Authentic Philly Cheesesteak Recipe
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Learn how to make and eat an authentic Philly cheesesteak at home. It’s the next best thing to eating cheesesteaks in Philadelphia!
We did it! More than 3,000 miles from the City of Brotherly Love, we made an authentic Philly cheesesteak in our home kitchen. And it was good. No, it was fantastic! We did this with a thick steak, provolone cheese, an onion, oil, salt, a quality stainless steel pan, a stove, a metal spatula and a decent roll. It tasted way better than a Steak-umm sandwich. In fact, it compared favorably to the many cheesesteaks in Philadelphia that we’ve eaten over the years.
The challenge for us, living in Europe, was finding the right meat. That may sound a little odd but many nations don’t sell beef that’s as marbled as the steak sold in the United States. To make a proper Philly cheesesteak, the meat has to contain a requisite amount of fat. Much of the meat available in Europe is a grass fed, extremely lean product. It lacks a lot of the intramuscular fat that gives great flavor to a cheesesteak.
Once we sourced the right meat, it was only a matter of time until we perfected an easy Philly cheesesteak recipe that works no matter where you live. If you live in the USA, all you need to do is buy thick rib-eye steak at your local grocery store or butcher and you’ll be good to go. For those living in Europe and other regions of the world, you’ll need to source a steak with some marbling. It doesn’t have to be wagyu but it needs some fat to work.
The other significant ingredient to consider is the roll. It may be a bit antithetical to what you may know about bread but, in a Philly cheesesteak, it’s important that the roll be soft and easily chewable. For this recipe, we imported seeded hoagie rolls from Philadelphia and froze them in aluminum foil. We then heated them in our oven at 350°F/ 80°C for about 25 minutes before we unwrapped them. European-style baguettes are an option but note that they’re crunchier than Philly-style rolls.
Pro Tip
To achieve a soft crust like the Philly-style Italian roll, freeze a baguette in foil and then keep the baguette in foil for about 10 minutes after reheating it. This allows the moisture to soften the crust of the baguette a bit. Supermarket baguettes, which are softer than artisan baguettes, work well in this recipe.
Cheesesteak Origin and Cooking Method
If you’re from Philadelphia like us, you’ve surely heard the legend of Pat Olivieri, a hot dog vendor who expanded his business by grilling thin cuts of steak and placing that steak in long, Italian style rolls. Though we’re typically dubious about origin stories, this one has some validity. More important, and the reason that we’re bringing this story up, is that understanding the flattop grill is crucial for understanding cheesesteak cookery.
The flattop grill is a nerve center with a ‘cool side’ where previously sautéed ingredients like onions can be kept warm. It also has a ‘hot side’ that acts like a frying pan where ingredients like steak can be cooked, caramelized and finished.
It’s the steel flattop, a device that gained popularity starting in the late 19th century, that brought the cheesesteak to prominence. Olivieri was grilling hot dogs on a steel flattop when he thought of grilling thinly sliced steak meat in 1930. Almost a century later, Pat’s King of Steaks is still slinging cheesesteaks to hungry Philadelphians as are many other cheesesteak shops.
Not in Philadelphia? You can make authentic cheesesteaks by simulating the large restaurant steel flattop grill on a smaller scale. As it turns out, a typical home cooking stove and a wide, good quality steel frying pan are the keys to making great cheesesteaks at home.
Don’t stop with cheesesteaks! You can also follow our Philly-style tomato pie recipe wherever you live.
Ingredients
Once you have the right ingredients, making authentic cheesesteaks is all about the execution. These are the ingredients that you need:
Ingredient quantities are detailed in the printable recipe card below.
How To Make Authentic Philly Cheesesteaks
As home cooks, we’re taught that hot spots in a pan are a bad thing but we beg to differ in the case of the cheesesteak. In this recipe, we use the pan’s hotspot to cook the steak after moving the sautéed onions to the pan’s cool spot. This is a case where a small fire on a consumer stove worsk to our advantage. It will work to your advantage too.
Start by placing the steak in the freezer for about 40 to 45 minutes. Once it’s cold, thinly slice the steak against the grain about one-sixteenth of an inch (or one millimeter) thick. Cut off any fat. Set the sliced steak aside in 200 gram (approximately 7 ounce) servings for each roll.
Heat a stainless steel pan at medium heat for a few minutes and then add oil as well as any fat that you cut off the steak. Once the oil is hot and glistening, add the onions. Sauté the onions, adding a pinch of salt, until they’re just translucent. When the onions are translucent, move them to a cool spot in the pan so that they stay warm.
Pro Tip
You don’t want to brown the onions. The goal is a texture that has some crunch and give.
