They say beef tenderloin is the best for making a holiday roast beef. Yes, it’s tender and lean, but at $25 per pound it’s also freakin’ expensive!

Good news is that there’s a lesser known cut of beef that’s a fraction of the price and can make for an amazing holiday beef roast.

A simple orange and rosemary garnish completes the presentation

Eye of Round Roast for Tender Roast Beef

Eye of round roast goes for $5 to $7 per pound and if you follow my recipe (which includes turning the oven off!) you’ll end up with a beautiful, tender and flavorful holiday beef roast that your family will rave about.

A Four Step Recipe

This recipe includes a 4 step process: Rub, Sear, Roast, Rest.

The first step is to make a quick rub with salt, pepper and brown sugar and then rub it all over your eye of round roast. The roast pictured here is 3 pounds, feeding approximately 6 people. I estimate 1/2 pound per person.

overhead image of a dish with brown sugar, salt and pepper — 3 ingredients for the beef rub

overhead image of a baking dish with an eye of round roast rubbed with spice blend, ready to be seared — The roast is rubbed with the salt, pepper and sugar and ready to be seared

Next, get a cast iron pan or heavy steel pan and heat it over medium high heat. Add 2 Tbs of oil and sear the meat on all sides, approximately 2 minutes per side.

overhead view of a seared piece of beef in a baking pan — After the roast is seared, it’s ready for the oven

From there, place the seared beef into your oven heated to 500F. Close the door to your oven and then turn off the oven completely. Keep the door of the oven closed and let the beef cook in there for at least an hour.

Then after an hour, check the temp on the beef. Once you hit 125F it’s time to take the beef out of the oven. A 3lb roast will take approximately 1 hour to get to 125F. Larger cuts will take longer, up to three hours.

the beef out of the oven and showing a meat thermometer with 125F as the temperature — When the beef is at 125F, it’s time to pull it out of the oven and let it rest on a cutting board.

At the 125F mark, take the beef out of the oven and place it on a carving board or other meat safe cutting board. You’ll notice the meat will continue to rise in temperature. This is what we call “carry over cooking”, where the thermal energy continues to build for a bit after the meat is removed from the oven. This is totally normal.

After 45 minutes of resting, it’s time to serve your beef. Once it’s sliced, it’s time to serve immediately. I can’t wait for you to taste how good this recipe is!

Overhead view of a slice beef roast on a platter with citrus and rosemary. — Eye of Round Roast with a quick gravy made from drippings for a festive holiday dinner entree

Make A Quick Gravy

There’s also info on the recipe card for an optional quick gravy. It’s got a little bit of a tangy flair to it and it goes great with the beef as well as with mashed potatoes or mashed cauliflower. I love gravy <3.

overhead shot of a plate of beef, mashed potatoes and green beans — the gravy is super simple and a perfect pairing with the beef

Meat Price Comparison

Standing Rib Roast: $12 – $15/lb
Beef Tenderloin: $25/lb
Rack of Lamb: $13 – $15/lb
Eye of Round Roast: $5/lb

Christmas Beef Roast on a Budget

Author: Joanie Simon
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 65
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Yield: 6 1x
Category: Entree
Method: Roast
Cuisine: American

Description

An easy to follow recipe for an affordable holiday roast beef made with eye of round roast and a quick gravy made from the drippings.

Scale

Ingredients

1T sea salt or kosher salt
1T brown sugar
1T coarse ground black pepper
3 lb eye of round beef roast
2 Tbs oil
1/2 white onion chopped
2 Tbs butter
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 cup beef broth

Instructions

Combine the rub ingredients: 1 Tbs salt, 1 Tbs brown sugar and 1 Tbs ground black pepper. Then rub all over a 3 lb eye of round roast.
Let the roast sit out for 30 minutes to become room temperature and allow the rub to soak in.
Preheat your oven to 500F.
Heat a cast iron pot or heavy skillet over medium high heat with 2 Tbs oil. Once it’s heated up, sear the meat 2 minutes per side until all sides are seared and browned.
Place the roast in an oven safe dish and place it uncovered in the preheated oven. Or, if you prefer, you can leave the roast in the pan it was seared in, if it’s oven safe.
Once you close the oven door with the roast inside, turn off the heat completely, leaving the roast in there with the oven door closed until the meat comes to 125F. This might take an hour or up to three, depending on the size of roast you select. A 3lb roast generally takes one hour. I generally check the roast after an hour to check the temperature.
Once the roast has reached an internal temp of 125F, remove the roast from the oven, place it on a meat-safe carving board and allow it to rest at least 20 minutes up to 45 minutes.
While the meat is resting, heat the skillet that roasted the beef over a medium high heat and add in 1/2 chopped onion and 2 Tbs butter, stirring to scrape up the beef drippings. If you didn’t cook the meat in the pan that you used for searing, be sure to collect the drippings from the beef and add them to the pan you used for searing the meat and use that to saute the onions in the butter.
Once the onions are soft, add in 1 Tbs soy sauce, 1 Tbs red wine vinegar, and 1 cup of beef broth. Allow this mixture to come to a simmer and allow to simmer for approximately 10 minutes or until the sauce has reduced and is slightly thickened. Once it’s reduced, use a hand blender or a regular blender to blend the mixture until smooth. At this point, the sauce is ready to serve. You can continue to simmer on the stove it to further reduce it, or serve it right away. Or, if you aren’t eating right away, you can put the sauce on low heat on the stove and keep it covered.
Finally, once your roast has fully rested, slice up your roast into 1/2 in thick slices and serve with the sauce.

Keywords: beef, eye of round roast, beef roast, holiday recipes, holiday entree, Christmas dinner