How Long Should I Grill My Steak?

Achieving a perfectly cooked steak is a skill that takes some a long time to master, but once mastered there is not much that beats a steak cooked just the way you like it.  There are many tips and tricks for cooking a steak perfectly, but in this article we are going to focus on heat, steak thickness and cooking times.

Bigger steaks should be cooked at a lower temperature in order to prevent the outside of the steak from becoming overcooked before the middle is done.  Thinner steaks can be cooked at higher temperatures because there is less risk of overcooking the outside of your steak.

Thickness	Heat Level	Rare	Medium	Well-Done
1 inch	High	8-10 min	12-14 min	16-20 min
1.5 inches	High	10-14 min	16-20 min	22-26 min
2 inches	Medium	12-16 min	18-22 min	24-28 min

Before you even turn your grill on, take a quick look at your steaks; if they are less than 1.5" thick, preheat your grill to a high heat level.  If you have thicker steaks, you will want to preheat your grill to medium.  Next, you need to decide how you would like your steak cooked, rare, medium rate, medium, medium well or Well-done and choose match the thickness of your steak to the cooking time in the corresponding chart above.

I suggest flipping your steak just one time to prevent your steak from drying out.

Additional Tips for Larger Steaks

If you are cooking a 2 inch or larger steak and can setup multiple heat regions on your grill I have a little secret to help you still get the grill lines on your steak while making sure it stays juicy.

First, set one area of your grill to high heat, and leave the other burners on medium.  Once the one region is extremely hot, sear each side of your steak on the high temperature grill for 45 second to a minute.  What this does is it provides the grill lines on the outside of the steak, and traps all the juices inside.  After searing both sides, reduce the temperature on that grilling area and move your steaks to the medium temperature grill to cook for the remainder of their cooking time.