This tender Slow Roasted Prime Rib is the perfect centerpiece for a holiday dinner. Using a reverse-sear method creates a juicy and tender roast with a crisp outer crust.

partially sliced slow roasted prime rib on a carving board

There are few entrees more impressive than Slow Roasted Prime Rib for a holiday dinner. A perfectly-cooked standing rib roast, carved into juicy, rosy slices, makes a gorgeous presentation on a carving board or platter. Prime rib has become a luxurious yearly Christmas tradition for many families.

Given that prime rib can be costly, there can be a lot of pressure to get the cooking process “right.” Today, I’m sharing my shopping tips and preferred method for making an unforgettable slow roasted prime rib that will leave your guests coming back for seconds every. single. time.

uncooked prime rib on a board with garlic, herbs, and a bowl of sea salt

What exactly is Prime Rib?

Prime rib (also known as “standing rib roast” when sold on the bone) is beef cut from the rib section; more specifically, ribs 6 to 10. This is the area where ribeye steaks originate. It’s meaty, well-marbled, and utterly delicious.

You can buy boneless prime rib, but I much prefer roasting on the bone for the best flavor, juiciness, and texture. Want to delve further into prime rib cuts? I love The Food Lab’s Definitive Guide to Prime Rib over at Serious Eats. 

Shopping for Prime Rib

Is all Prime Rib Prime-Grade Meat?

Despite being known as “Prime” rib, this cut does not necessarily carry the USDA Prime grading. You can buy Prime Rib as USDA Prime or Choice. Marketed at a higher price point, a Prime-grade rib roast will be more marbled than Choice, improving flavor and texture.

(I love Prime-grade roasts, and even better, those that have been dry-aged. That said, I’ve also had many Choice-grade cuts that have been absolutely delicious. Especially when utilizing the reverse sear method described below.)

How should I ask for the prime rib to be cut?

When I buy prime rib, I like to ask the butcher to cut the roast from the loin end of the rib section (also known as the “first cut”), as opposed to the chuck end (the “second cut”). This is a personal preference; the loin end is typically a bit less fatty (though, still well-marbled) and more tender.

To make serving easier, I also ask the butcher to cut the meat off of the bones and tie it back on for roasting, as has been done here. When ready to serve, just snip away the twine, lift the meat from the bones, and carve.

How Much Prime Rib Should I Buy?

As a general rule, I plan on 1 pound per person when buying prime rib on the bone. You can expect to serve 2 adults per rib.

uncooked prime rib on a board tied with butcher twine and seasoned with salt and pepper

What is the Reverse Sear Method?

Many traditional prime rib recipes call for searing the meat either on the stove or in an ultra-hot oven to create an outer crust before slow roasting. The “Reverse Sear” method flips the process, first slow roasting the meat at 250 degrees F to your desired internal temperature. The meat is then rested and seared at 500 degrees F just for a few minutes before serving.

What’s the benefit to utilizing a reverse sear? The meat is incomparably tender and evenly cooked from end-to-end with a minimal area of overcooked “gray ring” on the interior.

Slow roasting the raw meat in a 250-degree F oven also results in less moisture loss. All of the drippings that are usually released into the pan with a high initial (or prolonged) cooking temperature remain in the roast. Slices of prime rib cooked with the reverse sear process are so juicy.

Beautifully crusted, rosy, juicy meat throughout the roast? Talk about the perfect prime rib!

Want to read more about reverse searing? Check out two of my favorite articles from Serious Eats and Bon Appétit

How Should I Season Prime Rib?

I like to keep it simple with a generous coating of sea salt and freshly-cracked black pepper. To encourage a great crust, I season the meat the night before roasting, and let it stand uncovered in the refrigerator to dry a bit.

whole slow roasted prime rib on a walnut carving board

How Should I Serve Slow Roasted Prime Rib?

I love a good sauce, a potato side dish, and a green vegetable with a slice of prime rib.

If there’s any potential drawback to cooking a prime rib with a reverse sear, it’s the lack of drippings to make a pan sauce. Since all of those juices remain in the meat as it cooks, there isn’t much to work with in the pan afterwards.

By the same token, reverse-seared meat is so juicy, you don’t really need a pan sauce or jus.

