Beef Recipes

Albondigas Soup
This Mexican meatball soup was a family favorite growing up. Not an appetizer, always a main course, either for lunch or dinner. "Albondigas" means "meatballs" in Spanish, and the trick to perfect albondigas soup is to put chopped mint leaves...
Beef Bouillon Soup from Oxtails
Many recipes call for beef stock (e.g. French onion soup), but good beef stock is hard to come by, with beef prices these days, expensive to make. Beef oxtails make a wonderful stock and sometimes you can get them (try...
Beef Bourguignon
Beef Bourguignon is a classic French stew of cubed beef, slow cooked in red wine and broth, and served with sautéed mushrooms and pearl onions. This is a family favorite recipe, adapted from Julia Child's approach to making Beef Bourguignon.
Beef Brisket
A simple, delicious way to prepare beef brisket.
Beef Goulash with Dumplings
What better on a chilly day than a plate of steaming hot beef stew with light, fluffy dumplings? My super-hero father decided to make goulash for us recently and when the first recipe he tried didn't work out (go figure...
Beef Roast Braised in Zinfandel
"This isn't your everyday pot roast," my father declared as we sat down for dinner to enjoy the roast that he had been cooking all afternoon. No, indeed it isn't. The sauce includes an entire bottle of bold red Zinfandel...
Beef Stew with Mushrooms and White Beans
This beef stew recipe is from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. It cooks up in about half an hour and is surprisingly rich in flavor given its short cooking time.
Beef Stroganoff
According to the Wikipedia, Beef Stroganoff was invented by a chef working for a Russian general, Count Pavel Stroganov, in the 1890s. It became popular in the U.S. in the 1950s from servicemen returning from Europe and China after WWII...
Blue Cheese Burgers
Have you ever made a cheese-stuffed burger? The most common method is to put a mound of cheese between two ultra-thin hamburger patties and pinch the sides. The downside to this approach is that if you haven't sufficiently sealed the...
Braised Beef Short Ribs
My father made the most succulent, tender, "Wow" beef short ribs this week. Yes, it is a 2 day process, but the actual hands-on cooking time is at most two hours, and is broken up over two days. It is...
Carbonnade: Beef and Beer Stew
When the cold season begins, so does the season for hearty stews. Known as Carbonnade a la Flamande, this Belgian Beef stew is made with dark beer and lots of onions. We found this recipe in Cook's Illustrated magazine, which...
Carne Asada
Carne asada shown wrapped up in a flour tortilla with pico de gallo and avocado Carne asada is the thinly sliced, grilled beef served so often in tacos and burritos. It is also commonly served as is, with rice and...
Chili Con Carne
It seems as if there as many ways to prepare chili as there are cooks who make chili. Ground beef versus chunks, pork versus beef, pinto versus kidney beans, beans versus no beans, red chili or green chili - the...
Classic Meat Loaf
Preparation time: 20 minutes to prepare, 1 hour to cook. Why do I love meatloaf? It reminds me of being a kid. Where else does one get meatloaf other than at home or a school cafeteria? That and I often...
Dad's Stuffed Bell Peppers
A classic American dish that one can't easily find in restaurants (unless it is a cafeteria) is stuffed bell peppers. It's essentially meatloaf stuffed into red or green bell peppers and baked in the oven. My mom and dad have...
Easy Shepherd's Pie
Shepherd's Pie is an English dish, traditionally made with lamb or mutton. Americans typically make Shepherd's Pie with beef. The English (and Australians and New Zealanders) call the beef dish a "cottage pie". Naming conventions aside, Shepherd's Pie is essentially...
Flank Steak Stir-Fry with Asparagus and Red Pepper
A few weeks ago I got a call from my friend Elizabeth who said, "You've got to try my mother's flank steak; it's soooo good!" I begged the recipe from Maria (Elizabeth's mother) and tried it out last night. It...
Ginger Beef Peanut Noodle Salad
One of the great things about the international food blogging event Is My Blog Burning? is that I get motivated to try some new dishes. This month's theme is "Taste Tea" and is hosted by Clement at his gorgeous food...
Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Hot Dogs
I remarked to my father than we had been doing a lot of salads and veggies lately and without missing a beat dad said, "I want to make stuffed hot dogs," adding, "on the grill," pointing to a particularly appetizing...
Grilled Marinated Flank Steak
Recipe updated July 10, 2007 Flank steak is a lean, somewhat tough but flavorful cut of beef that benefits from the tenderizing effects of a marinade. It is best cooked medium rare and thinly sliced at an angle. It actually...
Grilled Tri-Tip Steak with Bell Pepper Salsa
Have you ever come up with your own, never-before-seen recipe (at least not seen by you) and it turns out so well you just want to stand up and take a bow? Well, some of my friends do this all...
Hamburger and Macaroni
Rachael Ray has nothing on my mother. As far as this family is concerned, my mom invented healthful, delicious comfort food that one can cook in 30 minutes or less. This hamburger and macaroni dish has been served in our...
Heidi's Steak Diane
Steak Diane is tradtionally made with a thinly pounded steak, and a cognac, butter, and shallot sauce that is flambéed right before serving to great dramatic effect. Doing some research into Steak Diane, I found that the "Diane" part refers...
How to Make Gravy
Here are two basic ways of making gravy from roast drippings, one using corn starch, the other using flour. In each case, you start with the roast drippings. You may have much more drippings than you need for the amount...
Irish Beef Stew
"Have I got the best recipe for you!" my friend Tomas announced, upon his return from a trip to photograph vineyards in Italy. "It's an Irish beef stew," he added, "and it's the best thing I've ever had." Apparently the...
