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!
Dear Nagi, I have made this so many times (exactly as written) and it’s one of my mom’s very favorites! I serve with buttered peas and mashed potatoes, and she always says it’s “perfect”, she especially loves the gravy. Thank you for this, and so many of your wonderful recipes, that help me prepare delicious “comfort food” for my mom. You are a gem. ♥️
Don’t change a thing! This is 50s delicious comfort food. Love it with buttery mashed potatoes. Thank you, Nagi!
This yielded very tender, juicy patties! Maybe because I have such a sensitive palate that I didn’t care for the taste of the Worcestershire sauce and mustard addition. My kids didn’t like it either but that’s just our personal taste. Next time I’ll leave them out.
I use ground duck breast to make mine. Used this recipe the first time making them. Havent used any other recipe since.
Very good! Mushroom sauce was soooo good, Thanks!
I love this recipe…so good!
This is my husband’s favorite! It’s just delicious and I love your story surrounding it! Sweet of you to care for those in lesser circumstances. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe!
What beef percentage do you recommend using for the recipe?
What beef percentage do you recommend for this recipe?
All I can say is YUM!!! And my husband agrees. I had never tried to make Salisbury steak before and this was absolutely delicious!!!
Just made this and it is really good. Reminds me of a meal from the past. I had some chicken burger and used that instead. The flavour was still very good.
I cooked this recipe but unfortunately the meat Pattie’s broke up and mostly half disintegrated. I didn’t refrigerate the meat after fashioning them into patties as this was not mentioned
As Ms. Nagi states in her recipe, mix the minced meat until “pasty”, and then pack the 5 patties FIRMLY. I had the same issue the first time I made this recipe because I overlooked those instructions. 🤗
Mine did as well, but it was really good. Leftovers i used with egg noodles. I am going to use meat with more fat this second round, and maybe add egg yolk.
mine did too, what did we do wrong? maybe not enough breadcrumb?
the same but it still tasted pretty good!
So so delicious. Made as written and was a hit with my husband and son. Thank you Nagi
Nagi… thhhhannnkkk youuu❗️ we just lost a pet and needing some “comfort food”… this is gonna be the perfect meal for me & hubby & four other doggies (a special treat for them as they are also in mourning)… i absolutely cannot wait to try your recipe. Much love!!!! Kimberly❤️
OOOhhh ! According to our vet, Dogs are definatly NOT supposed to have onions ( or salt) But you can double ck on line. Best to search articles written by veterinarians.
Just made for tonight what a huge hit!! Will definitely make again new family favorite!!
Excellent! My foodie husband loves salisbury steak and thought this was the best he has ever had. My super picky son even loved it!
Delicious and has become a favourite dish in our house. Thank you 😊
Simple to make. Recipe instructions are very clear and are great exactly as written.
Tons of flavor, a great way to make use of ground beef.
Prep including making the beef patties can be done ahead of time.
Only thing I might do differently is to remove the veg from the pan while making the roux to make it easier to get a little browning of it.
Be sure to have plenty of mashed potatoes or other starch alongside, as the gravy is great with it.
Made this again last night. I tweaked it just a bit, to my liking. Made a double batch, knowing that everyone would want leftovers. So good! Served with mashed potatoes and a salad…perfect comfort food!
very tasty