Perfect Eye of Round Roast

NOTE: An updated version of this recipe appears in my cookbook, The Ancestral Table.

Eye of round is a pretty intimidating piece of beef. It’s an extremely lean cut taken from the hindquarters of the cow, which gets a lot of exercise. To be honest, I usually just use the eye of round roast to make jerky (along with london broil, which is also from the same area of the cow) because making steaks and roasts with this part of the cow is usually always a gamble.

The other day I stumbled upon a recipe that seemed both crazy and intriguing; you roast the meat at a high temperature for a while, and then you turn off the oven and leave it in there for 2 1/2 hours. The end result is something like prime rib – a dark, crusty outside with a juicy, pink, tender inside. Honestly, it makes this fairly inexpensive cut of meat taste about 100x better than what you paid for. I may never cook an eye of round roast any other way for the rest of my life!


adapted from All Recipes

You’ll Need:
Eye of Round Roast (2-8 lbs. preferred, we used a 3 lb. roast)
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper (coarse-ground preferred)
1/2 tsp dried thyme
4-6 cloves garlic, chopped finely

Mix together your seasonings and set them aside.

Take out your roast, rinse it and pat dry with paper towels. Rub the seasonings all over the roast, and let it sit out on the kitchen counter for 30 minutes. This allows the roast to reach room temperature, plus it lets the seasonings settle onto the roast. Preheat your oven to 500 degrees.

Place the roast in a roasting pan or dutch oven and put it in the oven, fatty side up. Roast at 500 degrees, uncovered, for 7 minutes per pound. Our roast was a little over three pounds, so I cooked it for 25 minutes.

Now comes the part that goes against everything I’ve ever done in the kitchen – turn off the oven completely and leave the roast in there for 2 1/2 hours. Don’t open the oven door at all during this time! Go watch a movie or something.

After 2 1/2 hours, take the roast out and check its internal temp with an instant read thermometer. The temperature should be between 130-150 degrees. Put the finished roast on a plate and cover it with tin foil, and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Carve it into 1/2″ slices and enjoy!

As a quick reference, here are the standard temperature/doneness levels for roasts:

120°F to 125°F, (49°C to 52°C) = Rare
130°F to 140°F (55°C to 60°C) = Medium Rare
145°F to 150°F (63°C to 66°C) = Medium

Update: based on the huge amount of great feedback in the comments below, here are some tips:

– Gas ovens sometimes don’t retain heat well, so to be safe, during the 2.5-hour “off” period, maybe keep your heat at the oven’s lowest setting (probably 170) and check it after one hour (and every 30 minutes after that) for doneness. Because you have the heat going, I give you permission to open your oven door!
– If this is your first time making this dish, consider doing the 170-degree method above just to be safe..
– You can use a roasting thermometer (the kind that stay in the roast while cooking), but bear in mind that because it’s metal, it will conduct heat possibly overcook the roast. Trust the process!
– Some people have thrown in potatoes and root vegetables in with the roast and they’ve come out tasty, and other people have used the pan drippings (if there are any) to make a pan sauce for the roast.
– If you are making this dish to impress some dinner guests PLEASE try it in your own oven first! This is a very simple and nearly-foolproof recipe, but there is still a lot of variation in ovens, altitudes, etc. I don’t want to feel responsible for a ruined dinner party :)

918 thoughts on “Perfect Eye of Round Roast”

  1. You don’t know how many recipes of yours I have tabbed so I can make. Up next is the Kalua pig. I use to live on Big Island and miss the food there. Anyway – hope you didn’t mind I added you to my blog roll. Keep on posting!

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    1. Awesome, thank you! Hopefully I can keep up with new recipes every week (last summer I sorta slipped – too many vacations). I am currently blog-roll-less for simplicity’s sake, but I appreciate the add!

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      1. Hi.. I just tried this roast recipe tonight and followed the instructions exactly as it says, and my beef didn’t even make it over 110 degrees! Bummer. Not sure what happened.

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          1. I had the exact opposite problem. This recipe looked absolutely amazing, and the flavor was great. However, mine was only about 2.6 pounds so I cut the cooking/cooling time way down. We prefer our beef very rare anyway, but this came out cooked all the way through and as tough as shoe leather. I’ll probably try again with some tweaking!

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          2. I made it today and I would like to thank you so much it was delish, I ‘m always affraid to cook a roast, I have bad experience! you don’t know what to expect, undercook overcook, but this time was amazing! Thank you.

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          3. Sweetheart, I’ve cooked my roasts this was for over 25 years and never had a problem until this year’s Christmas Rib Roast. I finally figured out that my over 25 year-old electric oven’s slip is showing! She just couldn’t keep a heat seal any more, bless her old heart. I used your trick of turning the dial all the way down and am pleased to announce there is life in the old girl yet. ;)

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          5. I followed your instructions and kept my electric oven on its lowest temperature setting. I am sorry to say that it was an epic fail. I scooped everything (I added onions, potatoes and winter squash–they did not cook either) from my cast iron dutch oven into a crock pot liner and put in the fridge overnight. I will crock pot everything today and hope for the best.

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          6. my oven has internal fans to assist with the cool down of the oven. I think that maybe what some people are having problems. I’m going with the 500 then to 170 route. Thanks for the recipe!

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          7. I just tried this method, had the temperature at 400 becuz the size was 1.50 lb for my husband and I turned it off. after 2 hours perfect. I roasted it on top onions celery and frozen carrots. WOW

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          9. Help. Just came across your webpage. I am making a 9.77 pound eye round for Christmas dinner and am afraid of screwing it up. Usually make Prime Rib, but needed to trim the budget this year. Any tips or advise. Thanks

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          1. We have a gas oven and it worked GREAT for us….we just turned the heat down from 500 to 150 and it was the best roast I have ever had!!! Worked perfect!!!

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          2. I’ve cooking this roast in my gas oven for years and now in my gas convection oven and it’s still coming out perfect!!! I shut it completely off and have a perfect medium rare roast just the way we like it.

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          4. I just cooked this roast in a gas oven using the 500 degree oven for 7 minutes per pound and the dropping the oven temp to 170 degrees for 2.5 hours… It was wonderful!!! Best eye of round roast ever!!

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          5. My oven is electric and only goes to 450° or broil after that. How do I adjust the cooking time for a 450 temp? It’s 3.3 lbs

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        3. Hi the same thing happened to me. it was ice cold and raw. I then cooked it at 350 for another hour.

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        4. sherri – this recipe will work as described but the rub (pardon the pun) is that your oven MUST be (1) calibrated to the temperatures outlined and (2) keep heat at reasonable levels.
          So what does that mean and what can you do about it? (1) buy an oven thermometer(one that you leave sitting in the oven, put on middle rack) and turn your oven on to a set temp (350 works) and wait until the oven has full heated up (15-20 mins should work, even if the pre-heat sensor beeps, wait the full 20 mins), then look at the oven thermometer. It should be at the temp you set the oven to (in this case, 350). If the thermometer shows that the temp is accurately then move onto step 2. If it is widely off or varies over your cooking time then your oven has issues. There is a way to calibrate your oven but you should go to an owners manual and use your “I’m handy or not” judgement to decide if this is a DYI or repairman issue.
          (2) turn your oven off and watch the temp on the thermometer every 5 mins and write down the temp to see how quickly your oven is losing temp. If it drops quickly (say 20 degrees in 20 minutes) it could be your oven seal is an issue. Put your hand as near as possible to the door seams (top and bottom if a double oven) to see if you can feel heat seeping out. It could be you need new caskets – again you’ll need to decide if this is DYI or not.

          Good luck.

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          2. My old oven (which wasn’t terribly old) cooked too hot (I think it always cooked too hot).
            When we had a repairman for our microwave, I asked him about calibrating the oven (since it cooked too hot). His answer was “turn it down”. From his answer I figured it was difficult to recalibrate. Is it difficult to do? I found it very difficult to use a thermometer to figure out the temp in the oven.

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        5. Hi Sherri, first of all I find it easier to cut my roast in half. Especially if it is a larger roast. I usually go with a 5 lb roast and cut it in half, and I actually do 5 minutes per pound so as not to overcook. so it ends up being 2 1/2 pounds…I do 13 minutes and then cut the oven off and it is perfect. On the occasions that I’ve left my large roast in tact ( didn’t cut it in half) it didn’t work as well. Maybe this will help?

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        6. Me too Sherri. Worst piece of cold uncooked beef I’ve ever seen. Threw it out. I was reluctant when I touched the oven after 1 hour and it was room temperature. And I turned my oven stove light on to rrad the internal thermometer – and it was so low that it didn’t register. Ugh! Worst waste of a piece of beef ever!

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        7. I’m glad I read the comments. I have a new dual range. Gas burners and electric oven. The cooling fans blows until the oven cools, so will use the low temp method instead of turning my oven off. For those of you who are having problems with the meat being overdone or underdone you may want to check you’re ovens temp. I discovered on my previous oven that this was happening. The thermostat or something was blown. I had it repaired and no problem after. II had a lot of failed recipes before I realized that it was the oven. Good luck.

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        1. Sandra, great question, maybe someone else could chime in. I’ve never used a roasted but I’m not sure how well they retain heat. Do they have a “low” setting, like at 180 degrees or so? If so you could try the method I mention at the bottom of the post.

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          1. Russ, I asked that question because we were having a big family gathering and I didn’t want to tie up the oven for so long, but I ended up doing it in the oven and it was the TALK of the night!!! It came out just like your pictures and was the best roast beef I’ve ever cooked!!!! Thank you!!!

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          2. I did a similar process with a pork roast and a beef roast. The beef was in an electric roaster. Did the same heating process. turned it off when the time was up. Worked just as well as the regular oven. Everyone loved them both!

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        2. The problem with a roaster is that you want to have the lid on for temperature control, and this cut of meat needs to be cooked with a dry heat method. Using a moist heat method will toughen it.

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        3. I’ve done it in my roaster. But you have to turn it to 200 degrees after the high temp cook is over because the roaster doesn’t hold the heat after turning it off.

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      3. I just tried your recipe and it was tremendous! I had bought a 3.07 lb roast and oiled and seasoned as per your recipe. I checked it after 1 1/2 hours and it was perfect. We like it medium rare. I also oiled and salted baking potatoes and baked them on tin foil beside the roaster. They came out perfect too. I’m looking forward to trying your other recipes!

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        2. Kate – if you like the potato skin crispy (who doesn’t) you can substitute plain water for the oil. Do everything else the same (salt when wet, place potato on rack, and put foil on rack directly below the one holding the potato. Putting potato directly on foil doesn’t allow air to circulate around entire potato surface area and the part that sits on the foil tends to stay wet and not crispy up as well.

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          1. I put my potato on a tray or foil, but it sits on a small bed of coarse salt, instead of rubbing all over. It allows air to circulate and for some reason doesn’t make it too salty.

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        1. Connie, yes, leave it in longer. I would also keep the oven at 170F to make sure the oven doesn’t go too cool before it gets medium. Check it after 90 minutes and keep checking every 30 mins.

