How to tell when your tuna steak is finished cooking

While tuna steaks are an excellent restaurant order, they are one of those sumptuous seafood dishes that you can prepare in the comfort of your own kitchen. Although tuna steaks are quick and relatively easy to prepare, it’s also easy to overcook. Unless they’re one of your dinner frequent flyers, it can be difficult to know exactly when they’re ready. To save you from the dangers of winging, Chowhound spoke with Victoriano Lopez, executive chef at San Francisco restaurant La Mar Cocina Peruana, to find out how to achieve the perfect sear—because no one wants to turn a precious piece of tuna into something a cautionary tale.

The safest way to test the doneness of a tuna steak is to use quantitative methods. Even more bluntly, Lopez says, “The ideal temperature (for cooking tuna steaks) is 145 degrees Fahrenheit and medium rare.” Without an accurate meat thermometer, like ThermoPro’s digital tool, you can’t measure the best temperature of a tuna steak, but if you do If you don’t have one, there are qualitative ways to assess the doneness. When you cook a tuna steak, its pink color changes. “Once both sides of the tuna are opaque and the entire steak is a light shade of gray, it’s ready to eat,” he says.

Aside from its delicate, oceanic flavor, one of the best parts about making tuna steaks for dinner is that the delicious fish cooks quickly. However, this convenience requires you to be careful when cooking. Lopez notes, “If you’ve purchased a high-quality product, you’re guaranteed better taste and flavor, and you don’t want to jeopardize that by overcooking it.” One to two minutes on each side of the fillet should give you a chef-approved tuna steak .

Overcooking tuna steaks is a common mistake that anyone can make. Just a few extra seconds of cooking time can affect the quality. But if you end up with a dry, overcooked tuna steak, don’t waste it. Try to remedy the situation before throwing it away.

Pair an overcooked tuna steak with a flavorful sauce to give it back some of the lost moisture and add a touch of inspired flavor to distract from its overcooked taste. A lemon butter sauce, a garlic cream sauce, or a soy-based glaze are excellent options. You might also consider using a reverse marinade, which contains the usual suspects—acid, fat, and spices—but is applied after cooking rather than before. Instead of marinating the tuna steak in the mixture for a long time, you can apply the marinade and serve immediately. A combination of sesame oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, ginger and chili flakes is a great combination for this fish. Finally, pair an overcooked tuna steak with soft, juicy sides like mashed potatoes or creamy polenta.

Additionally, instead of serving a whole piece of dehydrated tuna steak, consider cutting it into thin slices. A big bite of dry fish is unappetizing, but smaller, thinner pieces of dry fillet have a tastier mouthfeel. Plus, thin slices will easily absorb any sauce you use to add much-needed moisture to a dried-out steak.

Tuna steaks are the perfect dish for budding foodies who want to cook restaurant-quality food at home without requiring Michelin knowledge. And as long as you keep Chef Victoriano Lopez’s timing tips in mind, you won’t have to worry about cooking an overcooked tuna steak.