I like to serve this prime rib with a complementary condiment, such as my Roasted Garlic and Horseradish Cream Sauce, and Duchess Potatoes. Creamy horseradish sauces are a classic pairing with prime rib, and go especially well with the tender meat.

sliced prime rib on a wood carving board with carving knife and fork

Don’t forget the leftovers!

If you’re lucky enough to have leftover prime rib after a holiday dinner, it makes fantastic roast beef sandwiches, breakfast hash, or even Pho. This is a roast that you’ll want to make the absolute most of after the holiday!

Video Recap:

 

5 from 47 votes

Slow Roasted Prime Rib

This tender Slow Roasted Prime Rib is the perfect centerpiece for a holiday dinner. Using a reverse-sear method creates a juicy and tender roast with a crisp outer crust.
Prep Time: 10 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours 35 minutes
Total Time: 14 hours 5 minutes
Servings: 6 to 10 people

Ingredients

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Instructions 

  • For ease in carving, ask your butcher to cut the meat off of the ribs and chine (backbone) and tie it back on.
  • The day before you plan to roast your prime rib, season it liberally on all sides with salt and pepper. Place the roast on a heavy baking sheet with the fat cap side up and refrigerate, uncovered, overnight (or up to 24 hours).
  • Remove the prime rib from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours before roasting.
  • Preheat oven to 250°F with the rack in the lower third of the oven. Place prime rib on a v-rack in a roasting pan with the fat-cap side up. 
  • Roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat (away from the bone) reads 120-125°F for rare, 128-130°F for medium-rare, or 132-135°F for medium and medium-well. This will take 3-4 hours.
  • Remove the prime rib from the oven, tent with foil, and let rest for 30 minutes.
  • Increase oven temperature to 500°F. Uncover the roast and sear it in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until the exterior is brown with a crisp crust.
  • Carve the prime rib and serve with Roasted Garlic Horseradish Cream Sauce on the side. 

Video

Notes

*The prime rib photographed in this post was a 4-rib roast weighing 11 pounds. It was cooked to an internal temperature of 120°F in about 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Oven Calibration

Especially when slow roasting at a low temperature, it's important to confirm that your oven is running true to temperature with a reliable oven thermometer before you get started. Read how to test it with this article from Fine Cooking.

Nutrition Estimate

Calories: 541kcal | Protein: 24g | Fat: 48g | Saturated Fat: 20g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 80mg | Potassium: 400mg | Calcium: 14mg | Iron: 2.6mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

About our recipes

Please note that our recipes have been developed using the US Customary measurement system and have not been tested for high altitude/elevation cooking and baking.

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70 Comments

  1. Dawna says:

    This is absolutely over-the-top insane!!! we are devouring it as we speak. Or I should say they are! And it is absolutely beautiful aesthetically and man the taste is crazy delicious!!! Anyone reading this has got to do it this way You will not regret it

  2. Leslie says:

    This turned out fantastic. I had pulled a rib roast out of the freezer and didnโ€™t get to use it. My mom always used a rotisserie, so I wasnโ€™t sure about roasting it. The only thing I would do differently next time is season it more. I used salt and pepper and a steak seasoning. Iโ€™ll use olive oil and really season it next time.

  3. Melody says:

    I’ve been making prime rib every Christmas but this is the first time I got it right. I followed the recipe and added my personal favorite, rosemary and olive oil to get the aroma and flavor. I also didn’t refrigerate that long as I didn’t have much time. And I increased the temperature to 300 degrees on the last 30 min of baking to make it medium well. The result is still amazing. My best prime rib so far. Thanks for the recipe.

  4. andreas says:

    this turned out better than restaurant quality. I tried the 15-minute-per-lb method before and I didn’t like the result. with your method, the rib cooked uniformly to a perfect medium rare and was very tender.

  5. Ken Smith says:

    Turned out perfect. Highly recommended.

  6. Vanessa Davis says:

    We have made standing rib roast every Christmas with Yorkshire pudding in our family. This year, I tried this new method and just loved it. We cooked a 6.3 pound roast for 3.5 hours and took it out at 130 degrees. It was medium rare, which provided rare to medium well-done finish–so everyone was happy. This recipe allows time to prepare the side dishes and Wowie-Wow, the crust was unbelievable. It was hard to believe that it could fully cook at such a low temperature, but cooked wonderfully. (Only complaint is that the roast sealed up so nicely that it released very little dripping until we sliced it.) ***Don’t skip the drying period in the fridge from the night before.