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      5. I just made this roast and it came out perfect I had a 2,31 lb roast I did 6 mins a pound (15 min) on 500 turned off oven let it sit 1 hr 40 min temp was 135 perfect thank you so much and I loved that my oven wasn’t on long : )

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      6. Tried this for the first time tonight. It was a great idea, since it’s starting to get hot and I was able to get the dinner moving way in advance and let the heat subside in the kitchen. First let me say, I am vegetarian, but I always cook meat for the family. It was a big success. I had about the same amount of meat as the recipe called for. I was scared at first. The temperature climbed to 192 at one point and it hadn’t been in the oven for very long. Took it out a little less than 2.5 hrs after turning the heat off. So I basically ignored the thermometer and went with the time you recommended instead, taking it out instead when the temp dropped BACK to 160. After removing it from the oven, it quickly dropped to 142. Then I tented it and let it sit before slicing. The family loved it. We’ll make it again for sure. My hubby kept commenting on how tender it was.

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      7. Love all the recipes that I’ve tried. May I suggest a good quality remote meat thermometer. I love mine! Don’t know how I ever did without one, perfect roast even when using somebody else’s oven, and it has paid for itself many times over in meals that it saved from my neglect. The best part is the belt clip pager that I can take out into the garage, set next to the computer, or set outside the kitchen window while in my patio garden.

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        1. Paul, I totally agree. I recently got the iDevices kitchen thermometer, which syncs with my iPhone and monitors everything. I used it for our Easter lamb roast, and it was awesome!

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      10. I use this a modified version of this recipe on the grill,,,I cook at the highest temp my grill will get to, usually 500-550 for 6-7minutes a pound depending on the shape of the roast, then turn off 2 burners (I have 3), and leave the roast on the “cool side” for an hour. Then remove roast from grill, triple wrap in heavy duty foil, and let sit on top of stove with a towel over it for another hour… This way I free up the oven for the wife to make whatever she wants in the oven, and I can sit back and enjoy a beverage or two….AND, NO dirty baking dishes to clean…..Oh, I do turn the roast over after 1/2 hour, so the juices that are pushed out of the meat while it continues to cook don’t just settle in the bottom pf the foil, they get sucked back into the meat as it cools..

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        1. Maybe you’d be a better cook if you followed the directions in the recipe. There’s no searing involved here. The initial 500 degree oven does the searing.

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      13. Guess what i’m going to do? I’m going to crock pot my round roast. Never fails in my crock pot…always tender!\

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    2. Tried it. Wonderful aroma. Good taste. Not as tender as I would like, but that’s probably due to the meat and not the prep. It was about room temperature when it came out of the oven after 2 1/2 hours after turning off the heat. My roast was a hair under 3#, so I kept it at 500º for 30 minutes (I’m at about 4500 ft. above sea level, which may or may not matter.)

      I washed some baking potatoes and put them in the roasting pan when I put the roast in the oven. They were done to perfection.

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        1. Hello there! I made the roast today, and the tenderness was perfect, the temp was perfect, but my beef did not develop a crust. Any pointers? My beef was lean, trimmed of all fat (it came this way in the package, and tied with twine), dry aged, grain fed.

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          1. Problem was that there was no fat and the roast was grain fed. You need the fat. Grass fed meat probably would have helped as well.

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          2. If you sear your roast first before putting it in the oven and place a piece of tin foil lightly floating over the roast pan, not tightly wrapped over the roast, it would develop a nice brown crust.

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      2. When you put the potatoes in do you need to add water to the pan? You wouldn’t just put them in a dry pan, right? This recipie mentions no water. Please help!

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          1. Does it matter if you put it directly into the pan or does it have to sit on a rack? About to cook this now! Thanks for the quick response!

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        2. Re the potatoes – you probably should coat them with EVOO and a touch of salt. Normally, I throw potatoes (along w carrots/onions/clelery) in large cubes/wedges in w a roast. This adds great flavor if you make a gravy. Gravy is easy but needs some work since eye round is a pretty lean cut even with the fat flap.

          I take roast and vegs out of roasting pan to let meat sit 10 mins prior to slicing. Cover roast w foil and put vegs into a covered dish to keep warm (w this receipe you probably could put it back into oven if it is still mildly warm.

          You want to use roasting pan drippings (even if there aren’t any/not much) or left over pan bits and on stove top heat up pan, deglaze with a little Cognac, add some butter (amount depending on if any drippings are in the pan, you just want some fat in the pan to make a roux), add sliced mushrooms and some garlic (minced or sliced very thin) stirring throughout w pan on med heat, add flour to fat/mushroom mix (looks weird but don’t worry) whisking constantly, add beef stock to roux when ready (roux should be slightly dark and pasty before adding beef stock; I like Better Than Bullion paste but it can be salty so be careful). Let reduce to thicken or add more stock if too thick (it thickens slightly once it is on table so keep it a tad thinner than you like it before taking it to the table.)
          Enjoy! Yummy!!!

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          1. Excellent gravy method! One tweak, Condensed french onion soup instead of Better Than Bullion paste . I like to use Campbell’s but any will do. Try it , you’ll like it!

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      3. Thanks for the high altitude adjustment! Love this method! Caterers use the high – low method for prime rib, and my brother uses this method, but I was never brave enough to try it way up here in the mountains! Can’t wait to check out more of Russ’ recipes!

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    3. I just bought a 71/2 lb eye of round roat and cut it into 3 smaller roasts,each about a little more than 2 lbs- should I still cook it @ 500 degrees without covering?

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        2. I thought if one were cooking 2 smaller roasts at the same time, the cooking time is calculated for the larger piece. What do you think? Perhaps leaving the two 3.30 (total weight of the 2 = 6.5 lbs) in for a longer period of time at the 500 degrees would only give it a great crusty seasoning. True?

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          2. Annie, if you left two small roasts in for the time of their combined weight, they’d cook too quickly. Instead, you want to cook them at the average weight of the two roasts, with a little added time to compensate for the fact that two roasts in the oven will cool down the oven a little more than one roast. They should still have a nice crust!

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    4. I’ve tried this twice and with outstanding results. I’ve even managed to make the best gravy from a roast ever and a lot of it. ( about three quarts).

      Sensational recipe. Thanks, Russ.

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    7. I was nervous to make this cut of meat the first time and try a new technique. I mastered the pot roast and grilling. I added fresh minced rosemary to the rub. I didn’t know the meat thermometer I used wasn’t oven proof as it wasn’t mine and nobody warned me otherwise. After 1.5 hours into the incubation period I saw the thermometer face was melted! So I cut the fattest part open to see and it was a Lil bloody so back in for 30 min at 170°. Perfecto!!! Impressed everyone they had seconds. Served with creamy Horseradish sauce. Who needs prime rib anymore tasty and economical.

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    8. use a meat injector sith about one quarter cup beef btoth about one hslf hour into cooking.
      it makes a sorld of difference and uour roast will taste like it cost a fortune!

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    9. I tried making this ‘perfect ‘ eye round roast. I followed your recipe . I have an electric oven so I turned the oven off and DID NOT open the oven. I checked after the 2 1/2 hours and it was only 120 degrees. Had to turn the oven back on and ended up putting it back in for about 45min. Well, I took it out and let it rest and it was a perfect medium but it was so tough you could barely eat it. Ended up throwing it out. I would never try this method again!

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      1. Sounds like your electric oven is not retaining heat well. I would try Russ’s tip for gas ovens, which is turning the oven down as low as it goes after the 500 degree period instead of turning it off (check temp of roast after 1 hour). Has worked perfectly for me over and over.

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    10. Thank you very much! The eye of round roast came out the best we have ever eaten! Usually mine are very dry. This time the juices were there and we had plenty of beautiful dark gravy. You really figured this one out- thanks again!

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    11. Wow, I made this amazing eye of the round roast today 6.8 lbs cooked on 500 for 60 minutes, then turned down to the keep warm 170. degrees for 2 1/2 hours prefect doneness. Due to the size of my roast I added another 1/2 teaspoon of each salt & pepper, a few pinches of dehydrated onions and some fresh rosemary. I was loved by all!

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    12. Had a 7 lbs whole. Used seasoning garlic and olive oil to prep. About 63 min at 455, another hour 50 w oven off… absolutely fantastic!!! Thank you

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    1. Hi Tracy, that is a great question. I don’t know much about gas ovens so I can’t give you a firm answer; does the oven tend to retain its heat after you turn it on? If so, you should be okay…but again, I don’t want to be responsible for a ruined hunk of meat, so try it at your own risk! :)

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      1. I tried this same recipe off of someone else’s website and it does NOT work with gas ovens. It was still raw at the end of the cooking time. Bummer!

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          1. I don’t think it is so much whether the oven is gas or not as it is whether it is well-sealed. My oven is electric and not self cleaning. I think a lot of the heat leaked out. I did this recipe just as written and after 2 hours my thermometer never got above 120. I let it rest for 10 minutes. Since I like my meat rare, I sliced into it and found it perfect.

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          3. I have made it successfully in a gas oven and both successfully and unsuccessfully in an electric oven. It’s definitely about how well it retains heat.

            BTW — I don’t recommend making it in extreme cold. The outside gets browned, but once you turn off the oven, not much else happens.

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          4. Russ I’ve been cooking eye of the round and use nothing but gas and they’ve come out perfect every time. Now have a gas convection oven and I get the same results……perfect.

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        2. It will work in a gas oven…..but instead of turing the oven off…..turn it down to 150 degrees and leave it alone for 2 1/2. Worked great for us!

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      2. Hi Russ, my question about this method of cooking for this roast is this; if I have an gas oven and follow directions up to the point of turning off, if I leave my oven on at 200 or 225 degress with this mimic the effect of a electric oven? I really really want to try this method of cooking my roast. Do you know if anyone with a gas oven has tried this and had success?

        Thanks Sandy

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        1. Hey Sandy, you can definitely try it at a high heat and then reduce it to about 250. That’s a common method for making prime rib, so I’m sure it would turn out just fine. You should be able to check it with a meat thermometer as it cooks to make sure it gets to the desired temperature; an internal temp of 120-125 should be medium rare and just about perfect. Good luck and please tell me how it went!

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      3. I have tried this recipe many times. At first I was nervous about the turning off of the oven so I kept it on lowest temp but it over cooked it. With gas just put roast on highest level on oven rack and follow recipe. Awesome recipe I cook this for our Sunday meals, it sure brings the family out.

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    2. yes it works in gas oven but leave the oven on warm for the last 2 plus hours … it is important NOT to open the oven during last hours … my son does not like beef .. too many of Oma’s soggy watery stringy roasts, but this 6 lb roast comes out like prime rib and got us 3 plus meals and he loved each and every one! sheppard’s pie, fajita’s … best roast ever!

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      2. I have a 5.5 roast that I would like to do fro Christmas. DId you do the 7 minutes per pound on 500 first? I too have a gas oven. Do you think I should keep it at 170 or 200?

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  5. I googled “how to cook eye of round roast” and this way popped up several times. I wasn’t convinced that this was the way for me. Your blog has sealed the deal and I can’t wait to try it

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  6. Did you use a grass fed eye of round or a grain fed one?

