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Unleash your inner Bill Pickett and feed your whole posse with this hearty, flavorful cut of beef. Cowboy steak is one of the many names for the ever-popular rib eye, with the distinguishing features of a slightly protruding rib bone and a thickness of 2 1/2 to 3 inches. Legend has it that cowboys would eat this cut of meat using the bone as a handle, and that sounds like innovation to me. Rib eye is already praised for its fattiness, which gives the cut its extremely beefy flavor, but leaving the bone in takes the rib eye to a new level. As the meat cooks, the rich, deeply beefy flavors of the bone’s marrow seep into the meat, creating an unbeatable steak-eating experience. 

What’s the difference between a rib eye, cowboy steak, and tomahawk steak?

The rib eye is cut from the loin and the shoulder of the cow from ribs 6 through 12. When served with multiple bones, it’s a proud and impressive standing rib roast. When served with just one long (at least 5 inches), frenched bone, it's a tomahawk steak. And when served with a short, frenched bone, it’s a cowboy steak.   

What’s the best method for cooking cowboy steak? 

Any method you’d use to cook a standard rib eye can be applied to the cowboy steak. My go-to method for large, expensive cuts of meat is the reverse sear, a method that was first introduced to the world by British chef Heston Blumenthal. The method gets its name from the reversal of traditional wisdom for cooking red meats. Instead of starting at a super-high temp and cooking the meat through at a lower temp, it calls for the meat to cook at a low temperature and finish at high heat. Do yourself a favor and protect your meat investment with a corded probe thermometer. It will allow you to closely monitor the internal temperature of the meat and avoid overcooking it. The result is a more evenly cooked steak with a flavorful crust. You can do this with a low oven and a stovetop or even on a grill with two temperature zones. 

What do you serve with cowboy steak?

I topped this with a spicy butter that’s a nod to the flavors in Nigeria’s favorite street food—beef suya, which is made from skewers of beef rubbed in suya spice and grilled to tender, spicy, earthy perfection. Some of the traditional Nigerian ingredients that go into suya spice (like kuli kuli or grains of paradise) can be tough to find depending on where you live, so I made a couple of tweaks to keep this easy enough for a busy weeknight. Beef suya is typically served with a spread of fresh tomatoes, red onions, and sliced cucumbers to cut through the spicy, fatty beef. Since I’m not a huge fan of raw red onions, I threw them on the grill instead. Some time on the grill brings out their natural sweetness and gives the onions a softer texture to contrast with the crisp cucumbers. 

Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Check out this list for our favorite ideas on how to use leftover steak.

Have you made this yet? Let us know how it went in the comments below!

Vegetable oil, for grill or skillet

chicken bouillon cube (about 1 tsp.)

large red onion, sliced into 1/4"-thick rings

Persian cucumbers (about 5" long), sliced into half-moons