This is a specific formula for achieving a perfectly pink prime rib cooked somewhere a shade under medium rare. To use this method you must have a full-sized, modern oven with a digital temperature setting that indicates when it is preheated. Older ovens with manual controls can vary greatly, and the doors may not have the proper insulation.

Chef John's Perfect Prime Rib

prime rib roast

unsalted butter, softened

black pepper

herbes de Provence

kosher salt

Place rib roast on a plate and bring to room temperature, about 4 hours.


Preheat an oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).


Combine butter, pepper, and herbes de Provence in a bowl; mix until well blended. Spread butter mixture evenly over entire roast. Season roast generously with kosher salt.


Roast the 4-pound prime rib (see footnote if using a larger and smaller roast) in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Turn the oven off and, leaving the roast in the oven with the door closed, let the roast sit in the oven for 2 hours. Remove roast from the oven, slice, and serve.


This works well for certain ovens.  Here is the fool proof plan!  After your calculated 500 degree blast turn off the oven.  In 30 minutes check the oven temp by setting it to bake at 325 degrees.  If your oven is below 325 and begins to heat up your oven either has a vent fan or cools off too quickly.  No problem.  Set it to 275 and leave it for the next hour.  You are now at 1.5 hours after the blast.  Turn oven off for the last half hour.  Perfection.  If your oven is over 325 one half hour  after the first half hour blast you should be good with original recipe.

I know this is a culinary no-no, but we don't link pink meat, so while I partially use this method, I didn't do it exactly as Chef John suggests.
I had a 4 lb boneless rib roast, which I let sit out at room temp for 4 hours. While the meat was coming to room temp I also let my butter sit out to soften. I placed the butter in a small bowl, added about 1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, 4 tsp of coarse kosher salt, 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, 6 minced garlic cloves, and 2 tsp of thyme. (We don't care for Herbs de Provence.) I mixed this up with a fork then slathered the meat all over with it. I roasted the meat for 20 minutes at 500 degrees to get a nice crust, then I reduced the oven temp to 325 and continued roasting for another two hours. This gave us meat which was almost well done. It was still absolutely delicious this way, and perfectly flavored and juicy. Served with some twice baked potatoes and green beans. Perfect meal!

This is a fool proof method for making the best medium rare prime rib. Your seasonings can be changed according to your preference, but what's listed works perfectly. It's the cooking method that is the key. It cannot be stressed enough, the roast MUST be at room temperature in order for this to work. If it is the least bit cold in the middle of the roast, you will come out with a very rare roast. A mistake I only made once because I was worried about leaving it out to get warm. Don't worry! It will be fine! I usually purchase 4.5 to 5 lb roasts and take it out of the fridge for a minimum of 5 hours to be sure it is room temp. It comes out absolutely PERFECT and juicy every time.

I have used this recipe for years and it works perfectly- ONE THING that will cause the meat to be less than medium rare, besides not having the rib at room temperature, is the fan in newer ovens!!  I had no issue for many years until I got a new oven in 2012.  Many new ovens have a fan that comes on when you turn the oven off.  It quickly lowers the temp, which, obviously, will not work for this recipe.  Since I have a built-in oven, I  actually shut off the breaker to the oven so the fan doesn't come on.  Otherwise you can just unplug it.  I guarantee that was the problem with folks who had theirs come out rare!

I was really skeptical - I'm a thermometer checker with my meats and keeping the oven off for two hours with the door closed about killed me! I had a 7 pound prime rib roast and with the exception of the seasoning (I make my own), I followed the recipe exactly as written - roasting at 500 degrees for 35 minutes and then oven off for 2 hours.  Turned out perfect.  My husband was beyond impressed.  I also made Chef John's Beef Au Jus.  A meal my entire family loved.  Thank you!

I wish there was an ability to give 10 stars! Chef John, I followed your directions... (except I was all out of Kosher salt so I only used sea salt, dang it)...and I got rave reviews. Due to having big eaters and more people than normal, I made an 11.13 pound rib roast and the directions worked for that big of an item. I couldn't believe it. Thank you so much. I have deleted the other prime/rib roast from my recipe box and now only have yours. Words cannot express my gratitude.

Absolutely, the easiest way to make perfect prime rib every time. But do not be tempted to open up the oven door until time is up.

OMG .. I have never been able to do Prime Rib correctly and I finally cracked it using this recipe. Thank you thank you thank you!  The only alteration I made was to do the math (# of lbs by 5 mins per lb) and then I added about 5 extra minutes to the total time (ie my roast needed 19.5 mins in the 500 F oven, and I did it for 25 mins) this was simply because I wanted some meat on the outside edge closer to medium (for me) and medium rare inside for hubby. The plan worked to perfection and gave us exactly what we wanted for a fantastic New Years Eve dinner. I have never been a huge fan of prime rib and this recipe has won me over. I'll prepare this again and again, a big hit!

(I might cut back on the pepper next time, but this wasn't a huge issue, just personal preference

I also made Chef John's Au Jus to go with this and it was incredible; like liquid gold as my husband said!

)

Prime rib was perfect juicy and perfectly pink. Followed the recipe exactly with a 4 lb prime rib. Loved it! Love the video to really get a good sense of how to apply the butter and herbs. I'll be trying more of your recipes in the near future for sure!

I really wanted to love this.  I followed the recipe to the letter.  Like another reviewer experienced, my smoke alarms went off which always scares all of us.  (Especially the dogs with their super hearing)  After 2 hours when I took it out, it was way, WAY too rare.  The only part that was cooked was the outside of it.  It also still had that wiggly consistency.  Had to cook it again the next day.  Was really awful, and we both like rare-ish roast beef!  Will never make this recipe again.  Sorry Chef.  Just wasn't edible to us and creeped me out looking at it.

See a fool-proof method for making flawless prime rib.

chef john's perfect prime rib

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

Total: 6 hours, 30 minutes

Servings: 4

Author : Chef John

Ingredients

Instructions

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