11 Mistakes to Avoid When Grilling Steak, According to Chefs

A good-quality cut of steak is done ill justice at the hands of an overzealous grill. Contrast that to cheaper cuts like chuck roast, for example, which forgivingly and ultimately come to their prime when slowly cooked. Cooking steak, therefore, is a paradoxically delicate matter for a powerfully primal affair. So it's understandable that many home cooks err on the side of overcooking it, especially if the quality of the meat is not top-notch.

Regardless of what your preferences are — and we're not knocking any of 'em — here are 11 mistakes to avoid on your next steak night.

Choose the right piece of steak. The quality of your final product depends on your starting ingredients.

"Finding the best product you can get your hands on is always the hardest part of cooking a great steak," says Ryan Prentiss, former executive chef at Detroit's Prime + Proper steakhouse. "Fat is flavor, so look for beef that is plump, bright red, and has the most marbling. Marbling is the intramuscular fat present in high-quality beef that gives it a 'marbled' appearance. Grain-fed or grain-finished beef will have more marbling than a grass-fed beef."

On aged steak:

"If you're lucky enough to find a butcher that has dry-aged beef," Prentiss says, "I highly recommend trying anything aged from 15 to 30 days until you become acquainted with the flavor."

Chef Joe Cervantez, executive chef at Pier 6 in San Leon, Texas, agrees, noting that steaks are best eaten at 23 to 28 days. "Most steaks from the grocery store are aged 14 days," he says. If you're up for trying your hand at aging and have access to a vacuum sealer, he suggests packing the meat in an airtight seal until it hits at least 23 days.

On cuts and thickness:

According to chef Dan Sharp of The Meatball Shop in New York City, certain types of steak are better suited for grilling. He recommends a skirt steak for a hot grill, whereas a New York strip or rib eye steak is best for a cast-iron pan over a burner. For pan cooking, Sharp recommends a 3/4- to 1-inch steak because "the thickness gives you time to get a nice crust on the outside without overcooking the inside," he says.

Don’t cook your steaks straight from the fridge.

Prentiss advises taking your steak out from the fridge about one hour before you're going to cook it, and setting it on a roasting rack. (This is also the best time to season it with salt, ideally medium-grain sea salt, he says. More on that below.)

Sharp prefers to season his steaks a couple of hours in advance, and then agrees about letting them come to room temperature before cooking. There's an exception, however: "If [the steak] is on the thinner side," he says, "starting it cold will give a buffer from overcooking the center."

While chefs differ in their recommendations for length of time at room temperature before cooking, chef Dinesh Jayawardena advises not squeezing the time below a half hour.

Don’t use the wrong kind of salt, and when in doubt, oversalt.

"True sea salt is always the way to go when seasoning a steak," Prentiss says. "We use Jacobsen's kosher salt from Portland, Oregon. The grains are medium-sized and the pleasant minerality lends itself perfectly to grilled beef. Any true fleur de sel or sel gris-type sea salt will work well for good beef. Avoid table salt, iodized salt, or fine-grain sea salts as they have more weight to volume than larger grain salts, and you can easily over-season with them. Just think medium grain, true sea salt."

Cervantez is a fan of kosher salt, which is virtually identical to sea salt. (Both are different from iodized table salt, however, which is usually ultra-fine grain and is adulterated with iodine, hence the name.) He also advocates seasoning with pepper, and recommends combining with salt in equal quantities.

And when you do, "Always overseason your steaks a bit," adds Christian Ragano, executive chef at Cindy's rooftop restaurant at the Chicago Athletic Association. "When you think it's enough, always add a little more. A lot of salt and pepper falls off during the cooking process and doesn't always penetrate the meat."

Jayawardena, regional executive chef for Radisson Hotel Group Americas, concurs. "Now is not the time to be shy about seasoning," he says, adding that salt is "the most important ingredient you could ever add to a steak. Do this before you let the steaks rest so the seasoning has time to work its way deep into the meat."

Don't season your steak too soon — yes, that's a thing.

"With larger steaks it's always a good idea to finish with some large flake or finishing salt once it's sliced," says Prentiss. "If you don't have an hour to temper and season ahead of time, season immediately before grilling; anything shorter than 40 minutes will only pull moisture out of the steak and not let the outside get those beautiful grill marks and crust."

