Prime Rib Roast
Bone-in rib roast dry-brined, roasted low until perfectly pink edge to edge, then blasted hot for a crackling crust. With horseradish cream and au jus.
- Full Meals
- Oven
- Beef
- Dinner
- 300 min total
- Serves 8
Ingredients
Ingredients for servings
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Original recipe serves 8. Ingredient amounts adjust automatically. Cooking times and pan size may need adjusting separately.
Roast
- 8 lb bone-in standing rib roast, 3 to 4 bones
- 3 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper, coarse
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
- 4 tbsp butter, softened
Horseradish cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 tbsp prepared horseradish
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh chives, chopped
Au jus
- 2 cups beef broth
- 1/2 cup dry red wine, optional
- 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Gear
- Roasting pan with rack
- Leave-in probe thermometer
- Carving knife
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Steps
Step 1: 1 TO 3 DAYS AHEAD: Pat the roast dry and season all over with the kosher salt. Set it on a rack in a pan, uncovered, in the fridge.
Step 2: Mix the horseradish cream ingredients. Cover and chill. It gets better overnight.
Step 3: ROAST DAY: Take the roast out 2 hours before cooking. Heat the oven to 225°F.
Step 4: Mix the pepper, garlic powder, rosemary and butter and rub it over the roast. Set it bone-side down in a roasting pan (the bones are a natural rack).
Step 5: Insert a probe thermometer into the center. Roast until it reads 120°F for medium-rare, about 30 to 35 minutes per pound (about 4 to 4.5 hours for 8 lb). Go by the thermometer, not the clock.
Step 6: Pull the roast and tent it with foil. Rest at least 30 minutes and up to 90. Turn the oven up to 500°F.
Step 7: AU JUS: Pour off most of the fat from the pan. Set the pan over medium heat, add the wine and scrape up the browned bits. Add the broth and Worcestershire and simmer 8 to 10 minutes until slightly reduced. Taste and season.
Step 8: 10 minutes before serving, put the roast back in the 500°F oven for 6 to 10 minutes, until a dark, crackling crust forms.
Step 9: Slice the bones off in one piece, then slice the roast into thick slabs. Serve with au jus and horseradish cream.
Game plan
Christmas dinner at 6:00 PM, 8-lb roast:
- 2 to 3 days before: Buy and dry-brine the roast. Make horseradish cream.
- 10:30 AM: Roast out of the fridge.
- 12:30 PM: Rub it with herb butter. Into a 225°F oven.
- 3:30 PM: Start watching the probe. Potatoes or sides prep.
- 4:30 PM (or when it hits 120°F): Pull it. Rest. Oven to 500°F. Bake any sides that need a hot oven now.
- 5:30 PM: Make au jus.
- 5:40 PM: Roast back in at 500°F.
- 5:50 PM: Slice.
- 6:00 PM: Serve.
Swaps
- Doneness: Pull at 115°F for rare, 120°F medium-rare, 130°F medium. Don’t go past medium; this cut is best pink.
- Boneless: A boneless rib roast cooks about 20 percent faster. Set it on a rack.
- Seasoning: Swap rosemary for thyme, or add 1 tablespoon smoked paprika.
Tips
- Plan about 1 pound bone-in per person, or 1 bone for every 2 people.
- The low-then-hot method (reverse sear) gives even pink from edge to center with almost no gray band.
- The long rest is your friend. The roast holds heat well, and your oven is free for sides.
The story
HAM Cooking. Let’s fire it up.
Prime rib is the most expensive thing I’ll ever put in my oven, so I approach it with the same respect I give a bull in a small pen. Carefully, and with a plan.
Most roast recipes go hot the whole time, which gives you a crust outside, rare in the very middle, and a thick ring of gray, overcooked meat in between. Going low at 225°F first lets the heat move gently and evenly, so the whole roast ends up the same perfect pink from edge to edge. Then the quick blast at 500°F at the end crisps up the outside. Cooks call it a reverse sear. I call it not wasting my money.
The dry brine a few days ahead seasons it deep and dries the surface for a better crust. And the rest? Since it’s cooked low, it barely climbs while resting, so you’ve got a big window to finish everything else. Slice it thick. This isn’t a night for being polite with portions.
HAM out.
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