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!
Best recipe for my comfort food cravings! Loved the hint of the D. Mustard in the sauce. Thank you
I like that too! It makes the dish! N x
I just made this and it was a hit with everyone. I also made mash potato and used the leftover gravy from your pork chop recipe for this. It was YUMMIE! Thank you for working so hard on your recipes. We’ve definitely benefited from your site.
Thanks LJ! That’s so nice to hear!! N x
So yummy!!! My husband literally licked his plate clean!
Woo hoo!! I’m always happy to inspire some plate licking!! N x
Did this on our family BBQ, but used the mushroom gravy to uplift the humble sausage … such a taste treat … will be using this as a standard now!!
Thx, Nagi !!
Woo hoo!! That gravy is good on everything!!! N x
Did this on our family BBQ, but used the mushroom gravy to uplift the humble sausage … such a taste treat … will be using this as a standard now!!
Thx, Nagi
I love your recipes , a lot of them use onion , my husband can’t eat onions is it okay to just omit them without ruining the recipe .
Thank you .
If he’s able to eat leeks or celery, you can sub those in for onions. Just chop them finely.
“Stinking hot skillet”. I hope you don’t have a smoke alarm. HA.
Too much Worcestershire taste. I would skip it in the gravy.
Hi Nagi
Am a cooking novice, so am looking at video & reading instructions :).
The list of ingredients calls for mustard in the gravy as well as in the patty. The video shows mustard only in the patty. I assume the video is correct & the other is a typo?
Love your work 🙂
Hi. I noticed this as well. The ingredients list for the gravy includes mustard and Worcestershire. I skipped them in the gravy and everything came out 👍. I also skipped the beef bullion and used chicken bullion instead in the beef mixture. I used a strongly flavored beef stock for the gravy. Nice balance.
Hi Jules,
I made this and put the mustard in both as in the printed recipe. Came out perfect. Flavor profile great. Worthy of friends and family.
Thoroughly enjoyed making this dish and my friend loved it too! I make a lot of your recipes. I have always loved cooking and now I have the time to indulge, I am loving it.
Best Salibury Steak I’ve ever tasted. In my home of picky eaters, there were NO LEFTOVERS..!! That Never Happens..!!
Woo hoo!! I am happy they all liked it Joe!! N x
Cooking novice here. What type of mushrooms? Are sliced white ok?
Yes Erin, those are perfect! N x
Excellent! We really enjoyed this recipe. Made exactly as written. I’ll definitely make this again. Thanks for the recipe
I am happy that you enjoyed it Patricia! N x
If I need to double this recipe, are the steaks small enough that I can finish cooking all 10 in a large skillet on the stovetop, or do you think I’ll need to finish the combined steaks and gravy in a larger container in the oven? Can’t wait to try this!
I have a pretty big frypan (30 cm) and I couldn’t fit more than five – I would suggest doing them in batches! N x
Really a great recipe. Very tasty and satisfying. Only problem is with the timing. Each step took 2x as long as your estimates. I don’t know how you can prep all the ingredients in 15 minutes. Simply no way…and it took a lot longer than 15 to cook it.
I find this often with recipes so maybe it’s just me.
I am pretty fast on the prep Jennifer but thanks for that feedback! I am glad you liked the dish! N x
You describe yourself as homely. Did you know that means ugly!? Perhaps homey?
Michelle. Your definition of homely is an American definition. Homely, as per the British definition, also means “simple but cosy and comfortable”. I truely hope nobody would think of Nagi and her work as “ugly”.
It also means simple, plain, unsophisticated, ordinary
Would ground turkey meat work? Turkey is cheaper where I live than ground beef,
Steaks were mush fell apart in pan. Flavor very mustard forward. Unsure what I did wrong. Less mustard would help, wonder if needed more crumbs.
Same thing happened to me this evening. I mixed and mixed and mixed, seemed fine, and then they fell to absolute mush 😥
Hi Carolann – did you work the meat until it was quite pasty as the recipe suggested? N x
I made this the other day. It was easy to follow the recipe and delicious! I didn’t have plain panko so I used Italian. I also didn’t have beef boullian cubes, so I used the equiv. of beef base paste. i served it with egg noodles. My husband loved it. We will be making this often!
I am glad that you enjoyed it Marcia! N x
What should I do or use if I don’t have a beef bouillon cube to crumb in the meat?
I haven’t made the steak part yet but I was looking for a mushroom gravy. This is so good I want to just eat it alone!