This is how to transform an economical beef into something really special – use a herb garlic roast beef marinade to inject extra flavour, juiciness and tenderise. The marinated roast beef comes out of the oven with a deep golden crust, blushing pink, unbelievably juicy and bursting with flavour!
** Follow the Roast Beef Cut guide below to determine which cuts are best for marinating**
Marinated Roast Beef
This is a recipe that was born during the days when I was a poverty stricken uni student who refused to live on packet ramen day after day. I wanted roast beef and gravy, damn it! But of course, my budget would never stretch to Prime Rib, so I’d purchase the best value roast beef cuts I could find then end up chewing my way through dry, tasteless roast beef.
Because that is, after all, the reason we pay top dollar for premium cuts – it’s tender, juicy and full of flavour.
So I started marinating the economical beef I purchased, to add flavour and juiciness. And I never stopped! 🙂
Use this roast beef marinade for economical roast beef cuts to add flavour and juiciness!
Roast Beef Marinade ingredients
Here’s what you need. The ingredients in this are pretty similar to my Steak Marinade. It’s a great one for beef because it adds savoury flavour without overwhelming ie it complements and enhances the beef flavour, rather than overtaking it completely.
(PS Soy sauce acts as a brine in this recipe, injecting salt into the flesh. As opposed to adding Asian flavours – there is nothing remotely Asian about this roast beef recipe!
Best Roast Beef Cuts
Use this recipe on any economical beef roast cut. It would be wasted on expensive cuts, so do not use it on Prime Rib, beef tenderloin or any cut of roast beef that you’ve paid top dollar for.
Here’s a list of some of the most common roast beef cuts – I’ve done my best to translate the name of cuts between Australia, the US and UK!
Great for this roast beef marinade
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Oyster Blade Roast (Aus) / Top Blade Roast (US) – great for this marinade! Pretty tender cut with decent flavour, very good value. Looks like the pictured roast beef but has a thin line of membrane in the middle.
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Bolar Blade (Aus/parts of UK) – perfect for this marinade! An economical cut with fair flavour and is reasonably tender but is enhanced by marinading. This is pictured in the post and video. This cut doesn’t really exist in the US, it’s part of the cow shoulder gets mixed up in chuck meat.
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Eye of Round Roast (US) / Girello (Australia) – ideal for this marinade because it’s a leaner, tougher cut of meat with less beefy flavour. In Australia, this cut of beef is usually sold in medallion steak form or pre marinated at supermarkets, so it’s not really available.
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Silverside (Aus/UK) / Bottom Round Roast (US) – this is one of the tougher cuts of roast beef, usually slow cooked. It’s used for corned beef and to make things like Pastrami. This marinade is ideal for adding flavour to this cut and it can be cooked to pink as pictured, as long as the beef is sliced very thinly.
Optional Marinade
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Rump Roast (Aust) / Top Sirloin Roast (US) – tender, juicy and marbled and a good quality one doesn’t need marinating BUT if you get a very economical one, it will certainly benefit from marinading.
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Topside Roast (Aus/UK name) / Top Round Roast (US) – probably the most popular cut for a classic roast beef (ie not marinated). If you’ve purchased a good quality one, there’s no need to marinade. But if you’ve purchased a good value one, this roast beef marinade will certainly enhance it.
Do not use marinade for these beef cuts
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Tender, juicy, prime beef cuts – Prime rib / standing rib roast, scotch fillet roast (which is standing rib minus the bone), tenderloin, strip loin roast / Porterhouse roast. These are pricier, quality cuts and a marinade would be wasted on them!
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Slow cooking cuts – Brisket, chuck and ribs. These are tough cuts of beef that need to be slow cooked to breakdown the tough fibres. Because of this, I typically do not marinade them as the slow cooking time is when the flavour is infused into the beef – recipes like Pot Roast, Beef Stew, Short Ribs in Red Wine Sauce and Brisket in BBQ Sauce.
How to make it
The making part is very straight forward – marinade, plonk on veggies and roast on high (240C/450F) to get a nice crust, then turn down to 180C/350F to finish cooking.
