This ribeye roast is an impressive main dish that’s incredibly easy to make and so flavorful. A simple rosemary garlic butter coats the roast in an herb crust as it cooks. And using a thermometer will ensure perfect, juicy results every time. It’s naturally gluten-free, with a dairy-free olive oil option listed as well. It’s the kind of dinner that makes an impression and is perfect for special occasions and holidays!
Growing up I remember a nice beef roast being such a treat on the holidays, especially Christmas dinners. We didn’t have much money so a beef roast was extra special.
One of the things I remember about cooking beef for Christmas as I got old enough to help was the stress about trying to make sure it doesn’t get overcooked! Luckily, this is much easier these days than it used to be.
If you have any kind of oven meat probe or a thermometer you can leave in the roast, you will be sure to have perfect results every single time.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Ribeye Roast – Ribeye roast is simply the cut of meat where ribeye steak comes from. Think of it as a lot of ribeye steaks lined up together. I’ve cooked everything from 4-pound roast to 12 pounds in the last couple of months, and they all come out delicious. Costco sells full ribeye roast that is rather large, so you can always cut them into 2 to 3 roasts and put the remainder in your freezer for another day.
- Butter – I use salted butter for the garlic or butter, but you can use unsalted butter and add more to taste. For dairy-free use, half the amount of butter that is called for in olive oil.
- Garlic – garlic adds a lot of savory flavor and backs up the rosemary perfectly.
- Rosemary – fresh rosemary is our favorite herb to use on roast beef, but you can also use my recipe for herb butter, which is a mix of rosemary sage and thyme. In this particular case, we like to keep it simple with just rosemary for flavor.
- Sea salt & pepper – salt and pepper are extra important in this herb butter because their flavor seeps into the beef roast as it cooks.
How to make this recipe step by step
Step 1: Start by making the herb butter. Mash the softened butter together with the garlic, rosemary, sea salt, and pepper until combined. Set it aside.
Step 2: Tie your ribeye roast using butcher twine, (or ask the butcher to do it for you). You can see how to do this in my beef tenderloin video. You can also skip this step, it’s not as vital to tie this cut of roast beef.
If you have time, lightly coat the roast with kosher salt, cover it, and refrigerate overnight. This adds incredible flavor to the roast.
If you need to cook the roast the same day, let the roast come to temperature for one to two hours, rubbed with kosher salt. It will still impart a good amount of flavor.
Step 3: Next, spread the butter evenly over the surface of the tied roast with the fat side up.
Roast in the oven until you’re 10° of your desired doneness. Remove the roast from the oven, cover it with foil, and let it rest as it comes up to temperature, about 20-30 minutes.
Step 4: Slice the ribeye roast into three-quarter-inch slices and serve immediately with your choice of sides and sauce.
Beef Temperature Guide
- Rare – 125ºF most of the meat will be red with a little pink around the edges.
- Medium-rare – 135ºF looks like the beef ribeye roast pictured here with a good amount of red in the center, turning to pink, then brown near the edges.
- Medium – 145ºF has just a bit of red in the center but is mostly light pink with brown edges.
- Medium-well – 150ºF barely a hint of pink in the center and mostly brown throughout.
Ways to serve this
- Serve this ribeye roast sliced with my Garlic Cream Sauce or Mushroom Cream Sauce for the ultimate ‘all-out’ meal.
- Start your occasion with my Antipasto Platter and Cranberry Kombucha Mocktails.
- Pick a potato: Crispy Rosemary Potatoes – Best Mashed Potato – Mashed Sweet Potatoes or Cheesy Mashed Potatoes, (prosciutto sage version).
- Add a veggie: Roasted Broccoli – Honey Glazed Carrots– or Roasted Brussels Sprouts.
- Pick a salad in addition for large parties: Apple Spinach Salad – Roasted Pear Spinach Salad – or Spinach Salad with Bacon Dressing.
- Save room for dessert: Almond Flour Chocolate Cake – Death by Chocolate – Peanut Butter Cheesecake Brownies – or pass around some of my Paleo Twix Bars for a small dessert. Add my Winter Fruit Salad if you’re serving a crowd or a small fresh fruit plate for a lighter fresh option to end the meal.
