How Does Outback Steakhouse Cook Its Steaks?

Outback Steakhouse is a restaurant chain that seems to take its steaks very seriously -– after all, as a steakhouse, patrons expect the kitchen to treat its many cuts of beef with the respect they deserve. While there are some items on Outback Steakhouse's menu that you'd be better off avoiding, the chain places a great level of pride on its ability to transform a plain piece of beef into a richly seasoned and well-cooked steak. So, how do Outback's kitchens approach cooking its prized cuts? It's actually quite simple.

Outback Steakhouse cooks its steaks using two different methods depending on whether the beef is boneless or bone-in. If you opt for a boneless cut of meat, such as the filet mignon or New York strip, your steak will be thoroughly seasoned and then seared to your desired doneness. However, bone-in steaks are another matter entirely, as you may have read when dealing with how to best cook a T-bone. At Outback Steakhouse, bone-in steaks are seasoned and subsequently char-grilled to achieve full flavor (and those ever-so-satisfying grill marks).

Besides the grilling process, there are a few other factors that go into making the perfect Outback steak. Seasoning is, of course, crucial, and Outback Steakhouse requires its kitchen crews to liberally season its steaks from 6 inches away so that the spices fully coat the beef. (While still shy of the standard footlong seasoning distance, it's noteworthy nonetheless.) The exact seasoning blend is a secret, but the company confirmed on social media that it has 17 spices, including several different types of peppers.

Outback Steakhouse also holds another, not-so-heavily guarded secret to making its flavorful steaks, and that's that it uses wet-aged beef. The wet-aging process breaks down the fibers in meat somewhat, giving patrons a more tender, more flavorful piece of beef overall. Outback certainly pays close attention to every step of its steak-making process, and provided you don't live in one of the states that don't have an Outback Steakhouse, you can go out and try one for yourself.