I know. It sounds bad. It’s painfully stereotypical: Chinese people + Steak = White Rice and Soy Sauce!? But…is it really bad? The answer is a firm no. Steak and soy sauce, in spite of its stereotypical connotations, is still one of the best flavor combinations out there. So what do we do? In traditional steak house fashion, where they often douse a finished steak in melted butter, we decided to do a thick-cut, bone-in grilled ribeye steak with a soy-butter glaze. The glaze is brushed on over the grill and served alongside when you’re digging into a glorious, perfectly caramelized, ever so slightly charred steak.
So. Good. Soy sauce and butter has a well-loved history on this here food blog (see our Soy Sauce Butter Pasta with Shrimp and our Shiitake Mushroom Tortellini with Soy Cream Sauce as evidence), and this grilled ribeye recipe upholds this glorious, umami-laden flavor combination.
Recipe Instructions
If you’re using a frozen ribeye steak, make sure that it’s thoroughly thawed prior to cooking.
Rinse the steak under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle on all sides with salt and pepper, to taste.
Heat your grill to the max heat–that means at least three of the burners on full blast high, and keeping the lid closed for a good 5-10 minutes. Mix the melted butter together with the low sodium soy sauce in a small bowl.
When the grill is heated, put the steak on the grill, letting it brown for about 1-2 minutes. You can close the grill lid to let the heat build up and get some nice caramelization on the edges of the steak. After 1-2 minutes, turn the steak 45 degrees to get those pretty grill marks. Let cook again for 1-2 minutes. Flip the steak and repeat the above steps for the other side. When the steak is pretty well-browned on both sides, use your tongs lift up the steak and brown the edges. Thick cut steaks need TLC on the edges too! Now for the soy-butter glaze. Liberally brush the steak with the soy-butter mixture using a heat-proof basting brush. Flip the steak and brush the other side. You may want to wear an oven mitt for this process, as the butter may cause some fairly strong flame-ups. The glaze will make the steak perfectly caramelized and charred on the outside! Those grill marks we worked on earlier add the perfect uniformity of char and color! Liberally glaze the grilled ribeye continuously until it’s cooked to your preferred doneness–rare, medium-rare, medium, etc; this translates to grilling the steak for an additional 3-5 minutes for medium-rare, 5-7 minutes for medium, or 8-10 minutes for medium-well, though this does depend on steak thickness. A better test for doneness is to poke the steak gently with the tongs. The squishier it is, the rarer your steak will be. More firm means more well-done. Simple right?
Remove the steak from the heat and let rest for 10-15 minutes. It’s a long time, we know, but it’ll all be worth it when you cut into your steak and skip the lake of beef juice that escapes onto your cutting board! Serve with additional soy-butter glaze on the side (you can make a fresh batch or reheat what you used to baste the steak–remember that you basted the steak once it was cooked on the outside, so it’s safe to consume post-grilling). We served our grilled ribeye with a little roasted garlic on the side. Optional, but highly recommended!
