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!
Great recipe! I cooked the patties for about an hour in the gravy…soo tender!
Amazing recipe. I have tried other recipes for this dish, but this is by far the best and most flavorful. Definitely a keeper. My only challenge is I think I put too much liquid in the hamburger mixture and it was not as firm of patties, both before and after cooking.
Great recipe. I agree with some of the others regarding the water. I didn’t use it and it was delicious.
Excellent make it once or twice a month
Made this for dinner and it was a hit! Easy to follow and the gravy really makes it. I’ll definitely be making it again.
Try mixing all the wet ingredients together including eggs and seasonings like garlic, onion powder, salt, pepper, etc and place in large bowl. Then put the meat into the bowl and the panko on top the meat and begin combining together. It makes the mixing more even.
Don’t see any onion powder in there? Lovely as is.
I’ve made this numerous times, and the hamburger is always too wet to stick together. Should I add more panko??
I’ve made this recipe a number of times. It is delicious. It does take some time and organization. However, last time I made it I used too much onion. How much is 1/2 an onion?
Absolutely delicious! I can see (or rather, taste) why this recipe is so highly rated. I added more mushrooms bc i love them, and made the patties thicker bc thats how my kids wanted them. Cooked a bit longer and flipped the patties to cook evenly, and they came out perfectly tender and delicious. Paired it with Nagi’s recipe for buttery mashed potatoes and we are stuffed 😁 Thanks for a great recipe!
I’ve made this several times and it is an absolute hit each time! Thank you for this amazing recipe.
awesome! i had a little problem with my bread crumbs clumping up together after the onion. don’t know why?
The recipe works as written. But measuring cups and spoons widely vary. The more you work your meat the better it will stick together and also if there is a bit more fat that’ll probably help as well. Tastes phenomenal regardless of how well it thickens or if the patties hang together. Thanks Nagi!!
Came out great.
Made it per instructions, used 1.3lbs 90/10 ground sirloin. Made six patties. Bypassed gravy already had a beef gravy base from another cook in the freezer, sauteed 1/2lb sliced baby Bella’s, laid the browned patties in a baking dish covered in the gravy mushroom mix, covered with foil, and into the oven for 30 minutes at 350. Served with mashed potatoes and steamed green beans. Awesome, even my wife had seconds, the texture of the meat was velvety. Passed recipe along. Will be doing again. Thanks.
Delicious. Just a personal preference, will cut worchestershire sauce in half in gravy. Other 👍👍👍👍👍
Made recipe exactly except for no mushrooms and jarred bouillon. It was delicious – tender meat patties and wonderful gravy. Definitely five stars. Thanks Nagi!
Made this recipe with chicken (mince, bouillon, stock), but otherwise kept as is. The pan needed an extra bit of oil to cook the onions and garlic since the chicken was leaner. Turned out fantastic. I may even like the chicken version better than the original (which my family also loves). Thank you, Nagi
My husband is a bit of a picky eater. Doesn’t like pork or steak, and most vegetables. I made this for the second time tonight and he scraped his plate clean both times! It’s easy enough to halve the recipe as there’s only the two of us, and it was delicious each time. This is definitely a meal that I’ll keep coming back to. We both love your no knead bread recipe as well!
I tried this tonight and I am not sure what happened but my patties wouldn’t stay together. I scoured the comment section and did what a few others did and turned it into meatloaf instead. The flavours were really amazing though and I’ll definitely make this again but figure out what went wrong.
I made it in about exactly an hour from start to eat. (Ground beef was frozen when I started, so I thawed it while I prepped the rest) it was absolutely delicious, I use a little bit less mustard. My son loved it!