A holiday meal to remember! Your guests will go crazy for this prime rib roast smothered in herbed bacon butter! It’s truly the perfect prime rib recipe!
Lets talk traditions…
When it comes to Christmas traditions, one that my family looks forward to is the Christmas Day prime rib roast. I grew up having ham on Christmas, but my husband was never a fan so shortly after we got married we changed our menu to prime rib and have never looked back! 🙂 It’s definitely an expensive treat, but it’s a once a year splurge that makes our holiday complete.
So today I’m going to share with you just how easy it is to make this delicious holiday meal! It may seem intimidating but it could not be simpler, and I’m going to share with you my tips, tricks and techniques so you can get it just right! Just pretend I’m right there with ya holding your hand.
You’ve got this! 🙂
{Scroll down for the printable recipe}
Some tips…
First thing you want to do is to let your meat come to room temperature before doing anything else!
This is SUPER IMPORTANT!
Depending on the size and environmental temperature outside this can take anywhere from 30 minutes up to a few hours if it’s chilly in your house.
Pre-heat your oven to 450 now.
Secondly, Notice the string?
Bakers twine is holding the bone rack to my roast. I have the butcher only half way remove it so I still get the delicious moistness and flavor that the bones provide, but it will be easier to cut the roast away from the bones and slice to serve later on.
Similar to when I’m making turkey, the next step is to take a wad of paper towels and the beef dry. On the turkey that ensures a nice crispy skin, but on the beef it’s helping our herbed bacon butter stick and create a delicious crumbly crust for that melt in your mouth beef.
Butter…More Butter…
Thirdly, and possibly the next most important is making our aromatic herbed bacon butter. So get out a small bowl, add everything in it, and give it a good mix together with a fork
Then using your best kitchen tools (clean hands) rub that buttery goodness all over your beef.
Sounds kind of dirty? Well, it is. 🙂
We’re almost at the homestretch!
Still with me?!
Put your prime rib roast into the oven.
450 degrees for 20-25 minutes, then lower the temp to 250 and cook for an additional 1.5-2 hours.
If you don’t have a meat thermometer, now is the time to invest in one. I personally use and love THIS ONE
120F is rare and 145+F is well done, so you’ll want the reading to be somewhere in that area when inserting the thermometer into the thickest part of the roast.
Remove the roast from the dish and put it on a large cutting board to rest for 20-30 minutes. Tent it with tinfoil to keep it hot.
Make your Au Jus while the meat is resting.
After the meat has rested, cut and remove the string and cut the bones away from the meat. You can now slice the roast easily and effortlessly for your guests.
Print
Bacon Butter Prime Rib
Description
A holiday meal to remember! Your guests will go crazy for this prime rib roast smothered in herbed bacon butter! It’s truly the perfect prime rib recipe!
Ingredients
- PRIME RIB ROAST:
- 6lb beef rib roast (partially boned and tied by butcher)
- 6 tablespoons room temp. unsalted butter
- 2–3 tablespoons coagulated bacon grease*
- 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons dried Herbs de Provence
- 1 tablespoon fresh ground pepper
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
- 1 tablespoon fresh chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
- * I always make bacon on Christmas morning and save the grease for the rib roast. If you don’t have it on hand then just use another tablespoon of butter in its place.
Au Jus
- 2 1/2 cups beef broth (low sodium preferably)
- 2–3 whole peeled garlic cloves
- a few sprigs fresh rosemary
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 2 teaspoons Worcheshire sauce
Instructions
PRIME RIB:
- Preheat oven to 450
- Make herbed bacon butter
- Pat beef dry with paper towels and put in roasting pan
- Smear butter all over beef
- Before placing the beef in the oven add about 1 1/2 cups of broth to the bottom of the baking dish, and add in a few whole garlic cloves and rosemary twigs. This is going to be our base for our Au Jus later on.
- Put roast into 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. Then reduce temperature to 250 degrees and continue cooking until desired doneness. about 1.5 hours for medium rare.
MAKE YOUR AU JUS WHILE THE MEAT IS RESTING.
AU JUS:
- Put your baking dish over your stovetop burners and set them to medium low.
- Carefully remove the rosemary and garlic cloves
- Wisk in the Worcestershire and wine, scraping up all the bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Add in the remaining 1 cup of broth, reduce your heat slightly to a simmer for 3-5 minutes. Serve hot.
{OPTIONAL} HORSERADISH CREAM SAUCE TO SERVE ON SIDE:
- 16 oz. sour cream
- 3-4 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 minced garlic clove
- 1/4 prepared horseradish
- salt and pepper to taste
- Combine all ingredients into mixing bowl, and mix well. Taste and adjust if needed.
- Keep chilled until ready to serve with prime rib.
Notes
*Rare: 120-125°F
Red interior which may fade to pink at the outermost edges
Medium Rare: 130-135°F
Pink with a deeper, nearly red center
Medium: 135-140°F
Mauve, uniformly colored interior
Well-done: 145°F+
Brown, no pink
**120F is rare and 145+F is well done, so you’ll want the reading to be somewhere in that area when inserting the thermometer into the thickest part of the roast. I personally remove the roast from the oven right around 130F since it will continue to cook while resting, this way I’m right on the money at 135-140 each time.
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I encourage you to try this recipe any time of year! New Years, Valentines Day, a birthday, Easter….Prime rib is the perfect meal for any special occasion and now that you know how to prepare it easily, it can be the next shining star on your holiday table. Just don’t forget to PIN IT! So you can come back to it later!
Need a side dish to pair this with? Here’s some of my favorites…
- Bacon Mushroom Green Beans
- Garlic Chive Smashed Potatoes
- White Cheddar Cranberry Macaroni and Cheese
- Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
- Heavenly Holiday Hash Browns
Yum!
I hope you loved this super special, yet still easy, and crazy delicious recipe!
Talk to you soon friends, take care!
XO
My hubby has been requesting prime rib forever but I’ve been a little nervous to screw up such a splurge 😉 SO glad you shared this – I may just have to surprise him with a prime rib on his birthday!!
Looks delicious and I have it pinned!
Could you please tell me where you found the herbs de provence?
Hey Kimber…Any grocery store that carries a good selection of dried spices should have it. I’ve even seen it at Walmart. I buy a lot of my spices from Homegoods, and that’s where mine came from. Hope that helps! Happy holidays! XO
Have tried this prime rib recipe twice now for Christmas. It’s a hit and now a holiday tradition. It’s delicious and an easy recipe to follow – quite fool proof. Both the au jus and sour cream horseradish sauce recipes are a must with( this prime rib dinner. Great recipe! Thank you for sharing!
★★★★★
I’m so happy you enjoy it as much as we do Leah! Thank you for the rave review. Merry Christmas xo
Hey I was wondering if you have a large prime rib and half it to make 2 6 lb prime ribs if the same time and temperature could be used to cook both? Or will the time be longer for the amount of meat?
★★★★
Yes typically when cooking two things in the same oven you will need to increase the cook time to about 15-20 percent. Temperature can stay the same.
Hey, Christine, your Horseradish Sauce recipe calls for “1/4 prepared horseradish.” What is the unit of measurement, as it is missing. Thanks.
cup 🙂