Reverse Sear Tomahawk Steak Recipe Finished with Clarified Butter

By James Kimble August 5, 2026 9 mins read 7 Views

In this reverse sear tomahawk steak recipe finished with clarified butter, we season a couple of well-marbled bone-in ribeyes with SPG seasoning, smoke them to bring the internal temp up slowly, and then sear over a raging hot fire to get that epic char on the outside. Finally, we finish with some clarified butter drizzled over the top with an herb mop.

Two medium rare tomahawk steaks, meat removed from the bone and sliced

Grilling up some tomahawks is not something we do on an average Tuesday. This is a special occasion type deal, which means the pressure is on for not only the price of the beef (and that bone) but also the weight of the moment whether an anniversary, birthday, or a Stanley Cup winner, etc. Let me assist with the research. We’ve got a bunch of tomahawk recipes to help you craft that perfect tomahawk ribeye meal.

Ingredients for Reverse Sear Tomahawk Steak Recipe with Clarified Butter

2 fat tomahawk steaks, the more marbling the better – these two weighed about 5 pounds, total.
SPG seasoning (salt pepper garlic)
2 sticks of salted butter
8-10 sprigs of your favorite herbs

Here are the two steaks I bought for this tomahawk steak recipe. These beautifully marbled beasts came from Korte Meats in Highland, Illinois. I was so impressed with their meats, we are going to partner with them on a number of posts in the near future. Korte is well worth the trip.

And do you see all those rubs and sauces that line that wall behind me in that pic? Well, that butcher block on the left is covered with bottles of seasoning. Every one of them has a pink label on the top that says, “Sample.” Meaning, you can taste and smell every one of those before you commit your hard-earned dollars to buying one. I absolutely love that.

Here’s that link again to Korte Meats.

A close-up of those tommies:

Raw beef ribeye on a wooden cutting board with a white digital thermometer nearby and a red background behind.

Season them top and bottom with SPG seasoning:

Two large raw ribeye steaks on a cutting board being seasoned with salt.

I also firmly believe in seasoning the outer edge of these two-inch-thick monster tomahawks.

I do that by running a line of the SPG on the cutting board:

Close-up of a butcher's hand sprinkling coarse salt on a wooden cutting board with raw meat nearby.

Then roll the edge of the steak through the seasoning:

Thick raw beef steak on a wooden cutting board with coarse salt scattered around; person with blue shirt and brown apron in background.

Seasoned top and bottom and edge to edge:

Hand holding a salt-crusted raw beef rib steak, with coarse salt and pepper visible on the surface.

Two large raw tomahawk steaks on a salt-dusted cutting board, bone handles visible, with a stainless grill in the background.

Prepare the Grill for this Tomahawk Steak Recipe

For this, I’m using my American Made Grills, Muscle Grill. It’s a gas/charcoal/real wood fueled hybrid grill. For this cook, I’m going to use all three of those fuels in this cookout.

The grill is set up for two-zone grilling AKA indirect grilling which means a hot side and a cool side. For the heat, I’m using charcoal but to light that charcoal, I simply turn on the gas burner underneath the charcoal for about 60-120 seconds:

Pile of charcoal briquettes in a barbecue grill, with metal grate bars and a small flame starting to glow.

For smoke, I place the grill grate over the top of this charcoal and set a couple chunks of smoke wood on top.

Here’s one of the chunks:

Close-up of a rough brown wooden plank resting on a a grill grate with lit charcoal glowing orange underneath

How much Smoke?

Some of you are going to wonder if a couple chunks of wood on top of hot grill grates is going to provide enough smoke. Check the video near the bottom to see how much smoke came out of the Muscle Grill. It was late and the lighting did not lend itself to showing the smoke in the stills. Plus, I have a roof over that portion of the deck and the underside of that roof is that grey, corrugated steel. Smoke doesn’t show up well against that.

How to Reverse Sear a Tomahawk Steak

Target temperature inside the grill is between 225°F and 275°F.

Set the seasoned tomahawks off to the side with no direct heat in this two-zone grilling configuration:

Raw bone-in ribeye steak with marbling on a wooden cutting board in a butcher shop, grill in the background.

Two large bone-in ribeye steaks resting on a barbecue grill with wood chunks nearby (uncooked).

Close the lid and let that heat and smoke slowly bring up the internal temperature of those two tomahawk steaks.

While the steaks smoke, let’s make some clarified butter.

Three sticks of butter in a black saucepan with a spoon resting on top, on a wooden cutting board with fresh herbs nearby.

