Small Ribeye Roast

Easy step by step instructions for a wonderful small ribeye roast. Cut down for the smaller household. This roast will not leave you eating leftovers all week.


A ribeye roast is a company meal. But do you really want to cook 5-10 plus pounds of meat if you have a smaller household?

I will first confess, ribeye roast is just one of the cuts of meat I generally pass over. It is not a cut I grew up eating and if I want fancier, I tend to go to steak or a filet. But I do an occasional prime rib at a restaurant but frequently put off by the amount of fat. And lastly, it is just the wrong size for our home needs. So it was time to make it friendly for the smaller household.

My Rating

This is a very nice roast with great taste and fork tender. A nice 5.

Prime Rib vs. Ribeye

There is some confusion about prime rib vs.ribeyee. First “prime rib” is more of a marketing term. What we think of as prime rib is generally a rib-in standing rib roast. It does not need to be prime grade but will usually be choice grade.

I also want to mention that a ribeye is not an “eye of round.” Eye of round is from the “round” area in the diagram above near the tail area. It is lean but can use a similar cooking technique.

If you have a rib steak (prime rib steak) then the rib bone is left intact. But in a bone-in ribeye steak, rib bone will be cut through in the interest of consistent thickness. But mostly ribeye steaks in the US are boneless. If bone-in ribeye steak in the US, it will usually be called a cowboy steak or cowboy ribeye. This is usually cut 2 inches or thicker.

So in summary, ribeye is not prime rib, while prime rib does contains the ribeye. A prime rib may not be prime graded although I think it should be, so ask. Roast with rib may be called “prime rib” or standing rib roast. In the US basically, things labeled ribeye will will almost always be boneless.

Now you are educated or very confused.

Recipe notes on Ribeye Roast

I used an Allrecipes.com recipe for inspiration but had some changes. Most significant is the decrease in butter. Due to the initial searing temperature of 500 degrees, that amount of butter is just going to melt off and smoke.

So you have some choices about if this smokes too much for you. You can just realize it will probably happen and live with it. You can eliminate the butter and use a higher temperature vegetable oil which still may smoke some. You could add some water to the pan under the rack, so when the butter melts off, it hits the water (max temp of 212) instead of the 500-degree pan.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees and lower a rack so the roast will be in the middle of the oven.

Mix 3 tablespoon of softened butter with 3 cloves of crushed garlic. Poke a 15-20 half inch knife holes into the roast.

Slather the butter/garlic mixture onto the roast pushing some of the mixture into the holes. Add some salt and pepper to the roast. Prep a roasting pan with a rack and give the rack a heavy coat of PAM. A cake pan is good here. The pan needs some sides to prevent splatter.

Place fat side up on the rack and into a 500-degree oven for 20 minutes then decrease the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees and continue to roast until desired internal temperature. For my 2 1/2 pound roast, an additional 45 minutes for 130 degrees, 55 minutes for 140 and 60 minutes for 145. But when I used roast slightly over 3 pounds, it added 30 minutes to the cooking time. Never cook by time alone. Always check with a meat thermometer.

Tent lightly with foil and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting. Remember the roast may increase a few degrees when tented.

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3.99 from 176 votes

Small Ribeye Roast

Easy step by step instructions for a wonderful small ribeye roast. Cut down for the smaller household. This roast will not leave you eating leftovers all week.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time1 hr 20 mins

Total Time1 hr 40 mins

Author: Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan

Servings/Adjust Amount: 6

6

Ingredients

• 2-3 pound boneless ribeye roast
• 3 cloves garlic crushed or minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• salt and pepper to taste

US Customary - Convert to Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees and lower a rack so the roast will be in the middle of the oven.
• Mix 3 tablespoon of softened butter with 3 cloves of crushed or minced garlic.
• Poke a 15-20 half inch knife holes into the roast.
• Slather the butter/garlic mixture onto the roast pushing some of the mixture into the holes. Add some salt and pepper to the roast to taste.
• Prep a roasting pan with a rack and give the rack a heavy coat of PAM. A cake pan is good here. The pan needs some sides to prevent splatter.
• Place on rack fat side up and into a 500-degree oven for 20 minutes then decrease the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees and continue to roast until desired internal temperature.
• Place fat side up on the rack and into a 500-degree oven for 20 minutes then decrease the temperature of the oven to 325 degrees and continue to roast until desired internal temperature. For my 2 1/2 pound roast, an additional 45 minutes for 130 degrees, 55 minutes for 140 and 60 minutes for 145. But when I used roast slightly over 3 pounds, it added 30 minutes to the cooking time. Never cook by time alone. Always check with a meat thermometer. Your time may vary.
• Tent lightly with foil and allow to rest for 15-20 minutes before cutting. Remember the roast will increase in temperature a few degrees when tented.

Recipe Notes

You will probably have some smoking from the oven due to the butter and the high temperature to start. So you have some choices. You can just realize it will probably happen and live with it. You can eliminate the butter and use a higher temperature vegetable oil which still may smoke some. You could add some water to the pan under the rack so when the butter melts off, it hits the water .(max temp of 212) instead of the 500 degree pan.

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword Rib roast, Ribeye roast

 

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Calories: 456 kcal | Protein: 39 g | Fat: 32 g | Saturated Fat: 14 g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11 g | Cholesterol: 131 mg | Sodium: 710 mg | Potassium: 442 mg | Vitamin A: 200 IU | Iron: 4 mg

 

Nutrition is generally for one serving. Number of servings is stated above and is my estimate of normal serving size for this recipe.

 

All nutritional information are estimates and may vary from your actual results. This is home cooking, and there are many variables. To taste ingredients such as salt will be my estimate of the average used.