“Quick” Pan to Oven Eye of Round Roast

Eye of round is a hard-worked muscle, so it is very flavorful, but very lean. This means it risks getting tough and chewy if cooked too quickly. This recipe is the closest we recommend to a “quick” eye of round roast cooked in the oven to medium rare… it’s still got some tooth to it so it’s important to sharpen your sharpest knife and slice it as paper thin as you can.

RandallLinebackEyeRound.jpg
RandallLinebackEyeRound.jpg

FULL DISCLOSURE NOTES: I tried this three times before getting it right. My first issue arose from trusting our ancient farm ovens to maintain a low temperature. So I basically incinerated the first Eye of Round, and subsequently learned the importance of having an oven thermometer inside the oven! For the second Eye of Round, I followed a recipe that began with a super hot oven, then dropped the temperature super low. But… our ovens are apparently so well insulated that the temperature never dropped that low. So I basically incinerated the second Eye of Round. The recipe recorded here is the “third time’s the charm” recipe from my obviously poorly-managed and ill-equipped test kitchen! The low temperature is really important— I honestly would have preferred a 200 degree oven, but I could not get our oven to maintain that low temperature consistently, so the recipe is for a 225 degree oven instead.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 2.5 lb Eye of Round Roast

  • 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil (for rub)- more for pan searing

  • Salt and Pepper

  • Any tasty mixed-herb dry rub

PREPARATION

  • Bring Eye of Round to room temperature (this is important!)

  • