These Three Easy Round Steak Meals start with fork-tender round steak in a flavorful gravy then they’re combined with other ingredients to create three completely different meals. A shortcut meal idea that your family and you are going to love.
My daughter called me the other day and wanted my round steak with gravy recipe. I don’t really have a recipe. It’s just one of those dishes that I make without measuring. So the next time that I made it I was careful to note the ingredient amounts so that I could post it for her and you.
It’s a family favorite and it’s so easy. You cook the meat and gravy once and get three different meals from it.
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Also included in this post is a Recipe Round-Up. I’ve joined a fun group of bloggers to put together a roundup of recipes on the first day of every month. This month we’re sharing beef and pork roast recipes.
I’ve updated the post with a quick video to show how versatile and easy it is to make.
What is Round Steak
Round Steak comes from the cow’s hind legs. It’s a lean cut of meat and can be tough if not cooked properly. Tony’s Meats and Market has this photo of classic round steak with a good explanation of the different parts that make up a classic round steak.
Stores use to sell round steak as pictured above. I’d buy a big thick round steak, about two inches thick and weighing about 6 lbs to make three meals.
Unfortunately, stores don’t usually sale the whole big thick round steaks anymore. Instead, they cut the meat into separate cuts usually bottom round steak, top round steak, or eye of round roasts.
So now instead, I’ll buy 6 lbs of round steak roasts. When I made it this time, I bought two 2 lb. Round Steak Sirloin Tip Roasts and one 2 lb. Eye of Round Roast. I prefer the Sirloin Tip Round Steak roasts.
What to Do With Round Steak
In a large dutch oven brown steak (roasts) on all sides in a hot pan with a little vegetable oil, until the meat is dark brown and you have lots of dark brown bits on the bottom of the pan. The browning adds so much flavor to the gravy, so be sure and brown the meat well.
Add water (be careful because it may spit at you) at least enough to cover the meat. Stir in 2 tablespoons of beef base (Better Than Bouillon) or 4 beef bouillon cubes if you don’t have Better Than Bouillon and 2 tablespoons dehydrated onions. You’ll need lots of gravy for all three meals, so add plenty of water and add more Better Than Bouillon to taste after cooking when making the gravy if necessary.
If you prefer to use fresh finely diced onion, saute it before you add the water in a little oil. My mom used dehydrated onion and I’ve just continued using it for the convenience.
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 and tender the roasts are to begin with.
Remove from the oven, place the meat on a cutting board and slice ⅓ of the round steak into thick individual serving portions. Cube the remaining ⅔ of the steak.
To make the gravy, mix about ½ cup flour with ½ cup water and gradually stir into the pan on the stove over medium heat 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 a serving dish and top with ⅓ of the gravy. Toss the cubed round steak in with the remaining ⅔’s of the gravy. Divide in half and freeze in two Ziploc bags for two shortcut meals another day.
How Can I Make Gravy Smooth?
Gravy is a great way to add tons of flavor and to stretch a meal just a bit further. You’ll get lots of flavor from deglazing the pan after you seared the meat before braising the round steak.
How do you make a smooth gravy with no lumps? It’s all in whisking your thickener before adding to the pan.
Grab a whisk and a small mixing bowl, or a measuring shaker, and add your thickening agent (flour or cornstarch typically – lots of people love Wondra Flour for thickening gravies), then add cold water and shake or whisk until no lumps. This only takes a small amount of time so you can make sure it is lump-free before pouring the slurry into the pan or skillet to thicken the gravy liquid.
If you often have trouble with lumpy gravy, try adding some of the hot braising liquid to the flour/water slurry to warm up the slurry before adding it to the pan.
Beef and Gravy
I’ll typically cook the beef and gravy base on a lazy Sunday. Then I’ll serve it cut like you would a typical roast over mashed potatoes. It’s old fashioned comfort food at it’s finest and my family loves the smell as it braises all afternoon.
Beef and Noodles
Another night I’ll serve the beef and gravy beef bourguignon style with lots of cracked pepper over noodles with sour cream on top.
The beef is already tender and flavorful. So all I have to do is warm it up, or thaw it if I’ve tucked it away in the freezer, boil some noodles and it’s ready to serve on a busy weeknight.
Round Steak Beef Stew
The third meal you can make from the cubed meat and gravy is Round Steak Beef Stew. It’s a great shortcut for making beef stew.
