How To A Make Perfect Roast Beef
Make a perfect roast beef every time with this time-tested, easy roast beef recipe made with red wine, garlic and a Dijon herb crust. Perfect for weekend dinners and special occasions.
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I have been making this roast beef for almost 20 years, it has never failed me. Super simple with a delicious Dijon and herb crust that is to die for.
This roast beef is first roasted in the oven for about 30 minutes at a high temperature to seal the juices and create a crispy outer coating. Then slow-roasted in the oven for another 2 hours, creating a juicy, tender cut of beef and delicious pan juices to go with.
What is best to serve this with?
To make this roast beef recipe the perfect weekend dinner feast, I often serve these side dishes alongside the creamiest parsnip puree, dreamy cauliflower mashed potatoes or for the picky eaters who like the classics, the fluffiest mashed potatoes you’ll ever eat. And of course, a vegetable like butter smothered green beans or sweet and sticky maple roasted carrots.
Star Ingredients
- Beef – I like to use an inside round, top sirloin or rump roast. Look for a cut of beef that is lean with a little marbling. It is the fat from the marbling that gives the roast its flavour, and a little fat goes a long way. Even one of the roasts with a fat cap will work well. Maybe just score the cap, if this is what you find, so that it renders better to add more flavor.
- Red wine – You don’t need to cook with expensive wines, but you must choose a wine that tastes good and pairs well with the meat. I think the best wine varieties to use are merlot, zinfandel, cabernet or chianti because they are medium-bodied with some tannins that go well with rare or medium beef. Or if you prefer to stay away from wine in cooking, you can replace the wine with beef broth.
Step-By-Step Made Simple
- Preheat the oven to 450° F. Using a paring knife cut slits even throughout the outside of the roast in place a clove of garlic inside each slit.
Ensure the garlic is fully tucked inside because once the beef begins roasting and tightening up, the garlic will want to rise out of the beef.
- Then pour 1 cup of red wine and 1 1/2 cups of water into the bottom of a roasting pan. Since every roasting pan is a different size I like to add enough liquid so that when I place my index finger in the liquid comes up to the line of my first knuckle.
- Spread the mustard evenly over the outside top and sides of the roast. Then evenly sprinkle the salt, pepper and oregano over the top and sides. This is going to form a nice crust on the roast when done and add tonnes of flavour.
- Then add the onions, cut in half along the side of the roast as best you can. The onions will steam and add flavour to the beef without being overpowering and will also infuse great flavour into the pan juices.
- Place in the oven at 450°F for half an hour. Do not cover the roast with a lid. After about 30 minutes, the bottom of the pan may be dry and dark. This is what you want and why this recipe makes such a flavorful dark gravy. I like to check at about the 20-minute mark to see if there is any liquid left at the bottom of the pan.
When I was a kid, we spooned the leftover gravy on white bread for lunch the next day and sprinkled it with salt and pepper at my Grandmas. So good!
- After the 30 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and add more water to the bottom of the pan if it is dry; otherwise, leave it alone. If you need to add more 2- 3 cups will do.
- Continue to roast for another 1 hour, gently basting every 20 minutes. I say gently because if you hurl the pan juices over the top of the roast, all that lovely crust will slide off. So be gentle and baste with care. Just a drizzle of pan juices over top.
- Remove from the oven when the internal temperature reaches the desired doneness. Tent the roast with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Carve against the grain and serve.
How to know when roast beef is cooked?
I use a meat thermometer to check the perfect temperature. I like my roast medium-rare. Here are the recommended cooking temperatures for the perfect slice. So adjust the cook time accordingly.
- Rare – 125°F or 52°C
- Medium Rare – 135°F or 57°C
- Medium – 145°F or 63°C
- Medium Well – 150°F or 66°C
- Well Done – 160°F or 71°C
Leftovers? No Problem
Store any leftovers in the fridge in a sealed container for up to 3 days. I like to pour any or some of the remaining pan juices or gravy over the top of the meat to keep some moisture in the beef because the fridge tends to dry things out sometimes.
To reheat, you can do so in the microwave, but I prefer to add the leftover roast back to a non-stick pan with some of the gravy or juice and reheat on medium-low.
