How To Cook Steak On A Pellet Grill
There are many cooking appliances at home that you can use to cook almost any food but when it comes to steak, we have here a guide on how to cook steak on a pellet grill for a better result.
Steaks are a great way to have a great meal for a special occasion or simple dinner. They have many different nutrients to help the body while being one of the most delicious foods.
They can be cooked simply on a cast-iron pan with a little slice of butter or you can upgrade the flavor and texture by cooking your steak with your pellet grill outdoors to make the best out of it.
Pellet grills use the smoke from the wood pellet fuels and create a unique flavor that you cannot get in other cooking appliances. They are also very versatile types of cookware.
That means that you can cook your steak in them with the techniques that you know. You will find it best to make the steak in two or more cooking styles to give it a very delicious flavor.
Here, we have a guide on how to cook your steak in two different cooking methods.
What You Will Need
For this recipe, I have used the best rib-eye steak that I could get. This guide, though, is a general guide on how to cook steak on your pellet grill so you can get any type of steak.
The most important thing is to get a steak that has enough fats in it. Do not stray away from the white lines between the muscles as it is a good sign that the cut of meat is very well-marbled.
So when choosing your steak, go for the cut that has enough fats in it. This will also help keep the steak juicier when you are cooking it, you can also choose a steak with a small fat cap.
The fat cap will protect the meat from burning and drying out during the cooking process. You can trim off the fat if you do not want your steak to have a beefy taste.
As for the seasonings, there is no need for you to go full-on with it. For me, it is best to keep the seasonings simple by using just the simplest combination of salt and pepper with other spices.
Despite my habit of using spices I still prefer the salt and pepper combination. It gives just enough flavor and saltiness to the meat without the other spices overpowering the beefy flavor.
So if you would like to use other spices, make sure that you use just enough on the steak. There is no need to go all the way so that you can still taste the delicious flavor of the steak you have.
If you want the seasonings to go deeper into the meat or have a thick cut, you can blend the spices using liquid ingredients such as Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, or vinegar.
This will help the seasonings get deeper into the meat but it is unnecessary to use it all the time. Since you will be using butter, you can let it drench the seasonings and go into the meat.
So as you can see, there are no complicated blends on the seasonings as you can go with the simple salt and pepper combination. The other ingredients will be for the side dish you want.
Procedure
Step 1: Prepare The Seasonings
Once you have all your ingredients ready, you will need to prepare the steaks first and season them. For this, I used different kinds of peppers as well as liquid seasonings for the steaks.
So if you want to follow, you can use a peppercorn blend and crush them with a mortar and pestle. You can also use a spice grinder if you have one to make the process easier and faster.
If you do not have either of the two, you can put the peppercorn blend inside a resealable bag and then crush them with a wooden mallet. Just close the bag and hammer the peppercorns.
While doing so, make sure that you do not go too hard on crushing the peppercorns as you do not want them to be too fine. Crush them in batches so you have more control over the process.
After crushing the peppercorns, you can either mix the salt with them or apply them later on separately. I find it best to do them separately to have control over how much salt I put.
Step 2: Season The Steaks
Once the spices and seasonings are ready, get the steaks out of the fridge and then season them using a brush and covering the steaks with a thin layer of Worcestershire sauce.
Get the sauce on all sides of the steaks and then use your hands to sprinkle the peppercorn blend and salt on the steaks. You can put as much or as little as you want on the steaks.
Press the seasonings into the meat using your hands and then let them rest for about a minute at room temperature. Put them back into the refrigerator while preparing the pellet grill.
Step 3: Preheat The Pellet Grill
Nowadays, pellet grills have the best quality and technology. So if you have a smart grill, then preparing the pellet grill will not be as hard as you only need to put the pellets in.
Fill up the pellet hopper with wood pellets as you will need a lot in this cooking process. Turn the pellet grill on and then set the temperature to the highest temperature that the grill can get to.
