Grilling A Tomahawk Steak on the Kamado Joe

Today we’re grilling a tomahawk steak on the Kamado Joe as an early dinner.

We found them on sale and decided to pick one up. I think one was all we really needed.

Ours weighed in at nearly 50 ounces, (1.4 kilograms). This was one big steak!

Without a doubt, the best way to grill a tomahawk steak is outdoors, over a fire, on the grill.

So let’s get started …

Grilling A Tomahawk Steak

So, just what is a tomahawk steak?

A tomahawk steak is nothing more than a thick-cut beef ribeye with the rib bone attached. Firstly, it’s what Fred Flintstone would eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Secondly, it’s what cowboys might eat after a long day of herding beef across the plains. Finally, grilling a tomahawk steak under a starlit night and over a campfire was the dinner of the day, yesteryear, and today.

So, if you love a good grilled ribeye steak, you’re in for a real treat.

Some folks believe that a tomahawk steak is an expensive overpriced cut of meat. We think not. Cooking outdoors gets us back to our inner caveman. Cooking a tomahawk steak over a charcoal fire, and taking in the aromas, is a primary part of the outdoor dining experience.

While you can’t eat the big beef rib bone, you can use it in making a good beef stock for later.

Our Tomahawk Steak Specifications

Here, we like to give you out-of-the-box uncensored specifications on everything we try or recommend. While tomahawk isn’t a grilling accessory, we thought these specs were worth noting. When we’re grilling up something other than say a burger, we’ll take note of nearly everything we do. Then we try to do it better next time. So, this is the out-of-the-box tomahawk steak we started with.

Overall length: 15.5 inches (39.37 centimeters)
Width: 6 inches (15.24 centimeters)
Height: 3 inches (7.62 centimeters)
Weight: 3 pounds, 2 ounces, (50 ounces) (1.4 kilograms)
Handle: 9.5 inches (24.1 centimeters)

Okay, the handle length is the bone end. This is what Fred Flintstone used for a handle as he gnawed off the meaty goodness after a day working at Slate Rock and Gravel Company.

Cooking Our Tomahawk Steak on the Grill

We are going to use the reverse sear technique on our three-inch-thick tomahawk steak.

With the reverse sear technique, you are actually cooking your steak twice. Once on the inside, then once on the outside.

In our first cook, we are cooking the inside, so we focus on the internal temperature. We’ll aim for an internal temperature of about 20 °F (-6 °C) shy of our desired end state. This means, for a medium rare, we want to pull off our tomahawk steak at an internal temperature of 115 °F (46 °C). We do this by cooking our tomahawk steak on the grill, indirect heat, at the low-and-slow temperature of 225 °F (107 °C).

Cooking our tomahawk steak on the grill at 225 °F (107 °C) will take about an hour or so to reach an internal temperature of 115 °F (46 °C). We used our ThermoWorks Billows and our ThermoWorks Signals to maintain a constant temperature throughout the first cook.

Check out our ThermoWorks Billows barbecue temperature controller fan review here. We also have our ThermoWorks Signals here, check it out.

In the second cook, we’ll get our grill up to 450 °F (232 °C). We used the ThermoWorks Billows to blast air into the firebox and rapidly get our Kamado Joe up to a steak-searing temperature.

We also removed the heat deflector plate and moved the grate to the lowest position, closest to the hot charcoal heat.

At 450 °F (232 °C), we can sear both sides of the tomahawk steak to get that flavorful grilled exterior. This will take about three minutes per side. Then about mid-way through the first-side cook, or about 1.5 minutes, we will rotate the steak to create those grill marks.

At three minutes we have one side with beautiful seared grill marks, so we flip over the tomahawk steak for another sear. Rotate the tomahawk at 1.5 minutes.

When the tomahawk steak comes off the grill, it will be close to 135 °F (57 °C). Carryover cooking will take your tomahawk steak dinner around 145 °F (63 °C). A perfect caveman steak temperature. Tent the steak with a bit of aluminum foil, letting it rest for 5 to 10 minutes.

Grilling A Tomahawk Steak Taste Test

We have grilled up plenty of ribeye steaks. They are by far a favorite grilling mealtime fare.

Looking at this grilled tomahawk steak beauty, well, we just can’t wait to dig in for a bite. So what are you waiting for?

Check out my other Kamado Joe and JoeTisserie recipes and links here on my Outdoor Eats page.