how to cook an eye round roast

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This low and slow method of making roast beef with an affordable eye of round will give you the juiciest and most tender roast that's pink from edge to edge! It's perfect for anything from Sunday roast to holiday meals!

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I can't think of anything better on my holiday table than a beautiful platter holding roast beef of some sort. Prime rib, beef tenderloin, etc. But this year, for Easter I am gladly setting this gorgeous, juicy eye of round roast on the center of my table.

What if I told you that you could make a tough, lean eye of round roast in a tender, juicy, beautiful piece of meat worthy of your Easter or Christmas table yet easy enough to have for Sunday supper? What if I told you each slice is nearly as tender as a slice of beef tenderloin?

If you don't know what an eye of round roast is, it's an inexpensive cut of very lean meat from the 'round' area of the cow, the hind legs. It gets worked a lot so it's a tough cut. But it's actually a really cheap cut for a big roast, I end up with five pounds at my local BJ's (a bulk store like Costco) for about $13.

You can see that while it has a thin fat cap, it doesn't have a lot of fat and fatty connective tissue marbled into the meat. This is why it doesn't fall apart and become tender by slow cooking in a crockpot or the oven the same way a chuck roast would for a pot roast.

eye of round roast getting prepped for roast beef

The usual, popular method is to roast it in the oven, but no matter how I tried it during recipe testing: high temperatures for a short time, "magic number" oven roasting, slow cooking, none of it gave me anything that I really enjoyed.

Roasting always gave me a thick grey ring, which of course means that area would be tough and overcooked, with no fat to help keep the roast juicy inside. And the seasoning doesn't penetrate through the entirety of the roast, even after marinating it overnight in the fridge.

In other words, the eye of round roast was a piece of work during recipe testing. Every single way I tried gave me too-chewy slices that would never be pink from edge to edge and never had great flavor. What I wanted was tender, juicy slices that could be eaten with pan gravy or even piled on my son's sandwiches for lunch so I wouldn't spend so much on my favorite roast beef at the deli.

So instead of giving up, I decided to get a little technical about it. And I ended up with a beautiful, fool-proof method that gives me gorgeous roast beef every. single. time.

Tender slices of roast beef made in the sous vide on a wood platter

What if I told you that it's basically a hands-off technique that tenderizes the eye of round and allows you to safely slow cook it without it losing flavor, without losing juices, and never overcooking it?

Sweetheart, meet my favorite protein cooking technique: the sous-vide.

Aht, aht, don't run away.

Sous-vide is NOT hard, it's NOT some scary scientific experiment (though it looks like one), and it's NOT expensive!

What is sous-vide?

In French,sous-videmeans "under vacuum", which makes sense: the sous-vide method of cooking is putting food in a vacuum-sealed bag and cooking it in a temperature-controlled water bath with a sous vide immersion machine.

And really, that's it. It used to be a highfalutin technique only top chefs and those in culinary school used for perfectly cooked proteins: Expensive machines and techy-scientific stuff that no home cook would come near with a ten-foot pole.

Things have changed! Now I would like for every home cook to get onto the sous-vide train! Sous vide immersion machines are incredibly affordable -I got mine for $60 on Amazon- and easy to use. The one I use lets you set up the temperature and the time for cooking and boom, you're in business. I have been loving my sous vide machine and using it for a ton of different recipes.

No need to fuss over a thermometer or worry about if the inner temperature will change. The sous vide method will keep your roast beef at the perfect temperature, no matter how long you cook it. It's why I love this method for a beginner: you cannot fail with this recipe! I'm serious!

If you don't have a vacuum sealer or vacuum sealer bags, they're also extremely affordable, too.

Or you can sous vide in a safe zip-top bag using the water displacement method.

Why Sous-Vide Makes Perfectly Tender Eye of Round Roast Beef

Sous-Vide is not a fast cooking method, it's even lower and slower than your slow cooker. And since we are cooking low and slow for such a long time, the connective tissue in it has time to break down and the proteins are relaxing and separating, so the meat becomes super tender.

This method takes about 18 hours, so I like to think of it as Sunday Supper started on Saturday night.

Yes, it's perfectly safe to leave your sous-vide running so long as you have taken all precautions and follow the instructions that come with your immersion machine. Making sure that the temperature isn't below 131 degrees F (55 degrees C), ensures that you will never be below food-safe temperatures.

How to Cook a Perfect Roast Beef with Eye of Round

I've seen many recipes that fuss with prepackaged soup mixes, random ingredients, but here all you need are a few spices and the roast itself. The sous-vide method does all the work in imparting great flavor.

Season + Sous Vide. Some recipes require that you marinate the roast before cooking, which helps the salt and seasoning flavor the meat.

close up of the seasoning on eye of round roast beef

We're doing the same thing with the sous vide, where the meatiscoated with seasoning for a long period of time before it's time to eat, but it's even better since we're using heat.

It's kinda like when you're deep conditioning your hair, it works a million times better with heat. And it's happening for 18+ hours, so you know that flavor has had all the time it needs to really get in there and make it super tasty.

