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4.75 from 8 votes

Top Round Roast Recipe with Gravy

This top round roast recipe takes a lean cut of meat and makes it tender and juicy with a delicious, savory gravy on top. It’s the perfect holiday or celebration meal!
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 20 minutes
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Entree
Keyword: top round roast recipe
Servings: 6
Calories: 187kcal

Equipment

  • Roasting pan or Dutch oven
  • Food thermometer
  • Foil
  • Small pot
  • Whisk
  • Large sieve or strainer
  • Fork or masher

Ingredients

For the top round roast:

  • 1 top round roast 2 1/2 - 4 pounds
  • 1/2 head celery
  • 3 large carrots or 5 small carrots
  • 1 onion yellow or white
  • 1 head garlic
  • 2-3 tbsp salt
  • 2 tsp black pepper coarse or fine ground
  • 1 cup stock or broth vegetable, beef, or chicken
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Sprigs of fresh rosemary, bay leaves, and/or oregano to place around the roast

For the gravy:

  • 1 cup stock or broth vegetable, beef, or chicken
  • 2 tbsp raspberry or blackberry jam
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup red wine any full-bodied red wine like Pinot Noir
  • Pan juices from the roast

Instructions

How to cook the top round roast:

  • Remove your beef from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before cooking. This removes the chill and helps the proteins in the roast relax to get a more tender meat.
  • While the meat is warming up, chop 3 large carrots (or 5 small carrots), half a head of celery, and 1 onion into large chunks.
  • Cut the top off a head of garlic and break it up into cloves. Make sure to leave them in their papery skins.
  • Preheat the oven to 450°F.
  • Place the chunks of vegetables into the bottom of a roasting pan or Dutch oven. Drizzle them with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
  • Pour in 1 cup of stock over the veggies.
  • When the roast has reached room temperature, pat it dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture.
  • Rub the roast with another tablespoon of olive oil.
  • Mix 2-3 tablespoons of salt with 2 teaspoons of ground black pepper in a separate bowl. Sprinkle and rub in the entire surface of the roast with the salt and pepper mixture.
  • Sprinkle a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, bay leaves, and oregano around the roast.
  • Place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes at 450°F (with the lid off). This will sear the outside and make it crusty and flavorful.
  • After the 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 300°F.
  • Cook the roast at 300°F for another 50-60 minutes (with the lid on), or until the internal temperature measures between 131° and 135°. This will leave the roast between medium-rare and medium doneness, but don’t be tempted to keep cooking it. The leanness of this cut of meat means that cooking it to medium-well or well done will result in a dry roast that’s difficult to eat and cut. The cooking times will vary based on the size of your roast.
  • Start checking the temperature of the roast around 45 minutes, and watch it closely during the last bit of roasting as it will cook rather quickly at that stage.
  • Once it has reached your desired level of doneness, remove the roast from the oven. Remove it to a plate or pan and tent the top with foil.
  • Let the roast rest for 15-20 minutes before slicing.

How to make the gravy:

  • Remove and discard the sprigs of herbs from your pan.
  • Set the cooked carrots aside.
  • Use a fork or masher to smash the remaining vegetables that are in the pan. There should also be quite a bit of juice in the bottom of the pan from the broth used and from the roast.
  • If you did not cook the roast in a stove-top safe pan, pour everything from the roasting dish into a separate pot.
  • If you did, you can place the pan that the roast was cooked in on a burner and heat the contents over medium heat until they are simmering.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and 1 cup of stock or broth until there are no lumps of flour left.
  • Whisk the jam into the simmering pan until it has dissolved.
  • Add the red wine.
  • Continue whisking as you pour in the flour and broth mixture. Then, bring it back to a simmer and continue to cook until the gravy has thickened.
  • Taste the gravy to see if it needs more seasoning. Salt and pepper accordingly.
  • Place a large sieve over a bowl and strain the gravy through it to remove the smashed vegetables.
  • Place it in a gravy boat or small bowl and serve it with the roast.

Nutrition

Calories: 187kcal | Carbohydrates: 16g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 2679mg | Potassium: 390mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 6034IU | Vitamin C: 6mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 2mg