How to Make Tough Steak Tender (Cheap Chuck Steak)
Last updated on October 23rd, 2026
This steak has all the flavour of a ribeye and it looks similar to a ribeye but it costs a quarter of the price. The one and only catch is it’s a tough cut of meat. The thing is, with 3 simple steps we can easily make this tough steak as tender as any other prime cut.
In this blog post, I’ll show what these 3 simple steps are and how you can use these methods on other affordable, tough cuts of meat.
The best thing is you won’t need any special equipment in fact all you’ll need is a roasting tray, a rack, a frying pan, an oven, a fork, a temperature probe and some string.
So introducing the ribeye’s tougher cousin…. the chuck steak.
Chuck Steak: The Cheap Cut That Tastes Like Ribeye
This is an incredible, not so well known cut of steak from the shoulder of the cow, it has tonnes of flavour and a good mix of fat to meat. This makes it one of the best options for an affordable steak.
Depending on where you live it might be known by any of these names – chuck, chuck steak, chuck roast, chuck eye, blade. Tough cuts also shine when slow-cooked, like the shin in my grandma’s beef bourguignon.
The main thing to look for when buying a chuck steak is the thickness, you want it to be at least 3cm (1.2in). This gives you the best chance to cook this steak however you like it with the cooking method we’ll be using in this video, if it’s any thinner then it’ll be well done or…… well done.
This is a big steak coming in at just over a kilo (2.2lbs), it’s easily enough to feed 4 people as a part of a meal.
This giant steak only cost me – £12 ($14.60 €13.50) and the same weight of ribeye would’ve cost me – £43 ($55 €50). That’s a huge saving!
So the big question is, how do we make this thing tender?
How to Make Tough Steak Tender (3 Simple Steps)
To make tough steak tender, pierce it all over with a fork, dry brine it with salt for 12 to 24 hours, then reverse sear it: roast it low in a 120C (250F) oven and finish it in a hot pan. These three steps work on other thick, tough cuts too.
Tenderising the Steak With Nothing But a Fork
Well, It’s actually really easy. For the first tenderising step we’re going to use one of the most underrated kitchen tools…. The fork!
We’re going to use it to pierce the meat. This is known as “jacquarding” and there are tools made to do this called “jacquards”, they come in all different shapes and sizes. They’re basically loads of sharp spikes behind a spring loaded protective plate.
But as I promised earlier, for this recipe you don’t need any special equipment, you can achieve the exact same results as a jacquard by just using a fork, it’ll just take you a minute longer.
So just pierce the meat from edge to edge, flip it over and do the same on the other side. Don’t go too crazy, you’re not trying to turn this steak into burger meat just make sure you pierce close together to break those strong muscle fibres down. This is a traditional French method that tenderises any tough cut of meat, it works really well. I use a similar piercing trick on the skin of my crispy pork belly.
Now the steak is looking a little more beaten up than before and to help it cook evenly we need to do something about the uneven thickness. I have this part here that tapers down and this will overcook if I don’t do something about it.
Luckily the solution is simple, we just need to tie some string around the steak to bunch the meat together a bit more. For those of you who like the details this is known as “trussing” and see how now I have a more even thickness all the way across the steak.
You’ll need to use 100% cotton string because this will be staying on the meat whilst it’s cooking and If you’re unsure if the string you have is safe to be heated there’s a simple test you can do. Just set the end of the string on fire, if it melts then it’s no good and if it burns, smoulders and turns to ash and there’s no sign of anything melting then you’re good to go. The same cotton string holds my rolled porchetta together.
I like to loop the string around the steak twice for luck and once it’s tight just tie a knot and that’s it, a simple step that will improve the quality of your steak.
Dry Brining the Steak to Tenderise and Add Flavour
The second tenderising step is something that I do to all my large cuts of meat, it’s not only going to tenderise, it’s also going to add flavour and help the steak to be juicier.
We’re going to do this with dry brining. It’s very simple, just evenly cover the surface with salt, so there’s no bare patches of meat. It’s exactly how I season the meat under the skin for my salted and poached roast chicken.
This may feel like too much salt for some people and of course not enough salt for others. For anyone who is scared of using this amount of salt for whatever reason, just remember this steak will feed 4 to 6 people and we need the salt to help tenderise the meat.
This even coating over the surface will not taste too salty in the end, really this is the minimum amount needed. I can’t give you a weight for this because every steak is different and every salt has a different coarseness, the best way to measure it is visually like this.
