How to cook hamburger steak with gravy

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy is a comfort food favourite that’s quick and easy to make. Make it once and this will be a recipe you’ll treasure it forever!

Juicy seasoned beef patties drowning in an outrageously delicious Mushroom Gravy, this Salisbury Steak recipe has been tried and loved by readers from all over the world… now it’s your turn! 🙂

Salisbury Steak

There’s a homeless guy who lives at our local dog park. He’s a valuable member of our community – he knows all the locals, looks after the park like it’s his own backyard, and he tells the worst jokes. 😂

Anyway, the story of this Salisbury Steak recipe is that I regularly take hot meals down to him, sometimes even fancy-sounding things like tartare, confit duck. As we approached Christmas one year, I asked him what, of all the meals I took to him that year, his favourite meals were.

And he said “Oh, those burgers with the mushroom gravy were spectacular!” So I made them again for him, then I published the recipe on my site the next day. 🙂

This was back in 2015, and that’s how this Salisbury Steak recipe came to be on my website!

How to make Salisbury Steak 

Salisbury steak involves making seasoned beef patties using mince / ground beef, then making a mushroom gravy. In my recipe, there’s just two little things I do differently to the usual Salisbury Steak recipe that takes these up a notch:

1. Grate onion and soak the breadcrumbs in the juices – guaranteed to make the steaks softer and tastier, a tried, proven and much loved method that I use for my classic Italian Meatballs (plenty of reviews substantiating this!). Plus it’s much more efficient than cooking chopped onions (raw onion bits in steak is not nice), and you avoid the risk of the steaks falling apart if the onions aren’t chopped finely enough ; and

2. Sear beef patties briefly then finishing cooking IN the gravy: I like to sear them in a stinking hot skillet to brown the steaks so they are still raw on the inside, then finish cooking them in the gravy so the juices that seep while they are cooking flavours the gravy. Never waste free flavour! That’s my motto! Plus, the gravy infuses moisture in to the steaks. Double bonus!

What is the difference between a Salisbury Steak and Hamburger patties?

Great Hamburger patties are made with nothing more than good quality ground beef, salt and pepper. Whereas the ingredients in Salisbury Steak patties are more like meatballs – including breadcrumbs, onion and flavourings such as Worcestershire sauce.

Salisbury Steak is pretty much me on a plate. Wholesome, homely, down to earth good food that’s economical, packs a flavour punch but is not fiddly or time consuming to make.

The homeless man and I have very similar tastes! – Nagi x

More Classics we’ll love forever

• Beef Stroganoff and Chicken Stroganoff

• Meatloaf – a family favourite forever and ever!

• Spaghetti Bolognese

• Beef Pot Roast

• Ultra Tender Roast Pork with Crispy Crackling

• Extra soft and juicy Italian Meatballs

Suggestions: On the Side

• Magic Broccoli – so easy and so good, it’s like magic….

• Broccoli Salad with a lighter creamy dressing

• Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

• Garlic Sautéed Spinach

• Everyday Cabbage Salad – one of my favourite standby salads!

WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT

Sometimes it helps to have a visual – so watch me make this Salisbury Steak!

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Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Prep: 15 mins

Cook: 15 mins

Total: 30 mins

Dinner

Western

4.93 from 417 votes

Servings5

Tap or hover to scale

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Recipe VIDEO above. Salisbury steak is a totally scrumptious way to transform the humble ground beef / mince into something amazing! The onion grating / soaking breadcrumbs will make your patties extra tasty and tender, and the Mushroom Gravy is made extra delicious by cooking the Salisbury Steaks IN the gravy.

Ingredients

CupsMetric

Salisbury Steak

• ▢1/2 onion (white, brown or yellow)
• ▢1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs (or 1/3 cup ordinary breadcrumbs)
• ▢1 lb/500g ground beef (mince)
• ▢1 garlic clove , minced
• ▢1 egg
• ▢2 tbsp ketchup
• ▢1 beef bouillon cube , crumbled
• ▢1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• ▢3 tsp dijon mustard OR 2 tsp dry mustard powder

Gravy

• ▢1 tbsp olive oil
• ▢2 garlic cloves , minced
• ▢1/2 onion , finely chopped
• ▢5 oz/150g mushrooms , sliced
• ▢30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• ▢3 tbsp flour (all purpose / plain)
• ▢2 cups beef broth / stock , low sodium
• ▢1 cup water
• ▢2 tsp dijon mustard
• ▢2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• ▢Salt and pepper

Instructions

Salisbury Steaks

• Onion grating - Place breadcrumbs in a bowl. Use a box grater and grate the onion over the breadcrumbs. Mix with fingers, leave to soak for a few minutes. 

• Mix - Add remaining Salisbury Steak ingredients into the large bowl. Use your hands to mix until just combined. Mix well for a couple of minutes until the mixture becomes a bit "pasty" which will ensure your patties hold together well.

• Form patties - Divide into 5 and pat very firmly into oval patties around 3/4" / 1 2/3 cm thick.

Cooking and Gravy

• Brown patties - Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add the steaks and cook the first side for 1 minute or until browned, then gently flip and brown the other side (they will still be raw inside). Remove onto plate.

• Cook aromatics - If skillet is looking dry, add a touch more oil. Add chopped onion and garlic and cook for 2 minute until onions are a bit translucent.

• Cook mushrooms - Add the mushrooms into the skillet and cook for 2 - 3 minutes until golden.

• Make gravy roux - Turn heat down to medium. Add butter. Once melted, add flour and cook for 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

• Gravy - Gradually add in beef broth, stirring as you go. Once mostly lump free, whisk in remaining Gravy ingredients. 

• Finish cooking steaks - Add steaks along with the juices on the plate. Cook for 5 - 7 minutes, or until gravy is thickened, stirring occasionally around the steaks. If the gravy thickens too quickly, add more water.

• Season gravy - Remove steaks onto a plate. Taste gravy and adjust salt and pepper to taste.

• Serve salisbury steaks topped with the mushroom gravy - over mashed potato is ideal! Sprinkle with a bit of parsley if desired.

Recipe Notes:

1. Recipe originally published December 2015. Cooking steps streamlined to make it more efficient. Ingredients have remained the same. If you are determined to continue using the original recipe, here is a PDF version.

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