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If you asked my husband what his favorite dinner was, he’d say it’s my ribeye roast – he loves prime rib dinners, and this recipe is one I perfected year after year, trying to get it just right for him. I finally nailed a foolproof method for a perfect, juicy, tender ribeye roast – and am sharing all my secrets with you, including what temperature to remove the roast from the oven so you have a PERFECT temp, whether you want medium rare or medium well!
This recipe is very similar to my Prime Rib, but with a very slightly easier process because there is no bone in a Ribeye Roast. It is also easier to find at Costco for a slightly better price!
The best part of this method is the salty, crunchy, garlicky crust on the outside of the roast – I drool just thinking of it!
Don’t want all the extras in a recipe post? We provide a skip to recipe button in the top left corner, as well as a clickable table of contents, just below, to help make this page easier to navigate.
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.
Table of contents
Beef Ribeye Roast Recipe Ingredients
To make this recipe, you’ll need:
- Ribeye roast or boneless prime rib – about 5 pounds – pat roast dry from any packaging liquid and let roast come to room temperature for best results.
- Butter – for brushing – basting the ribeye roast with butter helps herbs and spices stick to the meat, locks in flavor, and adds fat to develop a crisp, crunchy crust for a rich, hearty, sumptuous flavor.
- 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!
Steps to Cook a Boneless Ribeye Roast
To make a tender, delicious ribeye roast, we will follow this process:
Prep
Let the roast come to room temperature and preheat the oven. Slather the roast in melted butter.
Season
Cover roast with seasoning.
Roast
Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees and cook till it reaches the desired internal temperature (approximately 20 minutes per pound of ribeye).
Rest
Let rest before carving to serve.
How to Get a Perfect Boneless Ribeye Roast
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Cooking this dish is far less intensive than other roasts, as we prep it by rubbing with seasonings and coating in butter. Then broil it at a very high temperature for a short time, then roast for about 2 hours.
Follow steps precisely. Then the meat sits for a half an hour and we slice and serve… making this recipe crazy easy. Since there are only four steps (prep, broil, roast, rest) they need to be followed exactly.
My Pro Tip
Recipe Tip
Use a thermometer and remove roast 10 degrees early. Always go by a meat thermometer, instead of time, for your roast. When your roast is 10 degrees away from your desired final temperature, remove it from the oven. It will carryover cook 10 degrees after removing, so to get the perfect doneness, you need to let it rest and pull it out of the oven earlier!
Coat meat well. Be sure to evenly cover your roast with seasonings and butter. Rub salt, pepper, and herbs as well as garlic into any grooves in the meat so you have flavor all over. Get your oven scorching hot before adding to broil, and broil for a full fifteen minutes.
Hands off! Lower heat and don’t touch the beef until it’s done – you can check the internal temperature to get to your desired doneness, but otherwise, sit back and enjoy the amazing smell while your oven does the work! The number one way to mess up this roast is to over-fiddle with it.
Let it rest. We’ll talk about this again in a minute because it’s so important – but when your roast is done, let that sucker take a minute to pull itself together. Don’t cut your roast too early. Let those juices get happy to keep your beef tender and juicy!
How To Carve Ribeye Roast. Even though prime rib and ribeye roast are incredibly similar, the ribeye roast really shines when it comes time to carve. Unlike a prime rib, there is no bone in a ribeye roast so you can cook it whole, and then slice easily to serve. I slice my ribeye roast similar to how I would slice a meatloaf. Cut with a large, heavy knife in a fluid motion to create thick slices, against the grain of the meat.
If your meat is a bit jiggly, it might still be too warm. Roast is easier to cut after about 20-30 minutes. After that, you can hold it tightly together with one hand as you slice.
What is a Ribeye Roast? If you’re confused by what makes a prime rib and what makes a ribeye roast, you’re not alone. In a lot of ways, they are the same – but a ribeye roast refers to the large, central muscle that runs along a cow’s ribs – making up the “eye” of the roast. If you cut your prime rib roast away from the bones, leaving that eye and a protective layer of fat, you have what’s termed a “ribeye” roast. Ribeye roasts are very similar to prime rib in flavor and cooking method, but different in how they are cut from the bone.
Let Meat Rest for 30 Minutes. No matter your carving choices or technique, there is one hard and fast rule you must stick to for juicy and tender roast: You must let meat rest for 30 minutes before carving. If carved too quickly, the roast will quickly release all of it’s juices and dry out.
Tent with foil. Tent in foil for at least 30 minutes out of the oven before carving.
The temperature below shows when to REMOVE meat – it will cook another 10 degrees while tented with foil.
- For rare roast, the in-oven temperature should be 105-110 degrees.
- For medium-rare to medium meat, the in-oven temperature should be 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit.
- For well-done meat, the in-oven temperature should be 130 to 135 degrees Fahrenheit.
You can adjust your cook time based on those temperatures. Remember the sides will be closer to well done while the middle will be much more red/pink. You can still serve everyone the slice they prefer.
Boneless Ribeye Roast Recipe FAQs
For a medium rare roast (as pictured here), meat is done cooking in the oven at 110-115 degrees.
Remember that meat will continue to cook after removing from the oven – so cooking over 110-115 in the oven will result in a more done roast.
Since roasts and large cuts of meat can wildly vary in size, you need to go off your digital meat thermometer, not the clock – but plan around 2 hours.
