It can take a little planning to make sure everything is on the table at the same time, but nothing can beat a home-cooked roast beef dinner! Today I'm going to show you how to achieve that with a step-by-step plan.
I started making roast dinners about 29 years ago. I know that makes me sound REALLY old, but actually I was just 11 when my mum got me started and taught me how with the aid of a big ole' list. I honestly think learning to juggle multiple elements of a meal so early on is what gave me confidence in the kitchen and kick started my passion for everything food!
I wanted to share my full plan for making a roast dinner with you guys. You can find the steps in the recipe card below, and I've also got a free printable guide that includes times for every single step.
We're having:
Roast beef:
And Rich, beef gravy (and plenty of it!):
I have created separate recipes for each of these roast dinner components that I've been publishing over the last day or so, so you can pull them out to use with any meal. This is where I want to pull it all together so we can make sure everything is finished on time and cooked perfectly.
One of the things that's kind of tricky about cooking roast beef, Yorkshires, roast potatoes and cauliflower cheese, is that they all need the oven - and some of those at different temperatures!
But we're going to give the beef a long resting time (don't worry - it will stay warm, and the extra resting times means it will be lovely and juicy), so the roasties and yorkshires have enough time to get crispy, and the cauliflower cheese has the time to turn golden and bubbly.
I know there are a lot of steps there, but I really hope it helps you to prepare an awesome roast beef dinner!
I know this post has got you drooling for more roast Dinners then check out our Roast Dinner Category for more roast dinner deliciousness. We've got Roast Pork with ULTIMATE crispy crackling, our super popular Roast Potatoes, Homemade Apple Sauce, a Roast Lamb Shoulder and if you're looking for a simple one-pot method, I also have a one-pot slow cooker roast beef and vegetable recipe with rich gravy.
Please let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.
If you’d like to see more plans like this, just let me know too (if you have any particular meal requests, feel free to include in the comments section).
Don't forget to sign up to my mailing list to get the free printable with times for every step.
How to make the best roast beef dinner - with time plan:
How to make a Roast Beef Dinner
Ingredients
Roast beef:
- 3.3 lbs (1.5kg) topside of beef - (this should be enough meat for 4 people with leftovers – or 6-7 people if no leftovers)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
Yorkshire puddings:
- 1 cup minus 1 tbsp (105g) plain (all purpose) flour
- 3 medium eggs
- ½ cup + 2 tbsp tbsp (150ml) milk
- 4 tsp beef dripping or lard
- 1 pinch of salt and pepper
Roast Potatoes:
- ½ cup (120g) lard or duck fat
- 2 ¼ lbs (1kg) floury potatoes - - such as Maris Piper or red-skinned Rooster potatoes
- 1 tsp Maldon salt
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
Butter pepper carrots:
- 10 ½ oz (300g) Chantenay carrots
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- ¼ tsp white pepper
Easy cauliflower cheese:
- 1 small cauliflower - , broken into small florets
- 1 cup (100g) mature/strong Cheddar cheese
- ¾ cup (180ml) double (heavy) cream
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Roast beef gravy:
- 2 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 5 tbsp cold water
- Meat juices from your roasted beef
- 3 beef stock cubes - ,crumbled
- 3 cups (720ml) hot vegetable stock - from your boiled/steamed vegetables and potatoes
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp gravy browning - (optional)
Steamed Broccoli:
- 10 ½ oz (300g) tenderstem broccoli
- 1 tbsp salted butter
- 1 pinch of salt and pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Drizzle the oil over the beef and season with the salt and pepper transfer to a roasting tin and place in oven (uncovered) for 1 hour and 15 minutes (for medium) or 1 hour and 30 minutes (for well done). Baste once, halfway through cooking.
- Prepare the yorkshire pudding mixture. Place the flour in a jug and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs and stir together with a balloon whisk, bringing the flour into the centre with the eggs bit-by-bit. Add in the milk and whisk again until combined. It’s fine if it’s a little bit lumpy.
- Place the jug in the fridge to chill (for at least 30 minutes).
- Add the lard/duck fat for the roast potatoes to a roasting tin.
- Add ½ tsp of beef dripping/lard to 8 holes of a 12-hole metal bun tin for the Yorkshire puddings.
