How Much Steak Do You Actually Need Per Person?

Author : Christina Wood | Published On : 29 Jul 2026

Portioning is the least glamorous part of cooking for people and one of the easiest ways to get an evening wrong. Buy too little and someone leaves hungry. Buy too much and you have spent significant money on meat that gets picked at and then forgotten in the fridge.

The guidance available is mostly vague, and the standard advice of one steak per person conceals a great deal of variation. Here is a more useful approach.

Start with cooked weight, not raw

Steak loses 15 to 25 percent of its weight in cooking, mostly as moisture. Cook it rare and you lose less. Cook it well done and you lose more.

A satisfying main course portion of cooked beef for an average adult is around 170 to 200 grams. Working backwards, that means roughly 220 to 250 grams raw boneless weight.

For bone-in cuts, add the bone. A T-bone or bone-in ribeye carries a substantial bone, so plan on 300 to 350 grams total weight per person. For a tomahawk with its long rib bone, closer to 400 grams total, since a good portion of that weight is never going to be eaten.

Then adjust for the rest of the meal

This is the variable most people ignore, and it matters more than any other.

Steak as the clear centrepiece, with light sides and perhaps a salad. 250 to 300 grams raw boneless per person. Nobody is filling up on anything else.

Steak with substantial sides, potatoes, bread, a couple of vegetable dishes. 200 to 225 grams raw per person is plenty.

Steak within a larger spread, a barbecue with sausages, salads, other proteins. 150 grams of steak per person, since it is one option among several.

Steak sliced and served over something, rice, noodles, salad, in a sandwich. 125 to 150 grams per person. Slicing makes a smaller quantity look and feel like more.

That last point is worth remembering when budget matters. A 250 gram bavette sliced thinly and fanned over a salad feeds two people well. The same weight served as a whole steak feeds one.

Adjust for who is eating

Averages are not much use at a specific table.

• Large adults with big appetites. 300 grams raw boneless, and consider having a spare

• Average adults. 220 to 250 grams

• Smaller appetites and older guests. 150 to 180 grams

• Teenagers. Frequently the largest eaters at the table. Plan generously

• Children under 10. 75 to 125 grams, or share an adult portion between two

If you do not know your guests, plan around 250 grams per adult and accept that you will have some left over. Leftover steak is genuinely useful, unlike a shortfall.

The richness adjustment

This one surprises people. Richer beef is more filling, and people eat less of it.

A heavily marbled scotch fillet, or anything dry aged past 45 days, satisfies at a smaller portion than a lean sirloin. If you are serving either, you can reduce portions by around 15 percent without anyone noticing. If you are serving a lean cut such as eye fillet, keep portions at the higher end, because the lack of fat means it fills people up less.

Individual steaks or a shared cut

For groups of three or more, a large shared cut is usually the better decision, and not only because it looks impressive.

Advantages of a shared cut. More forgiving to cook, since thickness gives you margin. Easier to manage, since it is one item on the heat rather than five. Lets you serve different levels of doneness from the same piece. Generally better value per kilogram. Carving at the table is a genuine part of the occasion.

Advantages of individual steaks. Everyone gets exactly the doneness they want. No carving skill required. Easier to portion precisely. Better when guests have strong preferences.

If you are cooking for four or more and everyone is happy with medium rare, a shared cut is the better choice nearly every time.

Practical examples

Dinner for two, steak as the focus. One 500 to 600 gram thick cut sirloin or scotch fillet to share, or two 250 gram steaks.

Dinner for four, a proper occasion. One tomahawk of 1.2 to 1.4 kilograms, carved at the table, or two large T-bones shared between two people each.

Barbecue for eight with sides and sausages. Around 1.2 to 1.5 kilograms of steak total, sliced and served on a platter rather than as individual portions.

Sunday dinner for a family of five with two children. Around 900 grams to 1 kilogram raw, which one large shared cut covers comfortably.

Steak sandwiches for six. 800 grams to 1 kilogram of a loose grained cut such as bavette or skirt, sliced thinly.

Buying to a plan

Once you know the weight you need, a few things make the purchase work better.

Prioritise thickness over surface area. Two thick steaks share better and cook better than four thin ones of the same total weight.

Ask for a specific weight rather than a number of steaks. A butcher can cut to what you actually need, which is one of the practical advantages of buying from someone who cuts to order rather than picking up pre-packed portions.

Check whether quoted weights are before or after trimming, particularly for aged beef where the difference is significant.

When ordering beef steaks nz wide for delivery, order slightly generously rather than tightly. Freezing the surplus costs nothing, and a shortfall on the night cannot be fixed.

Planning for leftovers deliberately

If you are going to have extra, decide in advance what it becomes. Cold steak sliced thinly is excellent in sandwiches, in a salad with mustard dressing, folded through fried rice, or in a noodle bowl. Reheating steak rarely improves it, so plan cold applications rather than trying to warm it through.

Buying an extra 200 grams and turning it into lunch the next day is a better use of money than buying exactly enough and then wanting more.