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!
Yummy…will make again!
Hi Nagi
Love your food – always easy always delicious…
question please..
You’ve shown how to tenderise beef for stir fry.. a fave of ours is Steak Diane .. can I buy a cheaper cut, rump or topside and ‘bi carb’ that for SD? Fillet is just too expensive forus. If so, how would I do it 🙏🏻
It doesn’t work quite as well for a piece of meat like steak Diane unfortunately – it’s better sured to sliced/cut meat. N x
Hi Nagi
Love your food – always easy always delicious…
question please..
You’ve shown how to tenderise beef for stir fry.. a fave of ours is Steak Diane .. can I buy a cheaper cut, rump or topside and ‘bi carb’ that for SD? Fillet is just too expensive forus. If so, how would I do it 🙏🏻
I cooked this for the first time last night. My husband loves Salisbury steak and had been asking for it, so I broke down and made it. I have to say, this is the best I have ever eaten!!! My mom used to make this all the time, but i can tell you, this version beat hers hands down!!! She passed away 6 years ago, so naturally, this dish took me back a lot of years!! Hubby and daughters loved it, will be having this a lot more!!! Thank you!
I always wonder when they say “half an onion” is that referring to a small cooking onion like my mum used to buy in a bag, or one of the bigger onions like I always buy individually?
I never read the blogs, always shoot straight to the recipe but I read yours.God bless,there is a crown waiting on you in heaven.
Oh bless you Betty, that’s made my day ❤️ N x
Made this for dinner using a premade organic burger patty and used canned button mushrooms, otherwise followed the recipe as directed. Hubby loved it.
I’ve been looking for recipes for my 91 year old father. He has difficulty chewing, so I thought this would be a good for him. The only experience I’ve had with Salisbury steak was the frozen dinner variety, and it was truly horrible, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was thrilled to find how tasty, juicy and delicious this recipe was! Definitely making again. I will update once he gets a taste and gives feedback.
This beats any store bought frozen meal Cathy, I’m so glad it was a hit! N x
My father LOVED it too!! The whole family did!! 🙂
Great recipe. Truly wonderful. The only disconcerting issue with the video is the 70’s porn flick music.
Thanks so much, I’m so glad you love the recipe & lucky you can mute the sound on my videos 😉 N x
Note: The ingredients list calls for 1/2 onion in the steaks portion. BUT, it does not indicate that it is to be GRATED! Only in the recipe.
Hi Wayne, yes that’s correct – you’ll see this notes in step 1 of the instructions and shown in the video 🙂 N x
Nagi, you are amazing!!!! A gaazillion thank you’s for sharing your recipe’s with us. I am in love with Dozer – I have a Golden Retriever and her name is Charlie. You are awesome Nagi!!!!
This is the third time making this and i added o ion and mushroom soup and another half a cup to a cup of water to gravey to extend out the gravy and it makes it a rich gravy and have lots of leftovers!
Wonderful winter meal. The gravy is so tasty and the patties are very tender. I forgot to put water in the gravy but found in end there was enough liquid from the mince and stock. Also used hot English mustard powder rather than Dijon. Delicious! Thank you.
This was soo good! I used ground sirloin that was on sale for the ground beef. I didnt have panko breadcrumbs so I used instant oatmeal instead. I almost made 4 patties instead of 5 thinking the serving size would be too small. The nummy rich gravy made the 5 patties the perfect size.Thank you for such a good recipe! I will try more of your recipes in the future!
I made the Salisbury Steak w/ Mushroom gravy. It. Was. Amazing. My husband wept.
First time making this recipe & it turned out absolutely delicious 🥰 I just added a sprinkle of thyme while the mushrooms were cooking because my mother always thinks that mushrooms need a dash 😇 Thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe ❤️
This recipe was a hit! Extremely tasty and enjoyed by all. I simmered the sauce a bit longer to help thicken the gravy and added a whole onion because it was so small.
Took quite a bit longer than 5-7 minutes for my gravy to thicken but I think it was due to the water content in the mince I used. I will try with mince from the butcher next time because this was seriously tasty and being on a budget I’m always looking for new things to do with mince.
My family think that I’m an amazing cook and I have you to thank Nagi! Your recipes are easy to follow and virtually fail-proof.
Hi Lauren, yes sometimes I find mince can be slightly watery unfortunately. I’m so glad you’re loving the recipes though, I truly enjoy hearing this!! N x
Hi, Nagi
The steaks were great.
I’m asking if they would be ok to make up a batch of them and freeze them?
Cheers Mike
This is so good! We don’t usually use Worcestershire sauce so I just swapped in regular Oyster sauce. It was so so good and easy to make ❤