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!
Nagi,
You’re recipes are great, but in the Salisbury steak recipe, you describe yourself as homely. In the US, homely means unattractive, and you’re not.
Homely in other countries such as Australia and England is the same as Homey in the US
Perfect weeknight dinner! It was easy and delicious. From prep to table I spent 45 minutes (including making my own mashed potatoes). Next time I’ll serve with biscuits or dinner rolls too.
I normally love your recipes but this one was a disaster for me.
THe timing was all wrong and the salisbury steaks came out totally raw inside.
How do I prevent this in future?
Get a thermometer and use it to determine when the meat is done, 135F or higher.
You just made your patties thicker/needed to cook longer in the gravy! (Or turn up your heat.)
Longer cook it/probably better flavored gravy too.
🙂
(Hers are fairly thin and she practically blackens them in a screaming hot pan!)
Next time, make enough to have a test patty…
I make this fairly regularly for my family and it’s been cooking alright for us. I haven’t needed to adjust the times (but then I have a gas stove it burns very hot). Make sure you are searing high heat first and then going through cooking it the remaining 7 mins in the gravy over medium heat. Flatten your patties down so they aren’t super thick if they turned out raw last time. And of course make sure you are using a large burner size since this recipe needs a large pan and that your burners are heating correctly and don’t have maintenance issues
Hello Nagi😊 i was just wondering if there’s a way this could be turned into a meatball oven baked dish similar to porcupine meatballs?, Do you think that would work?
thank you so very much for sharing your recipes, i always recommend your website to my friends.
I made this recipe using 1/2 ground chuck and I/2 ground venison. My husband loved it, but I did find the gravy somewhat runny. I will use 2.5 cups of beef broth next time and omit any water.
Made this last night and totally agree…found it a tad too soupy.
Add more flour or use corn starch!
This Is A Great recipe I use 1/2 Pork Mince to 1/2 Beef And Its a great mix tastes Great Top Recipe Nagi
This is one of my partner’s favourite meals! The flavours works so well together. It’s so simple but tastes like you’ve been slaving away at the stove for hours. Grating the onion is a game changer for moisture. When I’m in a pinch, I use frozen beef patties that I’ve defrosted in lieu of the ground beef.
I made the Salisbury steak w/ mushrooms and onions, gravy for my family last night and they loved it. Thanks for my new recipe.
Made it! My family LOVED IT! The second and subsequent times I’ve served with a couple of tweaks, I used 1 tbsp ketchup and 4 tsp mustard.
Yummy for the Tummy… Delicious!!! I’ll be preparing this entree again … everyone’s plate was clean as a whistle!
Excellent recipe! I left the Dijon mustard out of the gravy and put mustard power in the steak.
I told my husband I was making a new recipe for Salisbury Steak. He didn’t say much until we sat down to eat. He said, “Wow! This tastes great. Last time I had this dish it was a dried up hamburger patty with a spoonful of brown gravy & mushrooms served by a cafeteria lady. I love this meal!”
Thanks for this great recipe!!!!!!!!!!!!! <3<3<3<3<3
I made this tonight for dinner and my guys loved it! I used fresh toasted bread and the paddies did fall apart a little. it might be that I added Lard too. I add minced garlic and left out the mushrooms. It was just right for a cold, rainy mountain night.
Sorry, but I made this recipe as instructed and my family didn’t like it, and I don’t have picky eaters either. The meat was way too soft and fell apart in the gravy. It was more like a soft meatloaf rather than hamburger steaks. I used panko crumbs too. The sauce was too runny, so I had to add flour and water mixture to thicken it. Ended up throwing the rest down the sink.
Hi Nagi
This brught me back to the days when going to a family restaurant, this option was very popular. I made this recipe and we all found it delicious.
I got hooked on your recipes when I made your mousaka. AMAZING. I am of Greek origin and believe me it was better than anything I tasted before.
Thanks again for your great well thought out recipes plus all your additional info and advice. Regards from Montreal Canada.
I made this recipe as written and it turned out amazing! It is definitely going into rotation.
Thank you for sharing.
Omg I LOVED this! I made it a while ago but every time I come back to find another one of your recipes to cook ( I make HEAPS of your recipes as they never disappoint and my Brother in Japan is a fan as well!) my mouth waters when I see this. I just make it again soon.
This one’s a keeper. Like some others, my meat mix was a little loose, but the steaks held together. The dijon, Worcestershire, ketchup combo made them so tangy and interesting. I didn’t need to add any additional seasonings.
Made this for dinner last night and definitely a keeper! I’ve made these the past using another recipe, but Nagi’s tops that one. I was skeptical about the extra 1 cup of water on top of the 500mL of stock, but I added the whole amount. To be honest, could’ve done with half that amount as sauce was a little on the runny side.
Served with mashed potato and steamed green beans.
I made this and will definitely make it again. I over salted so I will be more careful next time. I loved the flavor and put it over plain white rice. It was a hit!
The flavor is great. Recipe is easy to follow. But my steaks wouldn’t stay together. I’ve never had this issue with other recipes I’ve tried. In thinking you need to increase the amt of Panko so the lattice are firmer before cooking.