This Poor Man’s Salisbury Steak is smothered in onion gravy and is ready in about 30 minutes! Serve with my favorite mashed potatoes and you have a meal that even the pickiest eaters will like! (If you want to get extra fancy, serve this Salisbury steak with my Restaurant Style Mashed Potatoes!)
What is Salisbury Steak?
Salisbury Steaks are simple to make, relatively inexpensive, and loaded with flavor. It usually consists of a homemade hamburger patty smothered in a rich gravy. The consistency is more like a meatball than a hamburger though thanks to my secret ingredient, potato chips! And, it’s always the best when homemade!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Ground Beef: We always used 70/30 ground beef growing up because it was the most inexpensive, but these days I like to use a leaner percentage like 90/10. I also like to take my ground beef out of the fridge about 30 minutes before preparing this so that the meat is not cold.
Potato Chips: A traditional Salisbury steak uses breadcrumbs, but we never seemed to have those on hand growing up so my mom would use crushed potato chips. I love the salty and crunchy component that the potato chips add to this recipe. It’s my “secret ingredient” and also where the name “Poor Man’s Salisbury Steak” comes into play. You could also use breadcrumbs if that is what you have on hand.
Gravy: One of my favorite components of this meal is the onion gravy. If you get to a point where the sauce seems TOO thick, you can add more broth to thin it out.
How to Serve Salisbury Steak
The absolute best way to serve Salisbury steak is over mashed potatoes. I also add a vegetable side like garlic and parmesan roasted asparagus, green beans, or Brown Butter Brussels Sprouts.
Can You Freeze Salisbury Steak?
This recipe freezes well, so you could absolutely make a double batch for later in the week. There are two methods for freezing:
- Freeze the uncooked steaks and then thaw and follow the rest of the recipe as listed.
- Freeze the cooked steaks in the gravy, and then defrost them in the fridge and simmer them in a pan until they are warmed through.
Dinner Ideas
Salisbury Steak
Ingredients
Hamburger Patties
- 1 pound ground beef
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup potato chips, smashed
- 2 teaspoons dry mustard
- 2 teaspoons garlic powder
- salt and pepper
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Gravy
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cups beef broth, more if needed for thinning
- 4 dashes Worcestershire
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Hamburger Patties
- Combine the ground beef, eggs, potato chips, dry mustard, garlic powder, and some salt and pepper.
- Using your hands, mix all the ingredients until fully combined. Form into four hamburger patties.
- In a 12-inch skillet with the butter and oil over medium-high heat, fry the patties on both sides until no longer pink in the middle. (about 5 minutes a side)
- Remove patties from the skillet and pour off any excess grease.
Gravy
- Reduce the heat to medium and add in the sliced onions. Stir and cook until golden brown and somewhat soft, about 3-5 minutes.
- In a small bowl, combine the beef broth and the corn starch. Mix well.
- Add the beef broth mixture and Worcestershire sauce to the onions and stir as the mixture comes to a low boil. The sauce will reduce and thicken.
- If the sauce appears too thick, you can add more broth for thinning.
- Return the cooked hamburger patties to the gravy. Spoon the gravy over the top and let them simmer and heat back up for a couple of minutes.
Video
Did you make this recipe?
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DID YOU MAKE Salisbury Steak?
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What a great recipe! My family loved it!! The only things I did different was, I used ground turkey, doubled the recipe, used 1 cup of Funyuns (didn’t have enough potato chips), and used equal parts of beef broth and chicken broth! Sometimes I have to improvise to feed my family of 7! Thank you for sharing ❤️
I love the idea of Funyuns!
Really good, quick recipe. I will cit back on the garlic powder next time as the taste of the meat was a bit garlicky. Other than that it is a really good meal.
I think one of the great things about “poor mans steak” or “Salisbury steak” is that you can improvise with what you have on hand. You can use whatever ground meat you have: chicken, turkey, pork, venison (as someone here mentioned). After reading the comments on this pin on Pinterest, there were some other great ideas I’d like to try, such as: bread crumbs, crackers, and French fried onions. Someone even asked about using corn flake crumbs since they didn’t have any chips or bread crumbs. So many great alternate ideas!
Excellent! I used plain bread crumbs on hand and halved the amount compared to chips. Also needed to add a bit more salt a cause of that. Mashed potatoes and a veggie. My man was delighted:) the cook time was certainly a bit more than mentioned but who cares?!:)
If using bread crumbs do you know how much to use?
Made this after church today bc I was rushed for time and it was fabulous! I’ll definitely be making it again. I used the sour cream and onion chips. Great outcome! Loved it.
It’s a recipe!!! I don’t know how many times I’ve made the same recipe a thousand times and had to tweak it one way or the other; because I was low on something, didn’t have something, etc… nobody sounds like a Karen and if a more accomplished recipe is desired by someone … so be it… it’s hamburger meat, I add green pepper because my husband wants that. That’s tweaking to taste, as a million recipes are. Stay safe and keep on tweaking!
We seldom use beef because of my husbands heart. Have you tried this using ground turkey instead of beef?
I loved it. I didn’t have the mustard either. But turned out great. Didn’t serve with potatoes I’m eating keto. I eat with steamed broccoli. I’ll be making it again!
Well, lady, you have been posting so many good recipes I just can’t get to them fast enough (recovering from tongue cancer surgery and eat VERY little) but when I saw this I just had to try. I saw those potato chips as an ingredient and I thought “you gotta be kidding me.” But oh boy this is good!
I’ve had this saved for a while now, finally made it last night. It’s a winner! Can’t we talk about the gravy…so easy and so good! I didn’t have dry mustard and it was fine without. This is being added to our weekly meals.
Very good. I didn’t have any potato chips so I used crushed ritz crackers. Will make again. 👍
This was DELICIOUS! Needed a quick dinner idea. This did not disappoint. Thank you 😊
I have made this recipe about 5 times now. The amount of cornstarch never works so I have to play with the amount every time
Tonight for my husband’s BD it bombed. On to a more consistent recipe.
My apologies, but if you are not happy with the consistency of the recipe, that would lie with the maker, not the recipe. It’s a Salisbury steak.
Delicious Loved It Thank You!!!
It’s January 6, 2023 and I just made your recipe tonight. It was a big success. We really liked it and I’ll be making it again.
Dee
I made the Salisbury Steak tonight and served it with mashed potatoes. It was excellent and very easy. It will definitely go into my rotation. Thank you!!
Rivera – You are the one sounding like a Karen! Amanda was asked a question by Linda Lien and Amanda kindly answered the question.