My Round Steak Beef and Gravy Recipe is that secret super easy meal idea that every mom needs in their kitchen toolbox. Turn a simple round steak into a delicious meal with just a few pantry ingredients.
My family loves when they see this cooking because they know it means one or more of their favorite meals is about to be on the dinner table.
This is the first of the meals I make from my Three Easy Round Steak Meals. The other two round steak meals are Round Steak Beef and Noodles and Round Steak Beef Stew. If you don’t want to make all three meals, I also have the other recipes for each round steak recipe written individually.
Beef and Gravy Recipe
Growing up my mom always made a nice meal on Sundays, often beef and gravy. We always looked forward to Sunday dinners when we’d gather around the table and enjoy this wonderful home-cooked meal.
Generally, you won’t find a large classic round steak at the store anymore. They now like to cut the meat into separate cuts usually bottom round steak, top round steak, or eye of round roasts. I like to use round steak to make this beef and gravy recipe because it’s lean and easy to cut into individual serving pieces.
Sirloin tip round steak roasts are what I like to buy if it’s available, but thick cut top or bottom round steaks, or an eye of round roast work well too.
How to Serve Beef and Gravy
My family loves it when I make homemade creamy mashed potatoes to serve with this beef and gravy meal. I like to ladle the flavorful gravy over the potatoes as well as the meat.
Occasionally, I’ll make baked potatoes or roasted red potatoes to serve with it instead.
You’ll also want to add a colorful vegetable on the side. My family’s favorite is my Roasted Green Beans with Almonds, steamed or Oven Roasted Broccoli, or even just frozen mixed vegetables as seen in the pictures.
No matter what you serve with it, it’s an old fashioned comfort food meal that your family will love.
Beef and Gravy
Ingredients
- 2 lbs round steak roasts top round steak, bottom round steak, eye of round roast, or sirloin tip round steak
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 cups of water
- 1 tablespoon beef base Better Than Bouillon*
- 1 tablespoon dehydrated minced onion or 1 large onion finely chopped
- Gravy
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons water
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven brown steak (roast) on all sides in a hot pan with vegetable oil. The browning adds so much flavor, so be sure and brown the meat well. Add more oil if necessary to brown all the roast.
- If using fresh onion, add it to the pan with some additional oil and saute until tender. Add 1 cup of water to the pan (be careful because it may spit at you) and deglaze the pan, scraping up all the brown bits. Add remaining water, add more if necessary to almost cover the meat.
- Stir in beef base (Better Than Bouillon) and dehydrated onions, if using.
- Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid and roast in a preheated 350º oven for about 3 hrs until the meat is fork-tender. It could take longer than 3 hours to become fork-tender, it just depends on how thick the roast is to begin with.
- Remove from the oven, place the meat on a cutting board and slice round steak into thick individual serving portions.
- To make the gravy, mix flour with 3 tablespoons water and gradually whisk into the pan on the stove over medium heat, stirring until it thickens. You may need to add more of the flour mixture or more water to get the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the sliced round steak to the gravy and stir to combine.
- Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetables.
Notes
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Alicia S
I am adding this to the rotation!
I made a couple changes that I think enhanced the flavor profile a bit. I used beef broth instead of water, and added a coupow tsp of Penzey’s beef roast spice blend. The taste was perfection!
Due to my Celiac Disease, I had to use gluten-free flour and the gravy never thickened. I think that is more the flour’s fault than the recipe, though. Next time I will try with cornstarch instead.
I served it with boxed mashed potatoes and ended up eating two plates!
Barbara Schieving
Glad it was a hit Alicia. Thanks for sharing your tweaks.
Charlene
You won’t be disappointed with the taste. This is my “go to” when I need an easy dinner night. I’ve even used the meat, minus the gravy, for fajitas. I saved the gravy, then just cooked the meat in the pressure cooker the next week, and dumped the gravy on it. This recipe is so versatile that you’ll find tons of ways to use it. I’ve even cooked it in the ninja foodie. By far, my favorite recipe on the internet.
Barbara Schieving
So many great ideas – thanks for sharing Charlene! So fun to hear how much you love the recipe.
Tommy
All I have is the eye of round steak.How do I cook it
Barbara Schieving
Hi Tommy – how much does the steak weigh?
PMS
Just finished a delicious meal! Never had an eye roast that u could cut with a fork. We’ll make the noodle and beef with the leftovers. So tasty cooked it with carrots and in the last hour added potatoes everything was sooo good. Thank you for a great recipe!
Barbara Schieving
So glad it was a hit – thanks!
Anita Charette
I dont have a round steak roast but I do have three patty sized thin steaks. I tried this once before just by fast frying with onions and some water, Did not enjoy this-very tough. Please suggest something I can do with this. Thank you.
Barbara Schieving
Hi Anita – if the meat is tough it needs to be cooked longer. Make sure you’ve covered the steaks with water so they’ll tenderize. When the meat pulls apart with a fork, it’s ready to eat.
Michele
On the instructions to add water until the meat is covered, you don’t mean the whole meat being covered under water, do you?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Michele – it depends on the size of pan you’re using and the shape of the meat you have, but you want to use plenty of water so you have lots of gravy. There are more pictures on this post https://www.barbarabakes.com/three-easy-round-steak-meals/ showing how much water I used.
Tina
I have used this recipe twice. It is perfect and the steak and gravy is delicious! I also made the beef and noodles which was also fabulous!!
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Tina! That’s great to hear that you loved both.
Rebecca Ledford
My gravy needed a little more flavor. But we do like highly seasoned foods. Got a suggestion for herb to add another layer of flavor?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Rebecca – if you’ve seared the beef well and deglazed the pan well, and still want to add some herbs, I recommend bay leaves and rosemary. Here’s a good article with more suggestions https://www.thespruceeats.com/culinary-herbs-for-beef-1761805
Larry Gaines
Post a recipe for round steak and gravy in the Instant Pot
Barbara Schieving
Hi Larry – here’s an Instant Pot version https://www.pressurecookingtoday.com/pressure-cooker-sirloin-tips-in-gravy/ – use a sirloin tip round steak.
Savannagal
Just FYI. Your last ingredient, presumably water, is missing from the ingredient list.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks! I’ve updated the recipe.
Kt
Thank you for this recipe! I saw top round steak at Costco and googled a recipe for it and found yours. I’ve been longing for a plain and simple recipe like this for a beef roast but never found one. Well this is all what i wanted it to be, absolutely delicious. I sprinkled the roast with salt and pepper before browning, and I did have to add a few more cups of water during roasting but not a big deal. For Christmas I’m going to buy a 4-5 lb roast and make this. Thanks again