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!
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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!
Delicious. Even my picky eaters asked for more 😀 Love the idea of the grated onion.
Good morning Nagi,
Quick question!! Can you make this recipe with ground chicken? It looks so yummy!!
Thank you 🙂
You sure can California, it’s not going to taste as beefy, but will still be delicious! N x
Very rich and tasty could not stop myself from tasting. I used wild dry mushrooms, too chewy. Ur recipe spot on!
Five stars! I made this for a Wednesday night supper crowd at church. It was a huge hit and I’ve had several requests for it to be served again soon.
I’m going to try this recipe, only question I have is ……
Mushrooms????????
Never mentioned.
How much do you recomend?
I believe the recipe calls for 5 ounces. Mushrooms are listed in the ingredients and also directions
Hi Ted – it’s listed there in the ingredients list under the gravy heading 🙂 N x
This is a winner! I hate to admit that I have the palate of a 4 year old while my adventurous hubby enjoys many types of food – but if I see him open one more jar of brown gravy I’ll scream! I made this tonight, not sure if he’d accept something with a lighter color gravy but he loved it, and so did I! I had to add a dash of corn starch for better thickening and at the end a dash more of worcestershire sauce for color (for hubby) – and a little salt after tasting, but that was it. I used 2 shallots instead of half a regular onion x2 – one for the patties and the other for the gravy. I used low sodium beef broth because as it reduces with simmering it can easily make a dish taste way saltier. I’m writing down this recipe for future use as it will now be part of our regular rotation. Tip – the patties will fall apart if the skillet is not good and hot, and you have to slap that patty in there and leave it for at least a minute without moving it – then they’ll hold shape.
Great recipe & surprisingly easy. I subbed beef broth for veggie stock & beef bullion for veggie bullion and it turned out great. I also halved the recipe with no issue – it’s very forgiving. Thank you for a happy & hearty recipe!
Second time a charm. The first time I made this, the gravy did not come out like I would like it and the patty fell apart but the flavor was there so I tried again. The second time was great. I learned from mistakes and it worked out. Very delicious and a keeper.
Lovely recipe. Definitely one to save for again. Even my grandson enjoyed it and he’s very particular. I think the egg made it too wet so I added more breadcrumbs which helped but they were still quite fragile. Very tasty though 🙂
Lovely recipe. Definitely one to save for again. Even my grandson enjoyed it and he’s very particular. I think the egg made it too wet so I added more breadcrumbs which helped but they were still quite fragile. Very tasty though 🙂
This was amazing. mg family gobbled it up and asked for more!!
Wow, this was amazing! Super easy and delicious. A tip for those (like me) who had an issue grating onions: just chuck it in the food processor or blender. Worked great and the patties stayed together! Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Love this. I’ve been looking for a good salisbury steak for years and this once checks all the boxes AND walks this amateur through the steps. Thank you – we love it.
I made your salisbury steaks last night, and they were absolutely delicious!! Wow. We devoured it. I made one small change, because I didn’t have bouillon cubes, I didn’t use that. Instead I added 2T of gluten free soy sauce.
What a delicious recipe, we will be making this often! Thank you!
Nagi…i think ur recipes are absolutly fab..im an ex chef turned catera
I subscribed to your cook book downloads..i truly am so impressed with your recipes..
Made this absolutely gorgeous
I’m so glad you love it Pauline, thanks so much for the awesome feedback! N x
Your list of ingredients include additional dijon mustard for the gravy. Yet I did not see you add it in the video. Should it be added?
Looks delicious, I’m keen to try this. What type of beef mince do you use? Can it be 95% lean or will that be too tough?
Hi Taro, It does with with lean mince, although I prefer it with at least 10% fat to keep them juicy and not dry out. N x
Thank you for this great recipe. I used a large sized can of mushrooms because that is what I had on hand. 93% hamburger. I pulled the onion and shroons to make the roux- nothing new to me, it is just the way I do it. Great over instant mashed potatoes with butter.
Thanks
This looks amazing! What could I substitute the mushrooms with for those that don’t eat mushrooms?
Hi Megan, you could just leave it out and have them in gravy if you prefer! N x