Small Rib Eye 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 rib eye roast is a great family or company type meal. But do you really want to cook 5-10 plus pounds of meat if you have a smaller household?

I will first confess, rib eye roast is just one of the cuts of meat I generally pass over. First, it is not a cut I grew up eating. Second, it is not really a pot roast type cut, and if I want fancier, I tend to go to steak or a filet. And lastly, it is just the wrong size for our needs. So it was time to make it friendly for the smaller household.

My Rating

This is a very nice roast with great taste. A very high 4 or low 5. The leftovers made a wonderful sandwich so I’ll go low 5.

Prime Rib vs. Rib Eye

There is some confusion about prime rib vs. ribeye. 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 very lean and needs different cooking techniques.

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 Rib Eye Roast

You will not find a 2 to 3 pound rib eye roast. They are just bigger than that. So you will need to buy a 4-6 pounder, cut in half and freeze the other half.

I used an Allrecipes.com recipe for inspiration but had some changes. Most important 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 the smoke. 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 few 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 an a roasting pan with a rack and give the rack a heavy coat of PAM. 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. 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.

Last Updated

September 17, 2017

Small Rib Eye Roast

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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.

• CourseMain Course
• CuisineAmerican

Servings	Prep Time
6	5 minutes

Cook Time	Passive Time
80 minutes	15 minutes

Servings Prep Time 6 5 minutes

Cook Time Passive Time 80 minutes 15 minutes

Small Rib Eye Roast Votes: 2 Rating: 5 You: Rate this recipe! Print Recipe Pin152 Yum5 Share2 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. CourseMain Course CuisineAmerican Servings Prep Time 6 5 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 80 minutes 15 minutes Servings Prep Time 6 5 minutes Cook Time Passive Time 80 minutes 15 minutes

Ingredients

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

Servings:

Units:MetricUS Imperial

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 500 degrees and lower a rack so the roast will be in the middle of the oven.
2. Mix 3 tablespoon of softened butter with 3 cloves of crushed or minced garlic.
3. Poke a few holes into the roast.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. For my 2 1/2 pound roast, an additional 45 minutes for 130 degrees, 55 minutes for 140 and 60 minutes for 145. Never cook by time alone. Always check with a meat thermometer.
8. 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.

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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.

If you like this recipe or find it useful, the pleasure of a nice 4 or 5 rating would be greatly appreciated. Rating is done by clicking on the stars above.