FAQ’s
A ribeye roast and a prime rib come from the same cut of the animal called the rib section. Prime rib is usually cooked bone-in and ribeye roast is usually cooked boneless. A bone-in Prime rib is also called a bone-in ribeye roast. A ribeye roast can also be called a standing rib roast, boneless Prime rib roast, or boneless rib roast.
It’s most important how you cook a beef roast over what cut is most tender. Chuck roast is very tough when it starts out, but cooked low and slow, is fall-apart tender. If you’re looking for a roast beef that is an internal temperature of medium or medium-rare, then you want a tender cut like ribeye roast or beef tenderloin. A well-cut tri-tip, cooked right and sliced against the grain, will also be tender.
Storing leftovers
- To store – place any leftovers into an airtight container and refrigerate for up to four days.
- Make ahead – you can make the rosemary garlic butter up to two days ahead. Bring it back to room temperature when you’re ready to roast the beef. You can also tie the roast and pre-salt one day ahead.
- Reheating – place any leftover sliced ribeye roast into a skillet. Add a touch of water, cover, and simmer until heated through. You can also pan-fry it on each side in butter.
- To freeze – place any leftover sliced ribeye roast into an airtight container and store in the freezer for up to three months. Defrost overnight in the fridge before reheating as directed above.
Tips & Tricks
- Use a meat thermometer for perfect results every single time! A nice beef roast is expensive, and a meat thermometer is the perfect way to make sure your occasion is stress-free.
- Not to sound like a broken record, but I absolutely love my Meater thermometer. It’s the type of thermometer that goes into the roast and stays in while it’s cooking in the oven. It connects to your phone and alerts you when it’s getting close to being done. This is a total game changer for entertaining and holidays and takes all the stress out of cooking an expensive cut of meat.
- For a larger roast, I recommend using a roasting pan with a rack for even cooking. If your roast is 4 pounds or smaller, it will fit in a 10-inch cast-iron skillet and cook evenly. I also skip the initial high temperature to sear (details in the recipe notes). A large 8-12 pound roast cooks about twice as long and can become too brown with the higher temperature sear. I tested (A LOT) of ribeye roasts of all sizes, and the larger sizes do better at just 350ºF.
- Also, all ovens are slightly different, so if you find your roast is browning too much, tent it with foil until it finishes.
Dietary Options & Substitutions
- Dairy-free – for dairy-free, I don’t recommend using dairy-free butter in this recipe. Instead, use half the amount called for and substitute olive oil.
- Paleo – use ghee in place of butter or half the amount of butter called for in olive oil.
More Holiday Mains Recipe Inspiration
- Roast Beef Tenderloin
- Spatchcock Turkey
- Pork Tenderloin
- Honey Mustard Cranberry Pork Loin
- Air Fryer Ribeye (perfect for small dinners)
I really hope you enjoy this simple Ribeye Roast recipe! If you get a chance to make it, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.
Ribeye Roast
INGREDIENTS
- 4 pound Ribeye Roast - boneless, tied, see notes
- 1 tbsp kosher salt - not table salt!
Rosemary Butter
- 4 tbsp salted butter - softened, or 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- 1 tbsp fresh rosemary - chopped
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- 1-2 days before cooking, rub the tied ribeye roast all over with the kosher salt. Tightly cover and refrigerate until you're ready to cook.
- If you don't have time to pre-salt, remove the roast from the refrigerator 2 hours before roasting to begin to come up to room temperature. Rub it with the kosher salt and let it set, there will still be a lot of flavor.
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF for a 4 pound roast or 350ºF for anything 8 pounds or bigger.
- Make the rosemary butter by combining all the ingredients listed and mashing them with the back of a spoon until combined.
- Place the ribeye roast into a 10" cast iron skillet or on a rack in a roasting pan with the fat side up. Evenly coat the top and sides with the rosemary butter. Insert an oven-proof thermometer or probe if you have one.
- Cook at 425ºF for 30 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350ºF and cook until within 10º of your desired doneness, about 2 hours. Medium-rare is 135ºF so you'd want to remove the roast at 125ºF. Skip the initial high temperature if your roast is bigger than 8 pounds.
- Remove the roast from the oven. Cover it with foil to rest, and come up to temperature, about 20-30 minutes.