Swiss Steak is a perfect family dinner; it’s easy to make and can be cooked either in the oven or in the slow cooker. This dish has delicious tender beef in a rich tomato gravy and is perfect served over rice, noodles or mashed potatoes!
© SpendWithPennies.com
Swiss steak is one of those dishes I associate with comfort; I grew up eating this for dinner on Sunday evenings, and as I got older, it became one of those dishes I craved. These days it is a family favorite dinner option. We all love it for the incredible flavor, but also, as the grocery shopper for my family, I appreciate that an inexpensive cut of steak can become something so tender and delicious!
Swiss steak is often confused with Salisbury Steak, but there is a difference between the two. A Salisbury steak is made with ground beef and shaped into a patty while Swiss steak is actually steak! Salisbury Steak generally has a beef broth based gravy while Swiss steak has a tomato based gravy.
I cook this Swiss steak recipe in a dutch oven, but don’t worry if you don’t have a dutch oven! You can cook it in a frying pan and then transfer it to a casserole dish for baking, or you can put it in a crock pot for 7 to 8 hours to have dinner done when you come home from work.
When preparing your Swiss Steak, make sure you pound your steaks to tenderize them (I use a mallet style tenderizer). You can use round or chuck steaks, which are generally a tougher cut of meat, so the tenderizing process is important.
Believe me when I say there is nothing quite as nice as having a hot dinner that is packed with comfort from a great steak flavor with all of that creamy gravy!
Easy Swiss Steak
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds round steak
- ½ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or as needed
- 2 onions chopped
- 2 carrots chopped
- 1 can canned diced tomatoes with juice, 28 ounces
- 1 can beef broth 10 oz
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch optional, see note below
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Using a meat mallet, pound meat to ½″ thickness.
- Combine flour, paprika, garlic powder, pepper & salt to taste. Dredge meat in flour mixture.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a dutch oven. Brown steaks on each side (adding additional olive oil if needed). Set aside.
- Place onion & carrot in the bottom of the pot. Top with browned steaks.
- Add remaining ingredients except for cornstarch. Cover and cook for 2 ½-3 hours.
- Serve over mashed potatoes.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
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Sooo tender. Beating it with a meat tenderizer isn’t necessary. I used cubed steak and it was wonderful. It was fork tender. I will certainly make this again.
Absolutely delicious!! Exactly what I was craving from my childhood. Thank you so much!
Excellent meal..All raved. Made exactly as recipe state. Cut with a fork! Great taste.
Lovely recipe. I used an instant-pot on high pressure, 40 minutes. Gravies easily give a ” Burn” error even if there is no actual scorching, so I left out the flour and 1/2 cup of the beef stock during pressure cooking. I browned the steaks and then the onions and added all the remainder of ingredients but the flour and half cup of stock. While it cooked I dry toasted the flour in a skillet to medium blond and took it off the heat to cool. When the pressure cooking was done, I let off the pressure and set the meat on a warming tray to keep temperature. I made a smooth rue with the toasted flour and reserved beef stock and whisked that into the hot tomato, carrot and onion juices, bringing it back to simmer for just one minute. The consistency of the gravy was just right. The whole recipe is the very definition of comfort food. I appreciate it too for its simplicity, being able to use canned tomatoes, less expensive cuts of beef, and no exotic pantry ingredients.
Thank you for sharing your tips and tricks with the instant pot on this recipe Shiloh! I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe.
Good base recipe. I loved that it was normal ingredients that I already had on hand and totally easy to make. But it definitely needs a lot more salt and garlic. It is VERY bland without it.
next time I am going to mix the gravy on a bowl and season it so that some flavor will cook into the stake.
I used one 14 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes and one can of Rotel ( because that’s what I had on hand). Served it on homemade egg noodles. Comfort food for sure.
Very good!
I normally have a lot of success with this website, but I have to say that I was disappointed in this Swiss Steak recipe. The taste was so bland and it’s no wonder since it had 28 ounces of tomatoes with juice (which is a large quantity) and *only* 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp paprika, S&P IN THE FLOUR DREDGE. There were no other spices except for onions and carrots. I did wonder about that and should have followed my instinct to jazz it up more. Sadly we had a lot of leftovers but I was able to doctor the gravy with additional spices and make it more palatable. Also, I’ve never tenderized my round steak for this recipe before and although I did follow the recipe, I was keen on the texture, and don’t find it’s necessary since it cooks low and slow for such a long time. Anyway, that was my experience.
first time I have made this husband says can you make it again. delicious and very easy
I made this last week. Great meal for a cold snowy night. Seasonings were perfect!
Just like mom used to make!
Excellent!! very yummy
I’m confused on the directions to heat the oven but it describes cooking on a stove.
Hi Melanie, in step 4 we brown the steaks on the stovetop. Then everything is layered into the post in step 5 and baked in the oven. I hope that helps!
Excellent…like my elementary school lunch in the 60’s. You did leave out salt in initial ingredient list.
Sandra
I can’t wait to make this for family and friends