Discover 2 different methods (a quick salt cure and sous vide) you can use to take a cheap, tough yet flavorful chuck eye steak and turn it into a tender steak that you can't get enough of it. Cooking a chuck eye steak in sous vide is a great way to show off the power of sous vide to any doubters you know. Don't have a machine for that, then follow my quick salt cure method.
📋 What's New In This Post (1/17/25) - Added clarification on the 2 different methods you can use to make a tender chuck eye steak.
Eating Steak on a Limited Budget
There have been times in my life where affording an expensive steak like a Ribeye or Porterhouse was simply too much. When I was younger I would go to the grocery store, usually Meijer in Michigan, and find whatever cheap steak was on sale or reduced price because it was close to it's sell by date. I use to cook these steaks one of those George Foreman Grills often not to the most tender results as I wasn't paying any attention to the type of steak just to the price tag.
Method 1 - Quick Salt Cure
One day I discover a steak that was cheap but also flavorful, the Chuck Eye. I came across a method online that had you cover the steak in salt like this:
I would leave it like this for 45 minutes. The salt would season the meat while making it more tender. You would wipe off all the salt before cooking. And I never felt like it was too salty for my taste. It was perfectly seasoned.
Method 2 - Sous Vide
When I got my first immersion circulator for Christmas, one of the first thing I wanted to do was sous vide a Chuck Eye steak.
Why Sous Vide? You are also able to cook your steak longer than you could with any other method. With a steak like chuck eye that comes from an area of the cow that can be tough, you can cook it for a longer time to break down connective tissues rending a tender steak without ever going above your desired temperature. A cut of beef that normally would only be good for pot roast can be a tender, rich, tasty steak.
This has become the steak I now recommend to anyone to test out sous vide cooking for the first time, as it will win you over immediately.
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Jump to:
- Eating Steak on a Limited Budget
- 🥩 What is a Chuck Eye Steak?
- 💲 Price of a Chuck Eye Steak
- 🥊 Center Eye vs Center Cut Chuck Steak
- 🧂 Method 1 - Quick Salt Cure
- 🔪 How to Prep
- 🛁 Method 2 - Sous Vide
- 🤐 How to Seal the Steak for Sous Vide
- ⏲️ What Time and Temperature?
- ⛵ What If the Steak Floats?
- 🔥 How to Sear
- 🏆 Buy the Best Chuck Eye Steak
- 🥩 More Beef Cuts to Make Tender
- 🥔 Sides
- Sous Vide Chuck Eye Steak
🥩 What is a Chuck Eye Steak?
To find the Chuck Eye on a cow you must go to the front of the animal, near the head. This part of the cow has a lot of flavor but the muscles do a lot of work so they can be tough.
Now normally you hear about chuck eye being used for pot roast. The roast from chuck section of the cow makes the perfect pot roast. Butchers also cut steaks from the chuck. Why would I want that for a steak? As I said the steak comes from a flavorful part of the cow so if we can make it tender that it certainly will be good.
💲 Price of a Chuck Eye Steak
When I first started buying Chuck Eye steaks I found them on sale for as low as $3 a pound, That's not the case anymore in 2025!
Expect to pay around $5.99 a pound to $7.99 a pound depending on where you are shopping. That's still around half the average price you would pay for a Ribeye steak.
🥊 Center Eye vs Center Cut Chuck Steak
If you can, try to find ones that say center eye or center cut. They are usually a little more expensive than just the standard chuck eye steak, but I find that you end up throwing out a lot of fat and grizzle, so the slightly more expensive cut is a similar value.
🧂 Method 1 - Quick Salt Cure
First, I am going to cover my original salt method. Here is what you will need:
- 2 Chuck Eye steaks
- 4 tbsp kosher salt
- 4 tsp freshly cracker black pepper
- 2 tsp high heat cooking oil for searing
Chuck eye steaks can be pretty big, weighting from ¾ of a pound to over a pound.
You will need about 1 less tablespoon of salt and teaspoon of pepper if you use a center cut chuck eye. This is all the seasoning you need. This steak has a lot of beefy flavor that you want to allow to shine on it's own. If you are looking to marinade a steak that would better with a flank, skirt, or sierra steak.
🔪 How to Prep
An hour before cooking remove your steak from the fridge. Then you are going to dump kosher salt
(don't even think of using table salt) all over the meat. Cover both sides with so much salt that you can hardly see any red.
Won't this make your steak super salty? No.
No, I really do mean that! It won't be too salty.
What you are doing here is drawing moisture to the surface, which will help give your steak a nice sear.
Then through the process of osmosis, some of the water will go back into the meat and take along with it some of the salt which will do 2 things:
- Flavor the meat
- Break down the proteins
You can also add other seasonings of your choice that will be taken along with the salt.
I crack black peppercorns onto the steak when I add the salt. That's all it needs.
After about 45 mins or so depending on how thick your steak is. Then use a paper towel or your hands to rub off all of the salt on the outside of the steak. wash off all the salt and pat the steak dry with a paper towel. You will notice that the steak is now much more likely to fall apart in your hands.
