How to Cook a Standing Rib Roast: Sizes, Times, Resting

A standing rib roast is the rib section left whole, with the bones in, cooked as one piece. It is the same muscle as a ribeye steak. If you like ribeye you will like this, and it feeds a table instead of a person.

It is also the cut people are most frightened of, because it is expensive and they only cook it once a year. It is not difficult. It is mostly a matter of not doing two particular things.

How much to buy

The honest rule is one rib per two people, and one extra rib if you want leftovers, which you do. If you are planning a wider spread, our guide to how much beef per person is the number to work from.

Standing rib roast, by bone count

Bones	Roughly feeds	Approximate weight
3 bone	6 people	5 to 7 lb
4 bone	8 people	6 to 8 lb

Weights vary because animals vary. Ours are sold by actual weight, so what you are quoted is what you get.

Order it early. This is the one cut where we genuinely run out, because every rib roast comes from a rib section and each animal has exactly two.

Bone in or boneless

Bone in. The bones insulate the meat, so it cooks more gently and more evenly, and they are worth having afterwards. If carving around bones worries you, ask for the bones to be cut free and tied back on. You get the benefit while cooking and a clean carve at the table.

Seasoning

Salt, coarsely, on all sides, and do it the day before if you can. Leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight. The salt works into the meat and the surface dries out, which is what lets it brown properly. There is more on the timing of that in when to salt steak.

Pepper, garlic and hard herbs like rosemary and thyme are all welcome. Nothing else is necessary. This is not a cut that needs help.

Take it out of the fridge two hours before it goes in the oven. A cold roast cooks unevenly.

Cooking it

Low and slow, then hot at the end. This is the method that works most reliably.

1. Oven at 225°F. Roast on a rack, bones down, fat cap up.
2. Cook to internal temperature, not to time. Pull it at 120°F for rare, 125 to 130°F for medium rare, which is where we would stop, or 135°F for medium.
3. Budget roughly 35 to 40 minutes per pound at this temperature, but the thermometer is the authority. Start checking early.
4. Rest it for at least 30 minutes, loosely tented. It will not go cold. A roast this size holds heat for a long time.
5. Then blast it. Oven to 500°F, roast back in for 6 to 10 minutes, until the outside is brown and crisp. Doing this at the end rather than the start means the inside stays evenly pink.

Carryover cooking is real. The middle will climb another 5 to 10 degrees after it comes out, which is already accounted for in the pull temperatures above.

The two mistakes

Cooking to time instead of temperature. Every roast is a different shape, every oven lies a little, and a chart cannot know either. A meat thermometer is the cheapest insurance in cooking. Use one.

Not resting it. If you carve immediately the juices run out onto the board and the meat goes grey and dry as it sits. Thirty minutes is not optional, and it is the easiest step to get right, because it requires doing nothing.

The bones

Do not throw them out. Roast them further if they are underdone for your taste, and eat them standing at the counter, which is the cook's portion. Or simmer them for stock.

What we sell

We sell standing rib roasts in 3 bone and 4 bone, from cattle raised on pasture here in Vilas, North Carolina. Shipley Farms has been farming this valley since 1872 and we cut to order, so if you want a particular size, or the bones cut free and tied back on, say so when you order. How the cattle are raised is set out on our promise.

Order online, or collect at one of our three pick-up points in Vilas, Boone and Blowing Rock. For the holidays, earlier is better than later.