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Steak temperatures by doneness

Steak temperatures by doneness

52°
Pull it off at · 126°F
55°
Rests to · 130°F
Blue
Rests to 48 °C / 118 °F. Barely warmed through.
46 °C
Rare
Rests to 52 °C / 126 °F. Red, soft, cool centre.
50 °C
Medium rare
Rests to 55 °C / 130 °F. The default for a reason.
52 °C
Medium
Rests to 60 °C / 140 °F. Pink, firmer, still juicy.
57 °C
Medium well
Rests to 65 °C / 150 °F. Faint pink line only.
62 °C
Well done
Rests to 71 °C / 160 °F. No pink, much drier.
68 °C

Every steak doneness with the temperature to pull at and the temperature it rests to, in Celsius and Fahrenheit.

Cook to temperature, not to timeTwo numbers matter and most charts only give you one. The pull temperature is when the steak leaves the pan; the final temperature is where it settles after resting, 2 to 3 °C higher. Cooking to the final number leaves you a doneness past where you wanted to be.

More steak times

Common questions

Why does the chart show a pull temperature and a final temperature?

Because a steak keeps cooking after it comes off the heat. The outside is far hotter than the centre and that heat keeps moving inwards, which raises the middle by 2 to 3 °C during the rest. Charts that give one number are giving you the final one, and if you cook to it you land a doneness too far.

Where do I put the probe?

Into the side, horizontally, so the tip sits in the middle of the thickest part. Going in from the top on a 2.5 cm steak almost always overshoots the centre and reads the hot zone underneath it.

Do these temperatures work for all cuts?

For tender cuts cooked fast, yes: ribeye, sirloin, fillet, rump, flat iron. They do not apply to brisket, short rib or anything else that needs long slow cooking to break down collagen, which happens far higher, around 90 °C, and over hours.

Egg times come from the thermal-diffusion equation for a spherical egg published by Charles D. H. Williams (University of Exeter), calibrated so a large fridge-cold egg at sea level matches the times cooks actually use. Size, starting temperature and altitude then follow from the physics. Treat the result as a very good starting point, not a guarantee, because pans, hobs and eggs all vary.