You will also need to preheat a cast-iron skillet along with the pellet grill. Place the cast-iron skillet directly on the pellet grill’s grates and then close the lid to let them heat up.
If your pellet grill can reach 500 degrees Fahrenheit, then that is the ideal temperature for the first step of cooking. You just need to set the pellet grill as hot as it can get for searing steaks.
Step 4: Sear The Steaks
This is the initial searing process for the steaks which will only enhance the steaks’ crust and make it crispy but not burnt. So this is not where you will fully cook the steaks all the way.
Once the pellet grill has reached the desired temperature, get the steaks ready and let them rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes. This will help soften and dissolve the seasonings.
You can also skip the salt earlier and sprinkle them at this stage of the process. I find it best to use coarse Kosher salt to avoid overpowering the steaks’ meaty flavor with the saltiness.
Once the steaks become warm or softer, place them directly on the cast-iron skillet laying them flat and away from you. Use your tongs to maneuver them and pace them evenly on the skillet.
Use the tongs to flip the steaks every 2 minutes. If you think that the heat is too much, you can flip the steaks after a minute just to put some browning on the steaks’ outer parts and edges.
Step 5: Let The Steaks Rest
After you are satisfied with the steaks’ crust, remove them from the grill and then let them rest a little bit on a wooden board. Remove the cast-iron skillet from the pellet grill as well.
Again, at this point, the steaks would not have been cooked yet so just let them sit on the side. Turn the heat down on the pellet grill and allow it to reach 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
The time it takes for the pellet grill to go down this temperature will be enough time for the steaks to rest properly. So wait until the pellet grill has reached the desired temperature.
Step 6: Cook The Steaks Again
At this temperature, the steaks will cook slowly to place them directly on the grill grates. Close the lid of the grill and check the steaks after around 25 minutes of cooking.
By this time, the steaks would be approaching medium-rare doneness. So get your meat probe and insert it in the steak’s thickest part to measure the steaks’ internal temperature.
If you aim for medium-rare doneness, you would not have to wait for long as you will usually achieve that temperature at around 30 minutes of cooking at 225 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can flip the steaks by the 15-minute mark to put some grill marks on both sides of the steaks. The internal temperature for medium-rare doneness should be 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
Step 7: Let The Steaks Rest
Once the steaks reach the desired doneness, remove them from the pellet grill and let them rest on a wooden board. You can also aim for 130 degrees Fahrenheit only and let them rest.
The steaks will continue to cook even after you take them out of the pellet grill. You can also choose to wrap them in tin foil to keep them warm and reduce the juices’ loss inside them.
Let it rest for 5 minutes with the butter on top of the steaks to melts during the resting process. It will help keep the steaks mixed better with the seasonings and juices inside.
After five minutes, get your knife, your side dishes, and start cutting up the steaks. Serve while it is still warm and have a glass of wine to go with the beautifully-cooked steaks.
Tips And Tricks When Grilling Steaks
Since you are using a pellet grill to cook the steaks, you will get enough smoke from the wood pellets. You can enhance this by putting the seasonings on the steak before searing.
By putting the salt and pepper on the steaks before the initial searing, you will create a nice crust on the steaks which is a great way to capture the flavors from the smoke in the grill.
There is also no need to rush the searing process. You will only need to flip the steaks once during the initial searing process so make sure that one side gets enough crust before flipping.
Do not get overwhelmed by the high temperatures inside the pellet grill as it will not directly burn the steak right away. Let one side of the steak sit for at least 1 minute before flipping it.
Conclusion
Cooking steaks inside a pellet grill is relatively easy but there is a proper way to avoid wasting the delicious cut of meat. You will certainly need the tips and tricks above.
If it is your first time cooking steaks, I would recommend trying it first on the stove to have more control over the temperature. Then, you can slowly progress to using your pellet grill.
Follow the instructions above and practice with simple and cheaper meat cuts to avoid wasting too much money. You will be having the best steak meals in no time!
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