    I cooked a grass fed one this way, and it came out a little tough (though still delicious).

    I’m wondering if the cooking time would need to be altered for grass fed beef.

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    1. Hi Josh, sorry to hear that it came out a little tough. I also used a grass-fed roast. I’m racking my brain to find out why it came out tough; was it a very small roast? Does your oven run hot? Are you at a high altitude? How pink was the inside?

      While the difference between grass-fed and grain-fed does alter cooking times, that’s usually for pieces that are cooked more thoroughly – steaks, for example – and since this roast is cooked to medium doneness, it shouldn’t have been an issue.

      I’m not a meat expert by any means, but I imagine the fat content in this cut of meat is similar in both varieties since it’s one of the most-worked muscles on the body (although arguably a grain-fed cow probably does more standing around!).

      In the future, I’d cook it for a few minutes less than last time just to be safe, and if you’re up to it, rub olive oil all over the roast before applying the dry rub.

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      1. Grass Fed and Finished beef is much much leaner and in general slightly tougher than its cousins fed corn or grains (feed lot fed or not). In general it has a fat that has a better omega balance, but also less fat and less marbling. A grain fed cow gets to market weight in 8-14 months, a grass fed cow 16-24 months. So the meat is older and will be tougher.

        I usually treat grass fed beef more like you would bison, which is for a shorter time and ONE wellness rating less (Medium reduced to Medium Rare for example). The period at 500F is to sear the outer meat, so I would reduce that time to 5 minutes/lb – I tend to to 4-5lb roasts for 20 minutes regardless of size. I’d also knock it down 30 minutes per lb (2 hours instead of 2 hours 30mins).

        You could try doing the sear at 500F, then setting your oven to 160F for the remainder of the cooking time and add half an 20-30 minutes for each wellness stage you want to get too after the initial 2 hours if you want to go past medium rare.

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        2. This actually confirmed some suspicions I’ve had based on my own experiences. Thanks, for I while there I was sure it was just my wonky oven. I’ll put this info into the family book of “Hey, Mom Did It This Way!” Cheers –

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        3. M,
          right on the money. 5 mins/lb.
          to other folks don’t time until done based on wt.
          buy an electronic thermometer. calibrate it before using it. Put it in boiling water on the stove top but make sure it goes to 212F. If it doesn’t find out what your hot water coming out of the tap is and see if this registers the same. last calibration is to match it to your usual meat thermometer.
          you don’t have to open the oven door anymore.
          my thermo has a 50 ft range so i can sit on the back porch and enjoy life.
          then cook to rare ~135F.
          cheers – old prop

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  7. We are having this tonight, and I can hardly wait. I made a special trip to the store just to get the meat. I cooked a turkey once this way. 500 for 1 hour and in the oven overnight. Really juicy and good! I really enjoy your postings. Thanks!!

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    2. I would be leary of leaving a cooked turkey in the oven over night?Isn’t that too long fr poultry to be left after cooking?I read it should be put in fridge as soon as it cools?

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      1. She COOKED it overnight (at a low temp.. probably about 200). A turkey isn’t going to be done cooking after only an hour, even at 500. She didn’t let the finished turkey sit in the oven overnight.

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  11. This is in my oven right now. It smells SO good!!! It’s like torture that I have two wait two more hours!!! Might have to leave the house ;-)

    Thanks for posting this, I can’t wait to dig in!

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  13. oh my – this was incredible….. I’m kind of afraid of meat and don’t know what to do with it. I made this last night and my whole family ate it and loved it. My 10 year old daughter says “it’s so juicy” (she actually said that about 5 times) and she had fourths…..

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  17. Pingback: Roasted Pork Sirloin « The Domestic Man

    1. I personally think that it would be amazing with
      gravy,but it would be best with different veggies,such as,spinach ,okra, corn,snow peas by the way corn is a grain.

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  19. Im sure my oven is like everyone else’s with the vent out of the back left heating element on the stove. Will this cause problems with keeping heat for the 2.5 hours?

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  20. Pingback: The Terrible Dinner That Wasn’t | Primal Cooking Diary

  21. I made this for dinner last night. Tender, juicy, full of flavor and a total hit with the family. I use a gas oven so it was a gamble but it was a total sucess. Thanks for a new way to cook an unfamilar cut of meat.

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      1. I made this tonight with one of those infamous gas ovens, and guess what? It was gobbled down in one quick sitting. Here’s what I did: Roasted it for 7 minutes per pound at 500. Turned the oven down to 300 for the next hour, then down to 200 for the remaining time. Thanks for sharing this recipe. It helped me use one of those challenging cuts from my cow share.

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        1. Thank you, thank you, thank you…i too have a gas oven and was wondering. How am I going to do this?….and then you comment appears….

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  22. made this last night, smelled great and couldn’t wait to try it. Tasted great but it wasn’t very tender! What did I do wrong? I followed your recipe.

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        1. Hmm, I’m at a loss then. Sounds like you did everything right, with the perfect temperature and color. How was the quality of the meat? We bought some beef from a co-worker last year that was extremely tough and stringy no matter how I cooked it :(

          If all else fails, do try it again and let me know if it gets better!

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          1. Hi Russ, I got the meat at Costco, I think that was the problem! Last night I made 5 chicken breast, 3 were great and 2 were like rubber!! I think I’ll be shopping for meat elsewhere.
            I will try the roast again, it was tasty. Thanks for all your feed back.
            Take care Lisa

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          2. Hey Russ and Lisa… just a thought. Lisa, did you slice it against the grain? I am going to try this tonight :)

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  23. I tried this at home, it was incredible! but now I will serve it at a reception for 50 people, so I have some doubts…
    I need to roast about 5 or 6 pieces weighing from 2.2 to 2.5 each, so should I add more time at 500 per pound because of the many pieces of meat being cooked at the same time?

    Also it will be held (whole) in a warmer for 1 hour and then heated in a chafing dish for another 3 hrs before cutting and serving… do you think this will just ruin the beef? not sure if it may toughen or dry it up.
    I would really appreciate your thoughts about this. Is this too adventurous?

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  24. Dear Russ, It seem you do a lot of baking your beef ,but I live and rise my own beef so when it comes to a roast that is from a tough cut ,or has a lot of fat ,try using a seasoning rub to you taste and rub it down, place in a skillet ,add just enough oil to brown it on all sides ,and if one is not afraid to , place it in a pressure cooker. also one will have no problem using a gas ,or electric stoves.one can also add vegetables.

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  25. This is the same recipe my grandmother and mother used. Grandma was born in the late 1800s and my mom was born in 1925. This is a tried and true recipe. Do not be afraid.

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  26. I’m gonna be trying this on Thursday, but I just wanted to check… My roast is 5lbs. Does this change the cooking time at all?

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  27. I “experimented” with this recipe for my Dad’s birthday, with our whole family in attendance. We had 5 meat eaters and they demolished a 5 lb. Eye of Round!!! This recipe was easy and delicious! WIth the short high temperature cooking cycle it also kept the heat down in my kitchen on a 100 degree day! Thank you for sharing this it was OUTSTANDING and we’ll be enjoying this again soon.

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    1. Gonna try this tonight for dinner. Just put the seasonings on,and letting it sit for 30 min. Will let you know how it turns out.

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  29. I’m trying this tonight, I’m not very good with cooking meat so wish me luck. I saw where you suggested rubbing it in olive oil to someone that said their grass fed turned out tough. I have a grain fed but should I go ahead and use the oil anyways just to ensure I get it juicy or no? I don’t want to mess it up lol.

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  30. Started making this for dinner tonight. Rested 30 minutes on counter and then put in the oven. Timer just went off and now I realize the oven was not up to temp (500). It was just getting to 496 so I added another 7 minutes. Hope it comes out ok.

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  31. Regarding this recipe with a gas oven – I’ve made this three times (tonight will be the 4th) and I use a gas oven. Every time my roast has come out perfectly done to medium rare the way the family loves it. I do tend to just turn the oven down to its lowest setting, which on mine is around 140 degrees – because my oven is ancient! Beyond that, I follow the recipe to a “T” and it is perfection. So for those with a gas oven, don’t be afraid to try this one. :-)

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  32. Excellent taste. Will be great for sandwhiches if there is any left over. I left out the garlic in fear that it would burn and make it bitter. Made an au jus with the remaining “goodies” left on the bottom of the pan. Yummy

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    2. Stab the meat and put the garlic slivers inside. That is good!! I also marinated the roast in olive oil, worcestershire, balsamic vinegar and a little dijon mustard for a day before cooking. Best roast ever!!

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  34. This was delicious and I will definitely do it again. would be great shave thin on a sandwich, incredible tender for what in the past I had only considered pot roasting. Thanks

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  35. Pingback: » Perfect Eye of Round Roast Naturally Primal

  36. This worked wonderfully. It wasn’t quite done at the end of the 2.5 hours, so I put it on at 350 for another 20 minutes and it was perfect. We will definitely make this again!

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  37. trying this tonight lol hope everyone likes it!! wish me luck but I,m going to throw my potatoes n veggies in after the high temp cooking time this part makes me nervous as in all postings I read no one mentioned how much water broth if any liquid at all is required? so I,m just going to see as i go along..

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  38. It’s in the oven (with some potatoes)! My boyfriend is skeptical – but I think the Domestic Man knows! (1st time here – love the name!)

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  40. I made this recipe today. I have a gas oven. The roast was 3.38 lbs and I cooked it at 500 for 25 minutes and then turn the oven down to 200 and cooked it for 1 1/2 hours. It was fantastic.

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  41. I made this recipe a few months back and it’s awesome. My man didn’t think it would be done he was very surprised by it. There was defently none leftover. But I have a question I was going to make this recipe tonight but I jus realized my roast is a rump roast and it’s 1.45lbs (which is plenty for two). So would it still work or how should I do it?? It was so good last time and I would love to have it again tonight!! Please let me know. My roast is thawing put now. Thank you very much!!

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  42. i’m making a roast for a dinner party tomorrow. actually i’m making 2 at the same time. does that mess with the cook time and can it be done in the same pan? both are about 5.25 & 5.5LBS. thanks!!

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  43. VERY anxious! I have 20 people coming for dinner and have it in the over right now. I have an 8lb roast and decided to cut it in half and roast side by side in a large pan rather than risk doing one so large my first time…So for 2-4 lb roasts I am going to leave them for 28 minutes at 500 and then reduce the heat….will let you know if it works out

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  45. I’m having guests for dinner tonight and want to give this recipe a go. The problem is that I won’t be home at the time the oven needs to be turned off so I’m wondering if I should cook the roast ahead of time and reheat it (at what temp and how long?) or if I should just time it so that I turn the oven off when I leave and let the roast sit in the oven til I return about 4 hours later? Thanks.

