Three Easy Round Steak Meals

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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.

collage of Three-Round-Steak-Meals

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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collage of 3 Easy Round Steak Meals

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.

Classic Round Steak uncooked

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.

collage of two Round Steak Sirloin Tip Roasts and an Eye of Round Roast

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

Round steak is often what you'll buy at the deli for roast beef sandwiches. It's cooked just until it's medium rare and then sliced paper-thin. It can become tough if it's overcooked, so if you're not serving round steak for sandwiches, you'll want to braise round steak as shown in this recipe.

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.

collage of browning Round Steaks in Dutch Oven

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.

Dutch Oven with Lid in Oven

Remove from the oven, place the meat on a cutting board and slice 1/3 of the round steak into thick individual serving portions. Cube the remaining 2/3 of the steak.

To make the gravy, mix about 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 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 1/3 of the gravy. Toss the cubed round steak in with the remaining 2/3'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.

Round Steak with Mashed Potatoes and Gravy ready to be served on a gray plate

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.

A plate of pasta topped with round steak in gravy and a dollop of sour cream.

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 with colorful vegetables in a white bowl

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.

collage of round steak and gravy, round steak and noodles and round steak beef stew

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.

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
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup cold water

Instructions

  1. 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.
  2. 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.)
  3. Stir in beef base (Better Than Bouillon) and dehydrated onions, if using.
  4. 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.
  5. Remove from the oven, place the meat on a cutting board and slice 1/3 of the round steak into thick individual serving portions. Cube the remaining 2/3 of the steak.
  6. To make the gravy, mix about 1/2 cup flour with 1/2 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.
  7. Add the sliced round steak to a serving dish and top with 1/3 of the gravy. Toss the cubed round steak in with the remaining 2/3'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.

Notes

*Can substitute beef bouillon cubes.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

18

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 357 Total Fat: 16g Saturated Fat: 6g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 8g Cholesterol: 143mg Sodium: 307mg Carbohydrates: 4g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 0g Protein: 49g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

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

collage of 7 Simple Beef and Pork Roasts

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