How to Make Clarified Butter

Melt two sticks of butter in a pot. Once the butter starts to simmer, the white solids will float to the top. Spoon the solids off leaving the clarified butter. That’s it. It will take a few minutes but that’s the only downside. Use it on steaks or to dunk shellfish and brush it on corn on the cob.

I know the pics above and below show three sticks of butter, but I only needed 2.

Butter blocks melting in a saucepan on a stove, surrounded by warm melted butter or cream variant liquid.

Close-up of a pot viewed from above, showing the solids being removed to make clarified butter

Pot/pan on a stove with a simmering clarified butter

The removed solids:

Close-up of a glass with the solids on top of some clarified butter

For the herb mop, I used thyme, oregano and rosemary. My wife isn’t the biggest fan of rosemary so I went light on it. If it were me, I would’ve only used rosemary!

Bundles of fresh herbs (thyme, oregano, and rosemary) on a wooden cutting board with a checkered pattern

I used a bit of baker’s twine to tie them off at the base:

Bundle of fresh thyme and rosemary tied with string on a wooden cutting board, beside kitchen scissors.

Pro Tip ~ You can tie the herb mop to the bottom of a wooden spoon to mop food at the back of the grill, or under the upper rack as with this cooker I’m using on this tomahawk steak recipe.

Time to Sear

Once the steaks reach between 100°F-110°F, it’s time to do the sear part of reverse sear:

Hand holding a digital meat thermometer inserted into one of two tomahawk steaks on a hot grill, checking internal temperature (display shows 105°F).

If your hot side isn’t north of 500°F, you can take the steaks off the grill and stoke up the fire.

We don’t want the steaks to continue to cook while the fire gets hot.

We’re ready:

Handheld infrared thermometer over grill grates during cooking, with meat nearby. The display shows a temperature reading around 587°F.

Time to sear:

Bone-in ribeye steaks cooking on a grill over open flames, sizzling on the grate.

The goal here is to get a tasty flavor crust on the outside of the steak while bringing the internal temp of the steak up to your desired doneness.

For this cookout, my final temp was between 120°F and 130°F.

Now, if you are slightly more daring, you can apply some clarified butter before and during searing.

I know, some of you are cringing at the thought of the black smoke from the butter burning. What causes butter to have such a low smoke point is the solids, which we removed. Clarified butter does not have a low smoke point and thus won’t burn like regular butter. This is completely optional.

Beef ribeye being brushed with clarified butter from a fresh herb mop

WARNING ~ While clarified butter won’t produce the black smoke, it will flame up, so be gentle. Also, be ready to use the indirect side of the grill to make sure you don’t burn the steak if the flames get too intense.

Two large bone-in rib eye steaks cooking on a hot open grill with flames visible behind them.

Large smoked and seared beef steak with a dark, charred crust being held by the bone over a hot grill

If the flames get a little out of control, simply slide the steaks off the heat for a couple minutes to let them die down. The upper rack of the American Made Grills, Muscle Grill works nicely for this:

Tomahawk steak on a charcoal grill over open flames, meat browning on the grate.

My target temp for these was between 120°F-130°F.

Person inserting a digital meat thermometer into a thick beef steak on a hot grill, display reading 124°F (literally thermometer showing).

What If I Need to Cook them a Little Longer?

If you like your steaks a little more well done, you can smoke them longer before searing. Using the guide below, pick your desired final temp, and smoke them to within 10-20 degrees of that final doneness then sear. But if the steaks are still a little shy, simply place them on the indirect side of the grill and close the lid to bake them till they reach that magic number for you.

Here’s a handy guide about steak temps:

Rare Steak Temp: 120F-125F
Medium Rare Steak Temp: 130F-135F
Medium Steak Temp: 140F-145F
Med. Well Steak Temp: 150F-155F
Well Done Steak Temp: 160F or more, but seriously, just order the chicken

A large reverse sear steak held by the bone, with a black cooking pot on the grate and corn on the cob visible in the background.

I let these monsters rest for a few minutes while I charred some corn on the cob.

Clarified butter applied with fresh herbs is insanely good on corn too!

Large reverse sear tomahawk steak with bone on a checkered cutting board, glossy juices, in a kitchen with a grill in the background.

Time to slice and close out this tomahawk steak recipe:

Hands slicing a large ribeye steak on a wooden cutting board with a sharp knife.

How’d I do?

Sliced medium-rare beef steak with a dark seared crust on a wooden cutting board.

