Perfect Garlic Prime Rib

by Sabrina Snyder

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Perfect Prime Rib made with a garlic, thyme and rosemary crust is gorgeously browned on the outside and a perfect medium on the inside. Topped off with a gremolata it is the perfect show-stopping holiday/event meal!

Looking for a Christmas Recipe that will wow you? This prime rib is a take on our Classic Prime Rib recipe with a beautiful, festive, fresh gremolata on top.

Christmas Prime Rib made with a garlic, thyme and rosemary crust

GARLIC PRIME RIB WITH GREMOLATA

Despite how difficult you may imagine it to be, making Prime Rib is actually easy! Most home cooks are nervous about the risk of cooking it incorrectly since it tends to be a very pricey piece of meat.

The truth is, this Prime Rib is actually one of the easiest holiday meals you’ll make. It really just consists of a lot of resting time and a couple of easy herb mixtures. The initial prime rib seasoning on the meat is full of garlic, thyme and rosemary which all stand up well to the long cooking time in the oven.

Here’s how the Perfect Garlic Prime Rib will look right out of the oven:

how to make prime rib with delicious herb crust

COOKING TEMPERATURES FOR PRIME RIB

To know when your meat has reached the desired level of doneness you like, use a meat thermometer to measure the correct internal temperature.

  • Medium-Rare: (Mostly pink with red center) 135 Degrees F
  • Medium: (Pink throughout) 140 Degrees F.
  • Medium-Well: (Mostly brown with pink center) 145 Degrees F. 

Prime Rib Add-Ons:

STEP-BY-STEP BEEF AU JUS

  • Liquid from roasting pan
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 cup red wine
  • 2 cups beef broth
  1. Place your roasting pan over stovetop burners on medium low.
  2. Whisk in the Worcestershire sauce and red wine.
  3. Scrape up brown bits from the bottom of pan with a silicone whisk or wooden spoon.
  4. Reduce slightly for 5-7 minutes then whisk in the beef broth.
  5. Bring to a simmer and reduce slightly for 5-7 minutes.

MORE BEEF SERVING SAUCES:

Gremolata – Beautiful for Holiday Meals

The gremolata that goes on top after it comes out of the oven is the perfect bright flavors you’ll love to stand up to and complement the flavor of the prime rib perfectly without needing any heavy sauces. Full of garlic, lemon zest, parsley and olive oil it is a bold bright flavor. 

What goes into a gremolata?

  • ½ cup fresh parsley, minced
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest, grated

You can add additional ingredients as you’d like them. To the original recipe I sometimes add a bit of salt, 1 teaspoon of olive oil and ¼ teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes depending on the audience.

The benefit of this gremolata is that it is beautiful, the pop of color really stands out, it adds a ton of fresh flavor and it’s inexpensive to make since you’ve already invested in your rib roast.

prime rib seasoning including garlic, thyme, rosemary and Gremolata

HOW TO SERVE LEFTOVERS

  • French Dips: Use your leftovers to make French Dip sandwiches. Slice prime rib thinly and warm a skillet. Place in a hoagie roll. Make them even more delicious by topping with caramelizing onions. Dip in leftover Au Jus.
  • Salad: For a steakhouse style salad, top butter lettuce with leftover strips of your meat and add gorgonzola, diced red onions, and blue cheese dressing. 
  • With Eggs: Serve with eggs cooked to your liking and a side of crispy Hash Browns.
  • Brunch: You can swap in the prime rib for Breakfast Casserole for an elevated Christmas morning brunch.
  • Soup: Make leftover Pot Roast Soup with will simmer on low heat until the roast is fall apart tender.

MORE HOLIDAY BEEF MAIN DISHES:

What kind of meat for Prime Rib?

When you ask your butcher/the meat department of your favorite store to prepare your prime rib roast there are just a couple of things you’ll want to note:

  • This one may seem like it goes without saying, but you want it to be bone in.
  • Ask for it to be trussed with a string, this helps keep the shape perfectly uniform while cooking.
  • Let him/her know you want the largest deckle possible. This means you want that meat cap that wraps around the eye of the roast and looks like a little “c” over the center of it to be as big as possible. That deckle is the most flavorful and tender piece of meat in the whole cow. 
  • If you’re asked how many “bones” you want this 7 lb. roast I had was a 3 bone roast, it is just their way of gauging size. You aren’t going to serve this as one person = one bone (That would be Flinstone’s level eating) so don’t worry if 3 sounds like it is a small amount, 3 bones is quite a large roast.

So just to recap: “Hey butcher, I am having an awesome party! I’m making the Perfect Prime Rib and needed a 7 lb. roast, bone in and trussed. Please make sure it has the largest meat cap/deckle possible, we all love that part of the steak.” In the words of Gus Portokalos, and there you go! 

How to Store:

  • Serve: You can keep the meat at room temperature for up to 2 hours.
  • Store: Store leftovers in a refrigerator for up to three days in a sealed airtight container.
  • Freeze: Allow to cool completely and freeze in air-tight container for up to 3 months.

Garlic Prime Rib that has been perfectly cooked and seasoned

Tools Used in the Making of this Perfect Garlic Prime Rib:

Roaster with Rack: A perfect sized roasting pan with rack for your prime rib to sit on.
Oven Ready Meat Thermometer: This is a perfect tool to keep in your kitchen for large roasts and it isn’t expensive. I’ve had mine for years.