When you are steak is ready use your favorite cooking method whether that is on the grill or in cast iron pan on your stove top. I know you may want me to tell you how long to cook your steak but I firmly believe that you need to cook to temperature and not time. I use The Thermapen® ONE from ThermoWorks to test the doneness of all my meats, especially steak. It reads in 1 second which is key to get a quick temperature reading so you can pull the steak at the right time. Here is what temperature you are looking for:
| Rare | 120-125 degrees |
| Medium Rare | 130-135 degrees |
| Medium | 140 degrees |
🛁 Method 2 - Sous Vide
What I like about Sous Vide cooking is that you can hit that perfect temperature, ever time. For a steak it's even better. You can look up exactly what temperature you want the steak done to. Want medium, set the sous vide to 140 degrees. Medium rare more your thing? Go for 135 degrees.
The steak will reach exactly 140 degrees in the water bath and not exceed it. The steak cannot go higher in temperature than the water itself.
I have owned two different circulators the Anova Sous Vide Precision Nano Cooker and a Vesta Imersa Elite model. The design of the Vesta model I think is better because it doesn't require as much water and is easier to use with a stock pot which is what I normally sous vide in.
🤐 How to Seal the Steak for Sous Vide
We already told you how to season your steak, now let's take you through the rest of the process. Start by sealing your steak.
Both my in-laws and friend have a Food Saver system, so they use that to seal their food before going into the bath. I start out just using Ziploc Freezer Bags like this one:
For this you use a technique called the "water displacement method". You remove as much air from the bag as possible. With the bag still partly open, start lower it into the water bath. Then close the bag and completely submerg it.
If you want a more sustainable option you can use a Stasher Half Gallon Silicone bag. It works the same way, only you can clean the bag and use it over and over again.
Something I have used before it buying reusable bags that come with a pump. You put your steak in the bag and then pump out the air. It works, not as well as a vacuum sealer. The bags themselves are reusable but I found that after a few uses I had to toss them as they weren't super durable. Still a good option to consider.
What do I currently use? I have a Vesta vacuum sealer that I use gallon sized WeVac bags with. I like the big bags because I can fit anything in them and if I need something smaller I simply cut them down.
⏲️ What Time and Temperature?
You could cook the steak for as little as an hour. I like to go to 2-3 hours to give the meat plenty of time to get tender. As for temperature, follow this guide.
| Rare | 120-125 degrees |
| Medium Rare | 130-135 degrees |
| Medium | 140 degrees |
Once you got that set put your steak in the water bath and get the circulator going. I never wait for the water to come to temperature as I don't think it harms the steak to put it in right away and it's easier to put your hands into colder water.
⛵ What If the Steak Floats?
So this is a common problem. If you don't get enough air out of your bag it could still float. I have used a brick before as you see in the photo above. A metal bowl, plate or a pot will work too. Some people like to use sous vide magnets that help keep the bag underwater.
What I have found success with is pinning my steak underneath the circulator. It doesn't interfere with how mine works and the steak tends to stay place.
🔥 How to Sear
Now you certainly don't want just serve up a steak that looks like this even thought you totally could.
You need to sear your steak. My recommendation is to do it in a hot cast iron skillet for about a minute per side. Get that skillet as hot as you can get it. It just needs to get browned, it's already done being cooked.
More Pink or Red Inside
You know how when you cook a steak you sometimes only get a small amount of red or pink in the center? Well with this method you get pink or red throughout. The only part that isn't is the outer crust. How is that for perfect!
Look at all that pink in the middle!
Or better yet look at this slice from a more recent steak I cooked.
Perfection!
If you don't have a sous vide cooker yet, I do think they are worth it. The steak I had was so good. Cooked to perfection, moist, and a melt in your mouth texture. Best chuck eye steak I have ever had.
🏆 Buy the Best Chuck Eye Steak
If you are wanting to have the best chuck eye steak experience, my highest recommendation is Porter Road. They are headquartered in Nashville, TN. I have been to their drool worthy butcher shop there and all the meat looks as good in person as online.
The beef from Porter Road comes from small farms in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania and is pasture raised.
Their Chuck Eye steak is dry aged for 14 days. Give it a try.
🥩 More Beef Cuts to Make Tender
The Flat Iron steak is another one that I love to sous vide. I have sous vide instructions for these steaks as well. I can guarantee you that all of these will come out tender and delicious.
Want to cook a whole beef roast in your oven? I love to take cheap cuts and cook them low and slow while monitoring the temperature of the roast at all times. Here are the roasts I have instructions for:
🥔 Sides
Steaks aren't the only thing I love to sous vide. Here are my favorite side dishes to try.
Sous Vide Chuck Eye Steak
Ingredients
- 2 Chuck Eye Steaks center cut or center eye
- 4 tbsp kosher salt
- 4 tsp freshly cracker black pepper
- 2 tsp high heat cooking oil for searing
Instructions
- Liberally sprinkle kosher salt all over each side of the steak, so that you can barely see any red. Crank on lots of freshly cracker black pepper as well.
- Allow steak to sit at room temperature for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Rub and shake off all the excess salt and pepper.
- Place into a vacuum sealed bag.