Italian Flank Steak
Preparation time: marinade 2 hours, prepare and cook 1 hour. Italian flank steak is a butterflied flank steak, marinated, then layered and rolled with prosciutto, basil, and Parmesan cheese and peppers.
Italian Pot Roast
A few weeks ago my mother and I attended a cooking demonstration by our local celebrity Italian chef, the delightful Biba Caggiano. We Sacramentans are proud to call Biba our own; she has a fabulous restaurant, is the author of...
Jim's Famous Hamburger
Most summer grilling is done for large groups and as such is not too fancy - burgers, hot dogs, steaks, and the occassional kabob. For this recipe I've borrowed a tip from my good friend Jim Honniball - a way...
Lasagna
Simply Recipes reader Alton Hoover sent me his favorite recipe for lasagna which he has been cooking up since college days. His original recipe created enough lasagna for a small army so I halved it. What is posted here will...
Liver and Onions
Once a month, my entire childhood, mom would serve us liver and onions for dinner. I think it was the only dish in which whining was even remotely tolerated. "Liver and onions, OH NOOOOO," was the hue and cry from...
Meatballs With Green-Peppercorn Sauce
We must be on a meatball kick around here; when we saw this recipe in the weekend Wall St. Journal, we made it the same day. The Wall St. Journal, by the way, recently started publishing a "Weekend Edition" which...
Mom's Chili Beans
A staple in our home is mom's chili beans, which she makes either with ground beef or turkey. Many chilis I've encountered seem almost designed to give you heartburn. This isn't. These chili beans are more mild and less fatty...
Mom's Pan-fried London Broil Steak
"London Broil" used to be a way of describing a method for cooking lean beef cuts such as flank or top round, which originally was to pan-fry it quickly on medium high to high heat, cook it only to medium...
New England Boiled Dinner
New England boiled dinner is a one pot dish consisting of corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes. How this dish came to be from New England I have no idea; it seems to have more Irish-American roots with the corned...
Osso Buco
I've made osso buco, an Italian dish of braised veal shanks, several times. I've eaten it in fine Italian restaurants. I've never really liked it until now. This is a great recipe that dad pulled from the web a few...
Oxtail Pâté (Pate)
recipe accompanies the recipe for Beef Bouillon Soup from Oxtails. Once making the bouillon, you can use the cooked oxtail meat to make a delicious oxtail pâté. I love pâtés of all kinds (see Pâté Maison), but they usually have...
Oxtail Stew
Yes, oxtails really are from the tail of an ox (well, maybe not an ox per se, but a beef steer's tail). They have a deliciously rich and distinctive flavor. Like most stews, oxtail stew is best slow cooked for...
Penne Pasta with Meat Sauce
My mother made a pasta dish the other night that took everyone by surprise. My skinny-as-a-spatula 10-year old nephew who won't eat anything, ate his serving with gusto and asked for more. My carb-avoiding sister couldn't resist it. My father...
Pot Roast
Pot roast was a standard growing up, and still continues to be in my parent's household. It requires slow cooking over low heat to ensure tender, flavorful meat. Pot roasts typically use the tougher cuts of beef - a chuck...
Prime Rib
Make sure to buy the prime rib roast properly tied and ready to put in the oven. The rib bones should actually be cut first, away from the roast, and then tied back on the roast with kitchen string before...
Quick Bolognese Sauce
Real Bolognese sauce requires hours of simmering. But this quick version will do in a pinch. Recipe found in the Sacramento Bee (they picked it up from the Chicago Tribune). A good, everyday recipe.
Roast Beef
My mom knows a lot about cooking beef. She knows all of the cuts and what to do with them. This must have something to do with growing up at a time where people went to their local butchers for...
Short-Rib Beef Stew with Ale
The debate didn't last long. "You could have used boneless beef short-ribs. You're paying for the bones when you buy them bone-in," my mother remarked in while we were all enjoying this wonderful stew. "It's better with the bones," my...
Steak Fajitas
Classic Tex Mex, fajitas (pronounced fah-hee-tas) are typically made with grilled strips of skirt steak with onions and bell peppers, and served sizzling hot with fresh tortillas, guacamole, sour cream, and salsa. You can make fajitas with steak or chicken...
Steak Salad
Steak salad is such an easy and delicious thing to make with leftover steak. At a minimum it is simply slices of steak over salad greens with your preferred salad dressing. I tend to spiff mine up a bit with...
Stuffed Meatloaf with Spinach and Red Bell Pepper
We love meat loaf in this house. My father found this recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit and made it it the other day. It was really quite good, and pretty too (as pretty as meatloaf can be...
Swiss Steak
Swiss steak is a method of slow-cooking a relatively tough cut of beef, such as a round steak. The meat is browned, and then braised in a tomato sauce. According to The American Century Cookbook, recipes first starting showing up...
Talerine Beef Casserole
We've been in a nostalgic mood lately, thinking of some of our favorite dishes from years past. One that my father remembered that my grandmother used to make was a egg noodle ground beef casserole, with tomatoes, lots of cheddar...
Tamale Pie
Tamale Pie is one of those quintessential American pot-luck casserole dishes. It was probably invented by someone who had a taste of a real tamale and tried to recreate the flavor in a cornbread casserole. I always loved tamale pie...
Traditional Roast Beef Hash
Hash is a great way to use up leftover cooked meat. We tend to use roast beef, but leftover pot roast or other meats could easily be used. What really helps making an excellent hash is an old fashioned meat...
Tuscan Meatloaf with Mushroom Sauce
My father pulled this Tuscan meat loaf recipe from the New York Times magazine a few months ago and we gave it a try the other night. It was excellent, as tasty as a meatloaf can be. It does however...