Roasting meat is one of my favorite things to do at home when I’m making dinner, it always smells awesome even after just ten minutes in the oven and it is so easy to do! A lot of people I talk to are always skeptical of roasting a larger cut of meat because they aren’t sure how long to roast the meat, what type of cut to use, and how to season it properly to get a delicious roast beef.
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How to Cook Your Roast Beef
So for today’s cooking tutorial, I’m going to walk you through slow roasting a 2lb beef outside round, though the same method may be applied to other cuts and types of meat as well. I’ll be crusting this roast with garlic, lemon thyme, oregano, and Dijon mustard. The herbs I will be using in this recipe are all homegrown, which in my opinion makes this roast beef taste a lot better!
After reading today's roast beef cooking tutorial you’ll be able to roast any cut of meat with confidence, and if you’re not sure about a step or what to do next, you can always come back and look it up or ask me in the comments. To follow along you will need:
1x 2lb Outside Round Oven Roast
3 Fresh Garlic Cloves
2 Small Onions
3 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Finely Chopped Fresh Thyme
3 tablespoon Finely Chopped Fresh Oregano
Ground Coarse Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to taste
So let’s jump right in. The first thing you’ll want to do (besides going grocery shopping for any missing items of course!) is to get all your ingredients handy. I’m keeping this roast beef fairly simple with just eight ingredients, but regardless of what flavor combination you want to go with it is important to have everything ready so that you don’t have to scramble for missing ingredients mid-cooking! In a professional kitchen, this is called your Mise en Place, (Mise or MEP for short), and as any chef will tell you, not having your MEP ready to go before you start cooking is a big no-no!
Turn on your oven to 375°F to pre-heat while we work. We’ll mince the garlic, and herbs for the Dijon crust next, but as you can see I left the onions in a rough chop. The reason for this is that I will be placing the roast ON TOP of the onions while it’s in the oven to prevent the meat from scorching on the bottom. This also has the secondary effect of the meat leaking its juices over top of the onions as we are roasting, flavoring the juice which we can use at the end to make a tasty pan jus or gravy.
Seasoning the Roast Beef
Once you have all the vegetables and herbs cut up, we can start seasoning the meat. You want to liberally season the roast with salt and pepper (I always use fresh ground coarse sea salt and whole black pepper, I find you simply get a better flavor), then spread the Dijon out over the top of the meat, sprinkle it with the garlic and herbs, and then the best part, rub it all In.! Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty here, you can always wash them later! I find it is important to really rub all the ingredients into the meat to help the crust stick to the meat and evenly spread out all the seasonings.
After you get the whole roast beef rubbed with the crust, wash your hands with warm soapy water and pop that baby into the oven!
For a small roast beef like this, you won’t need a very long cooking time. It took us about 1 hour in the oven and 5 minutes of prep time. If you are unsure of how long you should cook a beef roast you can follow this general rule of thumb.
For most all beef roasts you want to aim for a cooking time of 30 minutes per pound of meat.
This is perfect if you time it with resting, setting a table, getting your family or guests together, and then chowing down!
Start the roast at 375°F for half an hour. Then drop the temperature to 350°F so as to avoid burning the roast. Cook for roughly another half hour at 350°F if you are using a 2lb roast like I am. If your roast is larger you may need to keep it in the oven longer. You can check the internal temperature if you like with a properly calibrated digital thermometer to check the done-ness.
This roast beef was sitting at about 135.5°F after 1 hour total in the oven. Cook your roast beef to about 10-15 degrees below your desired end temperature. I am shooting for a nice medium (145°F) so I will take the roast beef out of the oven at 135°F to allow for carryover cooking.
Just because you take the meat out of the oven doesn't mean the cooking process stops just like that. The residual heat in the meat will "carry over" cook your roast. Letting your roast beef rest for at least 10 minutes after it comes out of the oven will ensure the temperature stabilizes and that the Roast will not bleed out, losing all of its juicy goodness before you get to eat it! Once the roast has had a chance to rest, slice it with a nice sharp knife and serve!
An oven roast like this makes for an awesome and easy meal. Served with some pickles, roasted potatoes, a good quality Dijon mustard (my favorite kind is made by Kuhne
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Recipe
Simple Garlic, Oregano, and Thyme Oven Roast Beef
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 lb Outside Round Oven Roast
- 3 whole Fresh Garlic Cloves
- 2 whole Small Onions
- 3 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 tablespoon Finely Chopped Fresh Thyme
- 3 tablespoon Finely Chopped Fresh Oregano
- Ground Coarse Sea Salt and Cracked Black Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375F.
- Rough chop your onions and place in a greased roasting pan.
- Finely chop the garlic and herbs. Using paper towel or a clean cloth pat the beef roast dry of any excess blood or juice. Rub the outside of the roast with the Dijon mustard.
- Than sprinkle your herbs and garlic on top, and use your hands to spread it around until the whole roast is crusted with the mixture. Liberally season the outside with salt and pepper.
- Place the roast on top of the chopped onions in the roasting pan and place in the preheated oven.
- Roast the Beef for about 20-30 minutes and then drop the temperature to 350F. Roast for another 30 minutes then check the temperature with a food grade thermometer. Roast the Beef for about 30 minutes per 1lb of meat.
- Once the desired temperature and done-ness is reached, take the roast out of the oven and allow it to rest for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
Sean
Nothing quite like a good roast! As a kid I was pretty convinced I hated mustard, but it was actually mustard rub on the outside of a roast that opened my eyes and made me realize that I needed to rethink things a little. This is a great recipe, and a great walkthrough of the techniques necessary.
Isabelle @ Crumb
I love me a good roast beef dinner! I usually do my roast the way my mother taught me, just rubbed with a little butter and dry mustard, but I can just imagine how much tastier it would be with the addition of fresh thyme and oregano. Filing this away for later in the fall, when I can bear to turn on the oven again. 🙂