- - How to Make the Best-Ever Prime Rib, According to Martha Stewart

Olivia BriaDecember 23, 2025 at 1:45 AM

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If you’re the designated cook of your family, then it’s likely that you’ve thrown a roast in the oven a time or two. We all know that the queen of cuisine, Martha Stewart, certainly has. The television personality is a go-to expert for crafting, gardening and all things food, including classics like her boozy eggnog, the perfect pie crust or a prime recipe that will work every time.

With prime rib being a centerpiece dish on so many tables, especially during the Christmas season, we decided to check in to see how Martha makes the celebratory roast. We found a few recipes from her, but it was a vintage prime rib 101 video that we saw on Facebook that caught our eye. As usual, Marta calmly and confidently walked us through the process, helping us believe that it's as easy as she promises.

"When it's cooked to perfection, I really think it's the most spectacular, most superb-tasting of the beef roasts," she says in the video. Who could you resist that sell? Read on to learn how to cook a prime rib a la Martha. It's simple and also looks simply perfect.

Get the recipe: Martha Stewart's Prime Rib Roast

What's So Great About Martha Stewart's Prime Rib Recipe?

What drew us to this recipe was its simplicity. Once you have your prime rib, all you need is pepper, salt and dry red wine. You can get the full recipe on Martha’s website, but the general cooking process is pretty basic (in the best way).

One of our favorite things about Martha is her thoroughness, and although the recipe is detailed, you can pick up even more tips and tricks if you watch the prime rib 101 video that goes along with the recipe.

In the video, Martha starts by walking you through buying a prime rib. She suggests going for a "first cut" prime rib, which includes the first three bones of the standing rib roast. She mentions that the average prime rib will weigh 12 to 13 pounds untrimmed and that you should ask your butcher to trim it for you.

Once the meat is trimmed, it will weigh closer to 9-ish pounds, which will feed 6 to 8 people. Your butcher will also cut off the short ribs, which you'll add to the pan to add fat and drippings for making the gravy.

Martha also suggests cooking the meat in a heavy-duty metal roasting pan. She says that nonstick roasting pans tend to not have as many browned bits on the bottom when you cook something like prime rib. Those bits add tons of flavor to the gravy, so use a standard metal roasting pan, if you can.

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Getty ImagesHow to Make Martha Stewart's Prime Rib Roast

This is an easy recipe, but it's also pretty specific (because, well, it's Martha). Here's what you .

Warm it up. Martha's prime rib recipe, like most, recommends that you leave the roast at room temperature for at least two hours before cooking to help the meat cook more evenly. Place the oven rack at the lowest level, then preheat the oven to 450°.

'Tis the season. Because prime rib is such an excellent cut of meat, it doesn't need a lot of bells and whistles on the flavor front. Martha suggests rubbing the roast in a mixture of kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Martha recommends doing the salt-and-pepper rub on a separate baking sheet because you don't want all the salt and pepper sitting in the drippings.

Start high, then go low. Transfer the roast to your roasting pan, fat side up, along with the short ribs. Cook the meat for 20 minutes at 450° to help the outside of the meat get nice and crispy. After 20 minutes, lower the oven to 325° and let the meat roast for another hour and 25 minutes.

Temperature check. Martha says to remove the roast from the oven when it's between 115° and 120°. How do you know? Grab your instant-read thermometer and insert it between two of the bones and into the center of the roast. The bones conduct heat and can be much hotter than the meat, which is why it's important to avoid them when checking the temperature of meat.

Give it a rest. Once the meat has reached between 115° and 120° (the temperature will rise as the meat rests), remove it from the oven and transfer it to a warm spot while you make the sauce, which is more like a jus than a proper gravy. Martha says the back of the stove is a good place for the meat to rest. She also prefers not to tend the roast because the steam that's trapped under the foil can make the outside of the meat soft instead of crispy.

Sauce it up. For some bonus points (and we all want bonus points from Martha, right?), make the sauce while the meat is resting. To do that, pour the drippings from the roasting pan into a fat separator. You'll want just the drippings to make the sauce, but don't toss the fat. "In the pan, you'll see a layer of fat," says Martha. "Don't throw that away. That's what you'll cook your Yorkshire pudding in." Put the roasting pan on the stove over medium-high heat and add some red wine, scraping up any browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Add the drippings and cook until the sauce is reduced by about two-thirds. Adjust the seasoning, then strain it into a double-boiler to keep warm, as Martha does in the video, or into a bowl that will then go into your gravy boat or small pitcher. Slice the meat and serve with the sauce. The outer slices are great for people who like their meat more well done and the interior slices are for the people who prefer their beef more rare. A little something for everyone, thanks to Queen Martha!

Related: The Simple But Fancy Pasta Dish Ina Garten Loves to Serve for the Holidays

This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the Food & Drink section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”