Flip it over do the same on the other side, make sure to cover all the edges as well. Then we’re going to leave this for 12 to 24 hours to brine.
If you don’t have 12 hours then you could maybe get away with less, but this technique really needs time to work its magic.
This is one of the key steps to this recipe and for you to have a tender, juicy, steak on a budget. Place the steak on a wire rack, with a tray or something underneath to catch any drips, Re-adjust your string if it’s moved, cover it and place it in your fridge.
The Next Day (12-24 hours later)
The steak’s been chilling in the fridge overnight. It looks pretty much the same as yesterday, but now there’s a little blood on the tray, and all the salt has dissolved and worked its way into the meat.
Pat the surface dry with some paper towel and leave it out on the side to lose some of that fridge chill, 30 minutes to an hour on the side will be enough, depending how warm your kitchen is.
If this freaks you out, don’t worry your steak won’t spoil in an hour on the side, if you do less time and cook the steak from cold you will get an uneven cook.
How to Cook Tough Steak: Step 3, Reverse Searing
Whilst we’re waiting for that to happen, Preheat your oven to 120C 250F and this brings me onto step number 3 to tenderise this giant steak and the great thing is it works with any thick piece of meat.
It’s known as reverse searing and it’s a simple way of cooking meat that pretty much guarantees perfect results every time, and it works particularly well for steaks and other meats that you want to serve rare, medium rare or medium.
We’re going to roast this steak on the wire rack over a tray for anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 and a half hours. The wire rack is crucial because it helps the steak to cook evenly, it stops one side touching the hot tray and overcooking.
The timings are going to be individual for each and every piece of meat, so the best way to guarantee success is to check the internal temperature of the steak after the first 30 minutes.
At this point your steak will not be ready BUT it’ll give you an idea on how quick the steak is cooking, so you can make better judgements on timings from here
Mine is around 30 celsius (86f) so it’s risen between 15 and 20 degrees in 30 minutes, I’m going to check it again in 20 minutes, and that should be about right.
What’s so great about this low and slow method of cooking especially for steaks is that the window for rare, medium rare and medium is so much larger than if you were cooking in a frying pan.
In a pan you have around a 30-second window before the steak is overcooked, but cooking in the oven like this you have more like 5, maybe even 10 minutes before the steak passes your desired doneness. The window is even tighter with a 666 rule duck breast, which is why timing matters so much.
It’s definitely one of the most stress-free ways of cooking a steak.
After an hour and 5 minutes mine is done, I’m pulling it at 52c (125f) this temperature will continue to rise to the mid to late 50s, during the next step (55-60C 131-140F).
Giving me a perfect medium-rare to medium steak when I come to serve it.
Now preheat a frying pan or a skillet over a high heat for a few minutes. Once the pan is ripping hot, add a little neutral tasting high smoke point oil, basically not extra virgin olive oil.
Once the oil is shimmering like this, lay in your steak, press it into the pan a little to get as much meat touching the surface of the pan as possible.
Give it 30 seconds or so and rotate it 90 degrees, another light press with the spatula, let another 30 seconds pass, flip it over and do the same steps on the other side. I like to do this with every steak that I cook, essentially moving it every 30 seconds, this cooking method gives the most even crust.
Because we’ve done most of the cooking in the oven, the steak’s lost a lot of its surface moisture so this last step in the frying pan only takes 3 or 4 minutes, and it produces a lot less smoke compared to cooking the steak the traditional way just in the pan.
This makes it a great option for dinner parties, because you can spend less time in the kitchen and there’s less chance of setting all your smoke alarms off. It also frees up time to finish a batch of make-ahead fondant potatoes in the oven. That spare time is perfect for plating my easy Michelin star dessert, a chocolate mousse made with just water that needs no cream or eggs.
Most steak recipes will be basting with butter at this point to get a good crust, I’m keeping it simple with this recipe and showing you that you don’t have to do this to get an incredible crust. But if you do want to baste, and add things like garlic and herbs, then you can do it at this point for the last minute or so of cooking in the pan. Or keep it simple and top it with a slice of truffle and black pepper butter.
After almost 4 minutes of frying with regular flipping and turning this steak is done. It’s got a great crust and I didn’t set any of my smoke alarms off.
