Smoked Tomahawk Steak: How to Smoke a Tomahawk Ribeye

A smoked tomahawk steak is a bone-in ribeye steak cooked via the indirect heat of woodsmoke. Tomahawk steak is a bone-in ribeye steak trimmed to reveal a long rib bone. (Shortening that rib bone produces a cowboy steak.) Tomahawk steak comes from the beef rib primal cut, also known as the ribeye muscle.

Even though prime rib and ribeye steak both come from the beef rib, the difference between these cuts is that prime rib refers to a cut of meat containing several rib bones, while a ribeye steak refers to a bone-in or boneless steak cut from this section of beef. Tomahawk steak is a bone-in ribeye steak with some of the meat trimmed to display more bone.

You’ll know exactly when to pull your tomahawk steak if you take an accurate temperature reading: With an instant-read thermometer, there’s no guesswork. Here’s what else you need to know to make the best steak.

1. 1. Choose the right smoker. Decide what kind of smoker you’re going to use to smoke your tomahawk steak. Pellet grills or smokers are user-friendly but can be difficult to troubleshoot because they are high-tech. Charcoal smokers benefit from the addition of wood chunks to add extra flavor, though most of the smoke comes from charcoal. Learn about the different types of BBQ smokers.
2. 2. Select your wood. Choosing the right wood to smoke your tomahawk steak is the first step to infusing it with delicious flavor. While you can experiment with different types of wood, stick to hardwoods like hickory, pecan, or applewood. Each type of wood will give your steak a distinct smoke flavor. (Softwoods, like spruce, pine, or fir, are not ideal for smoking as they are higher in resin and oils that produce thick, acrid smoke when lit.) Learn how to select smoking woods.
3. 3. Reverse-sear your steak. Reverse-searing tomahawk steak gives the meat a nice crust and ensures optimal doneness. This technique involves smoking the tomahawk steak in a grill or smoker at a low temperature until it reaches ten to fifteen degrees below your ideal final temperature. Once it hits that temperature, finish cooking the steak by searing it over direct heat in a cast-iron pan or on the grill over high heat. The reverse-sear method is perfect for thick steaks, which take longer to cook through. Learn how to reverse-sear a steak.