Perfect Prime Rib

Lightly Toasted's Note:

This is my "tradmark" Christmas Eve Dinner. DH won't even order prime rib in a restaurant anymore, because he prefers mine. Its a super easy recipe, great for dinner parties, but DO NOT alter cooking times or directions. And DO NOT carve until just before serving. Here NEEDS a clarification!!! The salt is only intended to produce a shell to keep the moisture in. It's not intended to be consumed unless of course you like extremely salty foods. AFTER the roast has rested for 15 mins. Lightly scrape the salt away but not so much that you remove all the seasonings

• Total Time: 5 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 5 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

• 1 prime rib roast (size doesn't matter)
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 1/4 cup rosemary
• 1/4 cup horseradish powder
• 1/4 cup garlic powder
• 1/8 cup cracked black pepper

Directions:

1. Combine seasonings, and rub into roast.
2. Let sit while oven preheats to 375.
3. Place roast in broiling pan, fat side up or bone side up.
4. Bake for 45 minutes.
5. Turn oven off, DO NOT OPEN OVEN.
6. One hour before serving, turn oven back on 45 minutes.
7. Take rib out, LET STAND FOR 15 MINUTES.
8. This is VERY important, it allows the juices to distribute.
9. Do not carve "ahead of time", either. Scrape off the salt "shell." The meat directly underneath that will be very salty, but that's usually the fatty part that no one eats, anyways. The rest of it will be fine, I PROMISE!
10. Serve with au jus and horseradish sauce.

Reviews

[EinyOpi]

This recipe was the easiest and most stress free prime rib recipe ever written. I made a 4 1/2 lb. roast for new years. I put the roast in at 2:30pm baked it for 45 minutes then let it sit like the recipe says. I put the oven back on at 5:30pm for another 45 minutes. It was a perfect medium rare and was beautifully seasoned. I rubbed the spices on the outside of the roast but also injected some garlic into the meat. I highly recommend this recipe. Thanks.

[TeacherLaLa]

I highly suggest if you use this recipe you invest in a meat thermometer (the kind you don't have to monitor intermittently- but stays in the meat). We did the recipe to a T, but it cooked faster than expected, so I didn't cook it a second time for the maximum time. The prime rib was fabulous- hubby says the best he has had. I did use whole garlic cloves inserted into the meat, instead of garlic powder the night before. I did use the amount of salt requested and dusted it off after it was done cooking. Wow- tender and flavorful! A keeper.

[katymae16]

This is only getting 2 stars because the rub is *amazing*, otherwise it would just be 1. Unfortunately, contrary to the description, size DOES matter. Maybe not for smaller roasts, but definitely for larger ones. I should have gone with my gut and used the meat thermometer, but the overwhelming positive reviews blinded me to sense. I used this recipe for a 12 pound bone-in roast (we did a big family dinner) and it was RAW. Luckily, my husband is a great improviser - we cut it into individual servings and he cooked them up quickly in our cast iron skillet - but I was stressed to the max. Because I followed the instructions, we didn't discover that the meat was undercooked until everyone was sitting to eat, so it was very embarrassing. And aggravating - we were HUNGRY! Our oven is less than 2 years old, I have TWO thermometers in it to check temperature (because I'm OCD and don't trust the oven or just one thermometer), and this was the result. I'm sure this recipe has worked for lots of people, and (again) the rub is phenomenal, but I won't be using this methodology again. And I'll never again leave my meat thermometer in the drawer when I'm making something for company!