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  46. This was excellent! I checked the weight before I started and my roast was 6.66 pounds. I’ve named tonight’s dinner Roast Prophetic Beast with Brimstone Roasted Veg. ;) I cut potatoes, carrots, and onions into nice-sized chunks and surrounded the big hunk o’ beef with them. I added no seasoning to the veg and they were delectable! I used all the pan drippings for a dark, rich, slightly spicy gravy that the kids wanted to drink from the gravy boat! I will use this recipe for eye of rounds from now on. Even crock potting these roasts doesn’t make the meat tender. Mine is a self-cleaning electric oven with an excellent seal. 45 minutes @ 500, then 2.5 hours with no heat and the meat thermometer read 140 in the thickest section of the roast. Nice! So good. Sliced it thin.

    Tell me, what do you do with your leftovers? I usually make another dish with leftover beef, but this is A LOT of meat. I’ll probably get 10 meals out of this beast.

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    2. Hi,
      I’ve used leftover Eye of the Round to make Vegtable Beef Soup and it comes out fantastic! The soup can then be frozen in bulk or in individual serving containers. Just noticed the date on the original post. I guess I’m a tad late with my suggestion lol.

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    3. When I made this recipe for the first time we had a LOT left over so after we’d had enough of beef sandwiches, I cut the remaining meat in small pieces and made a delicious beef stew. I included any drippings/gravy left over and froze the stew we didn’t get through in the next few days. The stewed meat was *even more tender* if you can believe it. I now use this recipe every time I cook a roast!

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  47. Wow….I wish I knew about this cooking method years ago! Soooo easy and what a delicious result! I have picky eaters so I cut two garlic cloves in half and rubbed the cut ends on all sides of the piece of meat then added a generous dose of salt and pepper. I made gravy with the drippings! This is the only way I will prepare the eye of round roast…THANK YOU!!!

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  48. Thanks so much!!! I was looking for something like this but I was always uncertain….. The only doubt, is about the exact part of the beast….. I live in northern Italy, and I wonder how can I ask my butcher “eye round roast”,actually! Can you help? Thanks again!

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  49. My wife and I just made an eye round following this method. Our roast was about 2 lbs, left it in at 225 for about 1hr 20min after 15 min at 500. It was great. Nice and rare, lots of flavor. We also put russets in with it, they came out great, too. It was all as good or better than any restaurant roast beef that we have had. I will absolutely do this for beef roasts from now on.

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    2. Mine worked out just about the same, and it was fantastic for NYE last night. It was my first try with our Viking oven, so I could not leave the oven untouched for two hours without knowing my heat loss. It looks like it gets down to 200 degrees on our Viking oven, per the oven thermometer, so I would think keeping the oven on at 170 to 225 would be best, no?

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    1. Brigi, I don’t see why not, provided the convection oven retains heat pretty well (as far as I know, they do). I haven’t worked with a convection oven in several years, but I imagine you would have to adjust the initial (500-degree) cooking time in the same way you have to adjust for other recipes. Let me know if you do it, and how it turned out!

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  52. I tried this using the boliche cut of meat which was what I could find in Washington Heights. I used a gas oven and I turned it down to 150 instead of turning it off, it worked perfectly !! THANK YOU

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  53. Fantastic recipe! Had a 7lb roast and put in for 42 minutes then took out 2.5 hours later and……the best roast I have ever made! Thank you for this!

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  54. This was fantastic – just a side suggestion . . . fresh red beets and rice pilaf. Might I suggest a tag? You could mark this as “gluten free.”

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    1. Nice idea about the tag, and the sides! Just updated my tags to include gluten-free for this recipe.

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    1. After the first hour of the oven being turned off, the temp of the meat started to drop from 144 degrees. I heated the oven back up to 325 but the temp wasn’t rising in the meat. I took it out, wrapped it up in foil and let it sit. When I sliced it was too bloody for us. So I made some beef stock and simmered it, but there were some tough peices and only a little bit of tenderness.

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      1. Hi Amanda, I’m a little confused about this post. Were you opening the oven and checking it after an hour, or was there a meat thermometer in the meat the whole time? If it was the former, I would have encouraged you to let the recipe run its course before making changes. It sounds like your oven didn’t retain heat very well; next time I would encourage you to do as many with gas ovens do, and keep the heat going at 170 for the rest of the time and try it from there. I’m happy to hear that you were at least able to salvage the meal!

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        1. There was a thermometer in the meat the whole time, I have one of those themometers that you stick in the meat and it keeps track of when it is done to your liking rare, med, well done. I never opened the door once durring the cooking time. We didn’t get to eat it, bc my husband had an allergic reaction to something, he is allergic to beans and mushrooms which I used neither but the meat was purchased in an open meat counter. The meat was also too tough to eat, since we have a choking problem in the family. I was hoping for a nice tender meat.

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          1. Amanda, sorry to hear that you had such a bad experience. I would suggest trying to keep the heat on low next time to maintain some heat. That being said, I understand if you didn’t want to make this recipe again considering the nightmare of a time you had the first time! :(

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    1. OMG!!!!! It came out scrumptious!!! Turned gas oven down as low as it could go….170 degrees…and it came out so good…little tough but that’s the cut…..yummmm!

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  58. So pretty much the 500 degrees is the act of searing your roast and the 2 1/2 hours of temperature reduction is a low and slow technique. Why can’t you sear in a hot pan and roast until fork on let’s say 180-220 degrees?

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    1. Ronnie, that may work, but there are a couple ideas at play here – first, it takes a while for the oven to go down from 500 degrees, so that process probably helps in the cooking process more than just a steady 180-220 degrees. Secondly, pan-searing and then roasting would mean twice as many dirty dishes :)

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  59. Russ:

    This is as close to PR as it gets w/out the bones. I read your story and was laughing because my reaction to this recipe was about the same as yours. After I tried it, I had to shut my mouth. (Mom always taught us it’s not polite to talk with a mouthful). I also make can make about two quarts of gravy with the pan drippings using powdered beef boullion, water, Kitchen Bouquet, powdered garlic, onion, salt, pepper and corn starch.

    It’s exactly like PR.

    Thanks.

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  60. I was just looking thought the comments and I could have sworn I left one last time I tried your recipe. CREDIT IS DUE TO YOU SIR!!! I followed the directions to a “T” for a 5.6 lb Eye of Round and it turned out beautifully!!! I have a new cheap stove that came with my apartment and I didn’t trust it to stay warm for long so I just turned it down to the lowest setting for the 2.5 hrs and my roast was AWESOME! Tender, pink and juicy. Couldn’t have gotten a Prime Rib to taste so good! Thank you sir! I will be cooking this again tonight, with no stress now that I know what a fail-safe recipe this is! I’ll be back for more tasty ideas!

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  61. Our 4-pound roast is in the oven, which is 10 minutes away from being turned off. The smell of roasting garlic is wonderful. As soon as we shut off the oven, we’re headed to my 92-year-old mother-in-law’s house to watch The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel with her and her 96-year-old friend. Leaving the house is the best way to do this (in my mind) – otherwise I’d be fussing and checking all the time. When we return, we expect to enjoy a lovely roast. Thanks for the recipe!

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    1. We were 15 minutes late coming home, and the roast was perfect. A bit on the cool side, but not a big deal. We will definitely do this again with the other half of the roast that’s in the freezer!

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  62. Hi,
    I have to cook a 8lb eye round for 15 people, so, 8lb x 7min = 56 minutes in a 500 degrees oven…isn’t it going to burn too much in the outside? Should I cut it in two and cook only 30 minutes at 500 degrees?
    Also, will the 2 1/2 hours for the 2 pieces to finish cooking enough?

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    2. I just made a 6.8 pound roast and didn’t cut it in half, and it came out fine (45 minutes at 500, and 2 1/2 hours with the oven off). My problem was that I didn’t read the directions carefully, so when it came out and the temperature registered 135-ish, I thought it needed more cooking. So I turned the oven to 350 and put it back in for a while. End result was a roast that was more medium than the medium rare or rare that I was going for. But it was still delicious!

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  63. I’ve used this method several times in a gas oven and it turns out perfectly pink in the centre. The trick really is having an oven door that seals well for the standing time. The other thing is to slice thinly. I have to cook 12 x 2-3 lb roasts for a community meal. Normally I would get several whole eye of rounds but this was the only size I could get. I’m going to try putting them all into two restaurant pans and cross my fingers! Thanks for the last tip to let air circulate. Wish me luck. This is the only cut we can afford when we have to serve about 80 people.

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  67. Okay. I was a total unbeliever when I read this recipe. Just made it tonight and the entire family loved it! It was tender and flavorful. Now I need to check out some of your other recipes! Thanks!

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      1. I have a small roast 1.89lbs. I cooked it on 500 degrees for 16 mins. I forgot to let it sit out half an hr prior. :( I like mine more done med-well. How long should I leave it locked in the oven for?? the full 2.5 hrs? or since it’s a smaller roast I can take it out earlier? making it as I write. Hopefully you can let me know sooner than later. So far smells amazing!

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        1. The way I did mine was I used the probe of my oven. After cooking it the 5 min per pound at 500 degrees I turned the oven down to the lowest that it would allow me (which was 200). I set the probe to the temp that I wanted the roast to be and when it was done the oven turned off. If you don’t have a probe built into your oven you can purchase portable ones. There really isn’t anyway to tell unless you have a temp gauge inserted that you can read without opening the oven otherwise you lose the heat of the oven. Hope this helps. Mine turned out great.

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          1. I always forget about my probe that is built in my oven. I was in such a rush to make it after a long day at wk. We are in a middle of a storm so my husband was going to get home late. thought it would be a great dish to have after a long commute in snowy weather. Have 30 mins to go and see what the result is. I’ll def use it next time. Thanks for the tip.

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  68. Tried this yesterday with a 2.2 lb. roast. Cooked it for 20 minutes and then shut off oven for 2.5 hours. (My stove is a retro gas stove from the 1950’s so I was worried it wouldn’t hold the heat). It came out perfect, just like PR, pink and juicy. Will try it again with baking potatoes. Oil them a bit with a little coconut oil,shake on seat salt and wrap in foil! Thanks!

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  69. I loved the looks of this recipe and the comments sold me on trying it. I’ve prepared my 6 lb roast as per your instructions and its in the oven now, along with some root vegetables that I hope will bake nicely with the meat…my only concern is that I didn’t read all the comments before putting it all in the oven and I’m now worried that there isn’t a ton of room around the roast for “air circulation”. Should I make any adjustments?

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      1. You were right – it’s fantastic! The onion chunks I spread at the bottom of the pan were deliciously caramelized; the turnip, red potatos and sweet potato were soft baked just right. But the beef….perfection, exactly as advertised! Sliced thinly it is tender, juicy and incredibly delicious. The roasted garlic rub adds a layer of complexity that goes beautifully with a nice full red wine. I’m sold! I’ll definitely make this recipe again.

        Any chance you have a beef stew recipe I can use for the leftovers?!

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        1. Cheryl, I’m happy to hear that it turned out! As far as a stew with the leftovers, you could either use my Hungarian Goulash or my Hearty Bison Stew with leftover roast beef and it’d probably turn out pretty good. If you search for the word “stew” in my search bar at the top of the page both recipes should show up as the first two…

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  70. I never bought Eye of round as I could never get cooked rite. Until now This is the best Eye of round I ever had end of story! Thanks very much!!!

