Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy is a comfort food favourite that’s easy to make. Juicy seasoned beef patties made with ground beef (mince) smothered in an outrageously delicious mushroom gravy, this Salisbury Steak recipe has been tried and loved by readers from all over the world. And now it’s your turn to experience it!
And next time – try Salisbury Steak Meatballs!
Salisbury steak
There’s a man who lives in his car 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, has gun-barrel views over Sydney’s beautiful Pittwater waterways 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 duck confit. 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 I think makes them even tastier:
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
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. Hope you love it as much as I do! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Sometimes it helps to have a visual – so watch me make this Salisbury Steak!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy
Ingredients
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
- 1/2 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:
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Every morning over the summer break. PS He’s leaping to catch sand. No interest in the usual toys!
so this is basically meatloaf just cooked in skillet stove top?
Well, no it’s not. You may want to read the recipe one more time 😉
It had good flavor but the steaks didn’t cook in the time listed. I ended up microwaving them to get the temp up inside before serving. Maybe next time I will make them even thinner than the 3/4″ per the recipe and do the initial cook a couple minutes more.
Excellent! Just like I used to make years ago – but better! The grating the onions and soaking the panko was a fabulous way to make the patties a nice texture. To the people who commented about the cooking time not being long enough or them falling apart, it’s a recipe. It’s not set in stone. You can be flexible if you want and add more Panko at the start if you think it’s too wet or just cook it longer.
Made this exactly as instructed. My husband and son both loved it! I didn’t have the issue others had with the meat falling apart, I used a cast iron skillet and a thin egg flipper. I will definitely add this to my rotation!
GIRL! U r my go to for great recipes and this one was so delicious!! Really loved the flavor of the meat, it was a nice texture AND the gravy was so yummy. Thankyou for this will definitely be making it again – I totally understand why it was the gentleman’s favorite 🙂
Definitely a keeper. Have made this three times since mid-September (It’s now Oct 20) The patties are tender and juicy and the gravy is perect. Didn’t change a thing.
I made this tonight, and it was SO good!!! I followed the recipe pretty exactly, and it was a hit with the fam. Will definitely be throwing this one into the rotation. Thanks!
This was fantastic; a definite keeper!
I loved this recipe! I’m not a fan of mushrooms, but I had a bunch of them to use up — this recipe made them delicious!!! Thanks so much!
this recipe is great Ive made it a few times! i didnt have the worcestershire sauce last time so i used A1 sauce instead.. the flavor was even better to my surprise! try it
Boy is this good, made it with 100% deer meat. WOW!
can i cook them in the oven?
This recipe is incredible! I had no interest in you making an old-school/school lunch meal. When I saw this recipe and tried it it changed everything my family asked for this all the time! They love it so much that if I don’t feel like cooking it, they will gladly take the recipe and cook it for me You are amazing Nagi! Keep em coming! Do you have a cookbook available to purchase?
This was awful.
Really impressed with this recipe!Served it over mashed cauliflower. Delicious comfort food. Thank you so much!
This is delicious. Exactly what my house needed on a chilly Melbourne night. Rib sticking good. Best thing is, I usually have everything in the fridge in some way or another! Five stars!
I’d only ever had salisbury steak as a TV dinner or an airline meal, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I followed this recipe to the letter, only veganizing it by using Impossible “beef” and beef-flavoured bouillon. It was, in a word, amazing. My wife and I both loved it. I served it over brown rice and with a side of collard greens. Will definitely make it again!
thanks for the recipe! i used garlic and onion powder in place of fresh. still turned out great, and my family loved it!
I followed recipe. Patties broke apart. Now I have ground beef gravy. Not sure where it went wrong. I followed ur instructions to a tee.
Just made this tonight, and it was wonderful as a rainy night dinner. And I know the story about the origin of the recipe is quite old, but it’s a heartwarming story none-the-less. I love it when nice people are successful!
Delicious Salisbury steak dinner!!