Easy Ribeye Roast (Prime Rib)

Budget tip: Boneless and bone in rib eye roasts go on sale before Easter and Christmas. Consider buying a whole ribeye roast on sale at Easter, slice it into steaks and freeze them to enjoy ribeye steaks for Fourth of July grilled rib eyes!

You can also ask your butcher to cut them into steaks for you. We use a FoodSaver to vacuum seal our steaks so they last longer in the freezer.

Boneless ribeye roast vs standing rib roast

Whether it's a bone-in or boneless ribeye roast, both are prime beef roasts that "stand" tall when cooking. You may see it called prime rib rib eye roast. A crown rib roast is made with a large bone-in roast that is connected to create a circle, thus, the "crown".

The butcher will often detach the rib bones from the roast for your convenience, then lay the roast on top of the bones and tie them together for support to create the standing rib roast. I would use the bone-in cooking times when cooked this way.

You can choose to cook with it with or without the bones. The bones add a little extra cooking time but also adds flavor to the prime meat.

I’ll give you a cooking time chart below to cook either a boneless or bone-in rib to perfection!

Shortcuts

• A boneless rib roast avoids having to “French” the bones on a bone-in standing rib roast.
• Starting with a very high temperature and lowering it speeds up the overall cooking time plus it helps give the outside more seared, browned edges.
• Garlic salt and onion salt provide loads of flavor without having to cut slits in the meat to press in garlic cloves or mince the garlic. It also eliminates another ingredient-salt.
• Have the butcher detach the bones for you for easy slicing. You can choose to bake the roast with or without the bones.

Ingredients

What you will need for cooking a beef ribeye roast.

Scroll down to printable recipe for exact ingredient quantities.

• Boneless or bone-in ribeye roast
• Salted butter
• Garlic salt
• Onion salt
• Black pepper

See my substitutions and variations below to use what you have or change up the flavor a bit.

How to cook ribeye roast in the oven

Whether it's a bone-in or boneless ribeye roast, both are prime rib roasts and can be baked with this same technique and ingredients.

Pro tip: Many standing rib roasts will come already tied. If it doesn't come tied, I wouldn't spend the time to tie them up. These are sturdy roasts, especially bone-in roasts and bake well untied.

Scroll down to the bottom for the printable recipe with detailed instructions.

• Remove the roast from the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 1 ½ hours. This helps the roast cook evenly.
• Sprinkle the roast with garlic salt, onion salt, and pepper.
• Slather the roast all over with butter. I often add the garlic salt and onion salt to the butter instead of sprinkling it on the roast. Either is fine.

• Place the seasoned roast on a rack in a foil-lined roasting pan or large baking pan. Place an internal meat thermometer in the center of the roast not touching bone or fat.
• Bake, uncovered, according to baking time guide in printable recipe below. Times will vary with size of roast, bone-in vs. boneless, and the desired degree of doneness.
• Remove from the oven. Cover with foil and let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Temperature will rise between 5 and 10 degrees while resting.

Pro Tip: It is important to note that the internal temperature of the ribeye roast will continue to rise about 8 to 10 degrees after it is removed from the oven, so it is recommended to take the roast out of the oven 8 to 10 degrees before it reaches the desired internal temperature to prevent overcooking.

This 5 pound ribeye roast was removed from the oven at 121F degrees and rose to 128F degrees after resting, covered in foil, 20 minutes to achieve rare to medium-rare doneness. The temperature was checked with an instant-read thermometer.

The butcher detached the two rib bones for convenience, but laid the roast on top of the rib bones and tied it altogether. I used bone-in cooking times for this roast.

Ribeye Roast Cooking Time: Boneless and Bone-In

Since everyone likes their prime rib eye roast cooked to different degrees of doneness, I'm sharing a helpful guide to cooking bone-in ribeye roast and boneless ribeye roast.

See degree of doneness guide below for rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, and well-done.

These cooking times are based on removing the roast from the refrigerator and letting stand 1 ½ hours at room temperature (72F degrees). The USDA recommends not leaving raw or cooked meat in the danger zone between 40F degrees and 140F degrees more than 2 hours.

Beef Degree of Doneness Guide

Please note, according to the USDA beef should be cooked to at least 145F degrees or above. Below is a guide for degrees of doneness for beef.

• Rare- 120-125F degrees - Cool red center.
• Medium Rare - 130-135F - Warm red center.
• Medium - 140-145F - Warm pink center.
• Medium-Well- 150-155F - Slightly pink center.
• Well-Done- 160-170F - No pink in center.

Note: Here's a visual guide to what beef looks like when cooked rare, medium-rare, medium, medium-well, and well-done.

Substitutions & Variations

Trade "this" for "that" in this whole ribeye roast recipe.

• Substitute garlic salt with ½ teaspoon garlic powder and ½ teaspoon table salt.
• Substitute onion salt with ½ teaspoon onion powder and ¼ teaspoon table salt.
• Omit garlic salt, onion salt, and black pepper and substitute 2 teaspoons Montreal steak seasoning.
• If using unsalted butter, add an additional ¼ teaspoon table salt.
• Herbed butter can be made by stirring in 2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme, rosemary or basil. Substitute 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning for fresh herbs.

Helpful Information

What to serve with a standing rib roast

Baked potatoes are the iconic side dish to serve with a prime rib roast but sweet potatoes and rice are also a good choice paired with a green vegetable and a light salad.

• Hasselback Sweet Potatoes with Maple Pecan Butter
• Candied Roasted Sweet Potatoes
• Easy Fresh Green Beans with Bacon
• Instant Pot Fresh Greens with Bacon
• Halfway Homemade Black Raspberry or Blackberry Vinaigrette

Storage Tips

Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube. Be social and share, y'all! Don't forget to sign up with your email so you don’t miss a single post on my Southern shortcut recipes!

If you make this recipe I'd love to see it! Tag me on social media with #gritsandgouda or @gritsandgouda. Leave a comment below the printable recipe if you have questions or tell me how you liked the recipe. Don't forget to rate it 5 stars if you love it!

Nutrition analysis on GritsAndGouda.com recipes are mostly calculated on an online nutrition calculator. I am not a dietitian and nutritional information is an estimate and can vary based on products used.