Cooking a thick ribeye steak on your Traeger is easy to do and can turn out fantastic if you follow a simple process. For this recipe the steak got seasoned, smoked at low temps and then “Reverse Seared ” to finish.

This technique will work with most steaks like a New York Strip, filet or sirloin as long as they are thick enough so feel free to experiment a little.

Table of Contents

Prepare the Ribeye for the Grill

Getting the steak ready for the grill is pretty simple and only requires seasoning them with a dry rub and waiting a few minutes.

Season the Steak with Traeger’s Coffee Rub for Beef

Liberally coat both sides of the chops with Traeger’s Coffee Black Pepper Rub. If you don’t have this rub on hand then here is the ingredient list so you can whip up a batch of something similar:

Traeger Coffee Black Pepper Rub Ingredients

Salt
Cane sugar
Paprika
“Spices Including Black Pepper”
Coffee
Onion
Chili pepper
Garlic
Dehydrated mushrooms
Cocoa powder
Cane molasses

This rub has a salty, sweet flavor profile with a nice savory and spicy component.

After the steak has been seasoned let it rest for 15-20 minutes so the rub can start working its way into the meat.

Choosing Wood Pellets

I was burning Traeger Signature Blend pellets that I got the at Home Depot. These pellets are a blend of cherry, hickory and other hardwoods.

This blend gives a nice balance of smoke flavor. Feel free to use your favorite pellets if all you don’t have the Signature blend. Hickory or cherry would both be great choices here.

Set Your Traeger to 180F for Smoking the Steak

Start your grill, set the temperature to 180F and place the chops on the grate. If your Traeger has Super Smoke mode then now would be a great time to use it.

I wanted to get lots of smoke flavor onto the ribeye so it got cooked low and slow! There were several recipes in the Traeger app that called for grilling at high temperatures for a short period of time but that wasn’t the flavor profile I was shooting for.

This technique would be great for thicker steaks like tri tip and picanha.

Close the lid and let the steak cook until it reaches an internal temperature of about 120F. Depending upon the thickness of the steak this will take about one hour.

Crank Up the Temperature and Reverse Sear the Ribeye

After the ribeye has smoked at 180F for an hour take it off the grill and cover loosely in foil.

Place a set of GrillGrate panels onto your grill and crank it it up as high as it will go (450-500F depending upon the model).

Once the grill reaches its top temperature place the steak onto the GrillGrate panel and sear for three minutes per side, rotating each 90 seconds to get that beautiful cross hatch!

While the steak is finishing up baste it with a little melted butter to put the flavor over the top!

Grill to your desired internal temperature with 135F being ideal.

How Did the Smoked Ribeye Turn Out?

I overshot the internal temperature a little so the steak was slightly overcooked for my preference. This is one of the tricky parts about pulling off the perfect reverse sear as it is easy to overcook when using high heat.

That being said, the steak was tender, had a great crust and a wonderful smoky flavor. It is hard to beat the taste of a juicy ribeye and I really enjoyed wolfing this one down.

I was surprised that the coffee rub, which tastes extremely balanced coming out of the jar, made the steak sweeter than I was expecting. When I repeat this recipe I will probably season the steak with salt and pepper first and then come back with the coffee rub as a secondary flavor level.

Traeger Smoked Ribeye Steak with Reverse Sear

A ribeye steak is seasoned with a dry rub, smoked at low temperature and then seared with a butter baste.

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Prep Time 30

Cook Time 1 15

Total Time 1 45

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Calories 475 kcal

Ingredients

Ribeye Steak At least 1 pound and at least one inch thick
2 tbsp Traeger Coffee Black Pepper Dry Rub per steak
2 tbsp Melted Butter

Instructions

Season the steak on both sides with the dry rub.
Turn on your pellet grill and set the temperature to 180F.
Smoke the steak at 180F for one hour or until an internal temperature of 120F is reached.
Remove the steak from the grill and loosely tent with foil.
Turn your grill to its highest temperature setting 450-500F)
Once the grill is at temperature place the steak back on the grill and sear for 3 minutes per side or until an internal temperature of 135F is reached.
When the steak is almost done cooking baste it with the melted butter.