A cross between a hamburger and a meatball, Salisbury steak is the staunch classic that we think is well deserving of a revival. A staple from the bygone era of box TV dinners in the living room and microwave dinners, this meal takes seasoned and browned ground beef patties and smothers them in a rich mushroom gravy. The result is a dinner that’s as heartwarming as an at-home Saturday movie night, but simple to make.
The full list of ingredients and directions can be found in the recipe below.
Recipe Tips
- Test and taste your steak mixture: There’s nothing worse than a bland meat patty. While the seasonings in the steak and gravy can vary by recipe, common additions to both include onion, Worcestershire sauce, and some type of tomato product (we went with tomato paste here). The seasonings used for a Salisbury steak are also what separate it from a hamburger steak, so take care with them. Cooking a bit of the ground meat mixture and tasting it for seasoning might seem like a pain, but we promise it’s worth it to get it just right.
- Add water to the pan with the mushrooms: This seems to contradict everything we’ve ever heard about cooking mushrooms (mushrooms are already watery, and water is the enemy of caramelization, so why would we add more?). But when mushrooms hit a hot pan, the heat causes them to shrivel and shrink immediately. Adding water prevents this shock and actually speeds up the browning process. Provided the pan is large enough for the mushrooms to fit in a single layer, the water will evaporate evenly as they cook, resulting in plump, golden brown, perfectly crisp mushrooms.
Storage
To make this simple meal even easier, Salisbury steaks can be made in advance and frozen. You can freeze the raw steaks if you like (freeze individually on a parchment-lined baking sheet until firm and then transfer to an airtight container), or you can freeze the fully cooked steaks with the gravy. Either way, they should stay good for up to 1 month.