Ribeye and Sautéed Spinach
A proper ribeye, seared hard and rested right, with a pan of spinach wilted down in garlic butter and all the steak’s own juices. The whole plate lands around 640 calories with 52 grams of protein. It cooks in about 25 minutes, and it’s the plate I come back to when I want to feel fed, not just fuelled.
Plate 01 / Finished
For years I told myself a steak like this was something you had to bargain for. Train hard enough, diet long enough, and maybe at the weekend you’d be allowed a ribeye, eaten fast and half-guilty before the feeling passed. That was a daft way to live, and it took me too long to drop it. Food isn’t a debt. A good steak is just good food, and you’re allowed to enjoy it on a plain Tuesday for no reason at all.
This is the plate I come back to. A ribeye has fat running all through it, which is exactly why it tastes the way it does and exactly why people get nervous about it — and I’d rather you ate it cooked properly and counted honestly than nibbled something joyless and felt cheated. So I sear it hard, baste it in butter, rest it like it matters, and wilt a big pile of spinach down in the same pan so nothing good gets wasted. Rich, yes. Real, very much so.
I make this when I want my dinner to feel like an event without it actually being one. Twenty-five minutes, one pan, a steak and a heap of greens. It’s the richest plate I keep in steady rotation, and on my own days it’s the one that leaves me settled rather than wanting. Real meat, real numbers, no apology attached. Cook it once, rest it properly, and you’ll understand the whole thing — I’ve got you.
01Who it’s for & when to eat it
A ribeye and a pan of spinach is a brilliant base because the steak does the heavy lifting on protein and flavour, and what you put beside it decides the job. Here’s how I steer it.
Lean it out
Swap the ribeye for a trimmed sirloin and cut the butter back to a teaspoon, leaning on the garlic and the steak’s own juices. Same plate, same spinach, a good bit less fat. Numbers are in the variations below.
Build it up
Keep the full ribeye and add a baked potato or a bowl of rice alongside, with the spinach finished in extra butter. Easy, satisfying calories without anything fried or fussy. Macros are in the variations below.
The default plate
The ribeye and the garlic-butter spinach exactly as written, no carbs needed. This is the version I eat as-is — rich, full of good fats and protein, and one of the plates I come back to most often.
Timing: this is a rich, slow-burning plate, so I tend to keep it for a proper evening meal rather than straight after training. It sits well, keeps you full for hours, and a ribeye is always best eaten fresh and rested rather than reheated.
02Ingredients
Makes 1 big plate — one generous serving. Cooking two steaks? Sear them one at a time so the pan stays screaming hot and they sear rather than stew.
Servings 1 · adjust on the live recipe card- Ribeye steak about 2.5 cm thick220 g · 7.8 oz
- Fresh spinach150 g · 5.3 oz
- Butter1 tbsp · 14 g
- Garlic, finely sliced3 cloves
- Neutral oil for the sear1 tsp · 5 ml
- Flaky saltto taste
- Black pepper, coarseto taste
- Lemon, juice of optional¼ lemon
Swaps I actually use: if you want it leaner, a trimmed sirloin or a thick flat-iron gives you most of the same satisfaction for fewer fats — same method exactly. No butter, or watching the saturated fat? A spoon of olive oil wilts the spinach perfectly well; you lose a little richness, not much. Baby spinach wilts faster than the big leaves, so go gentle on it. A handful of mushrooms in the pan after the steak is never a bad idea.
03Step by step
Let it come up, then pat it bone dry
Take the steak out of the fridge 30 minutes before you cook, so it isn’t fridge-cold in the middle. Just before it hits the pan, pat the whole surface properly dry with paper towel. A wet steak steams and goes grey instead of building that dark crust.
Magnus says: a dry surface is the whole secret to a good crust. Don’t rush this bit.
Salt and pepper, generous and even
Season both sides hard with flaky salt and coarse black pepper, right up to the edges — a steak this size can take more than you’d think. Press it on gently so it sticks. Leave it a minute while the pan gets properly hot.
Hot pan, then butter and spoon
Get a heavy pan very hot, add the teaspoon of oil, and lay the steak down away from you. Sear hard for about 2 to 3 minutes a side for medium-rare, then drop in the butter and a couple of crushed garlic cloves, tilt the pan, and spoon the foaming butter over the top for a minute. That basting is what carries the garlic flavour right through the crust.
Magnus says: basting isn’t showing off. The hot butter cooks the top gently and seasons the whole steak.
Off the heat, hands off, five minutes
Move the steak to a warm plate or board and leave it alone for 5 minutes. This is not optional. Resting lets the juices settle back through the meat instead of running out the second you cut it — slice it early and you’ll lose half the reason you bought a ribeye.
Magnus says: resting feels like waiting for nothing. It’s the difference between juicy and dry. Wait.
Same pan, garlic, all the juices
While the steak rests, put the pan back on a medium heat with all its butter and browned bits. Add the sliced garlic, let it sizzle for 30 seconds, then pile in the spinach and toss until it wilts right down — a minute or two. Tip in any juices the resting steak has thrown off.
Steak, spinach, juices over the top
Lay the spinach on the plate and the rested steak beside it. Spoon every last bit of garlic butter and resting juice from the pan and board back over the meat, a squeeze of lemon if you like, a final scatter of flaky salt. Eat it while it’s hot.