It’s reading just over 57c (135f) in the centre, now just leave it to rest for around 10 minutes to finish cooking. Use the resting time to make a quick mushroom pan sauce from the fond left in the pan.
Slicing the Sections Apart So Every Bite Is Tender
Cutting through those tied sections separately, rather than as one block, is what keeps every slice free of the tougher seams running between them. It’s time to see how this steak looks, take off the string and if you remember back to how it looked earlier we had 3 different bits of meat connected together.
To have the most tender mouthfuls it’s a good idea to slice these sections individually, so we can easily slice out any tough patches of fat and gristle.
Just run your knife in between those sections, they will come apart very easily, remove any bits you don’t like the look of. Then you can slice each piece individually, it’s much easier this way than trying to tackle the whole hunk of steak. Serve it with a spoonful of fresh chimichurri to cut through the richness.
How To Time Cooking Your Steak
Here’s a table of timings that shows you when to take the steak out of the fridge, just work out when you want to eat and subtract the time for the weight of steak that you have.
For Example – Let’s say I have a 900g steak and I want to eat at 6 pm, so I need to take the steak out of the fridge at 3.43 pm, 2 hours and 17 minutes (137 minutes) before I want to eat.
Frequently Asked Questions
What exactly is a chuck steak, and where do I find it in the shop?
It’s a cut from the shoulder of the cow, which is why it’s cheap despite having a similar flavour and fat content to a ribeye. Butchers and supermarkets label it under a few different names depending on where you are, so ask for chuck, chuck steak, chuck roast, chuck eye or blade if you can’t see it. Look for a piece at least 3cm thick so it can handle the low and slow cooking method below.
Can I skip the dry brining step if I’m short on time?
You can shorten it, but I wouldn’t skip it entirely. The salt needs time to dissolve and work its way into the meat, both seasoning it and helping to tenderise it. If you’re pushed for time you could maybe get away with less, but this technique really needs time to work its magic.
Why does the steak need to come up to room temperature before it goes in the oven?
Starting from cold means the outside of the steak has much further to travel in temperature than the inside, which makes for an uneven cook. Thirty minutes to an hour on the side, depending on how warm your kitchen is, evens that out so the whole piece of meat cooks at a more consistent rate in the oven.
Can I use this reverse searing method on other cuts of meat?
Yes, it works particularly well on any thick cut you want to serve rare, medium-rare or medium, not just chuck steak. The low oven temperature gives you a much wider window to hit your target doneness than cooking entirely in a pan, where you might only have 30 seconds before you overshoot it.
Do I really need a jacquard, or will a fork actually work?
A fork works just as well, it just takes a little longer than a proper jacquard tool. Piercing the meat from edge to edge on both sides breaks down the tough muscle fibres in the same way, so there’s no need to buy specialist equipment for this recipe.
How to Make Tough Steak Tender (Cheap Chuck Steak)
Equipment
- Baking / Roasting tray
- Wire / Cooling rack
- Chef’s knife
- Chopping board
- Thermometer / Probe
- Frying pan
- Fork
- Kitchen string
- Spatula (silicone, general)
- Tongs
Ingredients
- A chuck steak blade steak, chuck eye, chuck roast
- Salt
- High smoke point oil
Instructions
- Jacquard the steak using a fork (or a jacquard), be thorough.
- Tie the steak to even out the thickness.
- Cover the steak with a thin layer of salt (see video)
- Dry brine overnight (12-24 hours)
- The next day, pat the steak dry and let it come up to room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
- Roast the steak at 120c / 250f for 30 minutes, then check the internal temperature and make a judgement on timings from there. There’s a table of timings in the blog post above.
- Once you’ve reached your desired cook, remove the steak from the oven and fry in a pan to brown the outside.
- Rest for 5-15 minutes (see table) and serve.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
| Total Fat | 39g |
| Saturated Fat | 16.9g |
| Cholesterol | 169mg |
| Sodium | 734mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 0g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0g |
| Sugars | 0g |
| Protein | 48.5g |
| Potassium | 631mg |
The table for timings is missing.
The cook time table does not appear on the page. That’s the main reason I came to your site. Please email it to me or let me know when it’s posted on the page.
You refer to the table of timings but it’s not shown on this page. Are you able to correct that?
Looks delicious
Thank you so much for sharing this very useful information. I presume that roast beef joint can e cooked in the same way to prevent it becoming too tough to eat!! Thanks again, much appreciated!