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  72. I made this yesterday for Sunday dinner.

    I had a not quite 2 lb. roast so I put it in a 500 degree oven for 15 minutes. I have a gas oven that I KNEW did not have a great seal, so I turned it down to 200 degrees for 2 and 1/2 hours.

    Came out PERFECT. This is honestly the first time I have successfully made eye of round. I am so notorious for eye of round that comes out raw in the middle that I simply gave up cooking them other than in a crockpot.

    Thanks for giving me back my eye of round roast. :-)

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  73. It worked! Cooked for little longer as young kids in family. Perfect. Have recommended to all my friends. Gravy was very intense and yummy. Did celeriac mash and veg on hob. But how do you do lovely roastie potatoes at the same time if oven is closed for business for 2 1/2 hrs?? ;)

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  74. Hello, This looks great! For a dinner party on the 15th of this month we are cooking two 7lb roasts. The question is partially answered above but, though I am a confident cook, I am not very good at math… Would you advise cutting them each in half and base the roasting time on the total 14lb weight? Any advice would be appreciated! Thank you.

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  75. I used your method yesterday and it was absolutely the most tender eye of round I’ve ever had!! And so EASY!! Also lifted the drippings off the bottom of the pan with 2 cups water, then added 2Tbsp corn starch to 1/4 cup of water and the gravy was FAB!

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  76. My husband gave me a thumbs up! I wasn’t sure what to do with the meat last night so I left it marinating overnite in Corona beer and found your recipe this morning. My husband is still eating. We enjoyed our dinner tonite!

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  77. Made this last night. The rub was delicious, but for some reason the meat was overdone. My roast was 2.5 pounds and when I pulled it out at the end of the 2.5 hours, the thermometer read 135 degrees with no pink to be seen! I like my meat rare, but this still tasted pretty darn good. It might be my oven, but I think I’ll try it for an hour and 45 minutes next time. Great recipe anyway, keep ’em coming!

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  78. OMG. I just reread the instructions and realized it said “uncovered”! I have 1 hr 32minutes left to cook and the lid is on and has been the whole time. What should I do? !!!

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  79. In the process of prepping the roast, really skeptical about the cooking method but will try it anyways….results to follow in few hours!

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  80. My eye of the round is frozen. I have it in water in the sink trying to thaw it out its only 10am and we dont eat until at least 5. If it does not thaw completely do I change the cooking method? So excited to try this recipe – I also have a gas oven so after my 35 minutes are up I am going to leave the temp at its lowest setting. Me and roast do not always get along very well…haha but with all these great comments I cant wait to try it. Thanks for all the great tips.

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  82. I have a gas oven and have been making this roast for years now albeit with a little olive oil in the rub. Instead of leaving it in the turned off oven for 2 hours I leave mine in for a mere 45 minutes. It comes out very juicy. I usually cook a 4-5 lb roast. Two hours is way too long. If your oven doesn’t hold the heat turn it on again at a low setting for another 30 minutes.

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  83. Made this last night and it was delicious…I can’t get over how simple it was to prepare and cook. Will definitely make again. Thanks!

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  85. Hello Russ: I’ve made roast in the oven many times, different ways and it always is fine. I have an electric oven and I was looking for a new way to cook this cut of meat. Your recipe sounds interesting, specially the part of turning the oven off!!!!! This caught my eye so I’m in the process of giving it a try. My roast is about 3.85lb. so, after the over reached 500 degrees, I put the meat there, after spreading the delicious garlic mixture, left it cooking 30 min. and then turn the oven off. I will come back to let you guys know how it turned out. My kitchen smells amazing and I’m sure the meat will taste amazing too.

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  86. Russ: I have a gas oven and let me float this by you. Put the roast in a cast iron dutch oven and do the five hundred thing with the lid off. (however, put the lid in the oven too so it comes up to temp). Then, when it is time to turn down the heat-or just before- put the lid on the dutch oven. Maybe that way it would hold in the heat. The only thing I would be worried about would be losing the crunchy herb crust.

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    1. Gage, I think that is doable. I’ve heard varying reports from people with gas ovens, the common factor being how well their ovens retain heat. Throwing the lid on a dutch oven may help to ensure that you get a good finish. Maybe try it with a smaller cut first, so you don’t get as mad at me if it goes bad! :)

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      1. You know Russ, I use a similar rub on Prime Rib when I’m feeling flush enough to buy one. I use kosher salt, fresh thyme, chopped fresh garlic, fresh rosemary, pepper, horseradish and make kind of a paste with it using a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. It’s ‘da bomb’ on PR. I’m going to try this rub on your recipe this week.

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  87. Russ…well , to be honest with you , the 500 degrees concept would make my parents turn in their graves , but … They are not here so here we go. Intriguing is what makes people interested and man, you got me interested. Followed your “rub” , let sit , pre-heated my oven and when it was ready I let out a smal ” hehe” and in it went. The smell right now is …ah …mmm…holy schmolly and that’s 20 minutes in . I’ve set my oven to the lowest setting (170) because I am not too sure about how well it holds heat ( trying to be safe and I don’t like to fail on any recipes)( it’s a pride thing). Fingers crossed and the wait will bea new form of discipline for me. I’ll let you know about what the critics say…Thanks!

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    1. Paul, Id like to know the details on how the whole thing turned out. My oven’s lowest is 170 also. I’m curous if you adjusted the time.

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  88. Gage , I am not going to adjust my time because on previous posts it was said that that temp. Is ok. So I’m going to trust the masses with fingers crossed

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  91. Well , supper is over . Survey says………the roast got thumbs up from everyone that ate. The rub…hmmm , awesome. The roast scared me. When the timer went on the stove , I took it out and plunged a thermometer into it’s flesh and it registered under 130 ( Paul hangs head very low). Then I remember reading , if it is not between 130 and 150 , put it backin where it came from , crank the heat to 325 for 10 minutes and took a look and it was in an acceptable range . My wife and I had a slice each and the taste was awesome . As for the potatoes and carrots , the carrots had flavour but a little rubbery and the potatoes were almost done . Conclusion is next time , the veggie portion of the meal will be done separately ( but It was attempted) but the roast will definitely be done as the way of your (Russ’s ) recipe. Thank you . I’m glad I stumbled upon your blog . Usually when I stumble onto something , people point and laugh ( it’s a Canadian thing ) . “Cheers”

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  92. Recently, I purchased an Eye Round Roast for the first time. It is an intimidating piece of meat to cook – I completely agree with the Domestic Man on his categorization of how to cook this cut of meat perfectly. However, I searched the internet all over and found many different techniques and thought I would try this one to see if his words matched his technique. I took a huge risk on this recipe because I used it for one of my catering events.

    I am pleased to say that the Domestic Man has submitted to the entire cooking world an excellent technique. I followed his cooking steps but used my own seasoning blend. My roast was so perfect both inside and out that I was dancing in my kitchen. The interior was simply beautiful, tender to eat and extremely flavorful.

    Domestic Man: Thank you for submitting this perfect recipe! #aChefsbest

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  93. Tried this today with a 5.8 lb roast. Left it at 500 for 40 minutes and turned off the oven. My roast reached 150 in 30 minutes so I took it out. The flavor was 8/10 but it was a little tough. Next time I am going to cut down the 500 cooking time so it can sit longer. Definitely worth a second try. I would be curious to try other cuts and meats as well. This method has intrigued me.

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  94. I just cooked this for dinner tonight. I was a little worried since I have a gas oven and people have commented that the gas ovens are hard to gage. So I stuck my meat thermometer into the roast and kept an eye on it. I have one of the meat thermometers that you and put into the meat and the display unit can be outside of the oven. It was helpful because I knew right when to take it out.

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  96. My husband and I are going to cook our eye round roast this way for Christmas dinner. Sounds great. Will let you know how it comes out.

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  97. I followed these instructions on a 1.75 pound eye of round for a family of 3. I checked the internal temp at 1.5 hours and it measured 140F. Meat was still juicy and very flavorful with the seasoning. Great recipe (a little tougher than normal but this was expected for this type of cut)

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  98. We actually tried this recipe and it was AWESOME!!! I was nervous because we do have a gas stove and I didn’t see the comment that it doesn’t work in a gas stove until I was all ready for it to go in…..so we did exactly what you said to do….EXCEPT for instead of turning the oven off for the next 2 1/2 hours….we turned our oven down to 150 for the next 2 1/2 hours and this was simply the best roast I have made yet!! We plan on doing it for Christmas day dinner this year!! Thank you for posting this!! We love it!!!

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  100. This is the second site I’ve read this recipe and I have to say I’m excited to give this a try Christmas (tomorrow). I’m using a gas oven that only goes down to 170. I hope thats not too high for the last 2 1/2 hours. But here goes…..

    I’ll be back tomorrow with the results.

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    1. I too tried this roast for Christmas. I bought it before I read all the comments about what an awful piece of beef this was. However, I followed the directions and everyone loved it!!!! It was great! ThaNKS!

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    2. Update: Fantastic! I did thing slightly different since I knew I’d be cooking at 170 for the 2.5 hour period. I did leave the oven door open for a minute after the 500 temp time. Cooked for 1.25 hours then turned up the heat to finish it off (because the natives were getting restless). Turned out nice and juicy…juicy for this cut of meat that is.

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  101. Well, I was excited about following this recipe as it seemed almost foolproof. I prepared the roast exactly as stated herein (5lbs). Preheated our electric oven to 500 deg F. Gave the oven an additional 10 minutes of preheating before I put the roast inside.
    I inserted a meat thermometer into the center of the roast and placed it in the oven. Long story short, the roast was done (150 deg F) within 1.5 hours of putting it in the oven. This would not have been a problem except it cooked two hours prior to serving it. The taste was great but the meat cooked itself to medium well while resting. We prefer medium rare. Not sure why it cooked so quickly. I’ll try it agian with anouther roast to see if I get the same results but I’ll watch it more closely to make sure it doesn’t cook as well.

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    1. Russ: Can you enlighten me on why my roast cooked so quickly. It was 5lbs, I cooked it at 500 deg F for 35 minutes then shut the oven off. One hour later the internal temperature was registering 150 deg F. I had to pull it out and unfortunately it was done medium well after sitting for two hours waiting on the company to come.

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        1. Actually at 500 deg F it is right on the money. I bake a lot of bread and have calibrated my oven to read exactly as required. Puzzling to me also unless the meat themometer transferred heat into the roast.

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          1. A meat thermometer most definitely transfers heat into the roast, but with a 5-pound roast I would think the effect would be minimal. Unless you have a MASSIVE thermometer :) As a whole, using a meat thermometer has such a minimal effect that I didn’t think to address it in the recipe itself.

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          2. Hey Harry,
            Just roasted a piece and had the same problem. Was at 140 in less than an hour. Have not tried it yet. Usually it takes me forever to roast a turkey. Not sure what’s going on yet.

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          3. Well, I like the recipe and technique but in my case I know I have to watch the oven and thermometer very carefully and time the roasting accordingly. So If I am cooking dinner for 6 p.m. I know to put the roast in the oven at 4:30 p.m. now. It still comes out great!

