Smothered Steak with Homemade Mushroom Gravy

Hey, y’all looking down to travel memory lane but you ain’t got time to drive that far? Well, I got you fixed up because we’ve got a classic dish that is a comfort food staple – Smothered steak with a homemade mushroom gravy.

This goes back to my Mama’s cooking and she served this up many times.  We didn’t have a lot and she’d go digging through the freezer and find an old tough steak. She’d tenderize it and combine some great homemade flavors and it was a feast.  Now, today we’re not going to use an old tough piece of steak! But this is a budget friendly meal using an inexpensive cut, like sirloin or a cube steak, but we’ll tenderize it and as it cooks in that good gravy it will get even more tender. 

Start with Butter, Onions, and Shrooms

Start off with 4 tablespoons of butter in a 12-inch skillet and let it melt. Now, to keep that butter from burning  let’s add 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  I’m going to let it come back to nearly a simmer and then add half of a white onion that has been chopped, and keep stirring until it gets tender. 

Next I’m adding sliced mushrooms –  today I’m using baby portabella mushroom, along with 2 minced garlic cloves. Keep it stirring ‘cause we sure don’t want that garlic to burn. In about 12 to 15 minutes those mushrooms will soften and brown up nicely. 

Add Wine to Golden Brown Mushrooms

Now we’re going to add a little thickness to this.  Stir in 3 tablespoons of flour. Stir this up well until you see all those mushrooms evenly coated with the flour. 

Folks, we’re at the fancy part of this dish now! We’re going to stir in a little white wine. I’m using Pinot Grigio today, but you can use any white wine you have on hand. Another good cooking wine is also Chardonnay- at least that’s what Shan tells me. Stir in 1 cup of the wine and let it reduce down to about half, stirring frequently – about 5 minutes. 

Once that wine reduced a big stir in 4 cups of chicken broth and a little salt and pepper, to taste. 

Do you know what time it is? It’s time to add the thyme at this point. I like to use about 3 sprigs. Be sure you remove the stems ’cause those little fellers don’t eat too well. 

Finally, add 1 ½ cups of heavy cream which is gonna give this gravy a good rich flavor.  We’ll bring this back to a good hard simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and then it’ll be ready to go onto the meat.

Tenderize the Meat

Meanwhile,  let’s go ahead and prepare this meat.  We’re using 4 (6 -8 oz) sirloin steaks. You could also use a cube steak or I’ve even used hamburger patties- but you wouldn’t need to tenderize if you’re using those.

I’m going to lightly tenderize these sirloin steaks with a tenderizing hammer (check out our video below to see how we do it). I’m not going to beat it flat like beef jerky, I just wanna give it some gentle love taps on both sides.

Add the Seasonings

Season the meat and sprinkle some flour on top.

Next, I like to generously season both sides of the steaks with our Red River Ranch Mesquite seasoning, or your favorite all-purpose seasoning. 

Folks, we’re going to do this like my mother did so many years ago- give each steak a light sprinkling of flour on on both sides. Go ahead and shake it off the excess, just make sure every steak gets an even coating.  It’s going to help them get a little browning effect a little quicker but it’s also gonna help it taste so much better.

Fry the Sirloin Till It’s Brown

Fry the meat till it’s golden brown.

Now, take a 12″cast iron skillet and add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil – I like to use avocado oil. Add the steaks and we want to cook them over medium-high heat until that flour gets a brown color about, about 2 minutes per side. That’s going to help it with that taste but also some of that flour will thicken up that mushroom gravy when it cooks.  

Put the Meat in the Soup and Add Onions

Now it’s time to lay that mushroom goodness over it!  Go ahead and pour that gravy right over the top of the steaks. I don’t drain the meat grease before doing this either, because I want to incorporate all that flavor.  

Now top with the additional 1/2 white onion that we’ve cut into rings.

Bake at 375 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until the meat is fork tender.

Cook It Slowly in a Dutch Oven

If you’re cooking this in A Dutch oven, put coals a little further from the outside edge than normal because we want a lower and slower cooking time. See video below for tips.  The slower we’re cooking it in this Dutch oven, the tenderer that meat is gonna become. If you have a good hardwood or lump coal, it’s probably going to take around 30 minutes. 

Put the meat in the gravy and add sliced onion.

When this all gets finished up I like to serve it with a heaping side of mashed ‘taters, because that’s just another thing to pour that extra gravy over. In fact, go ahead and serve this gravy over ice cream ’cause it’s that good! 

Serve the steak with gravy and mashed potatoes.

Smothered Steak with Homemade Mushroom Gravy - Cowboy Kent Rollins

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Ingredients

  

• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• ½ white onion chopped
• 2 ½ cups sliced mushrooms 8 oz
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour plus about ½ cup for the meat coating
• 1 cup Pinot Grigio or other white wine
• 3 fresh thyme sprigs stems removed
• 4 cups chicken broth
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 ½ cups heavy cream
• 4 6 - 8 oz sirloin steaks
• 3 tablespoons cooking oil
• Red River Ranch Mesquite Seasoning or seasoning of your choice
• ½ white onion cut into rings

Instructions

 

• In a medium saucepan or cast iron skillet, melt the butter over low heat. Stir in the olive oil and onions. Cook over medium heat until the onions begin to get tender, about 5 minutes.
• Stir in the mushrooms and minced garlic. Continue cooking until the mushrooms soften slightly, about 12 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Sprinkle in the flour and stir to evenly coat the mushrooms and onions.
• Stir in the wine and bring the mixture back to a good simmer and continue stirring until the wine reduces down to about half, about 5 minutes or so.
• Stir in the chicken broth, thyme, salt, pepper and heavy cream. Bring the mixture back to a hard simmer and cook for additional 10 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Meanwhile, lightly tenderize the steaks with a meat hammer.
• Sprinkle both sides of the steaks with the Mesquite Seasoning (kentrollins.com) and rub in well. Then lightly coat each side with flour.
• Preheat a 12-inch cast iron skillet. Add the cooking oil. Place the steaks in the skillet over a medium heat. Cook about 2 minutes per side, to lightly brown.
• Pour the mushroom soup over the top of the steaks. Top with the sliced onions. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes or until the steaks are fork tender.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!