- Peel the potatoes and chop into chunky pieces a little bigger than a ping pong ball (approx 2 inches/5cm across). Peel the carrots, chop the cauliflower into florets and grate the cheese for the cauliflower cheese.
- Place the potatoes in a pan and cover with cold water. Place on the hob on a high heat and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 8-9 minutes - until softened at the edges.
- Meanwhile, place the potato roasting tin in the top of the oven (move the beef down) to heat the fat for 10 minutes.
- Drain the potatoes in a colander (save the potato water for the gravy) and give them a good shake to really roughen up the edges. Don't worry if a few break apart and they look overly fluffy. The more fluffy they are, the better they'll absorb the fat and the crispier they'll be. Put to one side.
- Bring a pan of water to the boil and place the cauliflower in a steam basket over the top. Place a lid on the pan (or you can place the cauliflower directly in the boiling water if you don't have a steam basket).
- Turn the water down to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes until the cauliflower is tender but not soggy. Drain the cauliflower.
- Open the oven and place the drained potatoes in the roasting tin, turn them in the fat. Place in oven for 25 minutes.
- By now, the beef should be almost ready (and it will need to rest while you prepare the rest of the meal). As soon as it’s done, take the beef out oven and turn the heat of the oven up to 220C/425F.
- Transfer the beef to a board, cover with foil and a couple of tea towels – this will allow the meat to rest and keep warm for 30-40 minutes.
- Now it’s time to assemble the cauliflower cheese. Pour 2 tbsp of the cream in a baking dish and sprinkle on 2 tbsp of the grated cheese. Add half of the cauliflower, then top with half of the remaining cream and quarter of the remaining cheese. Sprinkle on half of the salt and pepper.
- Top with the remaining cauliflower, then pour on the remaining cream. Sprinkle on the rest of the cheese, salt and pepper. Put to one side.
- Bring a pan of water to the boil for steaming the carrots and broccoli (if boiling the veg rather than steaming, add the carrots to the water now, whilst it’s cold. Make sure the water covers the carrots with about an inch of water to spare, so you can syphon off some of it for the gravy).
- Turn over the roast potatoes in the oven and move to a lower shelf. Cook for a further 20-25 minutes, until golden.
- Add the Yorkshire pudding tin to the top of oven. Heat for 5 minutes until oil is very hot.
- Put the carrots in the steam basket and place a lid on. Steam for 20 minutes
- Remove the Yorkshire pudding mixture from the fridge. Season with the salt and pepper and whisk together. Open the oven and pour the Yorkshire pudding mixture evenly into the Yorkshire puddings holes with the fat in. Place the cauliflower cheese in the top of the oven too. Close oven door. Cook the Yorkshire puddings and cauliflower cheese for 20 minutes – until golden.
- Prepare a cornstarch slurry for the gravy by mixing the cornflour/cornstarch with the cold water in a small jug.
- Put broccoli on to steam or boil for 8-10 minutes – until tender.
- Now it’s time to make the gravy. Place the meat roasting tray on the hob (make sure it’s hob proof) and start to heat. Sprinkle on the crumbled stock cubes. Add the reserved water from boiling the potatoes (approx. 2-3 cups/480ml-720ml) and stir, whilst heating on a high heat until bubbling. Scrape up any bits from the pan and mix in. This is where the meaty flavour comes from.
- Top up with more water from the vegetable steam pan (carefully) if more gravy is needed. Once bubbling, slowly add the cornstarch slurry, a splash at a time, whilst stirring with the whisk, until the gravy is the desired consistency. Stir in a little gravy browning if you’d like the gravy to be darker. Leave on a very low heat to keep warm.
- Transfer the meat from the board to a warm serving plate – ready for carving at the table. If there are any meat juices on the board, you can add these to the gravy.
- Drain the carrots and broccoli. Place in a serving bowl and top with butter and a sprinkle of white pepper for the carrots, and butter with salt and pepper for the broccoli.
- Remove the Yorkshire puddings and roasted potatoes from the oven and transfer to serving dishes. Remove cauliflower cheese from the oven.
- Carefully pour the gravy into a gravy jug.
- Time to serve!
✎ Notes
Steam oven?
