This sous vide ribeye recipe is the difference between cooking a steak and serving a steakhouse plate. The water bath does the temperature work - edge-to-edge medium-rare, never gray, never gambling - and a screaming-hot cast iron does the crust. Then a fresh tomato chimichurri lands on top and cuts straight through the fat with bright herbs and red wine vinegar.
I make this when I want a real Saturday-night dinner without the white-knuckle stress of trying to nail medium-rare in a smoking pan. The sous vide is forgiving - start it before you pour your first glass and forget about it for an hour and forty-five minutes. The chimichurri comes together in ten minutes while the steak rests. Serve it alongside garlicky collard greens or a buttery potato gratin and you've got a holiday-level plate on a regular weeknight.
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Ingredients
See the recipe card below for exact measurements.
For the steak
- Bone-in or boneless ribeyes (1¼-1½ inches thick is the sweet spot)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
For the tomato chimichurri
- Ripe tomato, finely chopped
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley
- Fresh basil
- Fresh chives
- Shallot
- Red wine vinegar
- Extra-virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper
To finish
- Maldon flaky sea salt
- Fresh basil leaves
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Foolproof doneness. The water bath holds the exact temperature you want the steak to be. There's no overshooting, no praying over the pan, no cutting into it to peek.
- Steakhouse crust at home. A screaming-hot cast iron and the rendered fat cap give you the dark, crackly bark you used to only get on a $90 plate.
- Make-ahead-friendly. The bath is forgiving up to four hours, so you can sous vide the steaks before guests arrive and just sear when you're ready to plate.
- The chimichurri is the move. Fresh, herbaceous, vinegar-forward - exactly what fat-rich beef wants. Don't skip it.
Instructions
Two parts: the precise sous vide bath, then the screaming-hot cast iron sear. The chimichurri comes together while the steak rests.
Step 1: Season & seal
Generously salt and pepper the ribeyes and place them in a vacuum-sealed bag.
Step 2: Sous vide
Sous vide at 130°F for 1 hour 45 minutes (medium-rare). For other thicknesses or doneness levels, see the cook-time chart below.
Step 3: Pat dry & sear
Remove the steaks from the bags, pat VERY dry, and add more salt - sounds crazy, but important for flavor. Then preheat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Using long tongs (so you don't get burned), sear the fat cap, then sear in screaming-hot cast iron 45-60 seconds per side, with the fatty sides bumped up against the edge of the cast iron so they continue to render.
Step 4: Slice & sauce
Slice the steak.
Step 5: Top with chimichurri
Spoon tomato chimichurri over sliced ribeye and enjoy .
Sous Vide Time & Temp Calculator - Steak
Use this chart to dial in your time and temperature for any thickness and doneness.
Find Your Cook Time
Pick your steak's thickness and how you like it cooked — get your exact sous vide time and temperature.
Wait — what about the weight of my steak?
Sous vide is geometry, not pounds. The water bath only has to push heat from the surface of the steak to its center, and that's a thickness problem — not a weight one. A 12-oz and a 16-oz ribeye that are both 1½" thick cook for the same time.
What does weight tell you? Two things: how many people it'll feed, and what to expect at the butcher counter. As a rough guide: 8-oz boneless ribeye is usually around 1" thick, 12–14 oz lands around 1¼–1½", 16–20 oz around 1½–2", and tomahawks (24+ oz, bone-in) hit 2–2½"+. Measure with a ruler if you want to be sure.
Food safety note: Cooking under 130°F? Don't exceed 2½ hours total. At 130°F and above, the steak is safe up to 4 hours but holds best texture at the times above.
Substitutions
A few easy swaps if you're missing an ingredient or want to riff on the sauce.
- Strip steak or filet mignon instead of ribeye - same time and temp work for any 1½"-thick steak.
- White wine vinegar or sherry vinegar in place of red wine vinegar in the chimichurri.
- Cilantro in place of parsley if you like the herbaceous edge it brings.
- Sun-dried tomato in place of fresh if you're cooking off-season - drain the oil, chop fine, and reduce the olive oil in the chimichurri by a tablespoon.
Variations
Once you've nailed the base recipe, here are four ways to take it somewhere new.
- Garlic-confit chimichurri. Roast a few cloves of garlic in olive oil at 250°F for 30 minutes, smash, and stir into the chimichurri for a sweeter, deeper note.