  7. MaryEllen says:

    I have used the above method several times now and find my roast turns out perfect.

  8. Jean marie Lyons says:

    I was a little scared trying this cooking method at first I I did it on convection (bake) at 200 degrees for 4 hrs ( 6 1/2 pound roast ) removed let sit 20 minutes then put back in on convection roast 500 degrees at end I also rubbed it down evening before with salt and pepper uncovered in fridge took out in the morning let sit a few hours room temperature seasoned and trued this cooking method. It Was The Most Tender Delicious Prime Rib I ever had and still had enough drippings for an amazing gravy

  9. HOLLY says:

    I have never cooked a prim rib before and it turned out amazing! Love the 30min rest time because it gave me time to bake my yorkshire puddings! I’m going to try this method with different roasts.
    Any way this is a perfect recipe, thank you for sharing it. Oh the only thing I did was add a little fresh rosemary ;)

  10. Gregory Fowler says:

    Thank you!
    I used the “reverse-sear” method for the first time this year on Christmas day for a 3 bone (7.5 lb.) choice rib roast, that I was fortunate to get cut fresh at the last minute by the butcher at Ralphs (Kroger).
    Excellent!
    The family want a medium rare to medium temperature this year, so I set the target temp on the probe thermometer to 132 degrees. My apartment oven isn’t the best, but I have a fairly accurate oven thermometer, and was able to monitor and maintain an oven temperature between 225 and 250.
    I used a high quality EVOO and a full bottle of Montreal Steak Seasoning as a rub.
    A little over four hours at the low temperature range, then out to rest for 30 minutes, and then back in to sear for 8 minutes at 500 degrees. The probe thermometer peaked at 144 degrees out of the oven.
    The family arrived a little later than I had anticipated, so the roast sat a little longer than I wanted, but the probe still read 135 by the time of carving for dinner.
    Perfect medium to medium rare, and so tender and flavorful!
    I prefer a little more on the rare side, but this roast was delicious. The best I have ever prepared.
    Thank you again. I am happy that I found your recipe on Google.
    Cheers!
    Greg

  11. Spierro says:

    We made this recipe this Christmas (2020) and was utterly blown away, so simple and yet so tasty it was fabulous!
    Highly recommended, we did not even need the reverse sear in the end, what we did was to cook it in the oven for 250F for 2 hours, then basted it with its own drippings and a spoon , added some butter on top and Worcestershire sauce for umami and raised the oven to 275 for another 45 minutes to an internal temperature of 130F – tented it with foil for 20 minutes, cut and served it with the pan drippings stretched as a gravy / au jus and boy oh boy did this impress everyone!! Highly recommended.

  12. Carrie says:

    Iโ€™ve been making prime rib at Christmas for years. This is by far the best method. Came out perfect. So juicy, we didnโ€™t even use the au jus I had prepared. Thank you!!

  13. HB says:

    This became our Christmas dinner instead of a turkey. This is our third year! Perfect dinner for short trip to my parents. I can cook and take it to my their house and finish with the last sear and ready to eat. Also, much less hassle than preparing a turkey dinner. Thank you for sharing.

  14. Marilyn says:

    Oh, my gosh!! This was my first attempt and thanks to this recipe, I knocked it out of the park!! Cooking is NOT my thing but tonight I feel like a culinary rock star!! An 8.5 lb roast with a $70 price tag (the smallest I could find) made me incredibly nervous and I didnโ€™t want to get it wrong! Well, it was perfect! Good thing, too, because, here in 2020, there are only 3 of us to eat it! Not a problem, at all. Thank you so much for this technique. I can hardly wait to see what else I can use it for.

  15. Cindi says:

    I have never in my life (and that is many, many years) made a prime rib until this Christmas Eve, 2020. Your recipe and directions made it so easy and it turned out perfect. Thank you, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

  16. Lucinda Pierre says:

    Best Rib Roast ever! Served with a Merlot Au Jus as we aren’t fussy on horseradish, and everyone raved about how delish this dish is! Planning a day ahead and having a dinner so rich and delicious with such simplicity, thanks for sharing!!!!

  17. Art says:

    Okay, followed the recipe to a T and I have to OMG. Restaurant quality. Super juicy, medium rare through and through. A definite keeper!!!