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        2. Well, I’m going to try it again. I have two 3 lb roast left over from the loin to experiment with in the oven. Like I said the only disappointment was that we prefer med. rare. The test was great and even though it was done to med. well it was still tender.

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        3. Well, I tried it again yesterday with a smaller roast. Today the roast was 2.5lbs. I preheated the oven to 500 deg F, inserted my meat thermometer and when the oven was ready I placed the roast in the oven, after 16 minutes I shut it off.. In forty five minutes the internal temperature had reached 140 deg. F so I immediately pulled it out and wrapped it in foil. It cooked 1.5 hours earlier than anticipated so there was some thermal rise that cooked it to medium. The roast tasted great, but, I think for me I have to use the thermometer and I’ll have to resume cooking it the old fashion way. Time and temperature. I did include cauliflower and red poatato with the roast and they were fantastic.

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    1. I tried it last night. I had cook for another 10 min at 375. Meat looked great, however was still tough. Will not buy his roast again. Will try with another type of roast maybe Sirloin Tip.

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  104. My $2,700 Jennair electric obviously doesn’t hold theat becuase I had to do the 10 minute thing three times until the temp was right. The meat was still tough but I really wanted to slice it for sandwiches so it was ok.

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  105. I’m doing this recipe tonight for the New Year. Last night, we checked all nearby stores for meat thermometers but can’t find any (they were out of stock)! Maybe I’ll just use the standard method (temperature and time) that you suggested. aAfter reading all the comments above, now, I’m ready to gamble. Happy New Year!

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  106. I’m trying your recipe right now. Hope it comes out well. I’m having company over for New Years Day. I usually get a prime rib roast so this is a little scary, not knowing the outcome.

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  107. I made this today for New Years. It turned out awesome. There were only 2 of us, so our roast was pretty small…2 lbs. I have a gas oven, so instead of turning it off, I lowered it to 175/180. Since it was pretty small I temped it after 90 minutes and it was a perfect medium rare. I had added seasoned potatoes and onions chopped up around the roast in the dutch oven and they were amazing. Will definitely make this again. Hooray for pinterest for bringing me to your site.

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  109. ok… i followed your rule of cooking this…. mine was 2.25 lbs so i cooked it for 14 min at 500 using an electric oven… i took it out after 2 hrs… great flavor… but cooked at what i would call Med Well… not what i wanted…. i’m looking for med at best and more towards med rare…. your thoughts….?????? Joe

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    1. Hey, JoeG I had the same problem with a roast 5lbs. It was flavorful but the roast was med well. I had sliced it fairly thin so it served as tender.

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    2. Joe, it’s much more rare for the roast to be overdone than underdone, but one reader suggested that some ovens retain heat a little TOO well (damn efficiency!). Now that you know your oven’s quirks with this recipe, you could experiment with cooking it at 475, or for only 12 mins, and maybe get some better results.

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  110. This is a fantastic recipe! Made a 3 pound eye of round roast last evening. Followed the directions with the seasoning rub, cooked it at 500 degress for 21 minutes, then at 170 degrees for 2 hours and then shut off the oven. Knew from the start I have an electric oven (GE circa 1950, bright turquoise) that has a leaky seal so didn’t want to risk shutting off the oven completely. It was the best eye of round I ever made.
    I have always used braising or pot roasting for this cut, but we are not fond of the “stewed” flavor and consistency. This technique produces a moist tender roast with a perfect crust. Glad I did the research to find a slow roast recipe after listening to a National Public Radio broadcast on “The Science of Good Cooking” by Chef Jack Bishop.

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  111. Russ, Does it make a difference if the meat is elevated in the roasting pan or sits on the bottom. All I have is a 13″ pyrex rectangular pan. Should I lift the meat off the bottom with some onions or something?

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      1. Thank you Russ! And by the way, I read your story. Huzzah! Many complex and unexplainable illnesses out there. Here’s to finding your own answers to your problems when the medical community comes up short.

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  113. Tried this with two small rump roasts, because I couldn’t find the eye of round from the half of a cow I have in my freezer. Absolutely delicious. Love all your recipes. I’ll have to get more organized so I can actually try more of them!

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  114. I found your recipe and immediately knew I had to try it. I have been using Ina Garten’s recipe for Sunday Roast for years and yours used the high initial heat too, so it was easy to convince me.
    I made two last night and yum!

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  115. Pingback: Mock Prime Rib with Roasted Veggies

  118. I need to cook 60 pounds of eye of round in roasters. This will be for about 200 people. I would like to try this method so as to not have it overcooked like I have done before. Any hints? Ideas? I only have 4 roasters even though they are pretty large more than one roast will have to cook together. Then we have to slice and rewarm the meat.

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    1. Lynn, my best advice is to try the recipe out yourself in one of the roasters ahead of time so you know what you’re up against. Line the roaster with 15 lbs of roast and try my “safe” method – 500 degrees at 7 mins per pound, then leave it at its lowest setting (180 or so) for 1.5 hours and check it. Invite some friends over (friends that won’t be mad if the roast doesn’t turn out!) to help “test” the finished product :)

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        1. Lynn, 7 minutes per pound for the 15 pounds would be about 100 minutes. But looking at that number, it seems a little high for me – I would think you’d have some leathery roasts after 100 minutes at that temperature! I would do it for about an hour, but check it as it goes to make sure that it doesn’t get burnt with that much time at that heat. 60 minutes should be pretty good. Again, I would definitely try this on your own before putting 200 peoples’ dinners to the test!

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          1. Have you used a digital thermometer while doing this? What temp does a 3-5 pound roast get to during it’s 7 minutes per pound? Then keeping it at 175 degrees for the 1 to 2 hours afterward what temp does it get to?

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          3. This is an excellent recipe and a great way to cook this roast. However, based upon personal experience, I would definitley use a meat thermometer. Preferably, a digital one with an audible warning device indicating internal temperature.
            In my case the roast cooked too quickly and although the taste was great it had cooked to medium well while we wanted medium rare.
            There are too many inconsistencies from oven to oven to rely specifically on the time element of this process.

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          4. Our dinner is done and was a great success again. I tried doing 3 whole eye of round roasts together in a roaster at one time. Total weight was 19 and a half pounds. started with internal temp at 49 F. After 1 hour at 500 F internal temp was 92 at which time I turned the temp to 150. 30 minutes later internal temp was 120 and in an hour more it was up to 144 and started cooling down. I found that for a mass feeding (200 people) it was nice to cook the roasts ahead of time, totally cool them in a refrigerator before slicing then just warm to about 175 in au jus before serving. After doing the first three together, we opted to try doing one at a time. That made for prettier roasts and since we were going to cook, cool then slice we could do it the day before. I cooked 8 eye of rounds (55 lbs) and had about 1 pound of slices left over. It was good flavor but I hoped it would be fork tender and it was not. Next year I might look for another cut that might be more flavorful and tender too. Again the doneness was perfect with your methid of cooking. Thank you.

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  119. This turned a $2.59/lb roast into something AMAZING! We live in New Mexico at almost 6,000 feet above sea level and the altitude messed with it a bit; I need to fiddle with the amount of time the roast spends in the 500 degree oven but this is a keeper of a recipe, wow!

    We put chunked up sweet potatoes and parsnips in the bottom of the roasting pan and they were seriously out of this world.

    Thank you for this!

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  120. We did cook this for Christmas dinner and it was excellent. Everyone loved it and was amazed at how it was being cook. Everyone had thier doubts but were pleasantly surprised. My daughter is now going to try it. She loved the gravy that was made with the pan drippings. Thank you so much.

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  121. So, I took a chance today,…followed your recipe to the point,…..Oh My Goodness!! It came out PERFECT!! i also cut up red bliss potatoes, onions, tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper,,…covered with foil,..and roasted the same way!!! On top of that,…the juices that were still in the meat pan,…I added a bit of butter,..mushrooms, flour, and water, made an incredible gravy!!! SO GOOD!!
    Thank you so much for a great HIGH temperature way to cook and eye round!! I’ll never cook it any other way again!! Delichhh!!

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  122. Followed direction to a T. Roast was about 4 1/2 lbs. I added a bit of time. About 15 mins. This was done in an electric oven. It was good in the end but just a bit more done than I planned for it to be. I would make this again. I usually dont cook these in the oven. Stove top with lots of onions and a can of coke for a tenderizer.

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  124. Russ, Betsey here in Seattle – we’d never bought this kind of roast before until today, when we found it “on sale” for about $6.00. When we got home we Googled it, and settled on your recipe (so simple, so garlicky!) Set our 50+ year old Tappan electric oven (that doesn’t close tightly) to 500 degrees for its first time, and hoped for the best. Roasted the almost 3lb. beef with that wonderful 6 clove garlic rub for about 20 minutes and turned the oven off. 2hrs. 30min. later, voila; 130 degrees, rested 10 minutes, and supper was on the table. Can’t thank you enough for the great meal. We learned a new trick & now have you as a Favorites!!!

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  126. Sent my husband to SAMs to get a roast as this is his dinner favorite. He came home w this 3 1/2 lb. eye of round. Did a google search and found this cooking method. Mother in law does prime rib like this every Christmas Day so sounded good to me. My gas oven is broken and have only a convection toaster w/ the broiler part not working (is it still convection then?). It was still great! I even took dogs to the park and oven timer ran out before I got home (turning the oven off). Just turned it back on for the amount of time I thought it needed and put it on 175 for the 1 1/2-2 1/2 hour resting period.
    Turned the leftovers and the juices into stew for dinner tonight. It was really good meat for the price.
    Thanks for all the comments and recipe.

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  128. This is a great way to prepare this type of meat! I have a gas oven, but I knew my oven was off temperature, and the door doesn’t quite close/seal all the way. I ended up with a 2.22 lb roast which I let stand until it was room temp, washed and dried the meat then rubbed it with the spices. It went into my pre-heated 500 degree oven for 16 minutes. I tried to compensate for my lousy oven, so rather than shut it off, I lowered the temp to 170 and timed out an hour (I just knew 2+ hours would be too much). I used my meat thermometer and it was a perfect, pink, tender juicy 130 degrees.

    Thanks to my curiosity and the info you’ve provided on your site about other ways to look at how we eat and nourish our body, I ended up with the roast for dinner with sweet potatoes and a baked cauliflower (I had followed something about using cauliflower as a white rice substitute). Not normally what I’d go for but ended up being an incredible meal. So I just proved to myself in one night that it is not as hard as one may think to adjust what we eat.

    Plus I am from Baltimore/Washington originally (but have been in CA for 20 years), so I figured your recipes and advice had to be good…thanks!

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  129. Pingback: Test Driving: Eye of Round Roast | Of Goats and Greens

  130. Hi, i just did your recipe for the eye of round roast. It worked out great! Considering my electric oven is probably at least 30 years old, I opted to leave the meat (grass-finished) in the oven at ~150 F for an hour and a half, and let it rest for the final 30 minutes. Very tasty, including the seasonings.

