What Is the Right Internal Temperature of Steak?

When people are cooking, there are several things the cook needs to keep in mind so they can make sure they don’t put their safety at risk.

Making sure that the food is cooked thoroughly is one way. Meat especially needs to be cooked at a certain temperature.

You can keep an eye on this by using a meat thermometer. One food people may check the internal temperature of is steak.

In this article, we will go into what the internal temperature of a steak is, how to check it, the risks of eating undercooked meat, and finally, how to cook it safely.

Contents

What Is a Steak’s Internal Temperature?
How Do You Check a Steak’s Temperature?
What Happens if You Eat Undercooked Steak?
Ways to Safely Cook a Steak
Final Thoughts

What Is a Steak’s Internal Temperature?

Steak is one of those meats that can be eaten rare. Not completely raw, mind you, but there can be a degree of red to the inside of the meat.

Some people simply prefer to eat their steak raw. The different temperatures include the following:

If you like your steak rare, with a cool red center, it needs to be 125 Fahrenheit.
Medium rare, with a warm red center, has to have an internal temp of 135 degrees. If it’s a warm pink center, it has to be 145 degrees.
Medium well with a slightly pink center is 150 degrees.
Well done, with little to no pink, needs to be 160 Fahrenheit.

How Do You Check a Steak’s Temperature?

There are a lot of different internal temperatures to keep in mind when it comes to steak.

Now that you do know what temperatures to look for, the next step is to figure out how to insert a thermometer to check.

Take your steak out of the oven, stove, etc. Then let it rest. The resting time lets you get an accurate number.
After three or so minutes have passed, grab the food thermometer and then put it in the thickest part of the steak while making sure it doesn’t touch fat, bone, etc.
Once you get the final temperature, take out the thermometer and wash it.

After you have followed all these steps, you’ll be able to start eating your steak, which is always the fun part of cooking.

Just pay attention and make sure it reads the correct temperature depending on how you cooked your steak.

What Happens if You Eat Undercooked Steak?

The odd thing about steak is that it can be eaten with a certain amount of redness inside, but this doesn’t mean you can just pick up a hunk of it and start eating. Risks still exist.

Salmonella is a well-known bacteria that lives inside animals. Most of the time, this isn’t fatal. You’ll end up with symptoms like fever, cramps, and diarrhea.
coli is another common type of bacteria living inside cows. While most cases aren’t fatal, if you end up with a harmful strain of it, it can lead to you getting extremely ill and experiencing kidney failure.
Listeria is a bacteria found in cows that usually occurs within 24 hours of consumption. Symptoms include fever, nausea, body aches, and diarrhea.
Campylobacter is a bacteria that shows up usually two days after eating. Most symptoms affect your gastrointestinal tract like most of these illnesses do. It can be avoided by cooking steak properly.
Finally, food poisoning is something you can get from eating uncooked or undercooked steak. Most of the time, food poisoning is not fatal. You’ll just end up homebound for a couple of days, experiencing unpleasant symptoms such as diarrhea and stomach cramps.

Steak is great when eaten rare, but these risks still do exist despite how delicious it is. Just make sure to cook it enough, and chances are you will be fine.

Ways to Safely Cook a Steak

There are a couple of ways to cook your steak. We’ve gathered the most popular methods and listed them here!

One way people love to cook their steak, especially if the weather is nice, is by grilling it. First, turn on your grill and follow whatever instructions come with the particular brand you purchase. Cook the steak well enough on each side, and bam! You are done.
Cooking in a pan is one of the quickest ways to cook your steak. Turn on the heat to medium and let the pan heat up. Put the steak in and cook on both sides until done. The amount of time varies depending on how you like your steak.
Yes, steak can be cooked in the oven. Let the oven preheat, pop in the steak, and then wait until it’s done. Again, the amount of time you are cooking depends on how you like your steak cooked.
Finally, you can have your steak reverse seared. This requires you to cook your steak in the oven at 275 and then cook it for 45 minutes. Once it’s done, take it out and then sear it on the grill for a minute or two.
Another way to eat your steak is tartare, but it’s best to just go to a restaurant for that because they know the best type of cut of steak to use.

Here we have the top five ways to cook your steak. There are still a lot of options, even if you take out the tartare method!

Final Thoughts

And there you go, all you steak lovers out there! Now you know exactly what the internal temperature of a steak is, how to check for it, the risks of eating undercooked steak, and finally, ways to cook it properly.

If you are worried about being able to find a meat thermometer, don’t worry because they are not only affordable but also easy to find. Just go online or to your closest store, and you’ll find one.

Soon it will become second nature to you. The second you finish cooking, you’ll be reaching for that meat thermometer to check the internal temperature!

So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and go purchase a meat thermometer so you can start cooking!

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William Thomas

I have been smoking and grilling meat from an early age and enjoy sharing my knowledge and expertise through the hundreds of articles I have written about BBQ. I hope to make everyone’s BBQ journey that little bit easier.