 - 145 degrees F
- Well done (little or no pink) 155 degrees F
Internal temperatures will rise 5 degrees during the rest time.
Ribeye Grill Time
How long should you cook a ribeye steak? Ribeyes are usually cut about 1.5 inches thick. Cooking over medium high heat, they should cook in about 10 minutes. Five minutes per side. It’s best to use a digital real meat thermometer to achieve desired doneness. 135 degrees will give you a medium rare steak. Perfect in our books. At this temperature, the meat stays tender and juicy.
Tips For Success
- Let the steak come to room temperature before grilling. A room temperature ribeye steak will grill more evenly.
- Pat the ribeyes dry before placing it on the grill. A drier steak will result in a better crust, which is called Maillard reaction. It’s what’s brings that toasty smoky flavor that we all desire in a perfectly grilled steak.
- Resting: Don’t skip the resting period for the steak. Lightly tented with foil, allows the juices to redistribute. This prevents the juices from running all over the plate or platter when slices.
The Best Sides For This Grilled Ribeye Recipe
- Steak and potatoes are a classic combination. Try these Crockpot Garlic Butter Baked Potatoes. Everyone loves scalloped potatoes, take a look at this recipe for Scalloped Potato Casserole.
- A fresh green salad is always a welcome side dish for grilled ribeyes.
- A nice vegetable side dish for ribeyes would be this Creamy Zucchini Squash Casserole, or a simple Green Vegetable Medley.
- Looking for make-ahead cookout style side dishes? A Classic Potato Salad is always welcome alongside a steak. Or a Macaroni Salad is one of America’s favorite side dishes. Take a look at this Amish Macaroni Salad for instance.
- Wine: A bold red wine is customary to serve with grilled steaks. Their bold tannins cut through the richness and cleanse the palate. I personally prefer California cabs, or a high quality French Bordeaux. You can also find American wines that are made in Bordeaux style. Syrah/Shiraz: Are bold red wines with smoky, peppery, dark fruit notes. Very nice wines for steaks. Argentinean Malbecs are less tannic but still a good choice for steak.
- My Personal Wine Recommendation: thanks to extensive Wine training during my time in Culinary School, may I suggest a Zinfandel for this particular grilled ribeye recipe. Zinfandel wine is most flexible, it’s fruit and spice will pair well with the whole dish. While a Syrah/Shiraz will really compliment the smoky grilled notes of the grilled steak.
Make Ahead, Storage and Reheating
- Sauce: You can make the Mustard Steak Sauce up to two days in advance. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to use. Allow an hour at room temperature before serving with the steak. You don’t want to serve a cold sauce.
- Steaks: Unless you’re experienced in using a sous vide machine, there’s not a good way to prepare the steaks in advance. I’ve never owned a sous vide, but I like this article. A comprehensive guide on how to use a sous vide for pan seared or grilled steaks.
- Storage and Reheating: Store any leftover sauce for up to a week in the refrigerator. Store leftover cooked steak in an airtight container for up to four days in the refrigerator. To reheat the steak, first bring it to room temperature. Heat an oven to 250 degrees. Place the steak on a sheet pan with an elevated wire rack so air can surround the steak. Heat for about 15 minutes. You don’t want to cook the steak, but you want it warm enough to eat.
- Leftover Steak: I personally like to bring the leftover steak to room temperature, then thin slice and place it over greens for a Steak Salad.
FAQ’s
Don’t have a grill? You most certainly can cook this steak indoors. Use a heavy skillet like a cast iron, or a French Carbon Steel Pan. A grill pan is also a good choice here. Which ever pan you choose, get the pan nice and hot. Add a couple tablespoons butter or canola oil and place the seasoned ribeye steaks into the hot pan. Cook about 5 minutes per side or until cooked to desired doneness. You can also briefly sear them well on both sides and finish in a 375 degree oven. Again, use a digital read thermometer to determine doneness. Disclaimer: I am an Amazon Affiliate Member. If you purchase the french carbon steel pan using the link above, I receive a small commission at no extra charge to you.
Ribeye steaks are routinely large steaks, weighing in at about 12 ounces. Which in my books, one steak will feed two people. Especially if you’re serving heavy side dishes, like Baked Potatoes. When it’s just my husband and myself, I grill one steak and we split it. If you’re entertaining, it’s awkward to slice the steak in half and divide it, so serve one steak per person, or neatly slice the steaks in ½″ slices and serve the slices on a platter to be passed at the table.
New York Strip steaks are a good choice. Flank or skirt steaks make a great partner. Flavorful but slightly tougher, the mustard sauce will enhance the experience.
Grilled Ribeye Recipe with Spicy Mustard Sauce
Presentation Tip: Transfer the spicy mustard sauce to a squeeze bottle and squeeze dots of increasing size on each plate. Arrange sliced steak and grilled new red potatoes on the plates. Garnish with scallions or chives.
This grilled ribeye steak recipe is tender, juicy and a special recipe that’s so easy to prepare. With good marbling, and natural beefy flavor, a grilled ribeye steak is a no fuss easy dinner with a special fancy restaurant feel.
More Grilled Steak Recipes
And don’t miss my Beef Category for more Steak, Roast and Burger recipe ideas. Including the most popular steak recipes on my site for articles on my site for Beef Tagliata. An Italian Flank Steak recipe that will WOW your crowd.
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Grilled Ribeye Recipe with Spicy Mustard Sauce
Ingredients
- 4 Ribeye Steaks
- 3 Tablespoons Spicy Brown Mustard
- ¼ Cup Ketchup
- 1 Tablespoon Mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Steak Sauce
- 2 teaspoons Worchestershire Sauce
- 1 dash Hot Sauce
Instructions
- For the mustard sauce: Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Season the steaks. We like to use Montreal Steak Seasoning, or simply use salt and pepper. Or for a real treat, try one of our favorite pepper blends, Savory Spicy Whiskey Barrel Smoked Black Pepper.
- Heat grill to 500 degrees, then turn down the heat to 350.
- Place steaks on the hot grates and cook, turning once. Cook until a meat thermometer registers 135 degrees for medium rare (recommended) 150 degrees for medium.
Notes
- Let the steak come to room temperature before grilling. A room temperature ribeye steak will grill more evenly.
- Pat the ribeyes dry before placing it on the grill. A drier steak will result in a better crust, which is called Maillard reaction. It’s what’s brings that toasty smoky flavor that we all desire in a perfectly grilled steak.
- Resting: Don’t skip the resting period for the steak. Lightly tented with foil, allows the juices to redistribute. This prevents the juices from running all over the plate or platter when slices.
- Presentation Tip: Transfer the spicy mustard sauce to a squeeze bottle and squeeze dots of increasing size on each plate. Arrange sliced steak and grilled new red potatoes on the plates. Garnish with scallions or chives.
Nutrition
Grilled Ribeye Recipe with Spicy Mustard Sauce … It’s what’s for dinner.
Why Trust My Recipes? I am a Culinary School Graduate and a lifelong student of home cooking. I hope to inspire you try to cook as often as you can. I’ve been cooking for 50 years, and my recipes are tried and true tested and tested and then tested again before published. To read more take a look at my About Page.
We had this last night and it was so good. Everyone had a great time. I felt I was super chef. haha! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Sheila, thank you so much for letting me know. I’m so glad you liked the recipe.
While reading this post I kept imagining how delicious it must have smelled. Love this class!
Cool event! Looked like a lot of fun. Love this sauce!
Look at that cooking school girl go. The presentation looks very nice and the steak is perfectly cooked. In other words I”D EAT THAT.