Budget-Friendly Prime Rib Dinner

Last updated on June 28, 2023

I think the proof is in the photo. I have a palette pleas­ing prime rib recipe. Often peo­ple feel intim­i­dated to make such a lux­u­ri­ous meal. It’s actu­ally very sim­ple to make. I don’t usu­ally equate prime rib din­ner with bud­get friendly enter­tain­ing. How­ever, this time of the year you can find prime rib roast at a huge sav­ings. (This will vary depend­ing on where you live. Check your local gro­cery fliers.) For less than $25 I fed a fam­ily of four which included mashed pota­toes and a veg­etable side. There were even leftovers for beef dip sandwiches!

empty prime rib dinner plate

Whenever you think of high quality steaks, you often consider them as food to be prepared on special occasions. But today, with all the great selection in the grocery store, you can have steak even three nights a week. And with people now focusing on the quality of meat, you’ll often find that excellent steak cuts like prime rib and sirloin don’t need many ingredients for you to add to them before grilling—not even salt or pepper. The quality of the meat will transcend all flavors, and you’ll know it in your first bite.

Since it’s a large slab of meat, prime rib needs tender loving care and attention when roasting. It would also be great to score the meat and insert unpeeled garlic cloves in the holes you poked. If you don’t like the skin of the garlic, go ahead and crush the cloves and remove the skin. Most of the flavor is on the skin of the garlic, so believe me when I tell you the drippings you will collect after roasting will surely smell and taste heavenly.

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Prime Rib Roast Recipe:

Ingre­di­ents:
  •  prime rib roast bone in (3-4lbs)
  • coarse salt and pepper
  • freshly crushed gar­lic (4–6 cloves)
  • au jus packet (like Lawry’s)
  • ¼ cup red wine (optional)
Directions:
  • Let the rib roast sit out at room tem­per­a­ture for 30 minutes
  • Set your oven to 500 degrees. (if you have a con­vec­tion oven, set it to pure convection)
  • Gen­er­ously lather all sides of the rib roast with salt, pep­per and the crushed garlic.
  • Place on a roast rack if you have one. If not get some foil and line a cookie sheet.
  • Cook at the 500-degree tem­per­a­ture for 20 min­utes. Then lower the tem­per­a­ture to 325. Your total cook­ing time for medium should be 25 min­utes per pound of meat. How­ever I highly rec­om­mend using a meat ther­mome­ter for a more accu­rate result.
  • Be sure to let the roast rest for 10 min­utes before slicing.
  • While you’re wait­ing, mix your au jus packet accord­ing to the direc­tions. I like to add a lit­tle red wine and some of the pan drippings.
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Chart for Prime Rib Doneness

Rare: 120 – 125°F – Cen­ter is bright red, pink­ish towards the exte­rior portion.

Medium Rare: 130 – 135°F – Cen­ter is very pink, slightly brown towards the exte­rior portion.

Medium: 140 – 145°F – Cen­ter is light pink, outer por­tion is brown.

Medium Well: 150 – 155°F – Not pink

Well Done: 160°F and above – Steak is uni­formly brown throughout.

It’s always crucial to remember to place a pan under the grill rack to catch all the drippings, as this makes the perfect gravy. Serving your prime rib with side dishes your family loves will be a great dinner to look forward to. And please, don’t rush into slicing the steak after roasting. Resist the urge to grab that steak knife. It would do you a lot of good to wait and let the juices settle before slicing.

You can either place your prime rib roast on a plat­ter or make indi­vid­ual plates. Serve with home­made mashed pota­toes and a fresh steamed veg­etable. Offer some horse­rad­ish mixed with sour cream and au jus sauce on the side. I think the per­fect wine for this meal (which hap­pens to be one of my favorite reds) is a Hess Cabernet Sauvignon Allomi Vineyard 2009 750ML Hess Allomi Cabernet.

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