My friend changed how I thought about Salisbury steak three years ago at the farmers market. We were both complaining about dinner burnout you know, that feeling when you've made the same five things for weeks and can't think straight anymore. She laughed and said, "Just make Salisbury steak. Takes like 30 minutes and my kids eat it without whining."I must've made a face because she pulled out her phone right there between the vegetable stands and showed me a photo. These gorgeous beef patties covered in thick gravy with mushrooms and onions.
Why You'll Love This Salisbury Steak
I've made this probably 60 times in three years, and it still hits. This Salisbury steak recipe uses stuff already sitting in your fridge ground beef, an onion, mushrooms, beef broth. Takes 40 minutes start to finish, which is faster than waiting for pizza delivery. The gravy cooks in the same pan you browned the meat in, so cleanup is basically nothing.
Emma loves it because it's hamburger patties covered in gravy, which is basically his dream food. I love it because it feels like actual dinner without me spending two hours cooking. Leftovers when there are leftovers taste even better the next day once everything soaks together. It's one of those meals that makes people think you worked way harder than you did. Nobody has to know it took less time than arguing about what to order.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love This Salisbury Steak
- Ingredients for Salisbury Steak
- How To Make Salisbury Steak Step By Step
- Smart Swaps for Your Salisbury Steak Recipe
- Storing Your Salisbury Steak
- Equipment For Salisbury Steak
- Salisbury Steak Variations
- Top Tip
- The Recipe That Got Passed Down From My Aunt's Kitchen
- FAQ
- Time to Make Real Dinner!
- Related
- Pairing
- Salisbury Steak
Ingredients for Salisbury Steak
For the Patties:
- Ground beef
- Breadcrumbs
- Egg
- Worcestershire sauce
- Onion powder
- Garlic powder
- Salt and pepper
- Dijon mustard
For the Gravy:
- Sliced mushrooms
- Onion
- Beef broth
- Worcestershire sauce
- Flour
- Butter
- Salt and pepper
Optional Stuff:
- Heavy cream
- Fresh thyme
- Garlic cloves
- Tomato paste
See recipe card for quantities.
How To Make Salisbury Steak Step By Step
Make the Patties:
- Mix ground beef with breadcrumbs, egg, Worcestershire, and seasonings in bowl
- Don't overwork it or patties get dense and tough
- Shape into 4-6 oval patties about ¾ inch thick
- Press small indent in center of each one
- Season both sides with salt and pepper
Brown the Patties:
- Heat large skillet over medium-high with drizzle of oil
- Add patties when pan is hot
- Brown 3-4 minutes first side until crusty
- Flip and brown other side 3-4 minutes
- Remove to plate
Build the Gravy:
- Same pan, add butter and let it melt
- Toss in sliced onions and mushrooms
- Cook 5-6 minutes until onions are soft and golden
- Sprinkle flour over vegetables, stir for 1 minute
- Slowly pour in beef broth while whisking constantly
- Add Worcestershire sauce and stir until smooth
Simmer Everything Together:
- Spoon gravy over patties a few times while cooking
- Nestle browned patties back into gravy
- Reduce heat to medium-low
- Cover and simmer 10-15 minutes
- Patties finish cooking and gravy thickens
Smart Swaps for Your Salisbury Steak Recipe
Meat Options:
- Ground beef → Ground turkey (get 93/7, not the super lean stuff)
- Regular beef → Ground chicken (needs way more seasoning)
- All beef → Half beef, half ground pork (tastes richer)
- Traditional → Plant-based ground meat
Binder Choices:
- Breadcrumbs → Crushed crackers
- Regular → Panko breadcrumbs
- Bread → Oats (quick oats, not the big ones)
- Standard → Gluten-free breadcrumbs
Gravy Swaps:
- Beef broth → Chicken broth (lighter taste)
- Regular → Mushroom broth (deeper)
- Broth → Red wine mixed with broth
- Standard → Low-sodium broth
Thickener Options:
- Standard → Just let it reduce longer, skip thickener
- Flour → Cornstarch (use half as much)
- Regular → Arrowroot powder
- Wheat flour → Gluten-free flour blend
Storing Your Salisbury Steak
Fridge (3-4 Days):
- Let it cool down completely first
- Store patties and gravy together in one container
- Gravy stops the meat from drying out
- Reheat on stovetop over low heat
- Add a splash of broth if gravy got thick
Freezer (2-3 Months):
- Cool it all the way before freezing
- Freeze patties with gravy in freezer bags
- Lay bags flat so they stack
- Write the date on them
- Thaw in fridge overnight
Reheating:
- Add a little broth to thin the gravy back out
- Stovetop is best - low heat, put a lid on it
- Microwave works but gravy gets weird sometimes
- Oven at 325°F covered with foil
Equipment For Salisbury Steak
- Large skillet (12-inch works best)
- Mixing bowl
- Whisk
- Spatula
- Measuring cups and spoons
Salisbury Steak Variations
Mushroom Loaded:
- Three types of mushrooms
- Dried mushrooms in the gravy
- Splash of sherry
- Extra thyme
Italian Style:
- Italian seasoning in the patties
- Marinara instead of gravy
- Mozzarella on top
- Serve over pasta
French Onion:
- Caramelize onions way longer (20 minutes)
- Red wine in the gravy
- Gruyere cheese melted on top
- Crusty bread on the side
Bacon Cheeseburger:
- Crumbled bacon mixed in
- Cheddar melted into gravy
- Pickles on top
- Serve over fries
Southern Comfort:
- Sage in the patties
- White gravy with milk
- Over mashed potatoes
- Fried onions on top
Top Tip
- Here's stuff I wish someone told me before I wrecked my first batch. Push a dent in the middle of each patty before you cook it ground beef puffs up when it gets hot, and without that dent you end up with beef balls instead of flat patties. Don't skip browning the meat either. Those crusty brown bits stuck to the pan? That's your flavor. When you pour in the broth, they come loose and turn into the gravy. Wipe the pan clean before making gravy and you just threw away half the taste.