If you have a steam oven, I'd definitely recommend adding low-to-medium steam when roasting any joint of meat. The results produce a more tender, juicy meat, whilst still being browned and golden on top. I find the cooking time is also slightly shorter when I add steam. If you don't have a steam oven, but want to add steam, you can add a cup of boiling water to a heavy-based tray in the base of your oven. It won't produce quite the same result - as you can't control the amount of steam being produced, but it can still help to ensure a more tender result. Using steam in this way may prevent the joint of meat from browning as much on top, so I find it's better to add water in this way when cooking meat that takes a long time in the oven, and needs help to stay moist. Nutritional information is per servingNutrition
Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
Fanny says
Amazing roasted beef recipe and specially the potatoes, wow
Susan Puccini says
I was just wondering what the equivalent of a Topside roast would be in Canada? I've never heard of a roast referred to as that before.
Rizzeh says
This is brilliant. You're the first person I have ever seen document a timeline for cooking an entire meal. I'm from the U.S. and I've never had a roast dinner such as this, but you can believe I'll be making this soon.❤
Nene says
As someone who detests cooking a roast dinner, I followed this recipe after waking up feeling brave. Everything was absolutely delicious and was devoured by everyone! Thank you so much!
Stacia says
So yummy! We told our kids that it was Harry Potter food a d they loved it!
Anna Fyodorova says
Amazing! Made this a few times!
Felicia Dake says
Hi, I live in the US but also lived in the UK for 13yrs. I'm going to try this roast beef dinner for Thanksgiving since it will just be my family of 3. I'll let you know how it all turns out.
Trytocook says
Hi I have bought everything needed but I am doing Yorkshire’s my own way. I am struggling with the time frames and breaking it down, maybe I’m looking too much into it but could someone possibly help me with at what time to put in what over the 2 hour 20 min timeframe.
Would really appreciate the help.
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi, there's a free time plan for this roast beef dinner when you sign up to my mailing list (also free). Once you sign up, you should get a link for the free time plan and my free ebook. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Hope that helps 🙂
Paul says
Made this meal today, followed your recipe all the way and it was a great success and enjoyed by all, thanks !
Archie says
I'll give this a spin - apart from the 'Yorkies', I have my own way of doing those! Try this....you'll love it!!
Don't worry about weighing ingredients, but measure equal volumes of eggs, strong bread flour and full-fat milk, a pinch of salt (Include a splosh of double cream if you like - I do) and a good pinch of dried yeast granules. Leave to rest for at least half hour, at room temperature then bake in a muffin tray, for 20-25 mins (3 eggs makes 12 properly-sized puds).
Paul says
Ever since I was Knee Hight to a Grasshopper, I was Taught Those Quantities to make perfect Yorkshire Puds. Since then, I’ve Taught Our Kids and before and in between The COVID-19 Lockdowns and The Restrictions were brought in. I had Started to Teach The Eldest of our Grandkids He was 7 at The Time but His Younger Brother age 3 wasn’t impressed as He wanted to learn too, so I Ended up with 2 Little Trainee Chefs.
Lore S says
Can you give me a bit more info? What temp do you bake your puds at? Do you put lard/oil/ in the muffin tins and heat that first, then add batter? Thanks!
Karen says
Did this yesterday. So easy and was well received by everyone. Very tasty and I would definitely do this again. Cauliflower cheese was especially good. Highly recommend.
Mary says
Going to prepare this for my father in law, who is a tough critic but am at a loss as to what meat I am to be using for this meal. What should I be looking for at the grocery store? Thanks in advance for your help and thank you for posting all of your recipes and videos which are very helpful!!!!!!!
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Mary, I use topside of beef for this meal (about 3.3 lbs or 1.5kg). If you're in the USA, I believe it's called Top Round Roast. Hope you enjoy the recipe and find the time plan useful 🙂
Raschell Celleste says
I always enjoy your posts and this one certainly doesn't disappoint. You put a lot of work into it and we all really appreciate it - keep them coming! Thank you.
Tom says
Thank you so much for this time plan. It's amazing. Had a trial run this last weekend. Going to make it for my Mom this Mother's Day. This will totally surprise her.
Charlie says
A meal that anyone with a drop of British could be proud of.