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  131. A question: If I brown the roast in a saute pan, and then put the pan with roast in the 500 degree oven, should I decrease the time I roast at the very high temp? That is, should I still cook at 500 degrees for 7 min per pound? I’m very very new to cooking, and I understand that searing is required in order to get that “crust”. Thanks for any advice!

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  132. How many grams/lbs per person?
    If serving a lot of people ie how many roasts and should
    you cut into smaller roasts or just roast one large piece?

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    1. 1/4 pound per person. Leave the roasts whole. We did 200 people with 55 lbs. cook only to rare by keeping the first cooking time minimal. I got better results with 5-6 minutes per pound. Then do the 2 plus hours of cool down. Then we cooled it overnight in fridge, slice and then warm only to 150 degrees in au jus. Worked very well for us.

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        1. So each roast is approx. 6.5 lbs x 6 minutes for a total of 39 minutes at 500 then
          reduce heat ot 170 and leave for 21/2 hours. let it sit and then slice and put in the fridge until the next day.

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  133. This is the method I use to do my prime rib and I would rather have my prime rib than any I have ever had anywhere. I am trying it on an eye of round right now.

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          2. Russ! Thank you for this great method. I just baked a 4.6lb. Roast, like you said, PRIM RIB, I will never buy expensive cuts again. Oh by the way the garlic did not burn. Succulent, Succulent, and so tender. If anyone has a failure in this methods don’t give up, it works.

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  135. i just made this and… PERFECTION! i followed your advice and checked on it at the 2 hour mark and it was done. medium/ medium rare, gorgeously pink inside with a melt-in-your-mouth crispy crust on it. this will be the only way i cook this cut of meat from now on. thank you!!!

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  136. Pingback: Day #16- Optimal health and nothing in between! | Healthy, Lean & Fit Mama

  137. I found this recipe this morning while looking for an interesting recipe for an eye round. My mother used to make it so wonderfully and I wanted to try something new. Making it tonight and will see what happens. I am going to add potatoes and onion like some of the other posters.

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  139. I want to try this recipe tonight but I live at 9200 feet. Would you recommend any different directions for me. I also have a gas stove.

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  140. Omg That was unbelievable!! I have to tell you what not to do though,,, Do Not put any oil in the bottom of the
    Pan with a little water,,,,,,unless you want a lot of smoke detectors going off and your house filling with smoke,,,ha ha oh well, New Recipe…sorry I messed up that part of it.

    But the Guys Loved it!!! oh and I want to know How many of you that have tried this recipe for the first time how many of you did not open the Oven Door when the 25 min’s was up??

    And last but not least — when it was sitting in the Oven for 2 hours of the 2.5 Hours I took it
    out and checked it and I have a Chefs thermometer (one of my Exes is an Exec, Chef) anyway it
    registered 135-140 and let me tell you something I cant believe it was EXACTLY LIKE THE PICTURE!!
    Thanks Chef!

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  141. Well I made it the other day and it came out so yummy! Only issue I had was the potatoes did not finish cooking all the way. I took it out at 2 hrs and it was superb. Maybe I should have let the potatoes in the last half hour. But nonetheless it was yummy! I didn’t use ground pepper because I didn’t have a pepper grinder but bought one over the weekend! :) Will definitely put this in my favorite recipe box!

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  145. So I used this method twice and the results were outstanding.
    I had to do two roasts because I had a large crowd coming and I did them the night before.
    I did not need 2 1/2 hours, actually just over an hour and it reached the desired temperature.
    I let it rest overnight, carved and poured the juices over the next day and reheated and it was delicious.
    Thank you for you help.

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  146. Well, I was skeptical but I tried your directions and the eye of round roast was GREAT. I have a gas oven. Using a 2.3 lb roast, I cooked it at 500 for 13 minutes. Turned the oven down to 170 and cooked for 2 hours without looking. I took it out at 2 Hours, cut a little sliver and decided it needed another 15 minutes….so 2 hours 15 minutes, resting for 10 or so minutes….excellent!!!

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  148. Trying this for the first time in a brand new gas convection oven (so it should be well-insulated). Will let you know how it turns out!

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  150. Pingback: Open Faced Roast Beef Sandwich with a Cognac Cheese Sauce | culinaryease™

  152. OKay. Professional help coming… make cuts across the grain of the meat. aqbout 1/2 inch deep. 3 inches apart. Both sides…Get a good frying pan and place it on the stove top. get the pan very hot. slap the roast into it.. cook it 1 minute on each side to seer it..and then follow the above directions.. it’ll be very very tender. And not an ounce of flavor will be lost. Have your ventilation going because there will be smoke from this.. Hope you enjoy. :)

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    1. Hi Weldon, if you were to follow your instructions above I would recommend that you cut down on the cooking time (at high heat) significantly, since searing the roast ahead of time will go a long ways towards pre-cooking the roast and you’ll end up with something much too well done. Have you tried it my way, without pre-searing? It develops a nice crust and initiates a Maillard reaction on its own without having to add an extra step to it. I do agree that with many low-temp pot roasts, including my own on this website, pre-searing is essential.

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  153. Pingback: Cheesecake and Apple Pie, Oh My! - Page 21 - Christian Forums

  154. Stumbled on this receipe after buying a eye of round roast on sale.I usually never buy this cut.got an hr left til I take it out! I trusted the process..never peaked in opening the oven…will post after dinner !

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  156. Just placed it in the oven. 2.08 lb. Since a couple of us like it nearly raw, a couple prefer more medium, and hubby thinks meat has to be cooked til it’s completely dead, burned even….this ought be interesting…lol Figured I’ll do around 18 minutes or so. It’s an old gas oven that does cool off quickly, so will leave it set on real low. My stove is so old the temperature knobs broke off years ago…so anything in the oven is by guess and by golly. , altho I’ve gotten pretty good at guessing over the years. Wish me luck, I’ll let you know how it came out!

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  157. I used this cooking method, including the low temp finish. After the initial 17 minutes at 500*F for my sized roast (about 2.5 lbs.), I set the oven temp at 175*F (as low as mine can go) and then opened the oven door two hours later to look in on the results. It looked and smelled great but the oven thermometer wasn’t yet to the 130*F range, so I increased the oven temp to 200*F and left in for 15 additional minutes. The thermometer reading was just under 140*F when I pulled it out of the oven and let it rest. Fifteen minutes later, I sliced into the roast and found it pink and juicy inside, as I was hoping it would be. The beef had a texture like steak and while it didn’t melt in my mouth with tenderness, it tasted great and wasn’t tough or especially difficult to chew. I think it was quite acceptable for this particular cut of beef. I consider this recipe to be a keeper. I like the way it cooked (pink inside) and didn’t overcook. Thanks for the recipe!

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  158. i cooked this last night and it was amazing. best roast beef i have made to date. i have a gas stove. it was not a problem at all. i followed your recipe exact with a 3 pound roast. i turned temperature down to 170 for another 2 hours. only thing that did not work is that i put potatoes in tin foil on bottom rack and even after two hours they were still a little hard. i took them out of the tin foil and put on a tin plate and slid them back into the oven, the last 15 minutes was all that was needed. the gravy however is hard to make with barely little juice left in bottom of pan so next time i would put just a smalll amount of water in the last half hour just to make a little more juice to make gravy. your recipe gets two thumbs up .!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  159. Pingback: Roast Bison Eye of Round - Food, Love, Joy

  160. I bought a roast today on an impulse and came home and googled different ways to cook an eye of round. When I came across this recipe I had my doubts but i have to say its probably one of the best dishes Ive ever made. I followed the recipe to a tee and I added mini potatoes to the bottom of the pot just tossed with some rosemary olive oil salt and pepper. The meat came out perfectly medium rare and perfectly tender. I will most definitely serve this for dinner parties. Thank you so much for sharing this.

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  161. Hi!! I will be trying your recipe tonight and this will be my very first attempt at making ANY type of roast, lol!! My question is this….we do NOT like ANYTHING EVEN CLOSE to medium rare, lol!! I realize that eye of round is usually a tough cut anyway, but if I leave the oven temp at say 200 for the last hour, do u think I will end up with Jerkey?? Lol

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  162. I made this last weekend and it was great! I had to turn my oven on the lowest setting because it lost too much heat when switched completely off. My boyfriend loved it and I got so many compliments on Facebook. I’ve even been asked to make it for someone because it quote “turned them on” lol Thanks for the recipe!

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  163. okay..i have no meat thermometer..so ill just go with the directions! hope this works out..i will be back either tommorow or the next day with results…oh and i gave mine a 6 hour brine too… hope it dont screw it up…

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  164. I made the recipe this evening and since it wasn’t a night to take any chances I did the turn it down to 170 degrees rather than off. I checked it at 1 hr and 45 minutes and was glad I hadn’t waited the extra 15 minutes as the temperature was just a smidge under 150. My kids all loved it including my 5 year old who barely ever likes anything I make.

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  165. So I’m finally reporting back a couple of months after trying this method as I’m planning to use it again for our Easter meal with friends. I think I’ll put it in just before we leave for church so by the time we get back it will have settled and be ready for slicing.

    My first attempt was a great successful, compliments to the chef for this recipe! The meat was cooked all the way through after sitting in the oven for about 2.5hrs. The meat thermometer had it in the acceptable range at that point so I checked the center with a knife. The cut I used weighed in at 4lbs so it went into our 500 degree (electric, older model) oven for about 10 minutes before I turned the heat off. I had considered adding potatoes and carrots to the cast iron pot but there wasn’t much room around the meat and I didn’t want to risk it not cooking properly. As a side note, I rubbed some lard I had rendered into the meat before seasoning. It may not have been necessary but it seemed to assist in creating a nice crisp browning on the outside, sealing in the juices nicely. Though I haven’t cooked many, hubby says it was my best roast by far!

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  166. Pingback: Art on the Bayou » an interim post….

  167. Thanks for the recipe this roast rocks! I made it for the first time a few months ago and will be making it again today so I stopped back in. On the first go round it was slightly rare so I’ll increase the high temp cooking time a bit. Also I roasted it in a simple aluminum 13×9 and after pulling it out of the oven made roast gravy on the stove top. I did this by placing the pan on the stove top adding 2 cups water to lift all the bits and then added 2Tbsp of corn starch to a bit of water and added to pan….stir constantly and you have the BEST gravy to add to the BEST eye of round roast ever! PS – goes great with some yorkshire puddings made in muffin tins too :)

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  168. Tried your recipe yesterday. Thought I could take a four lb roast out of the freezer in the early AM and have it thawed by cooking time, wrong! Nevertheless, followed the directions to the T and left the oven on at 170. The roast was medium when finished and OUTSTANDINGLY DELICIOUS. A little overdone for us but my bad and I will correct major error next time of not cooking a thawed roast.

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  169. Pingback: Meal Plan Monday + Sunday Cooking | fastlife, slowlife

  170. I made this for dinner tonight, and it turned out great. I had 3 lbs of meat so I did it for 22 minutes at 500, then reduced to 170 for 2 hours and 10 min to be safe. It was nicely pink, so next time I’d probably cook it for under 2 hours. The rub was flavorful and let the meat shine. I made a gravy with the drippings and some beef broth, and my husband and I both enjoyed this.