Perfect Every Time Roast Beef
Equipment
- Oven
- Roasting pan
- Paring knife
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Carving Knife
Ingredients
- 4 Lb Top Sirloin, Pot Roast, Inside Round or Chuck Roast
- 4-6 cloves garlic
- 1 cup red wine merlot, chianti, zinfandel, cabernet
- 2 cups water approximately
- 3 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 3 tsp coarse salt
- ¾ tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 onions cut in half
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450° F. Using a paring knife cut slits even throughout the outside of the roast in place a clove of garlic inside each slit. Ensure the garlic is fully tucked inside because once the beef begins roasting and tightening up the garlic will want to rise out of the beef. You will want to use 4-6 cloves depending on the size of the roast. If you have larger cloves you can cut them in half lengthwise and just use a half per slit.
- Then pour 1 cup of red wine and 1 1/2 cups of water into the bottom of a roasting pan. Since every roasting pan is a different size I like to add enough liquid so that when I place my index finger in the liquid comes up to the line of my first knuckle.
- Spread the mustard evenly over the outside top and sides of the roast. Then evenly sprinkle the salt, pepper and oregano over the top and sides.
- Then add the onions cut in half along the side of the roast as best you can. The onions will steam and add flavour to the beef without being overpowering and will also infuse great flavour into the pan juices.
- Next place in the oven at 450° F for half an hour. Do not cover the roast with a lid.
- After the half-hour the bottom of the pan may be dried and dark. Excellent because that pan juice is going to be amazing! That is if you are one to love dark beef gravy. If you aren't one of those people check at the 20-minute mark and add more water to the pan if need be.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350° F and add more water to the bottom of the pan if it is dry otherwise leave it alone. If you need to add more 2- 3 cups will do.
- Continue to roast for another 1 hour gently basting every 20 minutes or so. I say gently because if you hurl the pan juices at the top of the roast all that lovely crust will shoot off and you don't want that. So be gentle and baste with care. Sort of a light drizzle of pan juices over top. Please refer to the temperature chart in the blog post and check for doneness after the 1 hour mark using a meat thermometer.
- Remove from the oven when the internal temperature reaches the desired doneness. Tent the roast with foil and let rest for 10 minutes. Carve against the grain and serve.
Making The Gravy
- Take the juice from the bottom of the roast pan and transfer it to a small pot, and bring it all to a boil. If a lot of the crusty bits have fallen off and into the pan, I sometimes run the pan juices through a sieve into the pot to help remove any hard or crusty bits.
- Add a 1/4 cup of cold water to a small up along with two tablespoons of cornstarch and whisk it up with a fork until smooth. Then pour it into the boiling pot.
- At first, it may look like the gravy has turned very light in colour, but that will dissipate in a few seconds. Keep stirring until the gravy thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Serve hot.
Nutrition
Notes
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Question- do you cover the roast after when you reduce to 350?
Hi Michelle,
No need to cover it. Enjoy!
Alright, I made this recipe for dinner tonight. Only had a 1.4pound roast, so I put it in for 450 for 15 mins, than lowered it to 350, and just kind of eye balled it as I pushed my thermometer in too far so it wasn’t reading properly. I did not have red wine, but I still wanted to have the red wine flavour, I used red wine vinegar instead and I think I did too much, I put carrots in my toaster with the onions and they were kind of vinegary. The flavour of the roast was good, I undercooked the roast, I didn’t noticed until I carved it. I sliced it up and put it back into the overnight for about 15ish minutes, I made mashed potatoes and brown gravy to go with it. Overall, I liked the flavour of the roast, I think I will make this again with the red wine or try it with just beef broth next time. Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Sydney, For red wine beef broth would be my next best choice for a substitute. Vinegar has a little too much acidity in it so I am glad it still turned out ok. Give it a try with the red wine next time or beef broth and let me know what you think!
The stores sell tiny bottles of wine that come in a 4 pack. I always keep on hand for this reason. Also let the roast sit for 20 -30 minutes before slicing.
Came across your recipe ,made it for supper it was Delicious !so much flavors !thank you ! This recipe is definitely a keeper ,!❤️
This was the best roast I ever made – I cooked at 500 for half hour as I loaded up the roasting pan with carrots and potatoes. I then cooked to 135 degrees for medium rare – great flavors – This will now be my go to Spoon roast recipe!
Roast was terribly overdone. After high heat for 30 minutes, a 4lb roast only needed 12-15 min/lb for medium rate. There is no way it needed 2 more hours.
Hi Susan, I am sorry your roast didn’t turn out but there are a few things to consider. Did you reduce the heat after the first half hour? Did you test for doneness using the readiness chart I provided in the post for medium, rare, well done? Since every oven is different, using a thermometer and the temperature chart for desired doneness is the best way to know when to take out your roast at the right time for you. If the roast does not cook at first for 30 minutes at high heat you will lose that dark char on top and in the pan that makes a wonderfully flavourful roast and gravy. I hope you give it another try using the doneness chart provided in the post because it really is a wonderful recipe loved by many.
