Caramelized onion butter is the best topping for a perfectly grilled, juicy ribeye steak. Try this recipe for Grilled Ribeye Steaks with Caramelized Onion Butter, it’s guaranteed to please.
The caramelized onion butter has just 4 ingredients; butter, caramelized onions, Worcestershire sauce and salt. The distinctive flavor of steak sauce primarily comes from Worcestershire Sauce. When this butter hits your warm steak, the butter and Worcestershire sauce melt into the steak, bathing it in flavor. After the butter melts into your steak, it is topped with the caramelized onion. Absolutely delicious.
What you need
Ribeye steaks
Butter
Sweet onions
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
Parsley (optional)
How to make Grilled Ribeye Steaks with Caramelized Onion Butter
Dry Brining the Steaks
The first step to juicy steaks is dry brining. This takes a minimum of 2 hours. The purpose of dry brining is to infuse salt into the center of your steak. This tenderizes and seasons the interior of the steak, making it flavorful, tender and juicy. To make the salt content even, the salt will be drawn into the middle of the meat.
For the average boneless ribeye steak you’ll want to use 1/4 teaspoon of table salt per side. Place the steaks on a sheet pan and salt one side of the steaks, 1/4 teaspoon for each steak. Place the sheet pan in the refrigerator and leave it for at least 45 minutes and up to 2 hours. The salt on top of the steaks will seep down into the steak.
Now flip the steaks over and top the second side with 1/4 teaspoon of salt per steak. Again place them in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to 2 hours. The salt will then seep into the other side of the steak.
Depending on how much time I have, I will brine the steaks for an hour to an hour and a half per side.
How to make Caramelized Onion Butter
Caramelized onion butter is easy to make, it just takes a little time for the onions to caramelize. The objective is to let the onions brown slowly until they are soft and chewy. Low and slow is the way to get that consistency without overcooking them.
First, place the diced onions into a pan with 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook the onions on medium low heat, stirring often, until they are soft and translucent, about 20 minutes.
Next, add add the Worcestershire sauce and reduce the heat to low. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the onions are cooked through, brown and caramelized. Set them aside to come to room temperature.
Add the cooled caramelized onions, Worcestershire sauce and salt to one stick of softened butter. Stir to incorporate well.
Grilling the Ribeye Steaks
The steaks have already been salted. Just add pepper and you’re ready to grill.
You can use either a gas grill or a charcoal fire. Either will work fine, I prefer the flavor you get from a charcoal fire.
The key to a juicy steak every time is searing on extremely high heat (at least 500 degrees). The faster you can develop a solid crust on the outside of the steak, the less juice will be able to escape as it cooks.
Gas grill – Liquid propane grills are good, multi purpose grills. Being able to control the temperature of your grill by twisting a few knobs is what draws most people to buy gas grills. There are a few drawbacks, though. When cooking over propane fires, there is generally no smoke generated by the flame, which means you cannot truly taste that signature “smokey” taste you get with wood or charcoal fires. Also, you are sometimes limited to the amount of heat that can be generated, even with all the burners on high. The average gas grill may be able to achieve peak temperatures of around 500-600 degrees. But the best sear and crust on a steak comes from temperatures between 900-1,500 degrees, which is doable with charcoal or wood fires.
Charcoal – Charcoal fires are perfect for searing steak because of the high temperatures you can achieve with them. However, the temperatures are much more difficult to control. To get a better handle on the cooking process, I recommend piling most of your coals to one side of your grill, and leaving fewer on the other side. This allows you to reach a much higher direct heat (sometimes, depending on the amount of coals and how close your grate can get to the tops of the coals, you can achieve up to 1,800 degrees) on the part of your grill with all of the coals to achieve a good sear. You can move the steak to the side with indirect heat once that’s done to avoid burning at such high temperatures. When searing at these temperatures, 1-2 minutes per side is usually all you’ll need, then you can move the steak to indirect heat to finish cooking without burning the outside of the steak.
Lighting coals – If you are using charcoal fires, allow for 15-30 minutes to preheat coals before you start cooking. One method is using a charcoal starter. This looks like a chimney, and allows you to pile your coals into the chimney, and light a small fire underneath, and is the most efficient way to light your coals. If you don’t have one of these, you’ll need to use either instant light coals, or lighter fluid. Pile your coals closely together in the base of your BBQ and lite them. This may take slightly longer, and you may not get an even burn on all of your coals. You’ll be able to tell that your coals are ready when the outsides of all of your coals turn white, and emit an orange glow. You should not be able to hold your hand over the coals for more than a second or two before pulling away.
