Instant Pot Sous Vide Steak

Perfectly cooked steak using the Instant Pot's sous vide function, finished with a cast iron sear. No circulator or vacuum sealer needed!

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Prep Time
15 minutes
Total Time
2 hours 45 minutes
Servings
1 steak
Difficulty
intermediate
#steak#sous-vide#instant-pot#beef#wagyu

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Today, I’m going to try to sous vide a steak in an instant pot and then sear it in a cast iron pan. Sous vide means cooking vacuum sealed food in warm water. The benefit of cooking this way is that you set the water to your desired doneness temp and your food will cook to exactly that temp and hold it there. It’s a good way to get a perfectly cooked steak, but you’ll still need to sear it to get a good crust. I don’t have a sous vide circulator or a vacuum sealer, so we’re going to try with an instant pot and a ziplock bag and remove the air from the bag with water displacement. I pre-salted this beautiful American Wagyu strip from @Snake River Farms and placed it in the fridge for the night on a wire rack in a prep tub. This is called dry brining, the salt will be absorbed deep into the meat through osmosis. The next day I trimmed off a little bit of the fat so I can sear the steak in it later. I typically use avocado or olive oil to sear, but I didn’t want to introduce any oil flavors to the wagyu. I half filled the instant pot with hot tap water and put in the wire trivet to lift the steak from the bottom. I put the steak in the bag, zipped it until it was almost closed and then submerged the steak into the water until all the air escaped and then fully zipped it. I put the lid on, clicked the Sous Vide button once and set temp to 125, clicked the button again and set the timer to 2 hours. 2 hours later, I rendered the steak fat in a cast iron pan, removed the steak from the instant pot and seared it. It will be gray when it comes out of the bag, but fear not, it will be cooked perfectly after the sear. I flipped it every 60 seconds until the internal temp hit 130, which carried over to 135. I removed most of the fat from the pan and then made a quick pan sauce while the steak rested. I then reheated the fat from the pan and poured it over the steak to re-introduce some crust. It turned out wicked good, wall to wall pink and a good sear. If I try this again, I would set my sous vide temp to 120 and use a slightly hotter cast iron pan to get an even better sear. #steak #sousvide #castiron #bbq #recipe #food #cooking #steakrecipe #howto
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Jul 29, 2023

Today, I’m going to try to sous vide a steak in an instant pot and then sear it in a cast iron pan. Sous vide means cooking vacuum sealed food in warm water. The benefit of cooking this way is that ...

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Salt, Fire & Steak. Today I’m going back to the basics and forward searing ribeye steaks on the Weber kettle. I’ve been grilling steaks for 30 years - over the last 3 years I’ve subjected my family to a bunch of steak experiments to learn new techniques. At breakfast the other day, my kid asked me if I could just grill up some ribeyes like I used to. The old fashioned way. No fancy rubs. No reverse sear. No sous vide. Just salt, fire, and steak. We can definitely make that happen. Let’s start by salting the steaks for a few hours. I like to use a good layer of salt here, especially since these steaks are quite thick. I used about a full chimney of lump charcoal and pushed it all over to one side so we have two zones one hot one cold. I also threw in a couple of wood chunks for a little smoke. I removed the steaks from the fridge a few hours before grilling so they don’t seize up when they hit the heat. I start on the cool side and then rotate the grate. If you put them directly on the hot side they will have grill marks which isn’t the goal. I then grill for a few minutes until I’m happy with the crust. And move them over to the cool side and rotate again. When I’m happy with the crust I move them back over to the cool side and keep them there until they hit 120-125, which will carry over to 130. Go higher if you like less pink. Going back to the basics is a good thing. These turned out great and we’ll be doing them again very soon. #bbq #steaks #grilling #ribeye
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Ingredients

Recipe yield: 1 steak

  • 1 Steak (strip, ribeye, or wagyu)(1-1.5 inches thick)
  • Kosher Salt(generous amount for dry brine)
  • Black Pepper(for seasoning)

Equipment Needed

  • •Instant Pot
  • •Ziplock bag
  • •Cast iron skillet
  • •Meat thermometer

Instructions

9 steps
1

Dry brine the steak

Salt the steak generously on both sides. Place on wire rack over prep tub. Refrigerate overnight uncovered. Salt will be absorbed deep into meat through osmosis.

Time:Overnight

Tips

  • •This is called dry brining
  • •Wire rack allows air circulation
  • •Pat dry before cooking
2

Trim and prep

Trim a small amount of fat from steak to render later for searing. This avoids introducing oil flavors to the steak.

Tips

  • •Save the trimmed fat for rendering
  • •Wagyu fat is especially flavorful
3

Prepare Instant Pot

Half-fill Instant Pot with hot tap water. Place wire trivet inside to lift steak from bottom.

Tips

  • •Hot tap water speeds up heating
  • •Trivet prevents direct contact with pot
4

Bag the steak

Place steak in ziplock bag. Zip almost closed, then submerge in water to displace air. Once air is out, seal completely.

Tips

  • •This is water displacement method
  • •No vacuum sealer needed
  • •Make sure bag is fully sealed
5

Sous vide cook

Put lid on Instant Pot. Press 'Sous Vide' button once, set temperature to 120-125°F (49-52°C). Press button again, set timer to 2 hours. Start.

Time:2 hoursTemp:120-125°F (49-52°C)

Tips

  • •120°F (49°C) for next attempt (author's recommendation)
  • •125°F (52°C) tested in this recipe
  • •Lower temp allows better crust development
6

Render the fat

Near end of sous vide time, heat cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Add trimmed steak fat and render until fat is released.

Time:5 minutes
7

Sear the steak

Remove steak from bag (it will look gray - don't worry!). Sear in hot cast iron with rendered fat, flipping every 60 seconds until internal temp hits 130°F (54°C) (will carry over to 135°F (57°C)).

Time:4-6 minutesTemp:130-135°F (54-57°C) internal

Tips

  • •Gray color is normal from sous vide
  • •Sear develops the crust
  • •Use hotter pan for better crust (author's note)
8

Make pan sauce (optional)

Remove most fat from pan. Make quick pan sauce while steak rests. Reheat reserved fat and pour over steak to re-introduce crust.

Time:5 minutes
9

Rest and serve

Let steak rest 5-10 minutes before slicing. Result: wall-to-wall pink with perfect sear.

Time:5-10 minutes

You've completed all 9 steps. Time to eat.

Important Notes

Tested with American Wagyu strip from Snake River Farms. If trying again: use 120°F (49°C) sous vide temp and slightly hotter cast iron for even better sear. Result was 'wicked good' with wall-to-wall pink and good crust.

Pro Tips

  • •Don't have an Instant Pot? Use any sous vide circulator at same temps
  • •Water displacement works as well as vacuum sealing for short cooks
  • •Pat steak very dry before searing for best crust
  • •Cast iron must be screaming hot for proper sear

Gear for This Recipe

Check out the gear we use and recommend for this recipe.

KnivesInstant-Read ThermometersSeasoningsSmokersWireless Thermometers