This Cast Iron Ribeye Steak with Pears and Blue Cheese is the perfect combination of ease, indulgence, and seasonal flavors. And let me give you permission right now to not wait for a special occasion to try this!

An overhead view of a black cast iron skillet with steaks, pears, potatoes, and shallots next to a navy cloth.

This one-pan ribeye steak recipe takes my favorite cut of steak (hello flavor!) and pan-roasts it with seasonal vegetables and fruit for an incredibly tasty dish.

But this isn’t throwing everything on a pan together and into the oven. Nope.

There’s a little more nuance involved.

There are 4 basic and easy, but necessary steps:

Sear the steak in a really hot pan to caramelize both sides.
Baste the steak with butter, garlic and fresh thyme.
Remove the steaks, add the vegetables and fruit, and roast in the oven.
Add the steaks back to the pan to finish cooking in the oven.

You’ll be surprised just how easy this is to make.

Let’s get into it.

Want some other one-pan dinner ideas? Try my Skillet Chicken with Mushrooms and Caramelized Onions, Cast Iron Chicken with Persimmon, Red Onion & Lentils, Beer Braised Beef Short Ribs or this Chicken and Rice with Creamy Caesar Butter!

Why I love this recipe:

IT’S ONE PAN – Yep – a couple of steps – but all done in one pan! This cast iron ribeye steak makes for great flavor AND easy cleanup!
IT’S SEASONAL – Roasting pears, potatoes and shallots just screams fall. Flavors are at their peak, so very little needs to be done to them to taste their best. Win-win!
IT’S SPECIAL – It isn’t every day that we sit down to a ribeye steak, so this one is a little extra special – but the prep is just as easy as everyday cooking. Another win!

Recipe Ingredients

You’ll need the following ingredients to make this cast iron ribeye steak:

An overhead view of the ingredients required to make cast iron ribeye steak with pears and blue cheese.

Ingredient Notes & Substitutions

The ingredients to make this cast iron ribeye are easy to find and readily available at any grocery store.

Here are a few ingredient notes:

Ribeye steaks: From the upper rib cage area, ribeye steaks are known for their marbling and fantastic flavor. They are particularly well-suited to being grilled or pan-seared. Look for boneless ribeye steaks that are at least 1 1/2 inches thick and well-marbled. Substitute with a New York strip steak if you can’t find ribeyes.

Bosc pears: Bosc pears have a firm and dense flesh that are great for cooking and baking because they hold their shape and are not overly sweet. Substitute with Comice, Bartlett, or Anjou (green or red).

Potatoes: Baby potatoes are best in this recipe because of the short cooking time. If you substitute with a larger potato, cut them into small pieces similar to a baby potato to ensure that they are fully cooked when the steaks are done.

Shallots: Shallots, from the allium family, are like a mellower onion crossed with a little garlic. They are small and become unbelievably sweet when roasted. If you can’t find them, substitute them with red or yellow onions and cut them into similar-sized pieces as the potatoes.

Fresh thyme: Fresh thyme sprigs are used to flavor the butter when basting the steaks and then roasting the pears, potatoes, and shallots. Substitute with fresh rosemary.

Blue cheese: An incredible flavor pairing with both steaks and pears, blue cheese is a star in this recipe. A little goes a long way, so use a high-quality blue cheese that is creamy and melts well like Roquefort, stilton, or gorgonzola. If you have strong feelings about blue cheese, consider substituting it with goat cheese, or feta, or omitting it altogether.

A close up view of steaks covered with blue cheese on a bed or roasted vegetables and fruit.

The Technique: How to Cook A Perfect Steak

The technique involved in cooking steak, regardless of cut, pan type, or cooking surface type, boils down to four variables to focus on for the best results: seasoning, timing, temperature, and rest.

The right amount of seasoning gives the right finished flavor, and most people don’t use enough. This is, oftentimes, the difference between how things taste in a restaurant and how they taste at home. A steak shouldn’t taste salty, per se, but the right amount of salt will enhance all of the other flavors. For the absolute best results, use kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
Timing involves bringing your meat to room temperature before cooking, and paying attention to cooking each side evenly (and undisturbed!) to achieve the best Maillard reaction and promote the most even cooking. A Maillard reaction is the perfect golden brown exterior that we all love on a steak that is a series of chemical reactions that occur when the right combination of heat, protein, moisture, and sugar come together. If you want to learn more about it, this is a great article.
Temperature has everything to do with bringing your steak to room temperature before cooking, the temperature of your pan, and cooking your steak to your desired level of doneness. This can be accomplished with either a meat thermometer or a touch test with a little experience. Remember these temperatures for doneness:
RARE: 120 degrees
MEDIUM-RARE: 130 degrees
MEDIUM: 140 degrees
MEDIUM-WELL: 150 degrees
WELL: 160 degrees
And finally, rest. As a steak rests (at least 5 minutes), the fibers relax, and the juices redistribute throughout the steak. This is also the time that there is some carryover cooking. That is to say, the steak will continue to cook an additional degree or two as it rests (so you should remove it from cooking a degree or two before your temperature guide).

