Roast Beef Recipe
Classic Roast Beef recipe is so flavorful and easy to make for a holiday and weekend dinner. This recipe features eye of round roast cooked in the oven at a lower temperature for the best and most tender texture. Roast beef is perfectly cooked to medium-rare temperature but you can easily adjust it to medium by cooking it a few more minutes.
What is there not to love about this great main dish? Roast beef is lean, tender, and so flavorful. It’s best when cooked to medium rare temperature and sliced thin to retain the tenderness. Even though it is not the most tender cut, like rib roast or beef tenderloin, it’s still incredibly soft and tender.
Eye of round makes a good roast beef dish because it’s lean but still has a little bit of fat and the cut is usually a uniform size throughout. Since the eye of round cut is pretty lean and roasted in dry heat, it should be roasted slower, at lower temperature.
To avoid dry roast beef, make sure not to overcook it. It should be cooked to medium rare temperature (or medium at the most). Anything above medium will dry the meat.
Don’t overwhelm the meat with lots of different seasoning, go with simple salt and pepper. Garlic and rosemary both go beautifully with beef to enhance the flavor of the meat.
Which Cut To Use For Roast Beef?
Roast beef refers to a large piece of beef roasted in the oven. There are many cuts of beef that are good cooked in the oven, but note that each cut of beef has a little bit different requirements and even go by their own name.
When thinking “roast beef,” most people use more budget-friendly and leaner cuts, but not too tough that it would require extra slow cooking (so no brisket).
Great cuts that work for roast beef are:
- eye of round
- top sirloin roast
- bottom round
Based on personal experience, eye of round is the best choice because it is lean but still has some fat around it. It is flavorful and uniform in size so cooks evenly.
How To Cook Roast Beef
- First, it’s important to take the meat out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking it to let it warm up a bit.
- Make small incisions with a pairing knife, just big enough to fit slivers of garlic into it. Slice garlic cloves into 2 or 3 slices and fit a slice of garlic into each cut. Keep the cuts spread evenly throughout the surface of the meat so the flavor infuses evenly.
- Combine kosher salt, cracked black pepper, and minced rosemary in a small bowl and generously season the meat all around. Make sure to cover all the sides.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a roasting pan with aluminum foil to catch the drippings.
- Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat and sear the meat until golden brown on all sides. (It will take about a minute per side.)
- Transfer the roast onto the rack in the roasting pan and insert a leave-in thermometer into the center. (If you don’t have a leave-in thermometer, you will need to take the meat out of the oven to take the temperature.)
- Let the beef cook until internal temperature reaches 130°F-135°F for medium rare. Personally, I take it out at 130° because it continues to cook for a few minutes as it rests. (Cook to 140°F to 145° for medium.)
- Take the meat out of the oven and onto a rimmed cutting board.
- Tent with some foil and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
- Slice roast beef thinly, against the grain.
Serving Suggestions
Main Dish – roast beef makes a beautiful main course for the holiday dinner of a weekend dinner. Serve it with all your favorite sides.
Favorite Sides: mashed potatoes, hashbrown casserole, green beans, roasted asparagus, roasted cauliflower, cauliflower mac and cheese, classic homemade mac and cheese.
Make a Roast Beef Sandwich – if you have any beef leftover, it will make delicious sandwiches. Slice cold meat as thinly as you can. Serve sandwiches with cheese, gourmet mustard, pickles, and/or horseradish sauce.
How To Reheat Roast Beef?
Reheating roasted beef and keeping it at the same temperature is a tricky thing and best done in the oven. The best way I found to reheat delicate meats like this one is wrapped in foil and heat just until heated through.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Slice meat and place it in a single layer in a middle of a sheet of aluminum foil. Wrap it loosely and place right on the rack in the oven, not on a baking sheet. Depending on the thickness of meat, heat it up for 5-10 minutes, until just hot.
More Beef Main Dish Recipes
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Roast Beef Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 lb eye of round roast
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1/2 tbsp minced rosemary leaves
- 1 1/2 tbsp kosher salt
- 1 tbsp cracked black pepper
Instructions
Prepare the roast:
- Take the meat out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking it and take it out of the packaging. (You can let it rest on a sheet of aluminum foil, on a baking sheet.)
- Combine salt, pepper, and minced rosemary in a small bowl.
- Make small incisions with a knife, just big enough to fit slivers of garlic into it. Slice garlic cloves into 2 or 3 slices and fit a slice of garlic into each cut. (Try to keep the cuts spread even throughout the surface of the meat so the flavor infuses evenly.)
- Generously season the meat with salt/pepper/rosemary all around. Make sure to cover all the sides.
Cooking the roast:
- Preheat the oven to 325°F and line a roasting pan with aluminum foil to catch the drippings.
- Preheat a skillet over medium-high heat and add a little oil. Sear the meat until golden brown on all sides. (About a minute per side.)
- Transfer the roast onto the rack in the roasting pan and insert a leave-in thermometer into the center. (If you don’t have a leave-in thermometer, you will need to take the meat out of the oven to take the temperature.)
- Cook until internal temperature reaches 130°F-135°F for medium-rare. Remember that meat continues to cook a few degrees as it rests. (Cook to 140°F-145°F for medium.)
- Take the meat out of the oven and onto a rimmed cutting board. Tent with a sheet of aluminum foil and let it rest for about 15-20 minutes.
Cutting the roast:
- (You can place the cutting board in side a rimmed baking sheet to catch the juices.)
- After the meat had time to rest, use a sharp knife to slice roast beef thinly, against the grain.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published on Will Cook For Smiles in December 2019.
All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe.
Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.
I made this for Christmas and everyone loved it so much I am making it again for Easter!
This looks delicious, I make my the same way with one addition, I put thick slices of onion on top of the meat. Years ago and many moon ago I discovered rosemary, what a discovery , it really adds to the meat. I remember my dad asking my mother what she did different as the meat was great. She told him I made and said It was to be made that way all the time. My mother agreed. He then grew a rosemary plant to make sure. Going to the store to get a roast now that you made me drool and want roast beef for supper. Thanks for the reminder.
Yum! Sounds so good!