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Dinner, then Dessert

Perfect Garlic Prime Rib

Perfect Garlic Prime Rib made with a garlic, thyme and rosemary crust topped with a fresh citrus gremolata. The perfect show-stopping holiday meal!
Yield 8
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours
Course Main
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Perfect Garlic Prime Rib made with a garlic, thyme and rosemary crust is gorgeously browned on the outside and a perfect medium on the inside. Topped of with a gremolata it is the perfect show-stopping holiday/event meal!
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Ingredients
 

Prime Rib:

  • 3 tablespoons garlic minced
  • 4 leaves sprigs thyme torn from stem
  • 2 leaves sprigs rosemary torn from stem and minced
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 1 tablespoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 7 pound Boneless Prime Rib Roast

Citrus Gremolata

  • 1/2 cup fresh parsley , minced
  • 5 cloves garlic , minced
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest , grated

Instructions

  • Add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, canola oil, kosher salt, and black pepper to a small bowl and mix.
  • Rub all over the prime rib and let rest for an hour (to let meat come to room temperature).
  • Heat the oven to 450 degrees.
  • Place the prime rib, fat cap side up in a roasting pan.
  • Place your meat thermometer into the side of the roast not touching the bones and as far in as you can place it.
  • Cook for 20 minutes at 450 degrees before lowering temperature to 325 degrees.
  • Cook an additional 90 minutes to 2 hours depending on the size of your roast and your meat thermometer (you're looking for a temperature between 125-130 degrees).
  • To cook my almost exactly 7 pound prime rib, I had it in the oven for 1 hour and 40 minutes and let it rest for 20 minutes.
  • Serve topped with a gremolata.

Citrus Gremolata

  • Mix the parsley, garlic and lemon zest in a small bowl and set aside until rib roast is ready to be served.

Nutrition

Calories: 1221kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 54g | Fat: 109g | Saturated Fat: 44g | Cholesterol: 240mg | Sodium: 1049mg | Potassium: 889mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 30IU | Vitamin C: 1.9mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 5.9mg
Keyword: Prime Rib

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Herb mixture atop perfect prime rib

 

Perfect Garlic Prime Rib made with a garlic, thyme and rosemary crust is gorgeously browned on the outside and a perfect medium on the inside. Topped off with a gremolata it is the perfect show-stopping holiday/event meal!
Perfect Garlic Prime Rib made with a garlic, thyme and rosemary crust is gorgeously browned on the outside and a perfect medium on the inside. Topped off with a gremolata it is the perfect show-stopping holiday/event meal!
Perfect Garlic Prime Rib made with a garlic, thyme and rosemary crust is gorgeously browned on the outside and a perfect medium on the inside. Topped off with a gremolata it is the perfect show-stopping holiday/event meal!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the upcoming cookbook: Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients which is being published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Thank you. I’ve tried so many times to make this roast and failed sometimes over cooked others very rare but by following your recipe…perfect. thank you for sharing it.

    Reply

  2. Oh my God girl !!!! The prime rib was beyond amazing !!!
    Ty so much.
    I can cook and have made prime ribs before but this was a king in the end.

    Reply

  3. This was a Delicious Recipe, used my home grown Chesnok Red garlic & used 3 heads minced along with Avocado oil & other recipe ingredients I mixed all together let sit in covered jar in the fridge for 24 hrs 5 hrs before cooking covered Prime with this Amazing Flavor, this recipe is definitely a keeper

    Reply

  4. Made the Prime Rib but changed up the coating using Italian Parsley, Fresh Minced Garlic and Olive Oil.

    Rubbed the Parsley/Garlic mixture all over the rib and let it set for two days then cooked it according to the instructions!!!

    The PRIME RIB was perfect after 3 hours of cooking!!!!

    Reply

    1. I haven’t used that kind of appliance, so I’m not comfortable recommending. Let me know if you do and how it turns out.

      Reply

  7. This looks delicious! Although, I’ve never made a rib roast I plan on making this for family this holiday. I hope mine turns out as nicely as yours pictured.

    How do I make au jus?

    Reply

    1. When the Prime Rib is done, carefully pour the juices through the strainer and into the bowl If you’d need more au jus, you can stir in a little beef broth.

      Reply

  9. This came out perfect, the seasoning and cook method is spot on. I did not make the gremolata, went with a basic au jus instead and pulled it at 119° … next time I’ll pull it just a little earlier for more of a medium rare vs medium. I also salted and dry aged the beef in the fridge for 2 days prior to the cook and that helped season the interior. Really wonderful.

    Reply

  10. This was the best receipt ever. I cannot find the words express what a amazing dish. That all I can say it is better than excellent and I thank you so much.

    Reply

    2. I am making a 14 lb Prime Rib for Christmas Eve , it does have the bones … that being said , what would be the best way to get mid- rear

      Reply

      1. For one that large, I’d start by roasting it for 15 minutes at 450 degrees and then reduce the oven to 325 and continue to cook. You’ll need about 15 minutes of cook time per pound. Check for doneness at an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Good luck!

        Reply

  11. I made this for our family’s New Year’s Day dinner. It came out perfect! And I made au jus with the drippings. Then we had French dip sandwiches the next day with the leftovers and that was also delicious. 🙂

    Reply

  12. Wow, this looks amazing. Wish I had seen this recipe before Christmas. I would have made this rather than my lackluster lamb. 🙁

    Reply

  15. THat Prime Rib is perfect. What a great dinner idea for next weekend. I haven’t made Prime Rib in forever.

    Reply