Ingredients for your Perfect Prime Rib
Roasting pan or glass baking dish with sides
Prime rib (bone-in) ~ 5 lb
2 TBSP Herbes de provence
3/4 – 1 cup butter, softened
1.5 TBSP coarse sea salt
Optional: Meat thermometer (it’s useful to test your meat, but not critical!)
Optional: Top with my Creamy Horseradish Sauce or this Brilliant Chimichurri Sauce
Directions
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. I bought a 5.15 lb prime rib which will feed 4 people easily. This recipe will work if your prime rib is cool, not cold or frozen. In fact, if it’s cooled to room temperature on the counter for an hour or two that’s perfect. At this point, rinse the meat. In a small bowl, combine your soft butter (not melt it), with the Herbes de Provence. I have rubber gloves on so I just take the seasoned butter and rub it all over the prime rib with my hands. Be sure to get this butter on to every side.
After that sprinkle the sea salt on top of the meat. (If I have a fresh onion and 6 garlic cloves, I put that on the bottom of the roasting pan along with 1 cup of water so that the pan drippings (ie the “au jus”) have a nice flavor. It’s optional of course. Place the prime rib in a roasting pan that has sides on it so the juice can collect, and put it into the oven at 500 degrees for the correct amount of time — see below for more detailed instructions about cooking times.
The amount of time you cook your prime rib depends on many factors.
How do you like it… rare, medium-rare, well done?
Also, it depends on whether your prime rib is cold from the fridge or if you’ve allowed it to get to room temperature (you should do the latter).
The cooking time depends entirely on the weight of your prime rib!
It’s easy, but you have to do a little math.
Multiply 5 minutes times the weight (in pounds) of your meat.
My prime rib weighed 5.15 lb.
So it is 5.15 x 5 = 25.75 but round up to 26 minutes!
So cook it for 26 minutes at 500 degrees. For that matter you can add a minute and cook for 27 minutes and the reason is because the moment you open your hot oven, some of the precious heat is instantly lost! So if you cook it for 26 – 27 minutes at 500 degrees, you are good! Again, that’s for a prime rib that weighs 5.15 lb. You will determine how long to cook yours based upon the weight of your meat which is shown on the outside label.
Now, when you’ve completed that first step of cooking it at 500 degrees, you will turn off your oven WITHOUT opening it. Turn it completely off. Let the prime rib ‘rest’ in the oven for exactly 2.5 hours. It is actually cooking in there because you have seared it. After 2.5 hours, take it out and cut into it.
It will be perfection!
Pink throughout the center with a nice sear on the outside. This makes it medium-rare as shown in the picture of mine. If you prefer it rare, take it out at the 2 hour mark instead of 2.5 hours. If you like it well done, let it go for 3 hours, that’s what I do.
Suzy Cohen, has been a licensed pharmacist for over 30 years and believes the best approach to chronic illness is a combination of natural medicine and conventional. She founded her own dietary supplement company specializing in custom-formulas, some of which have patents. With a special focus on functional medicine, thyroid health and drug nutrient depletion, Suzy is the author of several related books including Thyroid Healthy, Drug Muggers, Diabetes Without Drugs, and a nationally syndicated column.
