Easy Ribeye Roast Recipe

If you decide to invest in a nice roast, you want to make sure you do it right. Roast beef isn't too tricky to cook, particularly when it's got a nice layer of fat that helps to keep it tender and juicy. There are a number of different ways to roast a hunk of beef, with some favoring low temps and others favoring high. Recipe developer Christina Musgrave is in the latter camp, as she roasts her beef at 450 F so a fairly large one cooks in only an hour.

Musgrave says this recipe "is just a few steps and produces a delicious and flavorful roast." Even better, all of that flavor comes from, in addition to the beef, just five ingredients — and three of those are salt, pepper, and oil! There is one particular ingredient she likes to use that she feels gives the beef something extra: She rubs it with Dijon mustard before roasting. As she explains, this tangy condiment "gives the ribeye roast a delicious crust."

Musgrave uses a 3-pound boneless ribeye roast here, although you could use one of a different size and simply adjust the cooking time accordingly (more on that below). She also favors using Dijon mustard as a rub, but really, any kind of mustard you like will work to create a tasty crust on the meat. She also seasons her beef with salt, pepper, and thyme. If you find that you're out of thyme (so to speak), Musgrave says you could also use rosemary or sage. There's just one more thing you'll need, which is a bit of olive oil to grease the baking pan.

First, preheat the oven to 450 F; with such a high temperature, it's going to take some time to reach the proper level. Next, find a pan large enough to fit your beef roast, then pour some oil into the pan and rub it all over to grease it.

Spread the mustard all over the hunk of beef. Now mix up the dry ingredients and rub them into the roast. Use your hands to ensure that spicy, herby mustard coating gets into every nook and cranny.

Once the oven hits 450 F, put the pan (and the beef) in and roast it for an hour if it weighs exactly 3 pounds. If it comes in at another weight, it will cook for 20 minutes per pound. As Musgrave explains, "If it's a 2-pound roast, you only need to cook it for 40 minutes." So if it's 2 ½ pounds, then you cook for 50 minutes, 3 ½ pounds cooks for an hour and 10 minutes ... you get it. Math is fun when food is involved!

Once the beef is done, take it out of the oven and let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing. Musgrave says that this crucial step "allows all of the juices to reabsorb into the meat." If you have leftovers, you can always reheat that roast beef low and slow and it'll be delicious the next day, too.