By Gage Hanson
Warm, freshly-cooked steak is delicious. Cold, leftover steak not quite as much. However, there are a few methods of reheating steak that makes it almost as good as the original. These methods are all relatively quick and easy so you can enjoy your steak without too much of a drop-off because of time. Here is how to reheat steak without overcooking it.
Reheat Steak Just How You Cooked It
One of the best ways to cook steak off of the grill is using both your oven and stove top. So why can’t you re-cook it the same way? The truth is, you can! You can reheat your steak without overcooking it by putting it in the over and then cooking it again in a skillet.
First off, you will want to put your leftover steaks on a baking sheet. Turn the oven to 250-degrees and cook the sheets until they reach 110 degrees on the inside using a probe thermometer. This is going to take around 30 minutes for a standard 1 ½ inch steak, but you will want to adjust the time depending on the thickness and size of your steak. Depending on the situation, you should check the steak’s earlier for smaller ones and you can leave them in for a bit longer with thicker steaks.
After your steaks have reached the right temperature, you will have to remove them from the oven and prepare the skillet. Heat one tablespoon of oil on high in the skillet until the oil just barely starts to smoke. At this point, place the steaks in the skillet and sear both sides for 1-2 minutes until they are crispy. Remove the steaks from the skillet and let them cool briefly. Your steaks will have the consistency and taste of freshly cooked meat and should be roughly a medium-rare temperature.
Alternate Stove Top Method
Sometimes you don’t have time to warm up the oven and let your leftover steaks sit for half an hour. For those of you with some beef broth in your pantry, you can use this to reheat your steak in a skillet and skip the oven method.
You can put in as much beef broth as you want, it all just depends on how juicy you want your steak to be. The broth will be cooked into the steak as you are warming it up and add some moisture and juiciness back to the steak. Cook the steak on both sides with the broth until the internal temperature reaches 110 degrees again. Then, you will be able to enjoy a juicy and tasty leftover steak.
Classic Reheating
The microwave may not be the first thing that comes to mind when reheating steak to make it taste as good as it did, but stay with me. The microwave is going to be the most convenient for you, and with a couple of simple hacks you can avoid the common disadvantages to using a microwave to reheat your steak.
First, you will want to put your steak in a deep dish that is microwave safe. Secondly, you will need to pour some gravy, broth, or leftover meat juices into the dish. This will keep your steak from drying out and ensure that it tastes good and moist. Cover the dish with a lid or microwave safe plastic wrap and you are ready to move on to the next step.
Now you can start the microwave. Turn the power level to half and cook the leftover steak in 30-second segments. Flip the steak over each segment to keep the heat spread out equally and avoid any cold spots in your reheated meal. Because you will be checking it constantly, this is a second good way to reheat steak without overcooking it.
This technique won’t get the steak back to its original crispiness, but the added juice will keep the flavor and the heat should warm up your steak nicely. All in all, this is not a bad solution if you are in a hurry and don’t have too much time to warm up your meal.
Air Fryer
An air fryer is a swiss army knife when it comes to kitchen appliances. It is great for cooking but is also a game changer when it comes to reheating food. From pizza to french fries, it can reheat almost any leftover, including steak.
First, you should coat your leftover steak with some oil or some butter before you put it in the air fryer. Then, all you have to do is follow the same temperature and time instructions from the oven sections.
Set the air fryer to 250 degrees and stick the steak in for at least 20 minutes and until it reaches 110 degrees on the inside. Check the steak every once in a while while it is cooking to make sure you haven’t fried it too much. The air fryer will cook your steak all the way through again and give it a texture very similar to when it came right off the grill. The oil or butter on top will help bring out the taste and keep the steak moist after it has been cooked into the meat. You can’t go wrong warming up most things in an air fryer, steak included.
Whatever method you end up using, rest assured that reheated steak isn’t a bad idea so long as you learn how to reheat steak without overcooking it. You will have a nice, warm meal that tastes almost as good as it originally did.
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