- Get 80/20 ground beef, not the lean kind. You need fat or the patties turn out dry and fall apart like cardboard. And after you put those patties back in the gravy, let everything bubble together for at least 10 minutes. Gravy gets thick, meat finishes cooking, flavors actually mix. Then let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes before you eat. Cut into them too fast and all the juice runs out onto the plate instead of staying in the meat.
The Recipe That Got Passed Down From My Aunt's Kitchen
My aunt never wrote anything down, which drove everyone crazy at family dinners. She'd bring Salisbury steak that disappeared in minutes, and when people asked how she made it, she'd just say "meat and gravy, nothing special." Three years ago at Thanksgiving, I stood next to her in the kitchen and watched. She had two tricks. First: a spoonful of tomato paste mixed into the gravy after the flour but before the broth. Just one tablespoon. "Makes it taste like you've been cooking all day when you haven't," she said. That little bit adds this deep flavor regular gravy doesn't have.
Her other secret was bacon fat. She kept a jar of it in her fridge from cooking breakfast all week, and used that instead of oil to brown the patties. The bacon fat made everything taste smoky without doing extra work. When I started doing both things the tomato paste and the bacon fat Emma said something. "This tastes different. Better." From a kid who eats without looking up, that's saying something. Now I keep my own bacon fat jar like she did, and every time I use it, I remember her making us figure out her recipes by standing there and paying attention instead of handing us written instructions.
FAQ
What are the ingredients for Salisbury steak?
Salisbury steak uses ground beef mixed with breadcrumbs, egg, and seasonings like Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, and garlic powder. The patties cook in gravy made from mushrooms, onions, beef broth, and flour. It's basically seasoned beef patties in brown gravy nothing complicated, just stuff that tastes good together.
What is the difference between Salisbury steak and hamburger steak?
Salisbury steak has breadcrumbs and egg mixed in, so it's more like flat meatloaf. Always comes with gravy. Hamburger steak is just ground beef shaped into patties with maybe salt and pepper no binders, no gravy needed. Salisbury steak has more stuff going on.
What gives Salisbury steak its flavor?
The Worcestershire sauce in the meat and those brown crusty bits stuck to the pan after you brown the patties. Those bits dissolve into the gravy and make it taste like something instead of just flour water. The mushrooms and onions cooked in beef broth do the rest. Skip browning the meat and it's boring.
Do you need an egg for Salisbury steak?
Yeah, the egg stops your patties from falling apart when you flip them. Without it, the meat crumbles into chunks. You could use more breadcrumbs instead, but it comes out drier. The egg keeps everything stuck together instead of turning into loose ground beef in the pan.
Time to Make Real Dinner!
Now you've got everything you need to make Salisbury steak from shaping the patties to my aunt's tomato paste and bacon fat tricks. This is one of those meals that makes your kitchen smell like someone's actually cooking, and people think you worked way harder than you did. It's comfort food that doesn't take all night or cost a fortune.
Looking for more dinners that actually work? Try our Delicious Garbage Bread Recipe when you need to clean out your fridge and make something everyone fights over. Want something lighter? Our Healthy and Easy Tilapia Recipe is done in 20 minutes and tastes way better than it sounds. Feeling fancy? Our Best Shrimp Mofongo Recipe brings restaurant flavor to your table without the restaurant bill.
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Pairing
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Salisbury Steak
Equipment
- 1 Large Skillet (12-inch) (For browning the patties and making the gravy.)
- 1 Mixing bowl (For combining the patty ingredients.)
- 1 Whisk (For stirring the gravy and ensuring it's smooth.)
- 1 Spatula (For flipping the patties while cooking.)
- 1 Measuring cups & spoons (For measuring ingredients accurately.)
Ingredients
- 1 lb 80/20 Ground beef - Use fatty beef for juicier patties
- ½ cup Breadcrumbs - Panko breadcrumbs can also be used
- 1 large Egg - Helps bind the patties together
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce - Adds flavor to the patties
- 1 teaspoon Onion powder
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Black pepper
- 1 teaspoon optional Dijon mustard - For extra flavor (optional)
- 1 tablespoon Butter - For sautéing onions and mushrooms
- 1 medium - Onion sliced
- 8 oz Mushrooms sliced - Use any mushrooms you prefer
- 1 cup Beef broth - You can substitute with chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon Flour - To thicken the gravy
- ¼ cup Heavy cream optional - For a creamier gravy
- 1-2 sprigs Fresh thyme optional - optional for added flavor
- 1 tablespoon Tomato paste optional - For a richer gravy
Instructions
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Combine ground beef, breadcrumbs, egg, and seasonings in a bowl.
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Form the mixture into oval-shaped patties, about ¾ inch thick.
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Cook the patties in a hot skillet for 3-4 minutes on each side.
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Sauté onions and mushrooms in butter until soft and golden.
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Slowly add broth to vegetables while whisking until smooth.
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