Ina Garten Just Revealed Her Method for Grilling Steak, and It’s Totally Foolproof

Updated: Feb. 13, 2023

This method is FOOLPROOF.

You take a bite of your steak only to realize—whoops!—at some point on the grill, medium-rare turned into extremely well done. There’s really nothing to do but put more steak sauce on it and keep chewing. Itt’s not like you can un-grill it.

How could this have been prevented?, you wonder during your 20th chew of the same mouthful. Ina Garten has the answer. Read on to discover her method for grilling steak—and why we think it’s completely foolproof.

What Is Ina’s Secret?

You’ve definitely heard of Ina Garten; after all, The Barefoot Contessa has been airing new episodes on The Food Network since last month. But you might not have heard of her method for grilling steaks, a task that can intimidate even tough grill masters.

Over Memorial Day weekend, Ina showed her Instagram followers how it’s done. The way she explains it, it’s essential that the steaks are at least 1-1/2 inches thick, and that grillers only light half of the coals in a charcoal grill, leaving the other half cool. This technique is called indirect heat grilling.

She puts the steaks over the hot coals for two minutes to sear, then she flips them and sears them for two minutes on the other side. Then, she moves the steaks to the cool side and closes the top of the grill. If you want rare steaks, she says to leave the grill closed for 8 minutes; if you’re fond of medium stakes, 10 minutes will do the trick.

It’s all in her Instagram post:

Of course, they’re done perfectly—and she even has time to pour herself a glass of wine while they cook! If you’re looking for more recipes from her cookbook, don’t forget to try this Ina Garten’s beef bourguignon recipe.

Need More Grilling Help?

If you’re looking for ways to improve your technique, we have a list of tweaks you can make. And of course, our Test Kitchen has shared some of its secrets on how to grill perfect steak. Whether you use Ina’s method or ours, as long as the meat’s done the way you like it, we’re happy! Try our favorite Ina Garten’s beef tenderloin recipe.

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