Roast Beef

Roast Beef has a reputation for coming out dry and gray, and it’s earned that fair and square. Not this one. Think garlic slivered right down into the meat, a basil and rosemary crust, and a center that stays blushing pink. Hot oven first, low oven after, and you’ve got Roast Beef worth standing around the kitchen for. Tender, garlicky, and there’s gravy.

How To Cook Roast Beef So It Stays Pink

Okay, I’m about to be insufferable about meat thermometers and I want you to know that I know.

Here’s my defense. Nobody on earth can tell what’s going on in the middle of a 4 pound roast by looking at the outside of it. Not me, not your mother, not the very confident man at the butcher counter. The inside is a mystery and a thermometer is the only thing that’s ever solved it.

That’s my whole sermon. I’ll put it down now. The rest of this is genuinely lovely to make. You cut little slits all over the roast and push slivers of garlic down into them, so every slice ends up with garlic in it instead of just the end pieces. Then a rub of olive oil, basil, rosemary and thyme goes over the top. This is something I learned from my mother many many years ago. She’ll cut slits into any roast, pork, turkey, you name it, and she’ll stuff it with garlic.

The oven does 2 things. 15 minutes at 450°F to build a browned crust, then down to 325°F for the slow part. Hot first, low after. That order is the whole method.

And then you rest it, which is the bit where I ask you to be patient and you quietly resent me for it. I’ll explain myself further down, once you’ve forgiven me.

Ingredients In Roast Beef

• Round roast (4 pounds, fat trimmed): Round is what I use. There’s a whole section below on which round, and on what to do when your store calls it something entirely different, which it almost certainly does.
• Olive oil (¼ cup): The base of the rub. It’s what makes the herbs stay put and helps the outside brown.
• Garlic, chopped (6 cloves): For the rub.
• Garlic, cut into slivers (4 cloves): For the inside. That’s 10 cloves between them and I stand by it completely.
• Fresh basil (1 tablespoon, chopped): Nobody expects basil on a roast, which is exactly why I love it here. It goes soft and a little sweet against the beef.
• Fresh rosemary (1 tablespoon, chopped): The one everyone expects. It earns its place.
• Dried thyme (1 teaspoon): Dried is perfect here. It’s going into a rub and then into a hot oven for 2 hours, so fresh would just be an expensive gesture.
• Salt (1 teaspoon) and black pepper (1 teaspoon): Equal parts, which is more pepper than most rubs call for. On a lean cut like round, that’s a happy thing.

How To Make Roast Beef

Take The Roast Out Early: An hour before it goes in the oven, and no more than 2. Straight from the fridge it cooks unevenly, because the outside races ahead while the middle is still thawing out its feelings. An hour on the counter sorts it out.

Preheat To 450°F: Give it the full preheat. That first 15 minutes is doing all the crust work and a half heated oven won’t get there.

Make The Rub: Olive oil, chopped garlic, basil, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper, stirred together in a small bowl into a loose paste. It smells incredible at this stage and that’s a good sign.

Stud The Roast With Garlic: Cut evenly spaced slits into the roast with a sharp knife, about an inch deep, and push a sliver of garlic into each one.

This is the step that’s tempting to skip and it’s the one I’d keep. A rub can only season the surface. The slivers get garlic right through the middle, so the slices from the center are just as good as the ones from the edge.

Rub And Rack It: Herb paste all over the outside, then the roast onto a rack in your roasting pan. The rack is doing real work here, letting air underneath so the bottom roasts along with everything else instead of sitting in the drippings.

Roast Hot, Then Low: 15 minutes at 450°F, then drop it to 325°F and try not to open the door more than you have to. From there it’s about 1 hour 45 minutes for medium, or 2 hours for well done.

Those are my times in my oven, though. The chart below is the thing to actually follow, and your roast will tell you more than my clock can.

Rest It: Onto a cutting board or a platter, and then leave it alone for 15 to 30 minutes.

I know it’s right there and it smells like that. Here’s what’s happening: after 2 hours in the heat the juices are under pressure and pushed out toward the edges, and resting lets them settle back through the meat. Carve it right away and a lot of that ends up on your board instead of in the beef.

It also keeps cooking while it rests, climbing about 5°F, which is why the chart has you pull it before it hits your number.

Which Cut Of Beef Is Best For Roast Beef?

This is where everybody gets confused, and honestly the beef industry has not helped, because the same muscle gets about 4 different names depending which country you’re standing in.

The round is the back end of the cow, and it gives you 3 roasts you’ll actually see at the counter:

• Top round, which Canadian stores label inside round. The most tender of the three and the one I reach for first.
• Bottom round, called outside round up here. A little tougher, a little cheaper, still really good cooked this way.
• Eye of round, the small neat cylinder. Leanest of the bunch and it cooks beautifully evenly because of that shape.

Rump roast is usually cut from the bottom round, so if that’s what’s in front of you, you’re in the right place. Same method, same times.

Sirloin tip roast is a different muscle but it behaves much the same. Slightly more tender, usually slightly more expensive.

The one I’d steer you away from is chuck. Chuck is wonderful and I use it all the time, but it wants to be braised in liquid for hours. Roasted to medium rare it comes out like something you could resole a boot with.