Some brown bits or fond may appear after you’ve sautéed the onions. Deglaze the pan with a little water so that the fond doesn’t scorch once you add the steak. Scrape up the brown bits with your spatula and stir them into the onions. Let the water evaporate and add another tablespoon of oil before cooking the steak.
Lay the steak strips down in a single layer next to the onions. Turn up the heat if the pan gets too cool. Once the strips start to brown, start chopping and flipping them with a metal spatula. Once all the steak is just brown, mix in the onions evenly.
Before adding the cheese, arrange the cooked steak to form a rectangle within the pan. Place three slices of cheese on top of the steak in an overlapping layer. Let the cheese sit on top of the steak for about 15 seconds before building your sandwich. Don’t wait longer or the cheese will overmelt into the steak.
Slice a long roll without cutting it all the way through the back.
Pro Tip
You can optionally scoop out some of the bread after you slice the roll. Doing so reduces the cheesesteak’s calories while making more room for meat.
Lay the sliced roll over the cheese-onion-steak block that’s in the pan. Use a long spatula to scoop up the mixture. Turn over the roll, keeping the steak mixture inside, and place the sandwich onto a plate.
Serve with chips or, if you’re feeling ambitious, french fries. It’s an ideal sandwich to serve on game day or any day when you’re craving a tasty sandwich.
You can eat your cheesesteak with pickled chili peppers and ketchup if you’re so inclined, as well as other condiments like hot sauce. However, for a Philly cheesesteak to be truly authentic, mustard should not be one of those condiments.
Authentic Philly Cheesesteak Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound rib-eye steak (cut at least 1/4" thick, edge fat separated)
- 1 large onion (white or yellow, medium chopped)
- 6 slices provolone cheese (can be replaced with white American cheese, cCooper Sharp or Cheez Whiz)
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- salt (to taste)
- black pepper (to taste)
- 1 hoagie roll (20" sliced in half or two 10" rolls)
Equipment
- 12-inch Stainless Steel Fry Pan
Instructions
- Freeze the steak for 40 to 45 minutes. Once the steak is cold, use a sharp knife to slice the steak lengthwise, against the grain, into thin slices about 2 millimeters thick. Once the steak is sliced, separate the slices into two halves.
- Heat a wide (at least 12") steel frying pan over medium heat over a medium sized burner that doesn't heat the entire pan. (You want cool spots.) Once the pan is hot, pour in two tablespoons of vegetable oil. Add the onions and a pinch of salt and then sauté the onions until they're just pale golden and opaque. Move the onions to the cool side of the pan. The onions will leave a layer of brown bits or fond in the pan. Pour in a small amount of water and then break up the fond with a metal spatula. Mix the brown bits from the spatula into the onions.
- Once the water has evaporated in the pan, pour in one tablespoon of oil and add the first half of the steak slices in a single layer. Once the slices brown on one side, use a spatula to chop the steak into smaller pieces. Stir the steak with the spatula until all the steak is just browned.
- Once the steak is just browned, stir in half of the cooked onions and evenly incorporate them with the meat. Shape the steak and onion mixture into an even rectangle.
- Slice the roll open without slicing it all the way through. You can optionally scoop out the roll.
- Add the cheese by layering 3 slices on top of the steak and onion mixture. Using the spatula, pick up the mixture and carefully place it into the sandwich roll.
- Fill the second roll with the remaining steak slices using the same method and layer it into the additional sliced or other half of the sandwich roll.
- Cut the sandwiches in half and serve them with condiments and a side of potato chips or french fries.
Notes
- Cut this recipe in half to serve two people.
- You can use either a seeded or unseeded roll.
- Replace the provolone cheese with mozzarella cheese and add tomato sauce to make a pizza steak.
- Customize your cheesesteak by making it without onions or by adding sauteed mushrooms and/or peppers. (Note that peppers are a less conventional cheesesteak ingredient.) You can make your cheesesteak any way you like – just don’t tell anyone from Philly if you get too creative.
Nutrition
💡 Frequently Asked Questions
A Philly cheesesteak is a submarine-type sandwich that’s stuffed with thin slices of steak and melted cheese. The iconic American sandwich can be prepared with or without fried onions.
Not surprisingly, the Philly cheesesteak was invented in Philadelphia. The legend goes that the initial cheesesteak was invented by Pat Olivieri, a South Philly hot dog vendor.
Rib-eye Steak, Cheese, Onion, Vegetable Oil, Salt, Pepper and a Long Roll
When it comes to great cheesesteaks, the best meat to use is thinly sliced rib-eye steak. Note that the steak must have a good amount of marbled fat but not a lot of gristle.
Provolone is the traditional cheese used to make cheesesteaks. American cheese, cooper sharp and Cheez Whiz are also acceptable cheese choices.
Cheesesteaks are best served on long soft Italian rolls that are either seeded with sesame seeds or seed-free.
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