The beef is already tender and the gravy flavorful, so all you need to add is the vegetables and change up the gravy a little bit. Then you’ll have a quick homemade stew ready in just minutes.
If you don’t want to cook enough round steak to make all three meals, I also have the recipes for each round steak recipe individually.
- Round Steak Beef and Gravy
- Round Steak Beef and Noodles
- Round Steak Beef Stew
- If you prefer, you can make a similar dish in the pressure cooker, Pressure Cooker Sirloin Tips in Gravy.
I also have an Eye of Round Roast recipe with carrots, onions, and mushrooms that’s terrific if you’re looking for an eye of round roast recipe.
Three Easy Round Steak Meals
Ingredients
- 6 lbs round steak roasts top round, bottom round, eye of round, or sirloin tip round steak
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 6 cups of water
- 3 tablespoons beef base Better Than Bouillon*
- 2 tablespoons dehydrated minced onion or 1 large onion finely chopped
- Gravy
- ½ cup flour
- ½ cup cold water
Instructions
- In a large dutch oven brown steak (roasts) 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 roasts.
- 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. (You’ll need lots of gravy for all three meals, so add plenty of water.)
- 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 roasts are to begin with.
- Remove from the oven, place the meat on a cutting board and slice ⅓ of the round steak into thick individual serving portions. Cube the remaining ⅔ of the steak.
- To make the gravy, mix about ½ cup flour with ½ cup water and gradually stir into the pan on the stove over medium heat 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 a serving dish and top with ⅓ of the gravy. Toss the cubed round steak in with the remaining ⅔’s of the gravy. Divide in cubed meat and gravy in half and refrigerate or freeze in two Ziploc bags for two shortcut meals another day.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
More roast recipes you might like:
Slow Cooker 3 Packet Pot Roast
Sauerbraten
Three Easy Round Steak Meals
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Rump Roast
How to Cook Prime Rib
Pork Loin
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Patricia
best recipe ever! So easy and tasty. My family loves it.
Judy
Lucky me. My mother used to make round steak with gravy and onions. She left me the same Magnalite cookware pictured in the receipe. I recognized it immediately, pulled it off the shelf and got busy. I have no doubt I used the correct braising pot.
Barbara Schieving
Hi July – that is lucky that your mom left you the Magnalite. It’s a great pan. Enjoy!
Janet
Uh I wish I could post a pic of my round steak meal. I followed all the directions and they came out like charred bricks!!
Barbara Schieving
Hi Janet – sorry you had trouble with the recipe. It sounds like you didn’t follow step 4 – Cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid.
D squared
<same thing happened to me
Barbara Schieving
What type of pan you did cook it in? if you’re not sure that the lid is tight fitting, you should check the meat occasionally to make sure you’re not losing too much liquid and add liquid if necessary. This recipe is a braise and you should never let the water evaporate to nothing.
Liz U
Thank you so much for publishing this recipe it is an old family favorite of ours of course my mother used to make it with the bone so you didn’t have to add bouillon and we always just simmered it on the stove for an hour and a half or more but either way it is always been my favorite meal and for the one asking how it taste it is fabulous it falls apart on your fork serve it with mashed potatoes and green beans and you can’t ask for anything better.
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Liz! So nice when we can recreate recipes that our moms use to make.
Seasons01
Can someone review this recipe… it has 4.6 stars but no one has explained if it is good. Yes it looks lovely. But taste??
Raquel
Since the butcher cut me a large round steak as the picture with the bone in round steak , will this cook the same time In the oven ,For the beef and gravy ?
Barbara Schieving
How nice! As long as it’s about two inches thick, the cook time should be the same.
Linda
I used to use round steak a lot. It isn’t as tender as some, although you can help that by cooking it right, but I love the flavor. The problem is, I can never find it on sale anymore. I lived most of my life in the midwest where it was easy to find and went on sale often (at least, back then). I think lived in Central America then moved to the American Southwest. As you say, you can’t find a whole piece anymore (sad – that bone was great for making bone broth) but the other problem is, it never goes on sale. I’m accustomed to buying bulk when there is a sale.
Is this a regional thing or does it just never go on sale anywhere?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Linda – my store will occasionally have it on sale, but not very often and never as cheap as it used to be.
