Steaks are great. Beef in general is great. But do you want to take a great steak and make it outstanding? That is where dry aged beef comes in.
I will get into a bit more detail in a bit but if you just want the short explanation and want to know where to buy dry aged beef here you go:
Dry aged beef is beef that has been stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment that allows the natural enzymes in the beef to change the texture and flavor of the beef. There is more to it than that but that is the simple explanation.
You can dry age your own beef at home (more on that in a bit) but here are 4 great sources to buy dry aged beef. They are all different and have their strengths and weaknesses (again, more info later) but if you just want to buy some dry aged beef:
Disclosure: This post is monetized with affiliate links. If you buy something through them I earn a commission which helps support this site and lets me buy more meat so I can write about it.
- Snake River Farms Dry Aged Beef
- Porter Road Dry Aged Beef
- LaFrieda Dry Aged Beef
- Crowd Cow Dry Aged Beef
OK, the introductions are out of the way. Still reading? Great, let’s dig into dry aged beef a bit more.
What is dry aged beef?
Aside from being delicious dry aged beef is beef that has been stored in a temperature and humidity controlled environment for anywhere from 14 to 90 days (or more in some instances). In that time a few things happen to the beef. The two main changes are in the texture and flavor.
Enzymes in the meat start doing their work breaking down the meat which changes the texture. It doesn’t get mushy or tough or anything weird like that. The meat becomes more tender and has a great mouth feel. At 14 days you will start to see some textural differences but going to 30 days will result in a much more tender steak. Beyond that the texture doesn’t change much.
Flavor changes start really picking up around 30 days. You will generally see steaks aged 30, 45, 60, or 90 days. There are a few restaurants that go to 180 or even 365 days. The longer you go the more flavor changes you will see.
What does dry aged beef taste like?
When you get to 30 days you will start noticing some funky flavors developing. Most people describe it as nutty or blue cheesey. The longer you go the more intense those flavors will be. Some people really like the flavors that develop, others don’t really care for it. To get the full experience of dry aged beef I would look for something in the 45-60 degree range. If you like it seek out something that is aged longer. If you don’t like the flavor but still want to experience dry aged beef look for some that has been aged 14-30 days.
The enzymes that are responsible for the tenderness play a part in the flavor changes but there are also bacteria at work (good ones, not the kind that kill you). A lot of the flavor change comes from the oxidation of the fat. You start doing things with the fat on a piece of beef and you will notice a lot of flavor change.
Where to buy Dry Aged Beef
This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means but here are a few places I would recommend as you look for a place to buy dry aged beef. Chances are you won’t be able to find any locally unless you live in a very large city. And remember, dry aging beef takes a lot of time and equipment to do on a large scale so the prices definitely reflect that. You will easily spend $50-100 on a nice, big dry aged steak in most cases.
Snake River Farms
Snake River Farms is well known for their American Wagyu beef but a year or so ago they partnered up with Prime Food Distributor which is one of the largest dry aging facilities in the country to dry age some of their American Wagyu and Prime beef.
Most of the dry aged beef at Snake River Farms is aged at least 45 days so you will get a true dry aged experience here. The flavors will have some good funk to them and your steaks will be very tender. Some of the cuts are 30+ days as well so you can try a few different ages and see if you like one more than the other.
Prices start at $115 for 2 18oz prime bone in NY strips which are aged 30+ days and go up to $199 for a 42 oz American Wagyu tomahawk ribeye. They also have a huge 15 pound 7 bone prime rib roast for $1049 which may sound ridiculous but cut that up into some nice ribeyes and it is a decent per pound price compared to buying the steaks individually.
One downside about the dry aged beef at Snake River Farms is they have a $49 shipping fee. Since the dry aged steaks ship fresh and not frozen they have to use a faster shipping service which adds to the cost. But it is a flat rate fee so if you order a lot of steaks that cost can be spread out over a lot of meat.
Snake River Farms is also offering $15 off all dry aged steaks. Buy 1 steak, save $15. Buy 10 steaks, save $150. Use code 15DRYAGED at checkout to save. This sale runs through October 20th so don’t wait.
Order your dry aged steaks from Snake River Farms today.
