How to Grill T-Bone Steak {with Bourbon Salt}

Nothing tastes better than wrapping up the week with a nice thick grilled steak. Grilled T-Bone Steak with Bourbon salt is a tender, slightly sweet, and salty combination that you and your family are going to be raving about for weeks to come.

For my family, grilled T-Bone steak is an occasional indulgence. So when we do it, we do it right!

We always like to add a little something to make it a new and special experience every time. Don’t let that Bourbon salt scare you. It’s exceptionally easy to make at home, and the same method works with other types of alcohol, so pick your poison!

🥩 Ingredients

T Bone Steak |This cut of beef comes from the short loin like the porterhouse. It’s tender and packed full of flavor so it isn’t necessary to marinate. There is bit of a difference between the t bone and the porterhouse but you can use either for this recipe.

T-bone is a composite steak, just like the porterhouse steak. It’s part sirloin and part tenderloin. The porterhouse is a larger cut and contains less sirloin compared to T-bone.

These are minor differences so you can replace T-bone with Porterhouse for this recipe if you’d like.

Bourbon Salt | We were inspired to start making our own after we kept buying the Bourbon Barrel Smoked Sea Salt. Yeah, we can make that for a fraction of the cost and it tastes so much better.

Pepper | I like some freshly ground pepper on my steak so this one is not optional for me. I usually stick to the classic black pepper but you can skip it or use any other kind of pepper you’d like.

🔥 Instructions

Bourbon Salt

We created our own recipe for bourbon salt. It is remarkably easy and is well worth spending a few minutes to make. And of course, it keeps really well so you can make it ahead, even weeks ahead!

Grilling The T-Bone Steak

Step One: Remove the steak from the refrigerator about 20-30 minutes ahead of the time. This allows the steak to come to room temperature and it will grill more evenly. Heat up grill to about 400 degrees so you will get a nice sear on the steaks. We like to make our own DIY Fire Starters to light the grill up.

Some people like to turn their grill up to 500 for a very fast sear. That works fantastic when you are looking for a rare or lower end medium rare steak. It will cook the outside very fast while not overcooking the inside.

Step Two: In a Ziploc bag, combine the olive oil and shake to cover completely. Add in the salt and pepper and shake to cover. Start off with a smaller amount of each as you can always add more but can’t take it back.

Step Three: Place steaks on the grill grate and grill for 3-5 minutes on each side or until you reach the temperature you like for steaks. Always remember to take the meat off the grill a couple degrees BEFORE you reach the final temperature as it will continue to cook, especially if you tent it indoors with some foil for 5-10 minutes. We like to use Wireless Thermometers so we don’t accidentally miss it by chatting neighbors. Remember to not have the probe touch the bone.

• Rare: 120 to 130 F; 5 & 3 minutes per side; remove at max 125 F
• Medium-Rare: 130 to 135 F; 5 & 4 minutes per side; remove at max 130 F
• Medium: 140 to 150 F; 6 & 4 minutes per side; remove at max 145 F
• Medium-Well: 155 to 165 F; 7 & 5 minutes per side; remove at max 160 F
• Well-Done: 170 F or more; 12 & 10 minutes per side; remove at max 165 F

❗ Expert Tips

Always remove the meat from the grill early and tent it with foil as it will continue to cook. Using the tenting technique allows your meat to rest and retain the juices. Take note of the “remove from grill” temperatures above.

Allow the meat to come to room temperature before placing on the grill. This tip allows the meat to grill as expected without the risk of over-cooking the exterior and under-cooking the interior.

Just like with any salt method, start with LESS and add as you like it. We grilled two T Bones and used one teaspoon each of salt and pepper, but we wanted that PUNCH of flavor. You may decide you are looking for a SPRINKLE and if that is the case, I would not toss it in the bag. I would just lay out the steak and sprinkle the meat with the salt and pepper like you normally would.

If you don’t have Bourbon Salt or don’t feel like making it today, use the herb mixture from the Flat Iron Steaks for this cut and it will turn out incredibly juicy and tender.

Recipe FAQ

Steak recipes to try for your next cookout:

• Grilled Ribeye Cap Steak
• Grilled Ranch Steak
• Grilled Skirt Steak
• Grilled Teres Major Steak
• Grilled Marinated Steak Tips
• Grilled Porterhouse Steak With Herb Butter
• Grilled Greek Steak Bites
• Grilled Tex Mex Flank Steak With Avocado Corn Salsa
• Grilled Sirloin Steak With Chimichurri
• Herb Butter Grilled Ribeye Steak
• Grilled T Bone Steak With Bourbon Salt
• Grilled Herb Crusted Flat Iron Steaks
• Perfect Tomahawak Steak

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