MOST IMPORTANT STEP is to rest the beef for a minimum of 20 minutes, ideally 30 minutes, to allow the juices to get sucked back into the beef. If you do not rest, the meat juices will run everywhere the second you cut it = less juicy beef. 😢
How long to marinade roast beef?
Because we’re talking about a piece of meat that’s somewhat larger than chicken breast, you’ll get the best results if you can marinate for 2 to 3 days. Anything less than 24 hours is better than not marinating at all, but it’s less effective.
Final Tips!
- Take the beef out of the fridge 1 hour prior – key to take the chill out of the core a bit to encourage even cooking
- Slice thinly against the grain – No matter what cut of beef you are using, slice the beef thinly against the grain for the most tender bite. Here’s a diagram for how to slice against the grain – just look for the direction of the meat fibres and cut 90° across them.
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Start high, then go low(ish) – this recipe starts high at 240C/450F to get the crust going, then finishes roasting at 180C/350F until it’s perfectly pink and super juicy inside.
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Roast on veggies OR a rack – this encourages more even cooking of the roast by elevating it off the base of the pan (well, skillet in my case. Handy to make gravy afterwards rather than man handling a roasting pan on the stove 😇).
You can just use a rack, I personally think anyone would be made to turn down tasty roasted veg that have sucked up the flavour of the marinade AND been basted with juices from the roast beef, but who am I to judge? 🤷🏻♀️
Gravy is optional here – we’ve added good flavour into the beef so you don’t need it. But I’m never one to turn down gravy, so I’ve popped the recipe in the notes.
But truly, it’s great even without. This beef is so juicy, it is literally squirting juices everywhere when you cut into it – and that’s even after resting it for a good 30 minutes.
I really hope I managed to capture how tender and juicy the beef is in the recipe video! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Marinated Roast Beef
Ingredients
- 1.5kg / 3 lb Top Blade Roast, Bolar Blade, Eye of Round Roast, Oyster Blade Roast or other economical roast beef cut (Note 1)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Marinade (Note 2):
- 3 garlic cloves , minced (2.5 tsp jar)
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) soy sauce
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
Vegetables (optional):
- 3 potatoes , cut into 5cm/2" chunks
- 4 carrots , peeled cut into 4cm/1.7" pieces
- Salt and pepper
Gravy (optional, Note 4)
- 4 tbsp (50g) flour
- 2 1/2 cups (625 ml) beef broth (stock), low sodium
- 3/4 tsp black pepper , coarsely ground
Instructions
- Mix Marinade ingredients in a large ziplock bag.
- Add beef, marinade for 2 days (24 hrs min, 3 days max).
Cooking:
- Take beef out of fridge 1 hour prior.
- Preheat oven to 240C/450F.
- Toss vegetables in all beef marinade liquid, spread out in ovenproof skillet, top with beef.
- Drizzle with oil, roast 20 minutes.
- Turn oven down to 180C/350F (160C fan), roast for a further 35 - 40 minutes or until a meat thermometer inserted into the centre registers 44°C / 111°F for medium rare (Note 3 for more temps).
- Remove beef onto plate, cover loosely in foil and rest for 20 - 30 minutes (internal temp will rise to 52°C / 125°F which is perfect medium rare!).
- Return vegetables to oven to brown a bit, if needed.
- To serve, slice beef thinly. Serve roast veg and juices in the skillet OR make gravy (below)!
Gravy (optional)
- Remove vegetables, leave juices in skillet. Skim excess off fat from surface, leave behind 2 tbsp.
- Place on medium high heat on stove. Add flour and stir for 1 minute.
- Slowly add beef stock while stirring. If needed, use whisk to remove lumps.
- Bring to simmer for 2 minutes until thickens to gravy consistency. Stir in pepper and salt if needed. Serve with beef.
Recipe Notes:
- Oyster Blade Roast (Aus) / Top Blade Roast (US).
- Bolar Blade (Aus/parts of UK)
- Eye of Round Roast (US)
- Silverside (Aus/UK) / Bottom Round Roast (US) - no CORNED silverside, it's been brined already. Use corned silverside for Pastrami.
- Rump Roast (Aust) / Top Sirloin Roast (US)^ - only if you get super economical ones.