Tina Stephan
I have three rounds teak family favorites also. I still buy rounds teak I believe schnucks still sells them.
These are crock pot recipes n they come out so tender they fall apart.
ROUND STEAK N GRAVY
1. 1-2 lb. Roundsteak
2. 1 can Cream of mushroom soup
3. Chopped onion
2 t. Minced garlic
I pkf. Brown gravy mix (optional)
Pepper
Mrs dash seasoning
Put round steak in crockpot. Add all other ingredients.
Cook on high if need done sooner, low for all day cooking.
ANOTHER VARIATION WOULD BE
ROUND STEAK
GREEN PEPPERS ( CAN USE ALL THREE COLOR PEPPERS IF LIKE)
ONIONS
Stewed tomatoes of your choice or diced tomatoesof your choice ( Italian or Mexican try adding grilled corn with this one.
Delicious easy family meals. Good with noodles too.
Garlic
Amy V
Do you know how many people this recipe would feed? There are 7 in my family and my children are all hungry boys.
Barbara Schieving
I had plenty for my family of six for three meals. So you should be able to get two meals out of it.
Narda
Make your roast, then before they come, put how much you want on each plate.
Put away the rest and serve plenty of sides, including biscuits, or plenty of bread, rice, noodles, cornbread, etc, and dessert, if you can.
Cake is a good filler. Cake mixes for $1 someytimes.
Mary Redeker
Trying to access recipes on this site is very difficult with all the pop ups makes it very clumsy to navigate. I am not likely to use this site again.
Marti
When you find a large, thick round steak, what size pieces do you cut it into before browning?
Barbara Schieving
Hi Marti – I have a large oval pan and usually I don’t cut the round steak before browning it or braising it in the oven. If your pan isn’t large enough to fit a 6 lb. round steak, just cut it in to two pieces and brown each pieces separately.
Barbara Bakes
CookingKing – Thanks for the feedback on my post! I'm glad your meal was delicious! Hopefully the stew will be a hit as well.
Cookingking
About to make a stew out of the frozen part I had from last weeks meal. The beef tips and gravy came out like how my mother once taught me, delicious. My wife is funny about reheated beef, but I doubt she will be able to complain. I just tried a piece as I broke up the meat in the pot and it doesn't have that cold steel flavor beef can get from reheating. Than again defrosting in a hot broth probably helped that. Hopefully I have found a successful use of beef left overs. Goal is to make a beef left over meal my wife will eat. Fingers crossed, since the prep time was small, and the ingredients are cheap.
Tim
It’s so important that the day or two old meat tastes like fresh cooked. I’ve got the beef down but have never been able to do chicken.
Any suggestions?
Barbara Schieving
I’ve had good luck with grilling boneless skinless chicken breasts, then dicing them and freezing them in individual Ziplic bags until ready to use. Kalyn’s got a nice tutorial on grilling chicken breasts http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2007/05/how-to-make-juicy-grilled-chicken.html
Barbara Bakes
Thanks Anonymous for the kind post. It made my day!
Anonymous
I was searching the net to a fun new way to cook round steak, but I found your blog instead. Instead of finding something daring to try I was inspired to bring back an old family favorite I have no idea why I have been ignoring this year. Thanks for posting such wonderful pictures and reminding my how simple, yet delicious round steak can be and be a comfort on a rainy day.
Healthy Food
it looks nice and yummy with gravy. i’m gonna try this one. thanks!
Sophie
I like how you found so many ways to use one cut of meat, and each one looks delicious–I’m really liking that stew!
Judy
Great idea to turn this recipe into 3 meals.
Netts Nook
Your round steak looks great. I just left you an award when you get a chance come and pick it up..
Carrian
Barbara, I am not sure why they are called monster cookies. Maybe because of all the different things going on with the peanut butter, chocolate chips, m&m's, raisins and oatmeal? We always grill or broil our asparagus. We don't love them shocked. We do olive oil all over the asparagus and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Then under the broiler turning half way through cooking. It took me a while to love asparagus, but this way is delicious.
Aggie
What great recipes! I don’t make round steak very often, I want some with some of your gravy!
Lynda
This looks so good- real comfort food! I love this meal and good round steak is hard to find in my store too.I’ve been trying to write some of my recipes down that are just in my head. It’s harder than I tought it would be!