Hamburger Steak Recipe

Complete, step-by-step, recipe for making Hamburger Steak with Onions and Gravy. Made from scratch.

See just how easy this is to make at home. You’ll find the printable recipe at the bottom of the instructions. It’s an old favorite, southern style, comfort food.

Hamburger Steak with Onions and Gravy recipe.

One of my favorite Southern style comfort foods is Hamburger Steak topped with Onions and Gravy. You’ll find it on the menu of just about every Mom and Pop style diner here in North Carolina.

I must admit, I probably have this about once a week, and have been known to have it a second time in the same week.

The little place that I drive thru to pick up mine, serves it as a plate special on Monday and Tuesday nights, so if I’m out and about, I generally try to pick up a plate to bring home for supper.

I’m pretty consistent with getting it with a side of mashed potatoes, with a little gravy on top of those, and a side of deviled eggs. This little restaurant is one of the few that I’m aware of that serve deviled eggs, and they place three egg halves on the plate. It also comes with cornbread and a soda or tea.

All that costs me right at $8.00 as of this writing. Still, it’s so simple and easy to make at home, but I’m just getting too used to the convenience of driving thru and bringing a plate home. Smile.

I must mention that hamburger steaks are typically made with regular ground beef, but the one I’m demonstrating here uses something called “Prime Rib Steakburger.” I found it on sale and had to give it a try.

I made this one hamburger steak with the entire pound of ground meat. It turned out really juicy and had great flavor. I don’t know why I’d never noticed this prime rib ground beef before.

Hamburger Steak is one of those lower priced items on most menu’s. Maybe that’s why I generally order it when I’m in a diner either around home or out on the road.

I do hope you’ll give it a try and I’d love to hear your thoughts on the recipe in the Comment section at the bottom of the recipe.

So, ready for some good old southern style comfort food? I thought so.

Alright then, let’s grab some beef and head to the kitchen. Let’s Get Cooking!

Hamburger Steak. You’ll need these ingredients.

I’m using a new product for me called “Prime Rib Steakburger.” Normally, I’d be using a good ground beef at about an 80/20 ratio of meat to fat. I just saw this on sale and decided to try it since I was planning to make hamburger steak.

Go ahead and slice up your onions so you’ll have them ready. Just set them aside for the moment

Place the ground beef in a mixing bowl.

Use your hand and break the ground beef up so you can add the spices.

I could immediately tell that this particular meat had very little fat in it. Normally my fingers would feel greasy after stirring into the beef, but not with this pack. I just hope it tastes good.

Regular ground beef is what most all restaurants and diners would use for their hamburger steaks.

It’s usually one of the cheaper priced items on the menu.

Add the salt.

I’m only using 1/4 teaspoon of salt to this full pound of beef. Don’t want it tasting too salty you know. Smile.

Same for the black pepper. Add in 1/4 teaspoon per pound.

Sprinkle on the garlic powder.

Add the Worcestershire sauce.

You could leave this out if you like. Personally, I think it adds a bit more of that “steak” flavor, so I always add in just a little.

Mix it all together with your hands until the spices are fully combined with the meat.

Shape the meat as desired. Can you see my sort of “steak” look that I was going for here?

YES, I’m going to use the whole pound to make one hamburger steak. It’s a man-sized steak for sure, and it’s probably a good inch or so thick.

Most of the hamburger steaks in the diners will serve you a patty that’s about 8-10 ounces in size on average. Most are shaped into an oval as opposed to just a round patty.

Either way, they’re still good. They will shrink down a bit once they are cooked, so go a little bigger on the serving portion. It will be much juicer than a smaller dried out patty once its cooked.

I like to cook mine in my cast iron skillet.

Set the heat to about halfway between Medium-Low and Medium. It’s best to cook it slow as trying to cook it faster will make it easier to burn and seems to make it shrink even more.

It’s okay for you to make several smaller steaks, just don’t try to overcrowd the pan with them. Since the recipe calls for one pound of beef, you’ll probably only be making two 8oz steaks anyway.

Of course, you can easily double the recipe if you need more. Cook them in batches.

You want to cook the hamburger steak for about three minutes, then carefully flip it over and let the other side brown for another three minutes.

We’re not worried about cooking it all the way through at this point, just basically brown it to seal in the juices.

Now, remove the steak from the skillet and just set it aside for the moment.

As you can see, this prime rib meat left hardly any grease in the pan at all.

If you’re using regular ground beef, you’ll probably have a bit more to deal with. Remove all but about two Tablespoons of the remaining fat, leaving the cooked bits in the pan. Discard the extra grease from the patties you’ve just cooked.

Here, I’m adding just a Tablespoon of Bacon Grease into the pan since I don’t have any in the pan at this point.

Add the sliced onions into the warm skillet and grease.

Saute the onions for several minutes, stirring often, until they start to become a bit translucent.

Return the steak to the skillet, placing it right on top of the onions.

Pour the broth over the steak and onions.

I’m using two teaspoons of beef granules mixed with two cups of WARM water to make my broth. You don’t want to pour cold water into your cast iron skillet. It might crack it. Always use warm.

If you have canned beef broth, or broth from a carton, that works great as well.

Let all this simmer, uncovered, for about 30 more minutes, or until the beef has reached an internal temperature of 165F degrees.

I cooked this one for 15 minutes, then flipped it over and let it cook another 15 minutes or so.

Overcooking it will make it tough and dry, so use a digital thermometer to cook it to temp if you have one.

You can thicken the gravy if desired.

The broth will reduce down while the meat is cooking, but it will probably not be very thick.

If you’d like it a bit thicker, just do the following.

Mix about 2 teaspoons of cornstarch or flour in a small container with about 2 teaspoons of cold water. Stir this together really good to make a “slurry.”

I realize I just told you not to add cold water to your cast iron skillet, but you need it this time. Since it’s such a small amount, it shouldn’t present a problem.

Stir the cornstarch/water slurry into the bubbling broth. Keep an eye on it and let it thicken as desired. You might have to let it cook a little longer to reduce some more, or just add another smaller amount of the cornstarch mixture.

You should remove the meat before doing this so you can easily stir the gravy as it simmers.

Enjoy!

Serve your hamburger steak while it’s still warm.

I like mine with a nice side of mashed potatoes also topped with a little gravy.

And, in case you’re wondering, NO, I didn’t eat all of the hamburger steak at one time. I could have, but managed to save about half for another meal. Like I said, it’s one of my favorite comfort foods.

Ingredients

1 lb Ground Beef (80/20)
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
¼ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 Medium Onion
2 Cups Beef Broth