Grilled Tomahawk Steak

A grilled Tomahawk Steak is impressive to serve to company, though is simple to make with just three ingredients.

Ingredients

1 tomahawk steak removed from fridge and unwrapped about 30 minutes before cooking

salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Heat grill on highest setting (or prepare charcoal grill).

Pat steak dry with paper towels, then season with salt (and pepper, if desired).

Sear steak on high heat (or over hottest zone of charcoal grill) for 3-5 minutes per side, doing a quarter turn halfway through for nice grill marks - you want to yield a nice crust here.

Reduce heat to medium (or move steak to indirect heat on charcoal grill (to the side away from direct heat; or over ash-covered coal)). Cook steak for 10-25 minutes, flipping once, to 5°F below desired internal temperature (exact cooking time will depend on size/thickness and desired doneness - a meat thermometer is highly recommended! see notes for guidance).

Once steak reaches desired internal temperature, remove to a plate and tent with aluminium foil. Allow steak to rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing to serve. Internal tempreature will rise about 5°F per 5 minutes of resting.

Notes

Crust: You’ll want a nice crust to form on the outside of your steak. My husband also lifts up the steak by its bone (hot! use grilling gloves!) and holds it to sit the edge on the grill for a couple of minutes before moving it to indirect heat. Since this is a thick cut it does have a wide edge, so this makes sense if you’re dedicated enough ?

Resting: Do not skip the resting, this is needed to help the meat’s juices sink back in before slicing. It also helps to reach the final internal temperature.

Internal temperature

Please note that the USDA recommends an internal temperature of at least 145°F followed by a resting time of 3 minutes for the safe consumption of steak.

Here are average temperatures for different levels of doneness, use lower cooking temperatures than the USDA recommends at your own risk:

125°F: Rare

135°F: Medium-rare

145°F: Medium

155°F: Medium-well

165°F: Well-done

You'll want to pull the steak from the grill once it's about 5°F below your desired internal temperature. Rest it tented with foil for 5 minutes to allow it to finish cooking with carryover heat.

Grilling time

The grilling time will highly depend on the exact size of your steak and the length of your sear! However, use this as a rough guidance for an average sized tomahawk steak (2 ½ pounds in weight, 2 inches thick):

Rare: 18-22 minutes in total

Medium-rare: 22-24 minutes in total (I grilled my 2 ½ pound steak in the photos for 24 minutes in total, with a 5 minute sear on either side).

Medium: 24-26 minutes in total

Medium-well: 26-28 minutes in total

Please note, these are estimates and I do not recommend cooking a tomahawk steak at home without a meat thermometer!