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!
Fabulous recipe! Best Salisbury steak I have ever made or had hands down, and I’ve tried lots of other recipes. It was flavorful and tender and moist. The gravy is sinfully delicious. I served over mashed potatoes. I didn’t change a thing and it was perfect. My hubby loved it too. I also definitely plan to make her meatballs recipe which is basically this recipe with only a slight adjustment for meatballs. I know it will be delicious too. Thank you for this great recipe!
I forgot to click on the FIVE stars. My bad. I’d give this 10 stars if I could!
I loved the flavor of the meat and gravy. However, the meat was soft and almost sponge like. I’ll try it again. I just need to figure out a firmer texture.
This recipe gave me meat pudding. So gross. Time and money wasted. Ended up ordering in.
Love this recipe (can’t understand the compliant others have made). The last time I made it I heard my neighbour wasn’t feeling very well. I packed up 2 servings and brought it to them. 20 minutes later I received rave reviews and a request for the recipe…best comfort food ever.
Well, I really wanted to make a great Salisbury steak! I blended the recipes for the steaks and the meatballs. The slurry method for the gravy worked very well. Grating the onion over the Panko is also a winner!
The steaks seared beautifully and looked great bathing in the gravy, but the texture of the meat was way off. My guess is that there was way too much Panko.
The meat was very soft and spongy… taste was pretty good but the texture killed it. I will make this again, but with half of the Panko and probably double the Dijon and Worcestershire.
Don’t mean to be critical! It was very good and I certainly appreciate the effort that goes into presenting something like this, but a firmer steak with more kick to it would have been better.
I just made this, and even though I questioned the water that came out of the onions when shredded, I went with it because the recipe didn’t say otherwise. I guarantee the patty texture was off because of the excess water from the onion. I would drain them on paper towels next time. Otherwise, the flavors of this dish were fantastic.
Wow…breadcrumbs soaking up grated onions? Genius.
I liked everything about this recipe, especially garlic and worcestershire sauce in two places.
I jokingly told my wife I was going to make Salisbury steak for dinner and she said…#^@$&@%@;…..I’ve never made this before but your recipe is sooo perfect looking, I believe I will someday !
I used 50/50 beef n pork mince followed the recipe and wow the best burgers I’ve ever made and eaten. I love the way you present your recipes they’re fool-proof thank you for sharing. I made your soy n honey wings last night, awesome another winner. My family now think I’m a wiz in the kitchen think I’ll try your one pot Mexican Chicken next.
I will be doing the recipe tonight! I love when folks say how they modified it so thanks for the info. I think these recipes are amazing and then you can tweak them around a bit to suit your own palate so nothing wrong with what you had to say. I dont like spongy so I am going to keep the breadcrumbs to 1/2 like you suggested!
This is so good. So much flavor. I forgot beef bullion and subbed parm. So good two of ate the entire pan for dinner. Thank you for sharing!
I have made this 4-5 times and have always been pleased with the results but never felt they were as good as Nagi’s. Well the 6th time was a charm. Practice makes perfect as they say. Holy cow. Like a food orgasm. Perfect combination of savory flavors, textures, and smell. Not yo’ mama’s Salisbury Steak with “Cream of sumthin” soup !!! This recipe is a winner !
This is my go to mexican pulled beef recipe. I cook it in a slow cooker for 7-8 hours and then shred the beef and then place both beef and sauce into a pan to reduce for another 30-60min afterwards. This gives it that very rich saucy and melt in your mouth consistency. I also finally found pure Chipotle powder! So trying it out today.
Absolutely loved the burger mixture! So tender! I so cheated on the gravy tho. After sautéing the onion, I put in a pack of mushroom gravy and a pack of onion gravy ( directions were on package) then put the burger back in to simmer for 20 minutes. Probably wasnt as good as yours, but it was still amazing for this tired ol gal 🙂 Comfort food at its finest!
I cheated too but added fresh sliced mushrooms also added a bit of catsup and some Dijon
I just tried Salisbury Steaks for the fist time and used this recipe. I was pleasantly surprised. Turned out as delicious as you describe.
Loved the recipe!
But I am confused – whose hands are those in the video ? 😛☺️
I thought exactly the same. Then I remembered Nagi doesn’t roll meatballs so maybe this falls into this category and a substitute was brought in off the benches.
A lot of good flavor here. This was the best salisbury steak and gravy I’ve ever tasted.
Wow! This turned out so perfectly. My husband was following me around the kitchen as I cooked this he was so excited. We both loved it.
This recipe turned out amazing!!! Recipetineats.com is always my go to place to find the best recipes!
This one is definitely going into the rotation of favorites
Made this the other night and it was fantastic!! Hubby said that it reminded him of loco moco 🙂
Nagi, you are the BEST! Every single recipe of yours that I’ve tried has knocked it out of the park and is helping to grow my confidence in the kitchen. Your cookbook is on pre-order and I can’t wait to get it. Sending lots of love from Toronto, Canada!! ♥
This was so wonderful! I am keeping this to make for company!
Made this tonight and we enjoyed it! It was very tasty and comfort food without being too heavy. For the gravy, I used more mushrooms and omitted the cup of water as I found the beef stock with flour etc to be a nice consistency. Btw Nagi, I just read about your charity – thank you for helping our local community. ❤️
I love this recipe! I was craving Salisbury steak and this hit the spot. I’m excited to make it for my 11-year-old, who won’t eat anything “with bits in it.” I think the technique of grating the onions and garlic with the bread crumbs will alleviate that issue for him. Thank you!