- Topside Roast (Aus/UK name) / Top Round Roast (US)^- only if you get super economical ones.
- expensive roast beef cuts like prime rib / standing rib roast, scotch fillet roast (which is standing rib minus the bone), tenderloin, strip loin roast / Porterhouse roast.
- chuck, brisket, ribs or shank (these need to be slow cooked, recipe needs amendment)
- Mustard - can leave out or use other mustard
- Balsamic - 2 tbsp vinegar
- Sugar - honey, maple, other liquid sweeteners
- Herbs - any of choice
- Onion powder - garlic powder, or omit
- Rare is 49°C/120°F. Remove from oven when it is 41°C/ 106°F.
- Medium rare is 52°C / 125°F. Remove from oven when it is 44°C / 111°F. Medium rare is my preference.
- Medium is 55°C / 130°F. Remove from oven at 48°C/118°F.
- Medium well done is 57°C/135°F. Remove from oven at 49°C/120°F.
Nutrition Information:
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SO. MUCH. FUR!!!🙄
So I cook the Roast with the Veg …BUT youre biggest mistake…’Let the roast sit’…Tell me what do you do while youre meat is resting and your Veg are getting cold or overcooked in the Oven..?? Very silly instructions….But run away and just leave this online for some sap to follow. Smh
Seriously?
Perhaps you shouldn’t be cooking if you can’t extrapolate a solution. Did you pay for the recipe? No? Then don’t complain.
If 99.9% of other people commenting haven’t run into problems with the recipe then I suspect the issue is you.
Smh, indeed.
😘 N x
Beautiful response 👏🏻
Oh my goodness! Now this was my first ever time at cooking a roast beef. I was very nervous as my husband is an exceptionally fussy eater and is very particular about an English roast (feel free to roll eyes with me). Now that marinade is something kinda special huh? Even before the meat was cooked it just sang!
Then despite having to pop it in the oven a lot later than I’d intended to (a 2 year old and 7 month old conspiring to ruin date night), when the aforementioned husband came home he just could not get over the smells coming from the kitchen. With the greatest patience I rested the meat and carved into it with great trepidation. The fussy roast eater will only have medium to well done roast beef. Oh lords above! The beef was divine! It was juicy and succulent and so flavoursome! My husband could not stop eating it. We had leftovers for sandwiches for about three days and even our little toddler commented saying yummy yummy in my tummy!
Hands down you are the queen of roasts! This will become a treasured family recipe now. Thank you for sharing a gem
I am going to cook this Monday, with trepidation, as my Beef roasts are not very successfully cooked, all dry, overcooked, n taste like cardboard
Definitely Agnes, go with a thermometer, you’ll never look back. Just stick the probe in and wait for it to hit the desired temp. They even make thermometers that are remote control where you just carry the display around with you and it updates every 15 seconds or so. Perfect for roasts, pork loin, etc.
Hi Agnes! So two things come into play here if you’re experiencing that problem: 1) Cooking too long 🙂 Get a meat thermometer, you can get really cheap ones and it will ensure you never overcook beef again! 2) the taste will be affected by overcooking. Beef has the most taste when it’s blushing pink cooked to medium rare or medium, as pictured. Also, the quality (price) of beef comes into play. Marinating the beef per this recipe will add flavour into economical beef! N x
Hey Nagi,
What’s your thoughts on using this marinade for girello cut of beef? Have you ever cooked a girello cut? I just bought it for the first time and now I’m not really sure how to cook it. Not much info on it except it’s a lean cut and can dry easily.
P.S you are my go to for all my recipes, love your blog!
Hi Verna – this is ideal for girello! Girello is what I’ve listed as “Eye of Round” in the post and it’s great for this marinade because it’s a lean cut of beef 🙂 Girello is not very common that’s why I didn’t name it! N x
Nagi, another great recipe. My family stood around the oven counting the minutes until this delicious roast was ready. It was tough to tell them it had to then stand for 20 minutes. The vege underneath were great. No-one wanted to wait for gravy! Loved it.
Wahoo, that’s awesome Leisa!
