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    Home » Beef Roasts » How to Cook a Tender Eye of Round Beef Roast

    How to Cook a Tender Eye of Round Beef Roast

    Published: Dec 16, 2023 by Eric Samuelson

    Jump to Recipe Print Recipe

    Learn how you can take a lean, cheap roast and turn it into a delicious dinner. Get my cook it slow and make it tender eye of round roast recipe! When cooked well it can be a poor man's prime rib.

    A sliced Eye of Round that was cooked to medium on a sheet pan.

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    Last week I found an entire boneless eye of round roast at a local grocery store. So this week, I had to decide what to do with it. First I needed some more information. Let me share with you what my research found and then I will show you how to cook a good roast.

    Jump to:
    • 👁️ What is the Eye of Round Roast?
    • 🛒 Ingredients
    • 📋 Instructions
    • 🔪 How to Serve
    • 🥔 What to Serve With It
    • 🥪 Leftovers
    • Slow Roasted Eye of Round
    A raw eye of round roast on butcher paper.

    👁️ What is the Eye of Round Roast?

    The eye of round of course comes from the round portion of the cow (yes that's the backside!). This area also contains the top round and bottom round.

    The eye of round is a cylinder shaped cut of beef. It is lean in that there is only some fat on the outside and very little marbling on the inside. It is not the most tender piece of meat because that part of the cow does get a workout but it can be flavorful.

    Keeping in mind all this knowledge and after cutting my whole eye of round into about a 3-lb roast for that night's dinner, I came up with a game plan.

    RELATED - Learn about What a Bottom Round Roast Is

    A close view of a raw eye of round roast on butcher paper showing only fat on one end.

    🛒 Ingredients

    First you need to get your eye of round from the store. You can do like I did and buy a large eye of round round to cut into smaller roasts or some steaks as well. Or just look or a 3 pound roast. The roasts are pretty cheap, often under $5 a pound. They are on my list of beef roasts at Costco

    Nowadays whenever you can get beef at that price it's a good deal as long as you know what to do with it - which is probably why you are reading this now.

    Once you got your beef you want to season it up with a spice rub. You can use whatever your tastes desires. Let me show you what I use:

    • 1 tablespoon kosher salt (or to taste)
    • 1 teaspoon coriander seed
    • 1 teaspoon celery seed
    • 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
    • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
    • ¼ teaspoon ground mustard
    A bowl of spice and salt for the roast.

    When I can I always use whole spices. They have more flavor than pre-ground.

    Place all of these in your spice grinder (coffee grinder) and grind them for 10-15 seconds. (To learn more about using a coffee grinder to grind spices, read this post). If you don't have one then use a mortal & pestle.

    A sheet pan with a raw roast that has been seasoned.

    Take this spice rub and rub it into the meat, all over the entire roast. If you find you need more just keep the portions the same.

    📋 Instructions

    Set your oven to 225 degrees. We are going to start low, so that the outside doesn't become leather before the inside is done. Be patient and taking longer to cook the roast will reap big benefits in the end.

    It would also help if you bring the roast closer to room temperature before you begin hitting with the heat. Set it out about 30 minutes before it's cook time.

    Place the roast onto a roasting pan or sheet pan. Before you put it into the oven we have to talk about an essential tool. For me it's the DOT® Simple Alarm Thermometer

    A yellow ThermoWorks DOT alarm thermometer on burlap.

    The most important tool to have to cook this roast is a thermometer. Giving you a time would be a disservice as there are too many variables to give you an accurate time. Best I can say is that you need to give yourself 2-3 hours. Without a thermometer you can easily overcook this roast and it will be too tough to chew. You need to monitor the roast while it cooks and the best thing for that is an alarm thermometer with a probe.

    If you just have an instant read thermometer you can use that but you will have to open up the oven several times to check the temperature and every time you do that heat escapes and thus increasing the time it will take to cook your roast.

    Stick the probe into the center of the meat into the deepest part. Because the roasts are boneless you don't have to worry about hitting bone and messing up your reading.

    Learn about Why You Should Have a Thermometer for Your Cooking.

    Now once your thermometer is in place, stick your roast into the pre-heated 225 degree oven.

    Keep in in there until the internal temperature is about 15-20 degrees away from your desire doneness

    • Medium rare is 130-140
    • Medium is 140-150
    • Well Done is the toughest jerky you could imagine

    Remove the roast from the oven.

