Filet Mignon with Sauce

Ever wondered how to cook filet mignon from scratch at home?

I'm sharing a recipe, instructional video and easy-to-follow process shots so that you can make filet mignon for dinner tonight!

Prepare your own gourmet filet steak in 20 minutes or less for date night and that includes a tasty sauce.

Jump to:

• 📕 What is a filet mignon?
• 🆚 Filet Mignon vs Tenderloin
• 🔪 How to cook it?
• 🕰️ Cooking duration
• 🔪 How to cook it in the oven only?
• 💭 FAQs
• 💡 Tips
• 👁️ More Recipes like this
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

📕 What is a filet mignon?

In North American cuisine, the filet mignon is a cut of beef tenderloin at the thinnest point of the meat.

A filet mignon in France is a pork tenderloin and has nothing to do with this recipe today. Although the name filet mignon is french.

In France, a filet mignon is called a filet de boeuf.

This is what confused me and my mother years ago because we would call our pork filet a filet mignon at home.

Glad we cleared that up. uff!

A filet mignon steak is about 1 to 2 inches/ 2.5 to 5 cm thick.

🆚 Filet Mignon vs Tenderloin

Tenderloin is the innermost tender meat cut of a cow and it's also one of the most preferred cuts.

The filet mignon is a part of the tenderloin.

It's basically the smaller end cut of tenderloin.

Ironically you often see regular tenderloin cuts sold as filet mignon in grocery stores and restaurants.

Filet mignon is the most tender part of the tenderloin, yet if you can't get a filet mignon cut, just use a quality tenderloin meat cut to make this dish.

I'm not going to forbid you that... and everyone should decide that for themselves.

🔪 How to cook it?

This is the best way to cook a tender filet mignon because the meat turns out juicy and it cooks faster.

We will mainly focus on this approach.

That means searing the filet mignon steak first in the pan and then finishing the cooking process in the oven.

The pan gives the steak a crunchier layer and the oven cooks it juicy.

Step 1

Pat dry your cut filet mignon steak with a kitchen towel.

Season your steak with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder.

Step 2

Heat up a pan with oil and wait for it until it's hot and almost smoking.

Place your herbs and the fillet mignon into the pan and sear them over high heat.

Sear on both sides so that the steaks get some colors.

Step 3

Place the filet steaks into an oven dish and roast in the oven until you are satisfied with the doneness.

Use a food thermometer to find out about the temperature in the steak so that you can cook it rare, medium-rare or well done.

The red wine reduction sauce is optional and is prepared in the same pan.

For more details on how to make the sauce see the recipe card with the video.

🕰️ Cooking duration

You need to consider 3 things for the cooking time when searing your filet steak in a pan and in the oven

• The thickness of your steak - mine are 1 inch thick
• Steak temperature - fridge cold or room temperature
• The heat of the pan when you started to sear the meat.

A 1-inch, room temperature filet mignon cooked on high heat over the stove and in then in the oven takes about 12 minutes from start to finish to cook through to medium.

Cook it 1-2 minutes less for a rare or medium-rare steak

Cook it 2-3 minutes more for a medium-well and well-done steak.

A 1 ½ inch or 2-inch thick filet mignon steak will take longer so I recommend that you use a meat thermometer to measure the inner temperature of your fillet steak.

🔪 How to cook it in the oven only?

You can also cook filet mignon in the oven only.

This is great if you don't want to make too many dishes dirty.

The cons are that the meat will take longer to cook through and that you won't get the perfect outer sear that you would get with searing your steak first in a pan.

To cook filet mignon in the oven, simply place the seasoned steaks into a baking dish and cook until they are done to your expectations.

This can take about 30 minutes at 350 Fahrenheit/180 Celsius and I recommend using a food thermometer to know if the steak is rare, medium-rare or well done on the inside.

💭 FAQs

💡 Tips

I thought I would add this because I want you to succeed when you prepare your own filet mignon!

Let's face it, this meat cut is expensive and it's tender so it can burn easily on a stove that heats up faster than it's supposed to.

I almost burned a filet mignon once because I cooked it in a cast iron on a friend's electric stovetop and nobody wants to waste such a gorgeous meat cut, right?

I recommend for beginners to test cook a cheaper steak cut (such as sirloin) first so that you understand the way your stove and pan heat up.

These days I tend to use non-stick PFOA- and BPA-free pans, and those are helpful if you are not yet as experienced with cast iron or steel skillets.

The moment you understand how fast your pan gets hot, you can move on and prepare filet mignon for date night!

👁️ More Recipes like this

• Mini Beef Wellington
• Beef Steak with herb butter
• Classic Jägerschnitzel with veal meat
• Garlic Butter Lobster Tails by rasamalaysia.com

📖 Recipe