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The best easy prime rib recipe – delicious juicy prime rib with a delicious crunchy crust, perfect for holiday dinners!
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At Sweet C’s, I add lots of tips in all of my recipes – because I am a home cook without any formal training, and I find I am more confident making dishes when I understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe – my goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.
I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of contents
Oven Roasted Prime Rib Recipe
Prime rib is the ultimate showstopper for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or just Sunday supper – its fabulous with decadent dishes like Lobster Tails, Brown Sugar Bacon Wrapped Scallops, and Perfect Creamy Mashed Potatoes.
You won’t believe how simple this stunning dish is to make – even beginner cooks can get a restaurant quality prime rib dinner – only a roasting pan is needed!
You can tie this roast, or just pop it into the oven after rubbing with herbs and basting with butter – if you want to know how to make prime rib, this recipe is a great beginner dish!
If you’re looking for a knockout keto side dish to serve with this prime rib for a low carb holiday dinner, be sure to check out our keto garlic artichoke rolls – they are super simple to bake, just like this prime rib!
How to Make Prime Rib
To make prime rib, you will need the following ingredients:
- Prime rib roast – pat roast dry from any packaging liquid and let roast come to room temperature for best results.
- Butter, for brushing – basting ribeye roast with butter helps herbs and spices stick to meat, helps lock in flavor, and adds fat to develop a crisp, crunchy crust to the outside of meat for a rich and delicious flavor that is hearty and sumptuous.
- Minced garlic – garlic brings an earthy, rich layer of flavor to meat that can enhance meaty flavor and add more dimension to your dish.
- Kosher salt – a high quality salt, preferably one with a crunchy texture that won’t melt into the meat is a lovely addition to ribeye roast crust.
- Italian seasonings – adding layer of flavor from basil, thyme, sage, oregano, rosemary, and coriander give more depth to your meat’s flavor and make it completely irresistible!
Once you gather your ingredients, we will use the following process:
- Prep. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If tying, tie roast together tightly with baking twine. Place roast in a shallow roasting pan with the fatty side up. Cover prime rib with melted butter. Combine garlic, salt, and seasonings in a small bowl. Cover roast with herbs and seasonings.
- High heat sear. Place roast in roasting pan in oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, fat side up.
- Slow and low roast. After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325ºF and continue roasting for approximately 2 hours (when thermometer registers 110 degrees Fahrenheit), or adjust for desired doneness, checking temperature with a thermometer.
- Find right doneness. For rare ribeye prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 105-110 degrees. For medium rare to medium prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 120 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. For well done prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Rest. Transfer roast to cutting board or cooling rack and tent with foil and let rest 15-30 minutes.
- Carve. Slice across the grain to serve.
Tips and Tricks to Perfect Prime Rib
Are ribeye roast and prime rib the same? A cow’s first five ribs have tougher muscles from the shoulder, which work best to cook as a pot roast – slow and low for many hours, braised with liquid, to break down the tougher shoulder muscles. Prime rib is cut from the “prime,” or biggest main portion of rib meat that includes the meat that runs alongside sixth through twelfth ribs.
- Prime rib is usually trimmed of the fat cap section or rib meat, which leaves the ends of the rib bones cleaned and visible.
- Prime rib is sometimes called a “standing rib” roast, because the bones enable it to stand upright for roasting, even though most people cook them down for better roasting these days.
- A ribeye roast is cut from the same area as a prime rib roast – but removes the bone and some fat before cooking, making it a bit smaller.
- While a prime rib roast will include a ribeye roast, a ribeye roast focuses on the marbled ribeye steak meat area – when you buy one, you can easily cut ribeye steaks yourself from the roast – or you can cook as we are here for a rich, juicy, and delicious meaty flavor similar to prime rib and just as indulgent – just with no bones to mess around with!
What prime rib to buy. For this recipe, we’re using boneless prime rib. While we love the display a standing rib roast gives to a classic prime rib, we find a boneless prime rib cooks faster and more uniformly. To use a standing rib roast, secure foil over bones when roasting, to prevent burning. You can buy bone-in or boneless prime rib or boneless ribeye roasts at most Costcos and Sams Clubs, as well as your local grocery store’s butcher:
- Bone-in Prime Rib Roast
- Pre Seasoned Ribeye Roast
Prime rib is best medium rare – which will take about 2 hours 20 minutes roasting time.
For each of these cook times, you will actually be looking for 10 degrees under your target for when you pull the roast out of the oven…. because it will continue to cook as you tent it in foil.
The temperature below shows when to REMOVE prime rib from oven – it will cook another 10 degrees while tented with foil.
For rare prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 105-110 degrees.
For medium rare to medium prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
For well done prime rib the in-oven temperature should be 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can adjust your cooktime based on those temperatures – and remember the sides will be closer to well done while the middle will be much more red/pink – so you can still serve everyone a slice they prefer.
Recipe FAQ’s
Prime rib is easier to slice when cooked tied – but if you don’t want to tie ooff a roasted prime rib, it will still taste delicious.
For this recipe, you’ll put the fat side up – so it can baste the prime rib as it cooks!
Remove prime rib from the oven at 115 degrees farenheit for a perfect medium rare.
Let prime rib roast cool and rest at least 20 minutes before carving. We prefer 30 minutes.
What to Serve With Prime Rib
Prime rib is perfect for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner… it pairs fabulously with side dishes like scalloped corn, creamy mashed cauliflower, and more!
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The Best Easy Prime Rib Recipe
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Best Prime Rib Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 prime rib roast, about 5 pounds
- 4 tbsp melted butter, for brushing
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tbsp italian seasonings
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- If tying, tie roast together tightly with baking twine.
- Place roast in a shallow roasting pan with the fatty side up.
- Cover prime rib with melted butter.
- Combine garlic, salt, and seasonings in a small bowl.
- Cover roast with herbs and seasonings.
- Place roast in roasting pan in oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees, fat side up.
- After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325ºF and continue roasting for approximately 2 hours (when thermometer registers 110 degrees Fahrenheit), or adjust for desired doneness, checking temperature with a thermometer.
- For rare ribeye prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 105-110 degrees. For medium rare to medium prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 120 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. For well done prime rib, the in-oven temperature should be 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Transfer roast to cutting board or cooling rack and tent with foil and let rest 15-30 minutes.
- Slice across the grain to serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
1
Great! So sweet.
I made this last night and it was to die for! Simple and easy recipe to follow and delivered exactly what it said it would. We don’t usually buy Prime Rib but the price was toooooo good to pass up on. If you’re wanting to try this blissful piece of meat then use this recipe and get ready for a taste sensation, unlike anything other meat can give you! FIVE STARS for sure!
This recipe is spot on ! I have cooked prime rib roasts before and were very good , but this is taken to the next level ! The Super Market by me puts them on sale several weeks before Christmas along with beef tenderloin also .
(Stock up time and Merry Christmas ME !!!!)