Today’s feature is grilled ribeye with a classic Béarnaise—because even a perfectly cooked steak can benefit from a silky, tangy sauce. I’m a sauce person: I appreciate a steak that stands on its own, but a great sauce elevates the whole meal.
I grilled a thick ribeye with a simple seasoning blend and a touch of BLK Hot Sauce as a binder, then finished the steak with a fresh Béarnaise. The sauce is basically a bright, creamy butter that comes together quickly and pairs beautifully with crisp roasted potatoes.
With about 30 minutes of active prep and roughly 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking, you can serve a complete steak dinner for four.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love this Béarnaise Sauce Recipe
- Steak with Béarnaise Sauce Ingredients
- How to Make this Easy Béarnaise Sauce
- Important Note
- Cook Your Potatoes
- Prepare and Grill Your Steak
- Tips and Tricks
- More Saucy Steak Recipes
- How to Store Leftovers & Reheat
- What to Serve With This
- Recipe FAQ
- Recipe
Why You’ll Love this Béarnaise Sauce Recipe
This dish is an easy way to take a special meal to the next level. A well-seasoned, thick-cut steak paired with a classic Béarnaise creates a restaurant-quality plate at home. The sauce is rich, bright, and comes together in about 20 minutes, making it a fast but impressive finishing touch.
Steak with Béarnaise Sauce Ingredients
The ingredient list is straightforward. For the steak: a thick-cut ribeye, kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and a small amount of BLK Hot Sauce used as a binder. For the potatoes: cubed potatoes seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and fried in beef tallow for crispness. For the Béarnaise: clarified butter, white wine, champagne vinegar, minced shallots, egg yolks, lemon juice, black peppercorns, fresh tarragon, and kosher salt.
How to Make this Easy Béarnaise Sauce
Create Your Sauce:
Preheat a medium-heat grill for direct cooking, around 325°F, and place a stainless steel skillet on the grill for a couple of minutes to warm.
Add white wine, champagne vinegar, minced shallots, and whole black peppercorns to the skillet and bring to a gentle simmer. Reduce until the liquid is about half—this concentrates the flavor and takes roughly 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
Strain the reduction and transfer it to a heatproof bowl suitable for an immersion blender. Add the egg yolks and blend briefly to combine. With the blender running, slowly drizzle in warm clarified butter until the mixture emulsifies and thickens. Season with kosher salt and fold in finely chopped tarragon. Keep the sauce warm and smooth until serving.
Important Note
Béarnaise can split if reheated too quickly. Keep the sauce warm in a thermos or over very low heat, stirring occasionally. If reheating from chilled, do it slowly over low heat while stirring constantly, or use short bursts in a microwave (10–20 seconds), stirring between intervals.
Cook Your Potatoes:
For perfectly crisp potatoes, preheat a high-heat grill for direct cooking, about 400°F. Place a ceramic Dutch oven over the fire with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add a spoonful of baking soda to help roughen the edges for better crisping, then add cubed potatoes and boil until they are partially cooked—about 10–15 minutes. Drain and let them rest briefly.
Heat a skillet with beef tallow until hot, then fry the parboiled potatoes until golden and crisp, about 8–10 minutes. Season to taste and keep warm until plating.
Prepare and Grill Your Steak:
Rub the ribeye with a thin layer of BLK Hot Sauce to act as a binder, then season generously with kosher salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Let the steak rest briefly at room temperature while you preheat the grill to high direct heat (around 400°F).
Place the steaks on the hot grill and cook until the internal temperature reaches about 120°F for medium-rare; timing varies with thickness but expect roughly 10–15 minutes per side. Remove the steaks and let them rest for 10 minutes before slicing.
Slice the steak, arrange the potatoes on the side, and spoon the warm Béarnaise over the meat. Serve immediately.
Steak with Béarnaise Sauce Tips and Tricks
If this is your first time making Béarnaise, follow the steps carefully to achieve a smooth emulsion. The shallot reduction adds essential brightness—don’t skip it. An immersion blender makes the process quick and reliable, but a regular blender can work if you scrape the bowl and blend until fully emulsified.
More Saucy Steak Recipes
Marinated Steak with Thai Chili Sauce
Steak And Creamy Mushroom Sauce
Grilled Steaks with Board Sauce
Cajun Rubbed Steak with Bourbon Street Sauce
Steak Gorgonzola
Grilled Steak with Peanut Butter Sauce
How to Store Leftovers & Reheat
Store steak, Béarnaise, and potatoes separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat the steak gently in a skillet to preserve texture. Reheat the sauce slowly over low heat while stirring to prevent splitting.
What to Serve with Steak with Béarnaise Sauce
To balance the richness, add a fresh vegetable like asparagus, roasted Brussels sprouts, or a crisp side salad. A well-chosen wine complements the dish nicely, but keep the meal simple so the steak and sauce remain the stars.
Recipe FAQ — Steak with Béarnaise Sauce
Béarnaise is a derivative of Hollandaise. Traditional French cuisine identifies five “mother” sauces: Tomato, Hollandaise, Béchamel, Velouté, and Espagnole. Béarnaise is essentially a flavored Hollandaise, distinguished by tarragon, shallot, and black pepper.
Yes. Cuts like New York strip, filet mignon, or your preferred steak cut will work well with Béarnaise. Adjust cooking times to suit the thickness and desired doneness.
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Steak with Béarnaise Sauce
Ingredients
Steak:
- 1 thick-cut ribeye steak
- 1 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp BLK Hot Sauce (as binder)
Potatoes:
- 2 cups potatoes, cubed
- 1.5 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- Beef tallow, as needed
Béarnaise Sauce:
- 1.5 cups clarified butter, melted
- 1/4 cup white wine
- 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
- 2 tbsp minced shallots
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp black peppercorns
- 1 tbsp chopped tarragon
- Kosher salt, to taste
Instructions
Béarnaise:
- Preheat a medium-heat grill for direct cooking (~325°F). Warm a stainless steel skillet on the grill for 2 minutes.
- Add white wine, champagne vinegar, minced shallots, and peppercorns; simmer and reduce by half (about 5 minutes). Cool slightly.
- Strain the reduction into a heatproof bowl. Add egg yolks and blend briefly.
- With the blender running, slowly drizzle in warm clarified butter until the sauce emulsifies and thickens.
- Fold in kosher salt and chopped tarragon. Keep warm until serving.
Potatoes:
- Preheat a high-heat grill (~400°F). Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a Dutch oven placed over the heat.
- Add baking soda to the boiling water, then add potatoes and boil until halfway cooked (10–15 minutes).
- Drain and let cool briefly. Heat a skillet with beef tallow and fry potatoes until golden and crispy (8–10 minutes). Keep warm.
Steak:
- Coat the ribeye with BLK Hot Sauce as a binder, then season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Set aside.
- Preheat the grill to high direct heat (~400°F). Grill the steak to an internal temperature of 120°F for medium-rare, approximately 10–15 minutes per side depending on thickness.
- Remove from heat and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice and serve with potatoes and Béarnaise spooned over the steak.
Video
A video demonstration is available to show the Béarnaise technique and plating.