Use the herb mop to drizzle that clarified butter over the top of the carved steak:

Sliced medium-rare ribeye steak arranged on a wooden cutting board with a bone nearby and herbs hanging above, while clarified butter is drizzled over the top with a fresh herb mop

Tomahawk Steak Recipe Recap

Some people will argue that a great steak just needs salt. While that is mostly true, it doesn’t mean a steak can’t be even better with some pepper and garlic (and a little butter). Tell those people that humans only need water to survive and notice how quickly they talk about needing variety. For me, all I really need is a well-marbled steak, a hot fire, and some SPG. But the clarified butter takes it to another level. The sweetness and richness of the butter with the earthy hint of those herbs is just magical.

Make sure to set the pot of clarified butter on the table or spoon it into ramekins for everyone to dunk their steak.

Also, brush it on corn on the cob with that mop. I did. On three ears!

If you have any questions or comments about this tomahawk steak recipe, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.

Also, if you could leave us a great review with lots of stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ that would be most appreciated!

Additionally, you can follow us on our GrillinFools Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter/X and YouTube feeds

Below the recipe card are more pics from this recipe

Tomahawk Steak Recipe Card

Two medium rare tomahawk steaks, meat removed from the bone and sliced

Reverse Sear Tomahawk Steak Recipe Finished with Clarified Butter

In this reverse sear tomahawk steak recipe, we season a couple tomahawks with SPG, smoke them to bring the temp up slow and then sear over a raging hot fire.

Course Entree, Main Course, Steak

Cuisine American, American Fare, Beef, North American

Keyword American Made Grills, American Muscle Grill, Beef, Bone In Ribeye, Butter, Charcoal, Charcoal Grill, Clarified Butter, Fresh Basil, Gas Grill, Grill, Grill Steak, Grilled Steak, Herb Mop, How to cook a tomahawk steak, Indirect Cooking, Indirect Grilling, Muscle Grill, Recipe, Revers Sear Method, reverse sear, reverse seared, Ribeye, Ribeyes, Smoker, SPG Rub, Steak, Steak Recipe, Tomahawk, Tomahawk Steak Recipe, Tomahawk Steaks, Tomahawks, Two Zone Grilling

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 1

Resting Time 5

Servings People

Ingredients

2 Tomahawk steaks These were about 5 pounds total
SPG seasoning Or your favorite beef rub
2 sticks Salted butter
8-10 sprigs Fresh herbs We used rosemary, thyme and oregano

Instructions

Coat the steaks top and bottom and around the fat edge with the SPG seasoning
Prepare the grill for two-zone grilling AKA indirect grilling which means hot coals on one side and nothing on the other. Place a chunk of smoke wood over the coals and the meat on the side with no coals. Target temp inside the grill is 225F-275F. Close the lid to make the grill into a smoker
While the steaks smoke, place the butter in a sauce pan and place over medium heat. Once the butter melts and starts to bubble, spoon off the white solids into another container, leaving the yellow, liquid, clarified butter. Set aside
Bundle together the herb sprigs and tie off at the base to create a fresh herb mop
When the steaks reach an internal temperature between 100F-110F, remove them from the grill and crank up the hot side of the cooker to north of 500F. Sear the steaks over the hot coals.
Optional Step ~ brush the clarified butter over the steak before searing and every time the steaks are flipped. Be warned that the clarified butter will not burn thanks to the removal of the solids, but the butter will ignite. Be ready to move the steaks off the coals if the flames get to be too much.
Sear the steaks on both sides until there is a nice flavor crust on both sides and the internal temp as come up 10F-20F. If after they have that lovely browning on the outside the steaks still aren't done enough for your liking, slide them over to the side with no direct heat and close the lid to bake until they reach your preferred doneness. Remove from the heat, allow to rest for a few minutes, slice, and drizzle the clarified butter over the top with the herb mop. Serve and enjoy

Video

Bonus Pics

Sliced medium-rare beef roast with pink center and dark crust on a wooden cutting board cooked with the reverse sear method from the Tomahawk Steak Recipe

Sliced ribeye on a wooden cutting board, with a large bone bone-in piece resting on top and juices around it from the tomahawk steak recipe

Sliced medium-rare steak with a charred crust on a wooden cutting board, a knife resting above the meat from the tomahawk steak recipe

Beef rib bones sizzling on a hot grill over open flames for the sear part of reverse sear for this Tomahawk Steak Recipe

Two raw bone-in ribeye steaks with prominent marbling on a metal grill, ready to cook outdoors for a tomahawk steak recipe

Two large raw tomahawk ribeye steaks with long bones on a wooden cutting board, sprinkled with salt, on a red surface, with a digital meat thermometer nearby ready for a photoshoot for this tomahawk steak recipe