04The spec sheet
Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. This makes one big plate, about 320g of cooked food once the steak loses a little weight in the pan. Here’s what the whole serving and a flat 100g actually give you.
| Nutrient | Per serving | Per 100g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 640 kcal | 200 kcal |
| Protein | 52.0 g | 16.3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 4.0 g | 1.3 g |
| — of which sugars | 1.0 g | 0.3 g |
| Fat | 46.0 g | 14.4 g |
| — of which saturates | 20.0 g | 6.3 g |
| Fibre | 2.0 g | 0.6 g |
| Sodium | ~0.65 g | ~0.20 g |
Moderate-to-rich. A ribeye carries real fat, so the calories ride higher than a lean plate — that’s the trade for how satisfying it is. A genuinely filling dinner that holds you for hours.
A lifter’s metric. Lower than a lean cut plate because of the steak’s fat, but still a solid haul of protein per calorie from a meal this rich and easy to eat.
- Vitamin B12~5.0 µg · 208% DV
- Zinc~9 mg · 82% DV
- Selenium~35 µg · 64% DV
- Vitamin K~360 µg · 300% DV
- Iron~5 mg · 28% DV
- Folate~130 µg · 33% DV
Macros are calculated from standard food-composition data and will shift a little with your exact ingredients and brands. Micronutrient figures are estimates against general adult Daily Values. Numbers are for guidance, not medical advice — see our Nutrition Disclaimer.
05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations
One method, three jobs. The sear-rest-wilt routine stays the same — you adjust the cut of meat and what sits beside it. Macros below are for a full serving.
Lean it down
Swap the ribeye for a trimmed sirloin and drop the butter to a single teaspoon, wilting the spinach in the steak’s juices and a little oil. Same big, satisfying plate with the fat pulled right back.
Build it up
Keep the full ribeye and add a baked potato or 180g of cooked rice alongside, with the spinach finished in extra butter. Easy clean calories for a hard-training day or a low appetite.
The default plate
The ribeye and garlic-butter spinach exactly as written, no carbs added. Rich, full of good fats and protein, and one of the plates I keep in steady rotation on my own days.
06Meal prep & storage
A ribeye is best the moment it’s rested, not reheated — that’s just the honest truth of it. But if you’ve cooked a second one or you’re saving leftovers, here’s how to treat it so it doesn’t go grey and tough.
Store the steak and spinach together in an airtight container. Slice the steak only when you’re ready to eat so it keeps its juices.
I don’t freeze cooked steak — the texture turns dry and the spinach goes watery. Freeze the raw ribeye and cook it fresh instead.
Slice it cold, then warm it for seconds only in a pan with a knob of butter — just to take the chill off. Blast it and a rested steak turns grey and chewy.
If you want this for the week, my honest advice is to keep raw ribeyes portioned in the freezer and cook one fresh on the night. A steak only needs five minutes in the pan and five to rest — it’s barely more effort than reheating, and it tastes a world better.
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07Common questions
How do I cook a ribeye to medium-rare? +
For a steak about 2.5cm thick, sear it in a very hot pan for roughly 2 to 3 minutes a side, basting in butter at the end. If you’ve got a thermometer, pull it at about 52°C in the middle — it’ll climb a few more degrees while it rests. No thermometer? Press the steak; medium-rare gives a little but springs back. With practice you’ll just know.
Why do I have to rest the steak? +
Because cutting it straight away dumps the juices all over the board instead of keeping them in the meat. Five minutes resting lets everything settle back through, so each bite stays juicy. It feels like dead time, I know — but it’s the single biggest thing standing between you and a dry steak. Wait it out.
Cast iron or nonstick? +
Cast iron, every time, if you have it. It holds a fierce, even heat that a nonstick simply can’t, and that’s what gives you a proper dark crust. A heavy stainless pan works nearly as well. Use nonstick only if it’s all you’ve got, and don’t push the heat past where the coating’s happy.
Isn’t ribeye too fatty to eat often? +
Ribeye is a rich, fatty cut — that’s exactly why it tastes so good, and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying it as part of a varied week of eating. If you want it more often with less fat, a trimmed sirloin gives you most of the satisfaction for fewer calories; I’ve put those numbers in the Cut variation above. What’s right for your own diet and any health needs is a conversation for you and your doctor — I just cook the food and count it straight.
What can I serve instead of spinach? +
Anything that takes a quick wilt or a fast cook in the steak pan. Tenderstem broccoli, chard, kale, or a pile of mushrooms all soak up the garlic butter beautifully. Keep it simple — the steak is the star, and the greens are there to carry those juices and give you something fresh to chew against the richness.
This plate lives inside a full week of meals.
This ribeye is one dinner in my 7-day TRT plan — seven days of high-protein, steady-fuelling meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.
See the TRT meal plan →08Pairs well with
Magnus Olafsson
I’m Magnus — twenty years under the iron, from a cold gym in Stockholm to the classic-physique stage, and now mostly in my kitchen in a pink apron. I’ve cut for shows, bulked through winters, and I’ve been on TRT since I was thirty-five. I know what it takes to eat for the body you’re chasing, and I know it shouldn’t come with a side of shame.
Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.
Slim Diet Era shares recipes and general nutrition information. It is not medical or dietetic advice, and we do not provide guidance on obtaining or using any controlled substance. See our Medical Disclaimer and Nutrition Disclaimer.