    Then raise the temperature to 500 degrees, this will help give your roast a nice crust. It's not going to be very browned at this point. Keep in mind that while the roast is sitting out it will continue to cook or "carry over". This will also give you a chance to add a little more flavor in the form of rosemary butter.

    A partly cooked roast with frozen rosemary butter on top.

    I take a sticker of butter, softened it and add in chopped fresh rosemary. Then I put the butter into the freezer to get hard. I want it frozen when I put it on the meat so that is will melt and run down meat without it just falling off the meat as it would if the butter was already melted.

    When the oven hits 500 and you put your butter on your roast then put it back in and keep it in there until your 5-8 degrees away from your final desire temperature. Carryover heat will take it the rest of the way.

    A cooked Eye of Round Roast on a sheet pan with fresh rosemary and heads of garlic.

    🔪 How to Serve

    At this point there are two things you can do to make this roast as tender in your mouth as possible

    • Slice thin on the cutting board
    • Cut it against the grain on your plate

    It's best to serve this roast carved thinly. Use your best knife. If you have an electric knife even better. But before you do that give time for the roast to rest, at least 15 after pulling it from the oven. Use foil to keep it warm.

    When you eat it make sure to cut it against the grain so that it will be easiest to chew.

    I like to serve it with some freshly cracker black pepper and a couple drops of Worcestershire sauce.

    A swirl of purple and yellow mashed potatoes in a white bowl.

    🥔 What to Serve With It

    Beef and potatoes are always welcomed together. You could make mashed potatoes, I have a recipe for mixed mashed potatoes that takes different color potatoes and swirls them together which makes for a stunning side dish.

    If you really felt like a baked potato but not sure how to pull it off when you are cooking the beef at a temperature too low for potato, you can use your air fryer to make a baked potato.

    For a green veggie, you can't go wrong with simple steamed green beans served with a high quality butter like Kerrygold.

    🥪 Leftovers

    Reheating the leftovers can be tricky. You don't want to just microwave it as it will get tough.

    What you can do is throw it in the last second in a soup or a bowl of ramen. Or do what I did and chopped into small pieces and added it to some fried rice when it was ready and off the heat. There was enough heat in the rice to warm up the beef just enough.

    You also can wrap it tightly in foil and put it in your air fryer at 350 for a minute or two until warmed. We did that when we were serving leftovers on a sandwich.

    Slow Roasted Eye of Round

    Learn how to slowly cook an eye of round roast so that is perfectly cooked and tender.
    No ratings yet
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Main Course
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
    Cook Time: 3 hours hours
    Total Time: 3 hours hours 10 minutes minutes
    Servings: 0
    Author: Eric Samuelson

    Ingredients

    • 3 lb eye of round roast

    Spice Rub

    • 1 tbsp kosher salt
    • 1 tsp coriander seed
    • 1 tsp celery seed
    • 1 tsp whole cumin seeds
    • 1 tsp garlic powder
    • 1 tsp ground mustard

    Optional Rosemary Butter

    • 1 butter butter
    • 1 tbps chopped rosemary

    Instructions

    • Remove the roast from the fridge 30 minutes before roasting.
    • Place the roast on a sheet pan or roasting pan.
    • Mix all the salt and spices together in a small bowl. Then rub them all over the meat with your hands.
    • Preheat the oven to 225 degrees.
    • Insert a probe of a thermometer into the deepest part of the meat. Put roast in the oven.
    • While the roast cooks, combine softened butter and the chopped rosemary. Place this in the freezer to harden.
    • Roast until the meat in the oven until it reaches 120 degrees. Then remove from the oven.
    • Raise the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Cut your frozen rosemary butter into pieces and place on top of the roast.
    • Return the roast to the oven and roast until it's 5-8 degrees from your final desired temperature (see notes). It will carry over the rest of the way.
    • Allow the roast to rest for at least 15 minutes. You can wrap it in foil to keep it hot.
    • Carve off thin slices of the roast and cut the roast against the grain on your plate.

    Notes

    Temperature scale
    • Medium rare is 130-140
    • Medium is 140-150
    • Anything over 150 degrees is going to be too tough
    Tried this recipe?Mention @eatlikenooneelse or tag #eatlikenooneelse
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Rick Maluchnik

      January 15, 2020 at 7:37 am

      Thank you I shall try this at once

    2. Eric Samuelson

      January 20, 2020 at 1:21 pm

      You are welcome!

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    Hi! I'm Eric : Father of 4, living just south of Ann Arbor, MI. I'm a reformed picky eater finding a new way to not conform. Eating what's in season is my jam (I also make it!)

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