How to Cook Grass-Fed Steak: A Complete Guide
Grass-fed steak deserves to be cooked on its own terms. Here’s our method for dry brining, searing, temperature control and resting—and the science behind why each step works.
How to make a steak
If you have gone out of your way to buy a properly raised, 100% grass-fed steak, it is worth taking a little extra care when you cook it.
Grass-fed beef is not simply conventional beef with less fat. It comes from a different production system. The animal eats differently, develops differently, and the resulting beef has measurable differences in its fat composition. Research consistently finds more omega-3 fatty acids and a lower omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio in grass-finished beef than grain-finished beef.
At Tyner Pond Farm, our cattle spend their lives on pasture. We move them regularly onto fresh forage and give grazed pasture time to recover. We don't finish cattle on grain because producing maximum marbling isn't our goal.
We are trying to raise cattle in a way that makes sense for the animal, the land and the people who eventually eat the beef.
And when someone makes the investment to buy that kind of steak, we want them to know how to cook it.
Grass-Fed Beef Should Be Cooked on Its Own Terms
The conventional beef industry has spent decades developing a system built around high-energy grain finishing. One result is increased carcass fat and the intramuscular fat we call marbling.
The USDA grading system places considerable value on that marbling because it affects the conventional measures of eating quality.
But marbling doesn't tell you where the animal came from. It doesn't tell you what it ate. It doesn't tell you how the pasture was managed or whether the farmer was improving or degrading the land. And it certainly isn't a measure of the nutritional quality of the beef.
We're interested in a broader definition of quality.
How was the animal raised? What did it eat? What is in the beef? How was the land managed? And can you identify the farm that produced your food?
That is why we don't think the goal should be making grass-fed beef imitate feedlot beef.
The goal is learning how to prepare grass-fed beef properly.
Fortunately, it isn't difficult.
Our method comes down to five things:
Salt. Time. A dry surface. High heat. Temperature control.
Here's how we do it.
Print Instructions
Step 1: Dry Brine Your Grass-Fed Steak
The best grass-fed steak starts the day before you cook it.
Pat the steak completely dry and season all sides with salt. We generally use about ½ to ¾ teaspoon per pound, depending on the type and crystal size of the salt.
Then place the steak uncovered on a wire rack over a tray in the refrigerator for 12–24 hours.
This is called dry brining.
And quite a bit is happening during those hours.
What salt actually does to a steak
A steak naturally contains water. When salt first touches its surface, some of that moisture dissolves the salt, producing a concentrated brine.
At first, you'll actually see the steak become wetter.
Given enough time, however, salt ions begin moving into the meat.
This is important because muscle is largely made from bundles of proteins, including actin and myosin. Salt changes the ionic environment around these proteins and affects how they interact with one another and with water.
The result is not that salt simply "locks in the juices." That's an overly simple explanation.
Salt changes the structure and interactions of the muscle proteins in ways that can increase their ability to hold water during cooking.
Meanwhile, you're doing something equally important to the outside of the steak:
You're drying it.
Step 2: Leave the Steak Uncovered
This may seem like a minor detail.
It isn't.
As the salted steak sits uncovered in the refrigerator, air circulates around it and moisture evaporates from the exterior.
That's exactly what we want.
A wet steak and a hot grill don't work particularly well together because water has to evaporate before the surface can become hot enough to brown efficiently.
A dry surface can get there much faster.
And that's when the chemistry gets interesting.
The Maillard reaction
The brown crust on a properly cooked steak isn't just "char."
At sufficiently high surface temperatures, amino groups from proteins and amino acids react with reducing sugars. That begins a complex series of reactions collectively known as the Maillard reaction.
Those reactions create many of the aroma and flavor compounds we associate with roasted and seared meat.
This is why we want a very dry steak before it reaches the grill.
And it clears up another old cooking myth:
Searing doesn't seal juice inside a steak.
We're searing because browning creates flavor.
Step 3: Cook Grass-Fed Steak Over High Heat
About 20–30 minutes before cooking, take the steak out of the refrigerator.
