How long to cook a 1-inch steak at 450°F
Short answer
Four minutes a side — eight minutes total — for medium rare. Three a side for rare, five for medium, six for medium well. Pull at 125°F (52°C) for medium rare and rest five minutes; it settles at 130°F.
Change the numbers
Your results
Per side, on a hot grill
4 min
Total on the grill
8 min
Pull at
125°F / 52°C
Rest before slicing
5 min
Four hundred and fifty is the lowest temperature that still sears properly. Below it the surface releases moisture faster than the pan can drive it off, and the steak greys instead of browning — the difference between a crust and a steamed piece of beef is almost entirely about how hot the metal was when the meat hit it.
Turn it once, or turn it often — both work, and the argument is older than it is useful. A single turn gives the deepest crust on each face; turning every thirty seconds cooks the centre more evenly and slightly faster. What does not work is moving it around the pan looking for a hotter spot: the steak cools the surface it is sitting on, and it needs those seconds back.
The times above assume a steak that came out of the fridge twenty minutes earlier and was patted completely dry. A wet surface spends the first minute boiling off water instead of browning, which costs you a minute of crust and gets you nothing.
Doneness is a temperature, not a colour. Rare is 125°F (52°C), medium rare 130°F (54°C), medium 140°F (60°C), medium well 150°F (66°C), well done 160°F (71°C). Pull five degrees below each of those, because a one-inch steak carries about that much heat onward while it rests.
Related questions
Grill or pan for a 1-inch steak?
Either, at the same times. A grill gives you bar marks and a little smoke; a heavy pan gives you edge-to-edge crust and a fond worth making a sauce from.
Do I need to rest a 1-inch steak?
Five minutes, yes. It is a short enough wait that people skip it and a big enough difference that they should not — cut early and the juice is on the board instead of in the meat.
How do I check without a thermometer?
Press it: rare gives like the base of your thumb relaxed, medium like it with your thumb and middle finger touching, well done like a clenched fist. It works, roughly, and a thermometer works exactly.