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Never fear cooking a luxurious holiday dinner again with my Sous Vide Prime Rib Roast! It’s so simple and easy, and the meat will be succulent, juicy, and masterfully prepared every time!
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Sous Vide Prime Rib
Serving prime rib is a big deal. I’m a big fan of prime rib, from smoked, to roasted, grilled, and dry aged, but let’s not mince words; prime rib is expensive! It’s a luxurious cut of meat best known for big holiday feasts and celebrations, and that can make cooking a prime rib an intimidating challenge!
Or you can use a sous vide machine, pop in the prime rib, give it a quick sear in the oven, and have it come out juicy, tender and absolutely perfect, every single time. That’s the glory of sous vide beef roast: you really can’t get it wrong!
Ready to serve up a meal of sous vide roast beef everyone will remember? Make a beautiful, perfectly marbled ribeye roast sous vide style with garlic rosemary butter and an unbelievable Prime Rib Au Jus, and you’ll be talking about it for weeks to come! This is the perfect Christmas dinner!
Why You’ll Love Sous Vide Prime Rib
It’s totally foolproof.
Let’s face it, prime rib is an intimidatingly expensive cut of meat, and nothing in the world feels worse than spending money on a fancy cut only to mistakenly overcook it. The sous vide method takes out any chance of risk! It will cook to exactly the right temperature no matter what, so it’s practically impossible for your prime rib dinner to turn out wrong.
It’s set-and-forget.
Seriously, a set-and-forget prime rib. It sounds too good to be true, but with my sous vide style prime rib recipe, it’ll be the easiest part of dinner to prepare. Plus, that leaves you plenty of time for sides!
It’s the juiciest prime rib ever!
Even aside from being easy and hands-off, it’s also just the best prime rib recipe you’ll ever taste! Because it’s held exactly at temperature for a long period of time, the marbling in prime rib breaks down completely to turn butter-soft. But by being sealed in a bag, none of the liquid can escape, meaning the meat will be unbelievably juicy and flavorful.
Prime Rib Sous Vide Ingredients
- Prime rib roast: This recipe is specifically for a boneless rib roast, but you can make bone-in prime rib sous vide too! Just make sure you have a big enough pot!
- Kosher salt: You’ll want to use a nice flaky salt like sea salt or Kosher salt. The larger crystals cling to the meat more easily than table salt and have a much better flavor.
- Butter: I prefer unsalted butter for butter rub, as it lets me customize the flavor exactly to my preferences!
- Garlic powder: Garlic powder will work out much better for this recipe than raw garlic. Trust me, I’ve tried both! Garlic cloves don’t tend to cook as well in the sous vide machine, and can leave the beef too strongly flavored with that raw garlic tang.
- Rosemary: Fresh rosemary sprigs are ideal for this recipe- you can pack them right into the bag with the beef, and then chop them up later to use in the butter rub. If you don’t have fresh, you can use dried.
- Thyme: Like the rosemary, you’ll want fresh for the best possible flavor. However, you can use dried and it’ll taste great, too- just use less.
- Pepper: Freshly cracked black pepper has the most fresh and intense flavor, perfect for beef.
- Optional Beef broth: If you want to make au jus with the reserved liquids, make sure to have some beef broth on hand!
How to Sous Vide Prime Rib Roast
1: Season Beef
Season the roast with salt and pepper one hour before starting to cook.
2: Seal Bag
Set up the Sous Vide machine to heat to a temperature of 132°F, and attach it to a very large pot of water. Place the roast in a plastic bag, then submerge it in the water completely.
3: Sous Vide
Sous vide the meat for 6-10 hours, depending on the size of the roast. Remove from the bag, reserving the liquid, and pat the roast dry and let cool slightly.
4: Add Butter Rub
Combine the softened butter, garlic powder, chopped herbs, and pepper in a bowl, then coat the roast’s top and sides. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 550°F, or as high as your oven can go.
5: Reverse Sear
Sear the beef in the oven for 8-10 minutes on a roasting pan with a rack, until the crust is golden.
6: Rest & Slice
Let the beef rest 15 minutes in aluminum foil, slice, and serve! Use the reserved liquid for Au Jus!
I love serving this delicious prime rib with red wine sauce.
Prime Rib Sous Vide Tips
- Prime ribs are large cuts of meat, so I suggest using a large soup pot or Dutch oven for the water bath. If the prime rib doesn’t fit the container correctly and doesn’t remain fully submerged, it won’t cook evenly.
- Set a wire rack on the pan for the oven sear so the air can circulate under the beef.
- Resting seems like something that can be skipped, but never skip resting beef! Make sure you tent the roast with foil and let it sit for 15 minutes. This ensures the meat is as juicy as possible.