If your roast is still a bit jiggly, and hard to get a clean, easy slice, you need to let it rest and set a bit longer. Try 10 minutes, uncovered, to let it rest – and then carve again.
Plan on about 1 pound of meat per person.
Prime rib is sometimes called a standing roast because the bones let it stand upright for roasting, even though most people cook it down these days for better roasting. A ribeye roast is cut from the same area as a prime rib roast, but removes the bone before cooking.
While a prime rib roast will include a ribeye roast, this cut 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!
No, in this case you want a nice crust around the roast and a soft interior, so you want the moisture from the roast to escape into the oven while cooking. After you remove it from the oven you can lightly tent it with foil to keep the meat warm while it cools, and the juices set.
Often when making roasts and prime rib, people tie the roast to help keep them round, or to keep a stuffing in – but I prefer to not tie my ribeye roast since the meat stays in a great shape even when cooked without tying. For me, less work always equals a win! I am a notoriously lazy cook when it comes to tying things off, I don’t even tie off my Roasted Montreal Chicken or my Paper Bag Roasted Turkey. I prefer to move quickly in the kitchen, and tying off a roast isn’t necessary. However, it can improve the look of the roast if you’re going for an impressive presentation.
Ribeye roast, like 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. The roast will continue to cook as you tent it in foil.
How To Serve Ribeye Roast
One reason this recipe stands out to me is the salty, crunchy, garlicky flavor we’re adding. I personally don’t love horseradish (my husband does), so I go for my roast solo – so the meat has to have a ton of flavor on it’s own. This recipe is the perfect balance for people who love horseradish – or want to tuck in as-is!
What To Serve With Roast
This dinner, like any beefy main, is great with hearty, rich, and delicious home-style sides and is spectacular with perfect mashed potatoes!
This ribeye roast is delicious with hearty side dishes like mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, garlic butter potatoes, and more. It is even better as leftovers, sliced thinly on rye bread for a delicious ribeye sandwich!
Green beans, brussels sprouts, mushrooms,fresh baked artisan bread – they all pair fabulously with this ribeye roast!
To see my favorite sides to serve with a ribeye roast, please check out my list below:
Or you can visit our side dish archives here.
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Best Ribeye Roast Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 lb ribeye roast
- 4 tbsp melted butter, for brushing
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tbsp italian seasonings
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- Place roast in a shallow roasting pan with the fatty side up.
- Cover ribeye roast with melted butter.
- Combine garlic, salt, and seasonings in a small bowl.
- Cover roast with the herbs and seasonings.
- Place roast in roasting pan into your oven for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.
- After 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325ºF and continue roasting for approximately 2 hours (approximately 20 minutes per pound of ribeye). Use a thermometer or digital cooking probe to test the ribeye and continue to cook to the desired internal temperature (see below).
- For rare ribeye roast, the in-oven temperature should be 110-115 degrees Fahrenheit. For medium rare to medium ribeye roast, the in-oven temperature should be 120 to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. For well-done ribeye roast, 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
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Do you have recommendations for cooking an almost 12lb rib eye roast? Should I cut in half? Cook time?
If you want to cook it faster than yes, cut it in half and leave a gap between the two pieces in a roasting pan. As a rule of thumb, once you turn the oven down you should be cooking about 20 minutes per pound. For a 12 lb roast if you cook it whole it would take approximately 4 hours. If you cut the roast cut in half, I would cook it for just under 2 hours then check on it. Since there is more meat in the oven it will likely take a little over the 2 hours. When I make mine, I use an internal probe thermometer like this so that it lets me know when it has reached medium rare (my desired doneness). Hope this helps! Merry Christmas!
I have a bone-in rib eye roast. 7lb. Could I just remove the bone before cooking and still use this recipe? Thank you.
Sarah-
You can tie it with twine to keep it together after cutting off the bone, or cook on the bone – and just know it will take longer. Meat should always go off temperature – not time – anyways – so this recipe will work for either!
I’m confused with one part of the process, at the early part of the instructions it says to;
Cook at 450 briefly. You will want to bake the roast at 450 degrees just for 15 minutes…
But then it says; broil it at a very high temperature for a short amount of time, and roast for about 2 hours.
So is it bake or broil?
Looks great, I’m going to do the bake at 450 today and see how it comes out.
Thanks.
You can broil it for a few minutes or bake at 450 for 15 minutes, I prefer to bake at 450. That high of a temperature is close to broiling but baking gives you more even heat, enjoy!
Hi! Should this be taken out of the fridge to come to room temp before cooking? Thanks!
Allowing it to come to room temperature is a great way to start off the recipe! I try to anytime I cook beef.
I have a small roast—about 3 lbs for the two of us. Do I need to make any adjustments to the recipe?
Use a meat thermometer to watch the time, and if you think it seems like a bit much seasoning, you can always scale it back a bit!
The nutrition facts look off to me. I would think there would be more than three grams of protein in a ribeye roast.
Thank you for pointing that out! Looks like a software update glitched it, I have updated the nutrition facts.
hello there! I have a roasting pan/rack/& lid. Do I cover rib eye roast while cooking in oven?? Thank you in advance!!
You want to cook the ribeye in the roasting pan on the rack but not covered. Ribeye does best when it gets even heat circulated around it and not covering it will allow for a better outer crust. Enjoy!