Eye of Round Roast
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An Eye of Round Roast is a economical cut of beef that, with careful preparation, makes a delicious dinner. Learn how to cook eye of round successfully in the crock pot or oven.
While eye of round may not be the most glamorous cut, it’s very flavorful and costs about half as much as a rib roast! Plus, the lean meat has far fewer calories that many other cuts of beef.
While it’s a notoriously tough cut, this dump-and-go recipe in the crock pot breaks down the connective tissue to make it nice and tender!
Beef Eye of Round Roast
The eye of round comes from the round primal on the backside of the cow, along with the top round, bottom round and sirloin tip. The muscles get lots of exercise, producing a very lean yet flavorful cut of beef.
Eye of round roast is the meat most commonly used for roast beef sold at deli counters. It’s also used for steak cuts such as cube steak , minute steak and eye of round steak.
How to Cook Eye of Round Roast
Grilling or roasting eye of round at high-temperature does not really work, even with marinating. Dry roasting at a lower temperature like 325°F produces at best borderline tender meat even when you do everything right.
The best way to cook eye of round is low and slow in the crock pot. The steam circulation creates moist heat that braises the meat while slowly breaking down the tough connective tissue. Plus, you get juices to serve with the roast or make into gravy.
Crock Pot: Place the roast into the slow cooker with the other ingredients. Cook on High for 6-7 hours (recommended) or on Low for 8-10 hours. For additional flavor, try browning the roast on all sides in a skillet on high heat for 4-5 minutes before slow cooking.
Oven: If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can cook it as a pot roast in the oven using a Dutch oven. Start it off at 350°F for 20 minutes, then reduce to 225°F for 6-7 hours more until tender. Check the liquid level halfway through and add more if needed.
What to Serve with Eye of Round
Classic pairings for an eye of round roast include potatoes, mashed potatoes or rice, plus a vegetable such as carrots, broccoli or green beans. Another option is simply a green salad.
More beef round recipes:
More beef recipes
Eye of Round Roast Crock Pot
Ingredients
- 3 pound eye of round roast
- ½ cup beef broth, or water
- ¼ cup soy sauce, low-sodium recommended
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 4 large cloves garlic, minced, or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch, mixed with 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Optional for extra flavor: Place a cast iron skillet on high heat. When hot, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil and the roast. Fry for 5 minutes, turning regularly using kitchen tongs for even browning.
- Place the roast and other ingredients into the crock pot.
- Set the crock pot to cook on High for 6-7 hours or Low for 8-10 hours until tender (see note).
- Optional gravy: Pour the juices from the crock pot into a saucepan on medium-high heat. Add the cornstarch-water slurry and let it bubble for several minutes stirring constantly until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.
- Slice the roast crosswise against the grain and serve with the juices or gravy drizzled on top.
Notes
- You can add vegetables to the crock pot for the final hour or so. Chopped potatoes and carrots will need 60 minutes, while green beans need about 30 minutes.
- Make Ahead: This cut it not suitable for making ahead of time, as it risks toughening up during reheating.
- Use leftovers to make roast beef sandwiches or beef vegetable soup.
Please read our nutrition disclaimer.
Recipe tools:
Dutch Oven
Crock Pot
Kitchen tongs
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My eye of round is 5.36 lbs. how long should I cook it in the crockpot, which is best high or low temp. And I’m cooking it at my house and taking it about an hour away to my father’s any suggestions on how to reheat it so it doesn’t get tough? Thank you, Lisa
Hi Lisa, It’ll take about 8 hours on Low. Assuming you’re making it for dinner, I would start it at 9am, unplug for the drive over (the crockpot will retain a decent amount of heat for an hour), and then finish it for an hour or two at your fathers’s so there’s no reheating required. Eye of round makes great cold roast beef for sandwiches, but is trickier to reheat once cold.
Went over very well, even with my picky 7yo! Seared first, 4 hrs in slow cooker (2.3 lbs). Added potatoes, carrots, & an onion for the last hour. Made delicious gravy as well!
Hi Melissa, Great to hear and so glad you liked it! Thanks for your feedback.
Made this today; seared it in a frying pan first. About eight hours on low in the slow cooker with the liquid ingredients and was quite shocked at how easily my carving knife slid through this piece of meat. One of my sons and his dad were the happy diners that I fed and they were in awe.
I sliced the leftover piece of roast quite thinly for sandwiches and can’t wait.
Hi Liz, Congrats – that’s the way to do it! Sandwiches are like a bonus, right?
Do I need to add the cornstarch if I am not making the gravy? Thank you!
Hi Andrea, Thanks for your question! No, you do not need cornstarch if you’re not making gravy. It’s only purpose is to thicken the juices.
With the leftovers, I make beef and rice, with green peppers, onion, jalapenos, gravy and soy sauce. Also works great for BBQ beef sandwiches or beef and noodles. Eye of round is actually my favorite roast for crock pot.
Hi Melody, Awesome to hear about the roast and leftovers. Couldn’t agree more! Thanks so much for your comment.
Does a smaller roast require an adjusted cooking time? For instance, our roast is just over 2 pounds.
Hi Janis, Thanks for your question and yes a smaller roast will take 60-90 minutes less time. Hope that helps and enjoy!
I’m always stumped for what to do with a round roast, this was an excellent recipe and the perfect comfort food. Thanks!
Hi Jessica, That’s great to hear and thanks for your comment.!