Porter Road Dry Aged Beef
UPDATE – For a limited time Porter Road is offering a 70 Day Dry Aged NY Strip:
Most Porter Road beef is dry aged for 14 days but this special NY strip is aged for 70 days so you will get some great, funky flavors and incredible tenderness. These steaks are about a pound each and go for $55 which is a solid price for a piece of meat of this quality. I don’t know how long these will be around so order yours now while they still have some in stock: Porter Road 70 Day Dry Aged NY Strip
Porter Road approaches their dry aging a bit differently than Snake River or some of the other places I will mention. Rather than aging the primals they age the whole carcass. They also only age their meat for 14 days. You do get some of the texture differences you would normally see with dry aged beef but you won’t have any of the funky flavors a lot of dry aged steak lovers crave. That doesn’t mean Porter Road steaks aren’t good. They are excellent. A few months ago I compared 4 different bone in ribeyes and theirs came out on top.
By aging the whole carcass it allows them to offer all the standard dry aged cuts like ribeye, NY strip, and porterhouse but they also have tri tip, hanger steaks, denver steaks, skirt steak, and all the other cuts you won’t find elsewhere. They also offer free shipping on orders over $100 which is a great deal compared to the other dry aged retailers. And if you use code MEATLOVER you can save $15 on your first order over $100.
Give the dry aged beef from Porter Road a try and use code MEATLOVER to save $15 on orders over $100 and get free shipping (and usually some other free meat as well).
LaFrieda Dry Aged Steaks
Pat LaFrieda is a legend when it comes to dry aged beef. They supply beef to a ton of restaurants primarily in the Northeast and have one of the largest in house aging operations you will see. At any given moment they have over half a million bucks worth of beef dry aging.
LaFrieda offers 30, 50, and 70 day aged steaks and are known for their ribeyes. You can also find NY strips, porterhouses, and rib roasts as well. They offer shipping ranging from free to $19.99 depending on where you live and their prices are right in line with Snake River Farms.
There are other NY butchers like Debragga and Lobels that also offer dry aged steaks similar to LaFrieda. Any of these three will be able to get you some quality steaks.
Pat LaFrieda also put out a great book about Meat that you should check out.
Crowd Cow Dry Aged Steaks
Crowd Cow does offer some dry aged beef from various farms. At the time of this writing they have some different dry aged cuts from Hutterian Farms in Eastern Washington but I have seen other farms offer dry aged beef on Crowd Cow from time to time.
Since their beef comes from a number of different farms I would assume they will all age them differently and for different lengths of time. I have been very please with all the steaks I have received from Crowd Cow so I would add them to your list if you want to try steaks from a number of different sources.
Order dry aged beef from Crowd Cow
Can’t I just dry age my own beef at home?
With the prices of dry aged beef you might think it best to just do it yourself. There are definitely some ways you can dry aged beef at home and I will definitely give it a shot sometime. SeriousEats.com has a great article on dry aging beef at home and Jess Pryles wrote up a great tutorial as well. Follow those methods and you will have some great dry aged steak.
But you do need a dedicated fridge. And you need to be able to find they right cuts to age. The primal you get needs to have as much of a fat cap on it as possible and there are specific ways to cut the primals to maximize the yield. Since the outside of the primal dries up and needs to be trimmed you want as much “extra” stuff (fat, bones, other muscles you normally wouldn’t see, etc.) on the primal. A strip loin from Costco will be your best bet. But if you want a ribeye? You will have to get really friendly with your butcher and get a 107 or a 109A rib roast. The 109 Export is what is normally sold and that has had the fat cap mostly removed. The result is a dried out spinalis muscle which is such a waste.
So you can definitely dry age your own steaks but it does take a bit of work and you will need to find a good source for your beef.
Why only ribeye, porterhouse or NY strips?
Like I mentioned you can pretty much only age whole primals. There is no way to effectively dry age individual steaks. The best primals for dry aging are the rib which is where you get the ribeye and the strip loin where you get the NY strip and Porterhouse. Occasionally you will see dry aged filet mignon but the lack of fat in those prevents them from really developing the dry aged flavors.
Also those are the cuts that are generally sold bone-in. The bones provide some great protection for the dry aging process and the meat near the bones is generally some of the funkiest flavor. And cuts like sirloin, chuck, round, etc. aren’t good enough to start with to really benefit from dry aging.
There is a lot more I could say about dry aging but this gives you enough information to make a good decision on where to buy dry aged beef. Stick with a reputable retailer, get a good dry aged ribeye, and enjoy the differences between a dry aged steak and a standard steak. And is dry aged beef too rich for your blood? Check out our guide on where to by prime steaks.
