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!
What does it mean by mince next to the ground beef? Do I have to mince the meat and if so how do I do that?
Hi Kim, the recipe uses ground beef which we is also known as mince in some countries. N x
Nagi, Marry me. Just cooked another of your recipe’s( Salisbury steak). Huge hit ,❤️👍❤️👍. Wife loved it ,daughter wanted more ( can cook this again)..I’ll even adopt dozer.😂.
You have excelled as always Nagi and so have I 🙂 Mince being so versatile for us all during these difficult times. Doubled the recipe to feed the ever hungry lion after being out on the lands all day … and there is just enough left for tonight :). Have a lovely day. X
WOOT! That’s awesome to hear Sue! N x
Hi I signed up for and am enjoying immensely your recipes. However, I do not seem to have received the three free books or I have no idea where they could have been sent to. Could you please help me. I only use an Apple iPad and Facebook not having access to other programmes.
I look forward to your reply,
Hi Elizabeth, if you shoot me an email I can forward them to you (they are also in every email I send out) N x
This has become a good friend on our table. Make often, love it, don’t tweak it. Last night served over noodles, with Salad & corn on cob. Mom staying with us during isolation so no sloughing off on meals. 😉 another Nagi recipe tonight. Fish with butter sauce, cowboy bean salad with lime dressing 🙏
Perfect Deb!! N x
I made this for Easter. I believe my husband’s right words were “This is better than any restaurant steak”. Beautifully delicious
I LOVE hearing this!! N x
I’ve made this recipe twice, the whole family loves it, including a picky but meat-loving son and a Japanese husband with overdeveloped taste buds. We served it with rice the first time and mashed potatoes the second time 🙂 Thanks Nagi!
Good day Nagi. I am preparing this for tomorrow Easter Dinner. Can I prepare the beef patties today and start frying and cooking tomorrow (saving on time and work)
Another delicious recipe. I didn’t have mushrooms so caramelised a whole sliced onion for the gravy, before cooking the meat. It was great, but looking forward to making it again with mushrooms. Yummy!
Sounds great Jenny!! N x
The only thing I had to do was add a little cornstarch and water to thicken up the gravy, other than that it was excellent
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Diesel, that’s great to hear! N x
Absolutely delicious meal. Why did my patties fall apart? Followed the recipe to the exact amounts (unusual for me). Egg was huge. Maybe?.?
Any suggestions? Thankyou for sharing your recipes.
I’ve made this many times for my family. It is always a huge hit! We had it last evening!
Oops, meant this for Nagi!
As for your patties falling apart, I found that if you make them a few hours ahead and refrigerate on a tray, they hold together a lot better.
Terrific recipe! Takes me back to childhood. We had buttered noodles and a power salad. Great dinner! I suggest adding the garlic about 1 minute before the butter so it doesn’t burn.
Hi Nagi! Love your chicken tenders recipe! Ingenious! Can hardly wait to try this one. Have to tell you the chili / corn bread pie did not work out. Soggy cornbread and dry chili cuz the cornbread soaked up all the juice. Awesome recipe for conrnbread tho! Will make them separate next time.
I made this tonight for the 1st time. The only thing I changed was that I added 1/2 cup of white wine. It was amazing! Served it with mashed potato’s and green beans. Super yummy.
Sounds delicious Michelle, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! N x
love your Butter chicken, Salisbury steak, and Vietnamese coconut chicken. I
am waiting to try more of your recipes.
Thanks so much for the feedback Cristeta! N x
Made this for supper. You are a lifesaver Nagi, my husband was so impressed with this easy to prepare meal. He loves saucy food & couldn’t get enough. He admits, the meat tastes exactly like steak in mushroom sauce. Thank you so much for your easy to follow instructions & videos. ♥️
I love anything saucy – so I’m with him on that!! I’m so glad it was a hit! N x
This was SO good! Didn’t add egg to meat (don’t care for them-meat still stayed together) but otherwise fixed as recipe was written. Excellent!!
Lucky us!! Had leftovers tonite…2 days later. One of my all time favorites!!! So delicious!!
Perfect Karen! N x
Wow, fantastic and I love that tweak with grating onion and soaking the bread crumbs with the juice , the boys were very happy. Thank you 🙂
It’s a total GAME CHANGER Carol!! N s
This was easy to make and absolutely delicious.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Barb!
Made this tonight but the gravy was totally watery. I put in the amounts of broth/water/flour as stated, but even before the addition of the cup of water, it seemed really thin.
Hi Jeanine, Normally when I make gravy/sauce, i always use a ratio of 2 tblsps butter/2 tblsps flour to 1 cup of liquid. The ratio of 2 butter/3 flour/3 cups liquid would definitely yield thin gravy.
Hi Jeanine, that doesn’t sound right at all – and you definitely used the right amount of flour? N x