Let’s Make Cast Iron Ribeye Steak with Pears and Blue Cheese Together: STEP BY STEP

Be sure to check out the full recipe details and ingredient list in the recipe card below.

Steps 1 & 2:

First, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit and bring the steaks to room temperature.

Second, prep the vegetables by cutting the potatoes in half, peeling the garlic cloves, and peeling and halving the shallots. Cut the pears in half lengthwise, remove the core, and cut again, lengthwise, into quarters.

Third, toss them all with avocado oil and season with kosher salt and black pepper.

A cutting board with cut pears, peeled shallots, and garlic cloves.

A sheet pan with pears, potatoes and shallots drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Steps 3 & 4:

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and season the steaks with kosher salt and black pepper.

Add the avocado oil to the pan and let it heat up. When the oil is hot, add the steaks for the initial sear and let them cook, undisturbed, for 2-3 minutes.

Two ribeye steaks on a white plate seasoned with kosher salt and black pepper.

Two ribeye steaks in a cast iron pan cooking on the stovetop.

Steps 5 & 6:

To help form an even crust, you can add another pan on top as a weight.

After 2-3 minutes, flip the steaks.

A cast iron pan with steaks cooking with a heavy cast iron pan on top to weight them down.

Ribeye steaks in a cast iron pan flipped over.

Steps 7 & 8:

Next add the butter, garlic cloves and thyme and baste the steaks with the melted butter.

Add the potatoes to start cooking.

Butter, garlic and thyme added to ribeye steaks cooking in a cast iron pan with a spoon to baste them.

Potatoes added to steaks in a cast iron pan.

Steps 9 & 10:

After cooking for 2-3 minutes on the second side, remove the steaks and transfer them to a plate, and add the pears and shallots to the pan. Transfer the pan to the oven to roast for about 8 minutes.

Then, remove the pan, add the steaks on top, and return the pan to the oven to finish cooking to your desired doneness.

Steaks removed from the pan and pears, potatoes and shallots added.

Steaks added back to the pan on top of the pears and potatoes to finish cooking in the oven.

Steps 11 & 12:

Finally, remove the pan from the oven, add the blue cheese, and return it to the oven to broil for one minute.

Remove from the oven one last time and let the steaks rest for at least five minutes. Cut and serve.

Blue cheese added to cast iron pan with steaks, pears, potatoes and shallots.

Ribeye steaks on a cutting board being sliced.

Chef Natalie Marble in her home kitchen.

Natalie’s Expert Tips

Be extra careful when transferring the pan in and out of the oven multiple times – the handles will be hot and you need to remember to use oven mitts.
Try to find ribeye steaks that are at least 1 1/2 inches thick. If you use thinner steaks, you will need to adjust your cook time down accordingly.
If you don’t have a cast iron pan, you can follow this recipe, EXACTLY, using a stainless steel sauté pan.
You must have a very hot pan to achieve a nice golden crust on the steaks. While cast iron heats up slowly, it retains its heat extremely well, which ultimately gives you the best exterior – so be patient and let it heat up completely. Additionally, once you add oil to the pan, let that heat up completely, too.

An overhead view of a cast iron skillet with steaks, pears and potatoes next to an orange napkin.

Serving Suggestions

Keep it simple and serve this with nothing more than a glass of a big round red wine – a juicy zinfandel or a jammy cabernet sauvignon.
My Hot Honey Pan-Roasted Carrots, Creamy Cauliflower Gratin, and Cabbage Wedges with Orange-Mustard Vinaigrette are elegant and either would be a perfect side.
Skip the potatoes in this recipe and consider this delicious Pumpkin Orzo with Bacon and Rosemary.
This Beet and Butternut Squash Salad would add a crisp and fresh complement to your meal, and the ginger vinaigrette would be perfect alongside the roasted pears.

Storage & Reheating

STORAGE:
Store the leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

REHEATING:
To reheat in the oven, place everything in an oven-proof pan or dish with a splash of water, and cover with aluminum foil. Place in a 375-degree oven until warmed through. On the stovetop, place everything into a sauté pan with a splash of water and heat over medium-low heat until warmed through. And finally, you can also reheat everything in the microwave in 30 second intervals until everything is warmed through.

FREEZING:
This dish freezes well in an airtight container for up to 6 months. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

No problem. Just remove a steak as it reaches your desired level of doneness – you don’t necessarily have to finish them together.

In simple terms, I use these temperatures:

120 RARE
130 MEDIUM-RARE
140 MEDIUM
150 MEDIUM-WELL
160 WELL

If you are trying to do at least some of this ahead of time, your best option would be to roast the vegetables and pears ahead of time, but it is not a good idea to cook the steaks ahead of time. By the time you reheat them, they will most certainly be over cooked.

I hope you love this Cast Iron Ribeye Steak with Pears and Blue Cheese!
If you make it, leave a rating so I know how you liked it!

Recipe Card

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Nice to meet you!

I’m Natalie and I love to create seasonal and interesting elevated food for busy everyday real life! Dinner doesn’t have to be boring and I’m here to help. This is where busy meets delicious!

Cast Iron Ribeye Steak with Pears and Blue Cheese