Yep, mine was well past 160 when I checked it after 20 minutes at 350. And I only did 25 minutes at 450.
Hi Alicea and Susan,
I have adjusted the recipe to accommodate those who may be using a different cut or have ovens that run hotter so that overcooking can be avoided. I would rather the meat need to be cooked a little longer than overdo it so cut the cooking time way down. I certainly am not a fan of well done beef.
The new cooking times assume that a Sirloin or Eye of Round are being used. The cut really does make a difference so I also included a link to cooking times by cut of beef to help alleviate overcooking. This can be found in the body of the post.
I do hope you give this recipe another go because it is really quite delicious and one of my most popular recipes. Thanks for your feedback I really do appreciate the insight and hope I have improved the instructions for others moving forward.
It says after 30 minutes reduce to 350 and cook for 1 hour, not 2 hours…
I’m a little bit new to cooking roasts but I love this recipe, so I was wondering, once this has been cooked can it go in the freezer…or is that weird?
Hi Trey,
You can for sure freeze this but I would freeze it with some gravy because after freezing it will dry out a bit. Then pop it with the gravy in a pan and thaw over low heat to warm.
Do you ever cover the pan like maybe after you reduce temperature?
Hi Robyn, I don’t ever cover this roast but if you are cooking a larger roast that needs to be cooked for longer and find the top starting to char you can certainly do so.
Hello. This is the second time that I will be using your recipe for roast beef. Absolutely delicious!
Woot woot! Love hearing this Jackie. Thanks for sharing!
This was fantastic!! I used a 3.5 lb spoon roast and it was perfect with this recipe. Thank you!
My pleasure Leigh. So happy you loved it!
Can you use sirloin tip?
Sure! This recipe works with pretty much any roast.
Thank you!
My Pleasure!
The flavor of this is good. However I cooked my 4.25 pound roast exactly to the recipe. It was overdone 45 minutes prior to the 2 hours. I think with all the liquid it cooks more like a pot roast. Also the 30 minutes at 450 is longer than most recipes for a sear. My meat was well done at 45 minutes early and my family likes it rare. Was very disappointed.
Hi Jen, Inside the post, there is a section that talks about measuring the doneness of a roast using a thermometer. A rare roast will take much less time than one that is medium. The recipe itself is very clear to cook to the desired doneness so to ensure the roast is cooked to rare I would recommend reducing the sear time to 20 minutes and then cooking the roast only until the desired doneness is achieved. It is also important to note that everyone’s oven is different with some cooking hotter or cooler so, with any recipe, I would suggest watching the doneness or internal temperature closely. I do hope you give this recipe a try again with the time adjustments because it is really quite delicious!
Great! I accidentally threw in a small can full of tomato paste vs a tblspn. It was still good but I did end up adding a lot more broth. I used mini gold potatoes-Yummy!
Is there a substitute I can use for the red wine?
Hi Fiona, you could use beef broth instead of the red wine.
My roast is in the freezer. Do you totally thaw then cook? I have bought a very large roast for an early Christmas meal with family.
Hi Donnell,
Yes I would make sure the roast beef is fully thawed before cooking.
Can I add other vegetables to the roast besides the onions? Like carrots, celery, potatoes.. or should I make these separately.
Hi Ericka, You sure can just add them near the last half hour or so of cooking so that they don’t become mushy.
Just double checking the second part of step four was not intended as it is repeated in step eight.
Thanks for catching that Mindy! I updated the post to correct the error. It should not have been in step 4.
Does the roast sit on a rack in the pan?
No, the roast does not need to sit on a rack. I personally don’t use one but if you prefer it won’t hurt.
Hi Jim! No there is not need for this roast to sit on a rack.
Sounds delicious—My roast is is only 1.5lbs how do I adjust the cooking time … ???
Hi Priscilla, I have not had experience with this size of roast but usually, at 350F it takes 20-30 minutes per lb. But I like to get that char happening at the high temp to form a crust. So based on that I would recommend putting it in the oven at 400F and check it after 20 minutes with a meat thermometer based on the desired amount of doneness. I have a chart for the temperatures for rare, medium and well-done to guide you on the temps. If after 20 minutes it still needs to cook reduce the heat to 350F and check every 10 minutes. Don’t forget when you take it out cover it with foil and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing. Let me know how it turns out.
Thanks so much for this post. It’s like a masterclass in roast beef!