- Smoked finish. After sous vide, give the steaks 15 minutes in a smoker at 225°F before searing. Cherry or hickory wood plays well with ribeye.
- Steakhouse-style with compound butter. Skip the chimichurri and finish with a slice of cold blue-cheese-and-chive butter melting over the top.
- Surf and turf. Add seared scallops or grilled shrimp on the side and double the chimichurri - it's incredible on shellfish.
Storage
Sous vide ribeye stores beautifully - here's how to handle the leftovers without losing the texture you worked for.
- Store leftover sliced steak in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
- Reheat gently - drop the slices back into a 130°F sous vide bath for 10-15 minutes, or warm in a covered skillet over very low heat. High heat will overcook them.
- Chimichurri keeps in the fridge for up to 3 days, but the herbs are brightest within the first 24 hours. Bring to room temp before serving.
- Freezing isn't recommended for already-cooked steaks - the texture suffers on thaw. Sous vide raw steaks ahead of time and refrigerate, or freeze raw and add 30-60 minutes to the bath time.
Top Tip
Pat the steaks bone-dry before searing - and salt them a second time. I cannot say this enough. The sous vide leaves moisture on the surface, and any moisture will steam-cook the meat instead of crusting it. Hard pats with paper towels, then a fresh pinch of kosher salt, and only then does the steak meet the pan. That second salt is what builds the bark.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nope. A heavy-duty zip-top bag and the water-displacement method work just as well - slowly lower the bag into the water with the top open, and the water pressure pushes the air out before you seal it. A vacuum sealer is faster and more reliable for stacking jobs, but plenty of cooks make incredible sous vide steaks with zip-tops alone.
Yes - that's one of sous vide's best tricks. Add 30 minutes for a 1-inch steak, 45 for 1½", and an hour for 2" or thicker. No need to thaw.
The water bath cooks the inside perfectly but leaves the outside pale and a little wet. The cast-iron sear builds the deep brown crust where all the steakhouse flavor lives - Maillard browning, crisped fat, the whole reason a steak tastes like a steak.
At 130°F or higher, ribeye holds beautifully for up to 4 hours - the texture starts to soften past that. If you're cooking under 130°F (rare), don't exceed 2½ hours for food safety. Use the chart above to plan.
It's a riff. Traditional Argentine chimichurri is parsley, oregano, garlic, vinegar, and oil. This version keeps the herb-and-vinegar bones but adds basil, chives, and fresh tomato for an Italian-leaning brightness. Call it whatever you want - your dinner table won't argue.
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📖 Recipe
Sous Vide Ribeye with Tomato Chimichurri
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 2 servings 1x
Description
The foolproof, steakhouse-quality ribeye - sous vide for edge-to-edge medium-rare, finished with a screaming-hot cast iron sear and a bright tomato chimichurri.
Ingredients
- 2 ribeye steaks (1 ½ inches thick, about 12-16 oz each)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 cup tomato, finely chopped
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
- ¼ cup fresh basil, finely chopped
- ¼ cup fresh chives, finely chopped
- ¼ cup shallot, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ⅛ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Maldon sea salt flakes
- Fresh basil leaves, torn
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Generously salt and pepper the ribeyes and place in a vacuum-sealed bag.
- Sous vide at 130°F for 1 hour and 45 minutes (medium-rare).
- Remove the steaks from the bags, pat VERY dry, and then add more salt - sounds crazy, but important for flavor. Then preheat a cast iron skillet over high heat. Using long tongs (so you don't get burned), sear the fat cap, then sear in screaming-hot cast iron 45-60 seconds per side, with the fatty sides bumped up against the edge of the cast iron so they continue to render.
- Rest at least 10 minutes (sous vide steaks need less rest).
- Slice the steak and then spoon the chimichurri over and around.
- Garnish with basil and Maldon.
Notes
- For other thicknesses: ¾" → 45 min, 1" → 1 hr, 1¼" → 1h 15m, 1¾" → 2 hr, 2" → 2h 30m, 2½" → 3h 15m, 3" → 4 hr.
- For other doneness levels, change the bath temp: rare 120°F, medium 135°F, medium-well 145°F, well-done 155°F. Time stays the same.
- Sous vide steaks frozen straight from the freezer: add 30-60 min depending on thickness.
- Make the chimichurri up to 24 hours ahead - it's brightest within the first 24, then mellows.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Sous Vide
- Cuisine: American
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