What all of these share is that they’re lean. Barely any marbling, very little fat running through them. That’s why they’re affordable, and it’s also the reason I’m so tedious about the thermometer. A ribeye has enough fat in it to forgive you. Round is less generous, and past medium it does get dry.

So the real answer to which cut is best is: any of them. The cut matters much less than when you take it out.

Roast Beef Temperature And Doneness

Here’s the chart. All of it assumes a 4 pound roast, 15 minutes at 450°F first, then the time below at 325°F.

Doneness	Pull from oven at	After resting	Time at 325°F
Rare	120°F	125°F	1 hr 25 min
Medium rare	130°F	135°F	1 hr 35 min
Medium	140°F	145°F	1 hr 45 min
Medium well	150°F	155°F	1 hr 55 min
Well done	155°F	160°F	2 hr

Those first 2 columns are the useful part. One is when it comes out of the oven, the other is where it lands once it’s rested. That gap is carryover cooking and it catches people out all the time, which is why I wanted it written down rather than assumed. If you wait for 135 before pulling, you’ll be eating 140.

Weight gets you in the neighborhood, thickness tells you the truth. A long thin roast cooks faster than a short fat one of exactly the same weight, so I’d start checking about 20 minutes early.

For a round roast, medium rare is where I stop. Medium is lovely too. There just isn’t enough fat in this cut to go further and still have it be juicy, so I’d rather you had it pink.

How To Make Roast Beef Gravy

Those drippings in the bottom of the pan are the best thing in your kitchen and they’re going to become gravy while the roast rests.

Strain them into a saucepan, add 1 cup red wine, 1 cup beef broth, a sprig of rosemary and a crushed garlic clove or 2, and let it simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Then thicken it. Stir 1 tablespoon cornstarch together with 2 teaspoons water in a separate little bowl first, until it’s completely smooth, and whisk that in. Cornstarch added straight to hot liquid goes lumpy immediately and then you’ve got a whole situation on your hands.

Making this during the rest is my favorite bit of timing in the recipe. It gives you something useful to do with your hands instead of standing there staring at the beef.

How To Slice Roast Beef

Across the grain, and thin. Look at the roast and you’ll see all the muscle fibers running in one direction. Your knife wants to go across them rather than alongside. When you cut with the grain those fibers stay long and intact, and then there’s a lot more chewing involved than anyone signed up for.

Thin matters more here than with almost any other cut, because round is lean and has real structure to it. Thin slices make it tender in a way thick ones just won’t. It’s the same reason deli roast beef is sliced nearly see through.

Longest sharpest knife you own, and long smooth strokes rather than sawing.

How To Serve Roast Beef

• Potatoes. I don’t really consider this optional, but you’re an adult. Roasted Potatoes with Spices if the oven’s on anyway, Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes if you want somewhere for the gravy to collect, or Caramelized Onion Gruyere Mashed Potatoes if you’re trying to impress somebody.
• Something green and a bit sharp. German Red Cabbage or Parmesan Roasted Broccoli. After a plate of beef and gravy a little acidity is very welcome.
• Bread, for the gravy. Quick Yeast Dinner Rolls or Garlic Knots. There will be gravy left over and it deserves better than the drain.

Leftover Roast Beef

A 4 pound roast feeds a crowd and then feeds you again, and I’d argue cold roast beef is better than hot roast beef. I’m happy to take that one to the mat.

• French Dip Sandwiches. The best possible use, and if you saved any gravy you’ve already got your jus sorted. Thin slices, crusty roll, happiness.
• A proper roast beef sandwich. Good bread, horseradish or a sharp mustard, something crunchy. The horseradish is the part that makes it, cutting right through all that richness.
• Beef hash. Diced roast beef, diced potato, onion, all crisped up together with an egg on top.
• Over salad. Thin slices on bitter greens with a mustardy vinaigrette. Makes leftovers feel like it was the plan all along.
• Stroganoff or a quick stir fry. Add it right at the end, off the heat. It’s already cooked and it doesn’t need any more.

Storage and Freezing

Fridge: 3 to 4 days in an airtight container. Keep it as a whole piece rather than slicing it all at once, since slices dry out much faster than a solid chunk.

Reheating: Gently, and low. Wrapped in foil, into a 250°F oven, then turn the oven off and leave it in there 10 to 15 minutes. A splash of broth or leftover gravy in the foil helps a lot. Anything hotter and it carries on cooking past where you stopped it.

Or eat it cold, which is what I’d do. Cold roast beef is a genuine pleasure and reheating is always a small step down.

Freezer: 2 to 3 months, cooled right down, wrapped in plastic and then foil. Thaw in the fridge for a day or 2 before reheating.

Other Recipes You’ll Love

• Prime Rib Roast – When it’s a proper occasion and the budget has stopped being a consideration.
• Air Fryer Roast Beef – Same idea, smaller roast, under an hour, no oven needed.
• French Dip Sandwiches – Where the leftovers are headed. You may as well plan for it.
• Beef Rouladen – The fussy German one, and worth every minute of it.
• Guinness Braised Short Ribs – For when you want beef but you want it falling apart instead of sliced.
• Braised Beef Short Ribs – The Craving Home Cooked version, no stout involved.