Juan Carlos Gonzalez, former executive chef of SoBou in New Orleans, likes to add a bit of olive oil as well, which he says helps achieve a better sear or griddle marks. If you do decide to add some fat, stick with olive oil, not butter, says Angelo Auriana, executive chef at Factory Place Hospitality. "There is no real need for butter when cooking a steak because it already has plenty of fat and flavor in the meat itself," he says. (That is, of course, assuming you have a solid starting product.)

Make sure it’s super dry before it hits the heat.

"Make sure you pat down your meat," says Cervantez. "Dry meat forms the best crust."

Don’t use lighter fluid or charcoal briquettes if you can avoid it.

According to Prentiss, "Always avoid lighter fluid if possible, and while convenient, charcoal briquettes can add an unpleasant kerosene flavor to grilled meats and should be avoided. If a wood/natural lump charcoal fire is unavailable or too inconvenient, propane grills will ultimately yield a better steak than charcoal briquettes and lighter fluid."

The best way to go, however, is hardwood or hardwood lump charcoal. "Natural solid fuels add the most flavor to steaks, complementing their natural flavors instead of overpowering them," says Prentiss. "At P+P we [used] seasoned oak logs and a hardwood lump charcoal made from mesquite. This yields a consistent fire with minimal smoke that burns around 800 degrees Fahrenheit."

Don’t start without a super hot grill.

"Be sure to let your charcoal fully catch and heat up before attempting to grill on it, about 20-30 minutes," says Prentiss. "Your fire should have a bed of red hot coals, [with] high, even heat across the grill, and minimal flames and smoke."

"A hot cooking surface is extremely important to caramelize the outside of the steak and secure in the flavor," says Jayawardena. "This method will give you a crispy-on-the-outside, yet moist-and-tender-on-the inside steak."

Don't forget the thermometer — even if you're a pro.

Chef Ragano asserts this is one of the most important things to remember. "Temping a steak by hand can be tricky," he says. "It takes a ton of practice and a ton of experience. Thomas Keller once said, 'You have to cook a steak a thousand times just to suck at it.'"

Don't have a meat thermometer on hand? Ted Hopson, chef-owner of Los Angeles's now-shuttered The Bellwether, recommends using metal cake testers. "People are always looking for secrets on how to get the perfect steak doneness," he says. "Metal cake testers are the best tool you can use for this. Insert the metal tester into the steak, leave it for five seconds, then pull it out and touch it to your lips or inner wrist. The internal temp of the steak will tell you how done it is. If it's cold, your steak is rare; if it's just warm, medium-rare; slightly hot, medium, etc. No more pushing on it to test it — what happens when you hit a muscle knot? Plus, cake testers are less than a dollar and you can get them in baking sections or on Amazon."

Chef Prentiss offers these steak doneness guidelines:

Rare: 120-130°F

Medium Rare: 130-135°F

Medium: 140-145°F

Medium Well: 150-155°F

Well: 160-165°F

Don’t flip your steak more than once.

"Keep away from overturning your steak," says Eric Schlicht, chef at Ocean Resort Casino's American Cut in Atlantic City, New Jersey. "Let the Maillard reaction do its thing." (That's the technical name for the chemical reaction between amino acids and sugars, which gives browned and caramelized food its distinctive flavor. We couldn't have said it better, Wikipedia.)

Ideally, Prentiss says you should turn the steak once on each side to get those crosshatch grill marks, and only flip it once.

Avoid individual steaks if cooking for a crowd.

"Don't be afraid to go with one large steak, like a 32-ounce rib eye or a one-kilo porterhouse, for a group as opposed to multiple individual steaks," says Prentiss. "One large steak is easier to manage and monitor on a grill than multiple smaller ones, and armed with a good thermometer, any cook can nail a perfect medium-rare every time." Because of the inherent internal variation of cooking times within one steak, Prentiss says, you can accommodate diners who prefer medium rare and medium well with just one piece of meat.

Don’t forget to let the steak rest.

"Cooking the steak to 10 degrees below your desired temp and then resting it allows for the collagen in the meat to thicken the juices as it cools slightly," says Prentiss. "This creates a way juicier steak than just cooking straight to temp."

Sharp agrees. "Let it rest. This is crucial," he says. "Just because the steak is out of the pan doesn't mean it stopped cooking. Keep it in a warm place — you don't want a cold steak — and rest it for about as long as you cooked it."

Chef Gonzalez suggests allowing the steak to rest for half the cooking time before serving. So if your steak takes 10 minutes to cook, let it rest for five.

If you're not able to keep the steak warm while it rests, or you want to eat it quite hot, Prentiss advises returning the steak to the grill after it's rested and bringing it up to the internal temperature of your preference before eating.