Thank you, Nagi! Made this for my husband and his twin sister for their birthday meal; it was delicious. I used some of the mark and win the gravy and we were all very happy! Thank you so much. 🙂
Wahoo, that’s great to hear Katie!
*mark and win should probably read marinade!! I love predictive text! 🙄
This was SO flavourful! My family loved it!
That’s great to hear Donna!
Delicious tasty roast beef from economical cuts. My husband thinks this dish is fantastic!
Wahoo, that’s great Janis!
Made this with top round because it was $2.69 a pound… Hubby says it was fantastic.
So today the bottom round,eye of round, top round, and sirloin tip went on sale at $2.99 a pound and he ran off and bought three!
Questions:
a) Can we marinate and then freeze?
b) Will sirloin tip work ok?
Hi Janis, yes you could definitely freeze in the marinade and sirloin tip will be great!
Hi. My first time trying this recipe but i was actually going to freeze my roast beef in the marinade. I’m using sirloin tip roast. Do I still need to marinade for 24 to 48 hours before freezing or freeze right away after marinating?
Once again you have hit the ball out of the park with this recipe! It was delicious. We really enjoyed our dinner this evening. I used a rump roast and I marinaded it for 2 days. Next time I’ll use more potatoes and carrots because they were phenomenal. You are the best!
Woot! Sounds like you nailed it Christine!
Can this recipe be used for a slow cooker ?
Hi Ally, this is more of a sliceable beef recipe rather than a slow cooked fall apart beef – N x
Tried this today. This is the best recipe ever! I want to eat this everyday.
Thanks so much Bibi!
Tried this today. This is the best recipe ever! I want to eat this everyday.
Wahoo! What a compliment Bivi – N x
I only marinated my roast for 12 hours – a bit of late planning from my side – but the meat was tender and full of flavor, something I’ve really struggled to achieve with cheap roast cuts – another recipe added to my MUST HAVE book! Thank you so much for sharing!
I’m so glad you loved it! Thanks for the awesome feedback!
Good morning Nagi! I am marinating this morning to have for Saturday night- question about the marinating juices. If I were to cook them down, would I be able to use them for a gravy or would they be too strong? Thank you 😊
Hi Diana, I think they might be too strong if reduced, but you could definitely add some of it into the gravy!
Loved this recipe, was so easy and the marinade is amazing! I had to use grainy mustard as I didn’t have any Dijon but tasted great still, and that was the only minor recipe deviation I had to make. Made the gravy too and it was so flavourful! Added some Yorkshire puddings and they went perfectly with the roast dinner and gravy.
That’s wonderful to hear Courtney!
i WOULD LIKE TO TRY MAKING MARINATED STEAK TIPS FOR THE GRILL. WOULD I USE THIS RECIPE OR DO YOU HAVE ONE THAT WOULD BE BETTER.
I LOVE ALL AND HAVE MADE MANY OF YOUR RECIPES. I ALSO APPRECIATE THE ADDITIONAL NOTES YOU PROVIDE. VERY HELPFUL.
Hi IInda, you could use this or my beef kebab marinade, both would be great – N x
Very excited to cook this next weekend. I just bought a silverside to use, noticed the packaging says “corned silverside”. Is there a difference between silverside and corned silverside? Bit worried it’s going to be too salty!
Hi Kelly, yes the corned silverside will be too salty unfortunately – You could always make pastrami with it! https://www.recipetineats.com/easy-homemade-pastrami/
Thanks Nagi, I was afraid that would be the case. Ooh, I had eyed off your pastrami recipe previously, might have to give it a try.
I hope you do, it won’t dissapoint!
Nagi, I made this today! It’s fabulous! I’ve never made a great roast until now. Thank you. I used an eye of round and marinated for three days. This is my go to roast recipe now. Looking forward to leftovers.
Wahoo, that’s awesome Harriett!
Thank for easy recipe
You’re so welcome!
Nagi, you have a great way to communicate. I have learned so much from your blog. Whatever I have cooked using your recipes turned out to be tasteful.
It must be agony for Dozer with the smell of your cooking wafting around his nose slobbering.
Thanks so much for letting me know Horst! Dozer always gets treats at the end of the day – he has a good life 😂