Don't rinse it.
Don't add more salt.
Preheat your grill or cast-iron skillet until it is very hot. On a grill, we're generally looking for something around 450–500°F.
Then put the steak directly over the heat.
We're trying to accomplish two different things at the same time:
Develop a browned exterior while bringing the center to the correct temperature without overcooking it.
That's particularly important with grass-fed beef.
Grass-finished beef generally contains less total fat than grain-finished beef. More importantly, the fats themselves aren't identical. Reviews comparing the two production systems consistently find higher omega-3 fatty acids in grass-fed beef and a substantially lower omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio.
One review of decades of research found an average omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio of about 1.5:1 in grass-fed beef versus 7.7:1 in grain-fed beef, although the exact numbers vary considerably by animal, breed, forage and production system.
That difference matters to us.
We aren't trying to replace a steak's natural nutritional profile with a large amount of fat produced during grain finishing.
But leaner beef gives the cook less room for error.
As meat gets hotter, its proteins denature and contract. Eventually those changes push more water out of the muscle structure.
Keep cooking and you keep changing the steak.
That's why temperature matters.
Don't Cook Grass-Fed Steak by the Clock
If you remember only one thing from this guide, make it this:
Use a meat thermometer.
Two ribeyes that look nearly identical can cook at different rates. Thickness matters. Starting temperature matters. The grill matters. Weather matters.
Five minutes per side isn't a reliable cooking method.
Internal temperature is.
For Tyner Pond grass-fed steaks, we generally recommend medium-rare.
| Doneness | Remove From Heat | Approx. Final Temperature |
|---|---|---|
| Rare | 120°F | 125°F |
| Medium-Rare | 125–130°F | 130–135°F |
| Medium | 135–140°F | 140–145°F |
These are guides, not promises. A thick steak coming from a very hot grill can continue rising several degrees after it is removed. A thin steak may carry over much less.
That brings us to the final step.
Step 4: Rest the Steak
We've changed our thinking somewhat on resting steak.
You'll often hear that a steak needs to rest so the juices can "redistribute" throughout the meat.
That's not a very good description of what's actually happening.
Temperature is the more important reason to rest.
The outside of a steak coming off a hot grill is considerably hotter than the center. Even after you remove it from the grill, that heat continues traveling inward.
That's carryover cooking.
So we remove the steak before its center reaches our desired final temperature and let physics finish the job.
For most steaks, give it roughly 8–10 minutes.
And don't tightly wrap it in foil.
Why We Rest Our Steaks in Butcher Paper
Think about everything we have done to this point.
We refrigerated the steak uncovered to dry its surface.
Then we exposed that dry surface to very high heat to create a good Maillard crust.
Why spend all that effort creating a dry, browned exterior and then seal the steak inside something that traps steam?
That's why we've started using butcher paper.
Lay the steak on the paper and tent or wrap it loosely. The paper provides some protection while still allowing moisture to escape.
Foil certainly works, particularly if keeping the steak hot is your main concern.
But for us, butcher paper does a better job of preserving the exterior we just worked to create.
Why We Use Kanawha Salt
We're also beginning to use Kanawha salt for our dry brine.
Not because ordinary salt won't work.
It will.
Kosher salt, sea salt or another good cooking salt can all dry brine a steak.
We chose Kanawha salt because there's a story behind it that makes sense alongside our beef.
The Kanawha Valley in present-day West Virginia sits within the larger Ohio Valley region. Underground brines there supported one of America's earliest major salt industries.
After commercial brine drilling began in 1808, the Kanawha Salines quickly became the largest salt-producing area in the United States, a position it held until the 1830s. And much of that salt had a very practical destination:
It was used to preserve meat throughout the Ohio Valley.
That's a connection we appreciate.
We raise cattle on pasture here in Indiana. A couple hundred years ago, farmers throughout this region depended on salt from the Kanawha Valley to preserve the meat they raised.
We're not claiming Kanawha salt has some magical chemical property that makes other salt obsolete.
We just like putting two foods from the Ohio Valley back together.