After your steaks are seared and cooking on lower heat, use an instant read thermometer to check their temperature. Check the temperature often as the steaks cook. Remove them from the grill about 5 degrees before the final temperature you want. They will continue to cook slightly as they rest.
Temperature guidelines
Rare – 125° – Cool red center
Medium Rare – 130° to 135° – Warm red center
Medium – 140° to 145° – Pink center
Medium Well – 150° to 155° – Barely pink center, mostly brown
Well – 160° – Brown center
Let the steaks rest for 10 minutes. Then top them with the caramelized onion butter and a sprinkling of chopped parsley. There you have it, the perfect steak.
Grilled Ribeye Steaks with Caramalized Onion Butter
Caramelized onion butter is the best topping for a perfectly grilled, juicy ribeye steak. Try this recipe for Grilled Ribeye Steaks with Caramelized Onion Butter, it's guaranteed to please.
Ingredients
- For the steaks
- 2 boneless ribeye steaks
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- For the compound butter
- 1 stick + 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 cups diced sweet onions
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Chopped parsley, optional
Directions
- Step 1 Place the steaks on a sheet pan and salt one side of the steaks, 1/4 teaspoon for each steak. Place the sheet pan in the refrigerator and leave it for at least 45 minutes and up to 2 hours. The salt on top of the steaks will seep down into the steak.
- Step 2 Now flip the steaks over and top the second side with 1/4 teaspoon of salt per steak. Again place them in the refrigerator for 45 minutes to 2 hours. The salt will then seep into the other side of the steak.
- Step 3 Place the diced onions into a pan with 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook the onions on medium low heat, stirring often, until they are soft and translucent, about 20 minutes.
- Step 4 Add the Worcestershire sauce and reduce the heat to low. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the onions are cooked through, brown and caramelized. Set them aside to come to room temperature.
- Step 5 Add the cooled caramelized onions, Worcestershire sauce and salt to one stick of softened butter. Stir to incorporate well.
- Step 6 The steaks have already been salted. Sprinkle each steak with approximately ¼ teaspoon of pepper per side.
- Step 7 The key to a juicy steak every time is searing on extremely high heat (at least 500 degrees). The faster you can develop a solid crust on the outside of the steak, the less juice will be able to escape as it cooks.
- Step 8 Charcoal fires are perfect for searing steak because of the high temperatures you can achieve with them. However, the temperatures are much more difficult to control. To get a better handle on the cooking process, I recommend piling most of your coals to one side of your grill, and leaving fewer on the other side. This allows you to reach a much higher direct heat (sometimes, depending on the amount of coals and how close your grate can get to the tops of the coals, you can achieve up to 1,800 degrees) on the part of your grill with all of the coals to achieve a good sear. You can move the steak to the side with indirect heat once that’s done to avoid burning at such high temperatures. When searing at these temperatures, 1-2 minutes per side is usually all you’ll need, then you can move the steak to indirect heat to finish cooking without burning the outside of the steak.
- Step 9 Lighting coals – If you are using charcoal fires, allow for 15-30 minutes to preheat coals before you start cooking. One method is using a charcoal starter. This looks like a chimney, and allows you to pile your coals into the chimney, and light a small fire underneath, and is the most efficient way to light your coals. If you don’t have one of these, you’ll need to use either instant light coals, or lighter fluid. Pile your coals closely together in the base of your BBQ and lite them. This may take slightly longer, and you may not get an even burn on all of your coals. You’ll be able to tell that your coals are ready when the outsides of all of your coals turn white, and emit an orange glow. You should not be able to hold your hand over the coals for more than a second or two before pulling away.
- Step 10 Keep checking the temperature as the steaks cook, using an instant read thermometer. Remove them from the grill about 5 degrees before the final temperature you want. They will continue to cook slightly as they rest.
- Step 11 Rare – 125° – Cool red center
- Step 12 Medium Rare – 130° to 135° – Warm red center
- Step 13 Medium – 140° to 145° – Pink center
- Step 14 Medium Well – 150° to 155° – Barely pink center, mostly brown
- Step 15 Well – 160° – Brown center
- Step 16 Let the steaks rest for 10 minutes. Then top them with the caramelized onion butter and a sprinkling of chopped parsley.