Sous vide cooking turns a super tough and inexpensive cut of beef, eye of round, into the most flavorful and amazing cut of meat you've ever eaten. Sous vide eye of round roast beef comes out medium rare and juicy, pink from edge to edge and as tender as a filet mignon!
This recipe was originally posted in April 2020, but has recently been updated with step by step photos, clearer instructions in post, and better photography! Thanks for supporting Sweet Tea + Thyme, y'all!
I can't think of anything better on my holiday table than a beautiful platter holding a roast beef of some sort. Smoked prime rib, beef tenderloin, etc. But this year, I would 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 holiday table yet easy and affordable enough for anyone to cook up? What if I told you each slice is juicy and tender like a prime rib at Christmas?
I was introduced to sous-vide cooking in culinary arts school and thought of it as super fancy and high tech -- but technology has made it easy and relatively inexpensive for any home cook who wants to cook with the sous-vide method to do so.
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Jump to:
- The Absolute BEST Roast Beef Ever!
- Why Sous-Vide Makes Perfectly Tender Eye of Round Roast Beef
- Ingredients for this Recipe
- How to Sous Vide Eye of Round Roast
- Temp and Time Chart!
- Variations and Pro Tips
- How to Serve Eye of Round Roast Beef
- Storage and Reheating
- Equipment
- FAQs
- More Beef Recipes
- Sous Vide Eye of Round Roast Beef
The Absolute BEST Roast Beef Ever!
I firmly believe sous vide is the best way to cook an eye of round roast—a notoriously tough and lean cut that really gave me a run for my money while recipe developing.
The usual roasting methods left me with chewy, overcooked slices and a thick, grey ring around the meat. Even after dry brining overnight, the seasoning just didn't sink in.
I wanted tender, juicy slices, perfect for pan gravy and taters, or piled onto a roast beef and cheddar sandwich. So, I got technical and finally found a foolproof method that delivers perfect roast beef every time.
Honey, if you've never been introduced before, meet the sous vide method! And all you need to do is have it sit in the water bath, then sear it quickly on a hot skillet!
Why Sous-Vide Makes Perfectly Tender Eye of Round Roast Beef
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!
Sous-Vide is not a fast cooking method, it's even lower and slower than your crockpot. And since we are cooking low and slow for such a long time, the connective tissue that this tough cut has, has time to break down and the proteins are relaxing and separating, so the meat becomes super tender.
This method takes about 18-22 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.
Ingredients for this Recipe
Full ingredients, measurements, and printable instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Eye of Round Roast - this is an affordable and widely available cut. You can find roasts from 2-5 pounds at almost any grocery store. I got my 3 pound roast for $13!
- Garlic and Onion Powder
- Kosher Salt and Pepper
- High Smoke Point Oil - we want something that can handle a fast and hot sear in the pan. Look for canola, vegetable, avocado, or grapeseed oil.
How to Sous Vide Eye of Round Roast
Step 1 | Trimming off any silverskin and excess fat with a paring knife is first, if it has any. It's tough and rubbery and will never get tender. Pat the roast dry and season generously.
Step 2 | Place roast into a sous vide bag, vacuum seal, and preheat the hot-water bath to 131ºF, that's 55ºC, for medium rare. This temperature is about as low as you can go cooking sous vide for a long period of time, according to food safety specialists. We want to keep everyone safe, y'all.
Step 3 | Sous vide the beef for at least 18 hours and up to 24 hours for a larger piece of meat. This way of cooking requires no real babysitting, no fussing. Leave it alone and let the heat tenderize the eye round to a perfectly cooked med rare.
Step 4 | Time to sear the sous vide beef! The roast is perfectly cooked now, but is looking grey and not so attractive, so we need to sear it until beautiful and brown while keeping it a perfect medium rare.
Heat the oil in a hot cast iron skillet until it's smoking hot over medium-high heat, take the roast from the bag and pat dry, then sear each side of the roast for no more than a quick sear, about 15-30 seconds at a time. Moving the roast will help brown the meat without ending up with a thick gray ring, so it's still medium rare from end to end.
Step 5 | Slice and serve! Thanks to sous vide cooking, you don't need to rest the roast. Slice it up and serve with sauces and sides!
Temp and Time Chart!
Very Rare to Rare: 120°F (49°C) to 128°F (53°C). This is not a safe temperature to cook your eye of round for this recipe!
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.
Variations and Pro Tips
- Do not cook it for too long - the longer you cook proteins, you can go from tender as possible to crumbly, dry and tough! The protein strands in your beef will just complete give out if they relax too much. An hour over shouldn't be a problem, but we don't want to over cook it.
- If you're working with a large roast (talking like a 5 pounder) you may want to cook your roast up to 24 hours at 131 degrees F.
- This technique can be used on any tough beef roasts. Try it on rump roast, london broil, bottom round roast, and more! Any roast that doesn't have a good fat marble will give the same results.
- Do NOT use fresh garlic - fresh garlic in an anaerobic setting (meaning no air) can increase the risk for botulism. I don't want anyone risking it.
- Dry Rub - Use your favorite beef dry rub instead of the mix I use. This recipe is so simple it leaves you open to all types of variation!
How to Serve Eye of Round Roast Beef
- Turn leftover roast beef into French Dips with Au Jus! Smear on some creamy horseradish sauce for even more flavor!
- Serve with classic roast beef sides! Load up on buttery mashed potatoes, roasted root veggies, sauteed asparagus, savory mushrooms, and creamy macaroni and cheese.
- Give it some *fancy* and serve with risotto! For Easter, try it with my lemon parm risotto.
- Make a gravy - take the juices in the bag and make a pan gravy with them! Or make the wild mushroom gravy I have shown in these photos. It's super easy and so, so good!
Storage and Reheating
Store the roast beef in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge.
Rewarm in the oven for ten minutes at 325 degrees F or in the microwave in short bursts until warmed through.
Equipment
- Vacuum sealer
- Paper Towels
- Sous Vide Immersion Circulator - a sous vide machine is actually a lot more affordable than you think! This circulator on Amazon is for $50!
- Large Pot or Container - for the sous vide water bath
- Large Skillet or Cast Iron Pan
- Vacuum Seal Bag - a vacuum bag works for sous vide and for long term freezing of leftovers, hint hint!
FAQs
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.
If you don't have a sous vide bag that can be vacuum sealed, you can use zip top bags instead and use the water displacement method to remove the air. Use good quality bags that can withstand the heat.
More Beef Recipes
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Sous Vide Eye of Round Roast Beef
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.1 3 lb eye of round roast, Kosher Salt and Freshly Cracked Black Pepper, Granulated Garlic, Onion Powder
- 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.2 tablespoon 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.
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