Under certain conditions of temperature, time and deformation, static recrystallization of austenite in microalloyed steels can be temporarily inhibited by means of the strain-induced precipitation of nanoparticles that cause a pinning effect on austenite grain boundaries in motion. This inhibition can be seen by the formation of a "plateau" in the curves of static recrystallization of austenite obtained from double-deformation tests carried out under isothermal conditions. In this work, several microalloyed steels with different compositions are studied by hot torsion tests in order to characterize the kinetics of recrystallization and its inhibition. The precipitation state in austenite is studied in several samples by means of transmission electron microscopy. The influence of the type of microalloying element (Al, Nb, V) and the mean size of the precipitates on the duration time of the plateau is studied and relationships between these variables can be obtained. Particularly, it is seen that Al-alloyed steels present a much coarser particle size and a considerably shorter plateau compared to Nb and V-microalloyed steels. © (2013) Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland.