According to the restaurant, when featured on the TV show Man v. Food, the challenge started in 1960, when founder Bob Lee decided to hold a contest over which of the cowboys working in the stockyards could eat the most steaks in one hour, with a prize of $5 (equivalent to $51 in 2023) at stake.

One cowboy ate four and a half 1-pound steaks, a shrimp cocktail, a baked potato, a dinner roll, and a salad in the hour's time to win the $5.

The steak is cooked to the participant's preference, and the challenge takes place at a table for six on a raised platform in the middle of the main dining room.

The record for the shortest time to finish the entire 72oz steak challenge had been held by competitive eating champion Joey Chestnut (at 8 minutes and 52 seconds), breaking Frank Pastore's 1987 record (of 9 minutes 30 seconds, which stood for 21 years) on his March 24, 2008 visit.

The Big Texan Steak Ranch is known for its Cadillac white stretch limos with longhorn hood ornaments,[7] one of which appears in the 2006 animated film Cars as Texas oil baron Tex Dinoco.

A billboard advertising the restaurant appears in a panel in George Takei's autobiographical graphic novel They Called us Enemy.

The cinder-block construction motel is designed to resemble a main street in an old west town, and features Texas-themed decor and a Texas-shaped pool.