I like sous-viding at thelowest temperature safely possible because I feel that this cut is best enjoyed medium-rare, but use my temperature guide to cook it to the doneness that you like to eat. It will still be juicy, tender, and tasty!

Here's a little guide for sous vide temperatures for beef.

Very Rare to Rare: 120°F (49°C) to 128°F (53°C). This is not a safe temperature to keep for over 2.5 hours!

Medium-rare: 129°F (54°C) to 134°F (57°C). We will be cooking our roast at 131 degrees F, the lowest safe temperature to have for long periods of time.

Medium:135°F (57°C) to 144°F (62°C).

Medium-well: 145°F (63°C) to 155°F (68°C).

Well done: 156°F (69°C) and up.

overhead shot of the rare roast beef sliced on a wooden platter

Sear Hot in 15 Second Intervals.After taking the roast out of the bag, it will be perfectly cooked from edge to edge. In order to keep that yet get a gorgeous brown sear all around, you'll need to give each side quick hits in a very hot pan.

I use a cast iron skillet --a kitchen staple that holds heat fantastically-- over medium-high heat with an oil that has a high smoke point, like grapeseed oil. Once that skillet is ripping hot I sear each side in 15 second intervals. This browns the outside without cooking through to the inside and giving our roast a gray ring. You may have to give some sides a second go-around to get the color you want, but as long as you do it quickly (no more than 15-20 seconds) you won't overcook the insides.

I also find that my trusty culinary torch works wonders at touching up any spots that didn't get a great sear.

Slice 'n' Serve! No need to rest! Usually, you rest large hunks of meat for about 10 to 15 minutes, right? Not needed when you sous vide. Resting is needed because the insides need to relax from high heat, but since sous vide is low heat, you can slice this baby right up after searing!

How to Serve Eye of Round Roast Beef

Thinly sliced with sides.
On a French Dip Sandwich, with au jus
On paninis or any other sandwiches!
Use the leftovers for Beef Stroganoff
For steak fajitas
Asian stir fry
Pepper Steak
On top of crispy fries covered in cheese sauce.

plate of sliced roast beef with mashed potatoes, with wooden platter of roast beef in the background

What Can I serve with Roast Beef?

Plenty of side dishes go along with roast beef, here are a few of my favorites no matter the occasion:

Mashed Potatoes

Mushroom Risotto

With chimichurri sauce (it's SO good!)

Sweet Potato Casserole

Garlic Butter Mushrooms

Southern Baked Macaroni and Cheese

A fresh salad

Asparagus with garlic and lemon

Chimichurri Roasted Potatoes

A homemade gravy using the juices from cooking

Can I freeze Roast Beef?

To freeze the roast, let it cool completely, then slice into 2-4 inch thick steaks. This will make it easier to freeze and thaw and can be eaten in smaller servings.

Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and foil or vacuum seal each piece. The roast beef will keep for 3-4 months in the freezer.

To thaw, put the frozen roast beef in the fridge to thaw overnight.

Looking for more holiday centerpiece dishes? Check out:

Easy, Juicy, Foolproof Spatchcock Thanksgiving Turkey

Instant Pot Beef Bourguignon

Million Dollar Chicken

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Ingredients

1 (3 lb) eye of round roast
Kosher Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
Granulated Garlic, as needed
Onion Powder, as needed
2 tablespoon high smoke point oil (grapeseed, vegetable oil, etc)

Instructions

Fill a large container with water that will properly fit your sous vide immersion machine and the roast without overcrowding. Set the temperature to your desired doneness (medium-rare is 131 degrees F to 134 degrees F) and let the water heat up before adding the roast.
Generously season all sides of your roast with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion powder. Vacuum seal your eye of round roast using the vacuum sealer and a vacuum seal bag and add it to the preheated water. Cook for 18-24 hours, adding water if needed.
After the sous-vide cooking is finished, remove from the sealed bag and pat dry with a paper towel. Make sure it's extremely dry because water will ruin your sear.
Preheat a cast iron skillet to medium-high heat (my stove goes 1-9, I go about an 8) with the high smoke point oil.
Once the oil is extremely hot, add the roast to the pan. Sear each side for only 15 seconds each. You can re-sear each side to the desired browning as long as you don't leave the side cooking for more than about 15-20 seconds each time so the inside doesn't cook through and turn gray.
Once your roast is seared, you can serve immediately because it doesn't need to rest! Slice the roast beef thinly against the grain (perpendicular to the lines showing across the meat) and serve hot with desired sides.
Keep the roast beef in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Notes

You can use the juices from cooking in the sous vide bag to make a pan drippings gravy.

To Freeze

To freeze the roast, let it cool completely, then slice into 2-4 inch thick steaks. This will make it easier to freeze and thaw and can be eaten in smaller servings.

Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and foil or vacuum seal each piece. The roast beef will keep for 3-4 months in the freezer.

To thaw, put the frozen roast beef in the fridge to thaw overnight.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 88 Total Fat: 7g Saturated Fat: 1g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 5g Cholesterol: 17mg Sodium: 105mg Carbohydrates: 1g Fiber: 0g Sugar: 0g Protein: 4g

Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.