- Set your sous vide to 138 for right in between medium rare and medium. You can set it to whatever temperature you want depending on how you like your steak.
- Set the timer for 2 hours
- Add your steaks. If they float then use a brick or heavy weight to keep the under the water.
- When the timer goes off, remove the steak. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing from the bag.
- Heat a cast iron pan over medium high heat. Coat with cooking oil.
- Cook the steak, 1 minute per side or until browned, Flip and repeat.
- Rest steak for 3-5 minutes before cutting into.
Carrie
Thanks for the tip. I will be trying this!
dan
used sea salt and found that it is too salty when done on the grill, but yes it makes it tender if you dont mind the salty taste
admin
I have always used kosher salt. Maybe because of the different structure of the salt crystals in the sea salt caused it to be too salty. You could always try it again with sea salt but use less of it or try it with kosher. Thanks for sharing your experience.
dan
does anyone know when buying chuck center eye, does that portion come off the roast. Paid 369 for center eye and could have bought the roast with the center eye for 249 but was not sure if that was center eye. Please feedback
admin
Hmmmm, I am not sure the answer to that. It's possible that the roast contains the center eye, but I am not 100% sure. The reason I have purchased the center eye is that I find with just a regular chuck eye steak you end up with some meat on it that is a bit too tough to eat because of all the connective tissue that doesn't get broken down when you grill it. In my stores the chuck eye steak and roast are often on sale for the same price. Is that the case at your store? One idea might be to buy a regular chuck eye steak, cut out the center eye section, grill that and save the rest for a long cooking method like a braise or for pot roast. Really you are paying more money for the butcher to cut out the center eye for you. Thanks for your comments, I got me thinking!
dan
when buying a chuck roast for 249 a pound cut the chuck eye out of it which normally sells for 369 and up and use for grilling and have the reat made into hamburger.....what a cheap good steak and great ground chuck.. don:t get any better than that.
Mike
Followed directions and it completely ruined the steaks. Tasted like I was eating a spoonful of salt with steak sauce in it. Native Americans used this method to dry and preserve meat, not what I was trying to accomplish. Marinate them in anything and grill BOOM!
admin
Sorry it didn't work out for you. I have never had the problem with the steak beings too salty.
precious
I absolutely loved the recipe my husband said it's the best steak he as ever had. It was very tender and flavorful. Thank you so much I had completely lost my touch for cooking steak tender.
H.
Thank you for spreading the word of how good chuck-eye steak can be. Just one thing tho, I've used table salt when I've been out of kosher salt and the finished product didn't suffer because of it.
Chuck
Hey guy's, someone was asking about how to get chuckeye steaks from the roast. If chuck roast go on sale, look for the roast that has the chuckeye in it. If you look at the big round topside you will see the chuckeye steak on the other bottom side. You can tell its a chuckeye steak, just get the biggest chuck roast you can find. When you get home, you can just peel the chuckeye right out of the chuck. It has a fat seam that runs around the chuck steak itself. If you get confused, ask the butcher to show you which chuck roast has the biggest chuckeye and to show you where the fat seam is.
Most do not cut beef any longer, most sell that nasty pre packaged stuff that I wouldn't eat in a million years. Washington Post came out with an article about this and said there was just a small amount of carbon monoxide in the package. Surgeon general said there wasn't enough of it to hurt you.............. since when is just a small amount "safe" ????? Anyhow, Food Lion still cuts beef, and just a few others, it's the "only" place I will buy my beef from. Lowes Foods and Wally World along with the rest sell that nasty pre-packaged stuff, NO THANKS!
Anyhow, hope this helps some of you out.
Keith
Good call! I'd never had this cut before today. It was incredible. I've now read that you can buy the whole chuck roast at chuck roast prices, cut off the chuck eye steak, and grind the rest for hamburger. That gives you a great steak for maybe $3 per pound.
I don't know why those people had a problem with the salt. Maybe they didn't wash it off well enough.
One of the things I do when a steak like this gets too tender to grill is put a wooden skewer through it to hold it together for flipping.
Thanks!
Ted
You can't go wrong with this steak! I usually let them set and get close to room temp before cooking. I usually apply kosher salt 30 min. before grilling, I sear the begeez out of one side and the turn the grill down and flip them, there's enuff heat to sear the other side but not over cook 'em. I end up with a nice medium-rare feast for the taste buds. I usually can find them well marbled and the fat breaks down and gives them that rich buttery taste and the edges get charred just right. Dang, I'm hungry now.
I'm afraid if they get too popular the price will start going up. Hopefully not too many people see this.
Eric Samuelson
Thanks for sharing your experience. It is a good steak indeed. I wouldn't worry about the price going up on them, there is plenty of meat available in that cut.
Sammie
I have watched A on and off for many years; missed this recipe. Thanx for sharing this one. ;0
Eric Samuelson
This actually isn't his recipe, I was just inspired by his show to fix up some of my old recipes and make them better!
Michele P
After salting, I rinse off the meat with cool water and dry, dry, dry with paper towels. Always perfectly seasoned.
Eric Samuelson
That's great to hear. Thanks for sharing.