Our Method for Cooking a Grass-Fed Steak
So here is the complete method we use at Tyner Pond Farm:
- Pat the steak dry.
- Salt all sides with roughly ½–¾ teaspoon per pound.
- Place it on a rack uncovered in the refrigerator for 12–24 hours.
- Remove it from the refrigerator about 20–30 minutes before cooking.
- Get your grill or cast iron very hot.
- Sear the steak, turning as necessary to develop an even crust.
- Watch internal temperature—not time.
- For medium-rare, remove it at approximately 125–130°F.
- Rest loosely in butcher paper for approximately 8–10 minutes.
- Check the final temperature and eat.
No marinade.
No complicated seasoning.
No attempt to turn grass-fed beef into something it isn't.
Salt, heat and temperature.
Why Go Through the Trouble?
Because buying food from a known farm is an investment.
Our customers aren't buying our beef because we're the cheapest way to put a steak on the table. Commodity agriculture is very good at producing cheap, anonymous food at enormous scale.
We're trying to do something different.
When you buy beef directly from Tyner Pond Farm, you know where it came from. You know what the cattle ate. You know they lived on pasture. You know the people responsible for raising them.
Your purchase helps keep a working farm working. It supports local processing and a shorter food chain. It gives a farmer an economic reason to keep land in agriculture rather than seeing it become another subdivision.
And the cattle themselves are part of how we manage that land. We move them across pasture and give grazed areas time to recover. Manure and nutrients go back where they came from. Living plants cover the soil and capture sunlight again after the cattle move on.
There is also a nutritional reason for choosing grass-finished beef. Grass finishing changes the fatty-acid composition of the meat, including consistently higher omega-3 concentrations and a lower omega-6-to-omega-3 ratio compared with grain finishing. Research has also reported differences in CLA, carotenoid precursors and antioxidant compounds.
None of that requires us to claim that a steak is medicine.
It's simply evidence that how an animal is raised can change the food it becomes.
We think that matters.
And after putting roughly two and a half years into raising a grass-fed steer—and after you've made the investment to buy the steak—we think spending another day preparing it properly is reasonable.
Frequently Asked Questions About Cooking Grass-Fed Steak
What is the best way to cook a grass-fed steak?
We recommend dry brining for 12–24 hours, cooking over high heat, monitoring the internal temperature with a thermometer and removing the steak before it reaches its desired final temperature. For most steaks, we prefer medium-rare.
Should you salt grass-fed steak before cooking?
Yes. We prefer salting 12–24 hours before cooking rather than immediately before it. This gives the salt time to penetrate below the surface while uncovered refrigeration dries the exterior for better browning.
What temperature should grass-fed steak be cooked to?
We prefer a final internal temperature around 130–135°F for medium-rare. Remove the steak several degrees earlier and allow carryover cooking to finish it during the rest.
Does grass-fed steak cook faster?
You will frequently see claims that grass-fed beef cooks a specific percentage faster than grain-fed beef. We don't think that's a particularly useful rule. Thickness, cut, starting temperature, cooking method and heat all affect cooking time.
Use a thermometer instead of a timer.
Why can grass-fed steak become tough?
Overcooking is one common reason. Grass-fed beef is generally leaner than heavily marbled grain-finished beef, leaving less margin for cooking well beyond medium-rare. Proper salting and careful temperature control make a substantial difference.
Do I need Kanawha salt?
No.
We like Kanawha salt for its regional history and connection to meat preservation in the Ohio Valley. But kosher salt, sea salt and other cooking salts can all be used for dry brining.
Should I marinate grass-fed steak?
You can, but we generally don't.
For a good ribeye, New York strip, sirloin, filet or Denver steak, we want to taste the beef. Salt and proper cooking are usually enough.
Good Beef Begins Before the Grill
Cooking technique matters.
But it can't change how the animal was raised.
We believe a good steak begins with living pasture, an animal adapted to that environment and a farmer paying attention to both.
Then it's our responsibility to raise it well.
And yours is simply not to overcook it.
