How Long Do You Cook A Medium Steak

Cooking steak to varying levels of doneness really is all around the type of cut of steak, how thick it is (the weight) and of course to what level you require it cooked to, but just how long do you cook a medium steak for? There are three dominant steak cooking categories namely;

Tender Filet Steak

1. ‘Rare’ - simply the outer skin of the steak is seared on a grill or frying pan but the majority of the steak remains in an uncooked state. Really only used for filet steak (or Filet Mignon as it is sometimes referred).

2. ‘Medium rare’ - the outer part of the steak is cooked with around half of of the meat content fully cooked through. You will have a small section of the middle of the steak which is pink.

3. ‘Medium’ - the majority of the steak is cooked and will exhibit a general light pink colour when cut through (the most common of steak cooking categories)

4. ‘Well Done’ - the entire steak is fully cooked through and should not have any signs of pinkness to the inside (does exactly what is says…)

The next consideration is of course the cut of steak, Rump steak, sirloin steak, or filet steak.

1. Rump - less tender of all the steaks.

2. Sirloin - second in line and a good compromise between the rump and filet (on price and tenderness) .

3. Filet Steak - the ultimate in steaks and most tender.

Given personal preferences makes how you cook you steaks difficult to generalise I have provided below a Steak Cooking Charts diagram below which covers the main sizes of steaks and how long to cook them before turning to a finish. You will see that in general terms how long do you cook a medium steak for is actually around 8 minutes for a steak about 3/4″ in thickness.

Cooking Time For Steaks		Gas Grilling
Thickness	Cooking Result	First Side	After Turning	Total Cooking Time
3/4″	Rare	4 Minutes	2 Minutes	6 Minutes
3/4″	Medium	5 Minutes	3 Minutes	8 Minutes
3/4″	Well Done	7 Minutes	5 Minutes	12 Minutes
1″	Rare	5 Minutes	3 Minutes	8 Minutes
1″	Medium	6 Minutes	4 Minutes	10 Minutes
1″	Well Done	8 Minutes	6 Minutes	14 Minutes
1 1/4″	Rare	5 Minutes	4 Minutes	9 Minutes
1 1/4″	Medium	7 Minutes	5 Minutes	12 Minutes
1 1/4″	Well Done	9 Minutes	7 Minutes	16 Minutes
1 1/2″	Rare	6 Minutes	4 Minutes	10 Minutes
1 1/2″	Medium	7 Minutes	6 Minutes	13 Minutes
1 1/2″	Well Done	10 Minutes	8 Minutes	18 Minutes
1 3/4″	Rare	7 Minutes	5 Minutes	12 Minutes
1 3/4″	Medium	8 Minutes	7 Minutes	15 Minutes
1 3/4″	Well Done	11 Minutes	9 Minutes	20 Minutes