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!
Made this for supper tonight. The taste was great, but the meat was way too soft, wouldn’t hold together, maybe because I used regular bread crumbs instead of panko. I’ll try it again sometime soon.
I agree. Mine wouldn’t stay together either and I did use Panko. I guess itll be more like a hamburger gravy with mushrooms and onion.
Is it better to use fresh (I.e. moist) breadcrumbs or is the recipe designed to use packet (dried/toasted) crumbs?
So the Salisbury steak recipe calls for ground beef minced? Can regular Hamburger beef work? And also, what fat ratio. 80/20 or a little leaner? Thank you
Hi Dana. ground beef is called mince in and some other countries. It is the same thing. I believe this is why .it is included.
Made this tonight with mashed potatoes, carrots and broccoli. the Dijon was a new touch, and made all of the difference! Thanks again 🙂
Was looking for a gravy to go with our steak. Delicious! Even though I was out of mustard. Will definitely make again
Delicious, easy, hearty recipe. Although it was tasty, I found there was too much mustard flavour for my liking. I will half the mustard next time. That’s a preference for my palette though. I find I have to do that with most recipes with mustard. All in all, the mustard was a minor thing and I still very much enjoyed the dish.
I made this salsbury recipe
I used cream of mushroom soup for gravy
Very good and not too time consuming. Like that it is mostly ingredients you have on hand
I cooked this for the family yesterday and it was a hit! The flavor of this dish was very delicious and my family enjoyed it thoroughly. We paired it with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots. Every recipe I make from this website is delicious – I’m thankful to have this website to help me in the kitchen – from cooking techniques to flavor profiles. Nagi is highly detailed and I can tell she truly cares about the success of her recipes – from her kitchen to ours. Love her!
This was surprisingly good. Made it as written. Even my picky husband liked it. Thank you!!!
Tasted ok but the “steaks” completely fell apart so it just ended up being ground beef mixed in with the gravy.
Yummmmm. This one was great! Partner hates mushies, but this was a hit! Very flavourful. Added some green beans and potato, delish! Thanks Nagi
Would you be able to freeze this including the gravy?
Super duper yummy!! I’ve made this recipe a number of times and it’s always a hit!
Delish i used turkey mince to which i added a couple of tsps of duck/goose fat for juiciness and helps bind the turkey i also did the mushroom gravy with chicken stock to which i added a few drips of liquid browning for a darker colour.Defo goes with a pile of buttery mash and green beans from the garden(harvest time here).Was fab,yum,yum,yum.
Thanks for the tips. Each and everything you have shared in this blog. Really, it is helpful. I will bookmark your site.
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I love this recipe. Just like many others have become a traditional weekly dish for my partner and I such as Thai Drunken noodles, the meatloaf, my mum loves the chicken cashew and chilli chicken this will become.e a staple in our home. I hope you make the money you deserve with all the hours of hard work perfecting your recipes and behind the scenes helping the needy. Oh and Nagi please give Dozer a big cuddle from me and my Partner Trish. Xxx
Excellent! Soaking the bread crumbs with the onion is genius. I am adopting this for every recipe with bread crumbs from now on. I think I overcooked the patties a little, but my husband loved it as is…
Thank you for another great recipe, Nagi!
Great tasting recipe but need to add more bread crumbs to beef and not add water to the gravy.
Patties so flabvorful will use these burgers on a bun. Pls have option to go directly to the recipe.
Wow! This was delicious! I tasted the grated onion and agree with you, it “upped” the flavor and juiciness noticeably.
I have never attempted to make Salisbury steak but your video and recipe have given me the confidence that I needed to just do it.