- Slice against the grain of the beef to ensure each slice is ultra-tender.
- Removing all the air from the zip lock bag can be challenging. I find it easiest to submerge all but the opening in water and zip it that way, then use a weight or clip to submerge the bag while cooking.
Sous Vide Prime Rib FAQs
Prime rib is a large cut of meat with a lot of marbling, so it can take a long time to sous vide. Typically, a prime rib will take anywhere from 6 to 10 hours to cook with a sous vide cooker.
It is worth it to try rib eye roast sous vide! Using the sous vide machine ensures the meat will be perfectly cooked without ever getting tough or overcooked, and heats the meat evenly so there will never be any spots that are under cooked. It’s foolproof and so delicious!
Sous vide machines keep the meat at an exact temperature, meaning that it’s nearly impossible to overcook the meat! So long as the machine is set to the correct temperature of 132°F, the meat will not get overcooked.
For a perfectly pink and tender prime rib, set the sous vide to 132°F. This will ensure that the meat is fully cooked to satisfaction without ever reaching a temperature high enough that it might overcook and become tough! This also leaves a temperature gap that lets you sear it in the oven without overcooking it.
Reverse Searing Prime Rib
A critical part of sous vide recipes is the sear! The sous vide machine is incredible for perfectly cooking through meat or vegetables, but the one thing it can’t do is give food a good crispy crust.
That’s why reverse searing, or searing the food after it’s been fully cooked, is so perfect! By using the oven to sear the meat at a very high temperature for a short amount of time, just the crust of the meat will get a good crisp crust without the rest of the rib risking getting over cooked.
Sous Vide Prime Rib Cooking Temperature
| Beef Doneness | Internal Temperature |
|---|---|
| Rare beef temperature | 125°F – center is bright red and soft |
| Medium-rare roast | 135°F – center is warm red, edges are pink |
| Medium roast | 145°F – warm pink throughout, no red remaining |
| Medium-well roast | 150°F – only the center is pink |
| Well-done roast | 160°F – little or no remaining pink |
The temperature you cook your prime rib at is up to you, depending on the tastes of you and your family! I like my beef medium-rare, but feel free to adjust the temperature based on what your family will enjoy. Check out my full Beef Temperature Guide for even more details!
Try my prime rib recipes with my seasoning for prime rib! See my Prime Rib Cooking Guide for a comprehensive guide on cooking prime rib.
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Recipe
Sous Vide Prime Rib
Equipment
- Large pot or Dutch oven
- Roasting pan and rack
- Gallon ziplock bag
Ingredients
- 5 lb. Prime rib bone-in
- Kosher salt
Garlic Rosemary Butter Rub
- 1 stick Salted butter softened
- 2 Tablespoons Garlic powder
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh rosemary chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Fresh thyme chopped
- 1 Tablespoon Black pepper coarse ground
- Au Jus for serving, optional
Instructions
- One hour before starting to cook, season the roast with salt and pepper.5 lb. Prime rib, Kosher salt, 1 Tablespoon Black pepper
- Set up the Sous Vide machine to heat to a temperature of 132°F, and attach it to a very large pot of water. Place the roast in a plastic bag, then submerge it in the water completely.
- Sous vide the meat for 6-10 hours, depending on the size of the roast. Remove from the bag, reserving the liquid, and pat the roast dry and let cool slightly.
- Combine the softened butter, garlic powder, chopped herbs and pepper in a bowl, then use it to coat the top and sides of the roast. In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 550°F.1 stick Salted butter, 2 Tablespoons Garlic powder, 1 Tablespoon Fresh rosemary, 1 Tablespoon Fresh thyme
- Sear the beef in the oven for 8-10 minutes on a roasting pan with a rack, until the crust is golden.
- Let the beef rest 15 minutes in aluminum foil, slice, and serve! Use the reserved liquid for Au Jus.
Notes
- Prime ribs are large cuts of meat, so I suggest using a large soup pot or Dutch oven for the water bath. If the prime rib doesn’t fit the container correctly and doesn’t remain fully submerged, it won’t cook evenly.
- For the oven sear, make sure to set a wire rack on the pan so that the air can circulate under the beef as well.
- Resting seems like something that can be skipped, but never skip resting beef! Make sure you tent the roast with foil and let it sit for 15 minutes. This ensures the meat is as juicy as possible.
- Slice against the grain of the beef to ensure each slice is ultra tender.
- It can be hard to remove all the air from the zip lock bag. I find it easiest to submerge all but the opening in water and zip it that way, then use a weight or clip to keep the bag submerged while cooking.
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