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  171. Made this tonight. I have a gas oven. Made some revisions. First I took it out 1pm and rubbed oil all over it. The generousely sprinkled with Steak seasoning, onion powder, Kosher salt and Lawry’s. Let that sit on counter for an hour. I then took a frying pan and added 2tbs of oil.. heated the pan and seared my meat. After searing I added some more steak seasoning and placed in a pan with about 1 cup of water.

    It was 2.83 pounds so I cooked at 500 for 18 minutes then lowered temp to 300 for an hour. Once the hr was up I lowered it to 200 for another hour. Took it out and let it sit for 12 minutes. It read 147 and was more medium then rare but holy cow it was sooo tender and tasty! Thanks!!

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  172. Thank you for this amazing recipe. I first tried it in January and we’ve been making it at least twice a month ever since! Such quick preparation for it, yet tastes like it took hours of work.

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  174. I have a Green Mountain pellet smoker so I decided to give that I whirl. I used the basic herb recipe with the addition of horseradish to the mix. I fired up the grill to 500 and then threw it on for 35 minutes and then I turned the grill down to 150. It took an hour for it to lose enough heat to reach 150. After about an hour and a half, I used my instant read and it read 130. Out it came .
    The result…over done..I should have checked it 20 minutes earlier. The taste was good and sliced thin it was fine. Will I do it again…Hell yes but Im going to start checking after an hour at the lower temp.

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  175. My husband made this today with a whole eye of round and it was fabulous! Very flavorful and way more tender than I would expect from a round. It was perfectly cooked following your directions to about a medium done-ness. We took the roast out of the pan and I sauteed some mushrooms in the juices with a little butter, yum! My husband sliced it very thinly which helps with a cut that might not be as tender, but this really was.

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  176. Cooked this for the first time tonight for supper and it was soooo delicious but as others have commented, not as tender as I expected but that won’t stop me from cooking future roasts this way! It beats marinating overnight or tenderizing with vinegar! I think I have recognized two things to change that will make a difference next time. First, I will turn the oven off as you originally recommended, ’cause even though it came out at fhe right temp for medium rare it was more medium, and more importantly I believe, or should I say ‘I know’ my roast was really too big for the small roasting pan I squished it into not allowing enough room for circulation. Can’t wait to have it as beef dip tomorrow!

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  177. Pingback: Day 4… | steelewall

  178. I used a convection oven and it took about 40 min less time then recommended. Took it out to temp it on a wim and it was perfect maybe even a tad bit more then I would like. It was moist tender and tasty. Just getting used to the convection cooking times. Had about a 6 pounder, cooked for 41 min @ 500 then lowered it down to 150 for the rest of the time. (About 1 hr and 50 min). Thanks so muchit was delicious and will make it again! If not using convection follow the directions to a tee!!

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  179. Hi Russ! I’m about to putting it into the oven and I’ve got a question, I hope somehow you’ll see this comment in half an hour…. I’m using a Pyrex pan, do I need to put anything at the bottom like parchment paper or foil or oil the pan? The recipe looks great, can’t wait to see if it’ll work out for me! Thank you!!

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  180. Pingback: Perfect Slow Roasted Beef
  181. Pingback: Perfect Slow Roasted Beef

  182. I made this for dinner and it was amazing! For those using a smaller roast (mine was 2lbs) I would significantly cut down the time it sits in the oven. After the 14 minutes at 500 degrees, I gave it 1.5 hours and checked on it. It was a perfect mid-rare and 15 minutes later it was thinly sliced atop arugula dressed in olive oil. Nom nom nom!

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  183. Hi! This looks great! I have a small roast, only about 1.4 pounds. I’m thinking 10 minutes at 500 and then 1.5 hour rest… what do you reckon?

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  184. Pingback: Sunday Eye of Round Roast w/Dry Rub and Gravy | Mediterranean Baby

  185. Whoa… 2 1/2 hours? I decided to check my 3lb. roast after 1 hour in the turned-off oven and it had already hit 143 degrees internal temp. After letting is rest covered for 10 minutes it was well into the medium range and no pink to be found. Tough is an understatement. While the cooking method leaves a lot to be discovered, the flavor was great thanks to the seasoning outlined above. Next time, if I attempt again, I’ll check it after 30-40 minutes given I like med. rare beef. Note: I have new Jenn Air appliances and I’ve noticed they all cook faster than my previous appliances; maybe this was a factor but then… 1 hour to overcook versus the 2.5 hours recommended. I’m pretty sure my oven doesn’t cook that much faster.

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  186. Ok, I tried it, gas oven reset temp @ 170 for two hours and it came out perfect. Internal temp was 150 after two hours.

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  187. I tried your recipe and it turned out awesome! BUT!!!!, I did drizzle “OLIVE OIL” all over the roast before I put it in the oven that was my secret and also kept the oven on for the lowest temp due to my experiment and it came out so AMAZING and juicy!!! My husband was in heaven! So was I(now that I have your secret)lol. I always mess up on this type of meat and end up throwing it in the slow cooker and making whatever out of it! Thanks so much! I will never try a different method.

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    1. Hi Russ,

      I am going to make this recipe two days from now with a 3.2 lbs eye round roast. I plan on taking your advice and cooking it for 25 mins at 500. But I would like to roast cut up potatoes and carrots with it.
      1. Do you suggest doing the vegetables in another pan on a lower rack, with some beef stock?
      2. Also, did I read that I should leave this roast uncovered the entire time?
      3. And one more question :) … I have an electric oven. Do you think I should turn it completely off or leave it on the lowest setting for the 2.5 hours?

      Thanks in advance for any advice / suggestions!

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      1. Put the veggies in the same rack as the roast, no stock needed. Leave the roast uncovered. If your oven is a fairly new model, I would turn it completely off and let the recipe do its magic. It wouldn’t hurt to leave a meat thermometer in the roast as it cooks the first time to check its doneness as it cooks; otherwise wait until the 2-hour mark. Let me know how it goes!

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        1. Hey Russ,

          Thanks for the advice. I made this roast for my picky Italian husband and his family tonight. I was a little worried making this for the first time but I followed your instructions exactly. When it came out of the oven, it was not hot to touch, so I worried it wasn’t cooked – but sure enough when I sliced it, it was perfectly pink. (medium to medium well). It was a hit – so juicy! I coupled it with honey glazed carrots and mashed potatoes / gravy. I definitely will be making this again. Thanks so much!

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  189. Russ,

    I’ve never had success with an eye of round roast. I tried this recipe and it turned out perfect, and my husband and I both just loved it! My next step will be to try my luck with the prime rib, which I’ve never tried.

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  190. Very disappointing. I checked it after 2 hours and it was stone cold. I’m now afraid to even use this roast in case it is spoiled.

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      1. Wow, that’s really profound, John. Of effing course I turned the oven on. I followed the recipe. It did not work.

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        1. You screwed up somewhere. Mine has a great crust and internal temp looking good so far. Mine has another hour to rest. May I suggest Hot Pockets? They have a new flakey, buttery crust.

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          1. Why are you such a d*ckwad, John? I didn’t screw up, I followed the directions and it didn’t turn out. At all. Just because yours turned out different than mine does not mean I “screwed up”. My best guess is that the mild warnings about ovens being different–especially gas ovens–are not sufficient. My oven clearly cools off much faster than the oven you used.

            Why you feel the need to be an insulting jerk just because someone else had a different experience than you is very odd. While I am preparing my hot pockets, I suggest you see a shrink to find out what your psychological problems are that cause you to feel the need to be verbally abusive to a stranger on a web blog.

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          1. The single post of mine you had read before you started your campaign of attack was a matter-of fact three-liner. If you see “c*nt” in that, it’s your psychological defect, not anything about the post.

            Perhaps you are actually Russ, because I cannot imagine what motivation anyone who just happened upon this blog would have to even care much that someone else had a bad experience following this recipe.

            Either way, you are severely damaged to have such am extreme reaction to a routine post on a web blog. It’s almost funny how vitriolic you are. I’m thankful I don’t have to deal with you in real life, you must be an incredible pain!

            I won’t be replying to any more of your crap, nor following this thread, so have a ball continuing to show the world how much of an asshole you are.

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        3. I don’t know who Russ is. I assume he’s sorry he knows you. What I do know and saw right away is that you like to blame others for your failings. Following simple direction also seems beyond you. You have no sense of humor and like foul language. I hope Hot Pockets are within your skill set.

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          2. I’m following this blog… unlike the uncooked experience, I recieved a piece of meat that was so overcooked it went to the dog. I have several Univ. degrees (doesn’t mean a lot but to show I’m not a stupid person) and I’m anal about following instructions. I’m beginnig to think the highly rated posts are from people directly related to the poster or from the poster themself.

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          3. My roast came out med to med well. I will leave it in the oven an hour less next time. I will also season it the night before. All in all it came out fairly well. My 5 dogs got a taste. I however only have 2 degrees.

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  191. This receipe turned out amazing! I did everything as suggested. We have a gas oven and I kept the temperature at about 170F and we live in the Caribbean. With this temperature our roast, after 2 hrs., had a crusty outside, and was well cooked with an internal temperature of 140F. I was skeptical but now I love the method. Could it work as well for pork loin or pork roast?

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  192. In process of cooking right now. The roast was 4.5 lbs. I assume your rub portions were for a 3 lb. roast…I had to increase measurements significantly. I used thyme from my garden.

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  193. First time making any kind of roast on my own and it turned out great! I did mix up the seasonings a little bit since I didn’t have any Thyme in the spice cupboard. The meat was a tiny bit more well done than I hoped, but to be honest I think I might have left it in longer than the 2.5hrs and it was only a 2lb roast. After it came out I poured the drippings into a small pot (there was only like maybe 1/8 cup of drippings), sliced about half of it and covered it. Then cut up some potatoes microwaved them on a plate to pre-cook them a little, turned the oven back on to 400, and then put the potatoes in the roast pan with some olive oil and stirred it around really well so that the potatoes were covered in what was left of the drippings and the herb rub that was left in the pan, then put the potatoes in the oven. Then I went back to the drippings in the pot, added some of the Cabernet Sauvignon I bought to drink with my meal to the drippings, along with like a tablespoon of butter, and cooked it down just a little; this created an awesome sauce to pour over the meat which I served with a little horseradish on the side.

    I don’t cook at lot, and I don’t have a lot of experience, but when I do, I love to cook things that allow for me to improvise as I go. Literally, my rub was created by pulling random spices out of the cupboard that I thought would be good on meat, I think I ended up using a ton of minced garlic (from the jar), onion powder, salt, pepper (from my McCormick grinder peppercorn medley using all 3 levels of coarseness), dried basal, dried oregano, ground ginger, and small amount of chili powder. I know, LOTS of flavors, but that tends to be how I roll when I cook. It turned out great. The crust was super intense with flavor and the inside was really savory, especially when I drizzled my sauce over it.

    Anyways, thanks for a great recipe that is pretty foolproof and I liked it almost as much as the prime rib my mom made last Christmas and considering this was 100x easier to make, and 10x cheaper, I’d say that’s pretty damn awesome! So, THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!

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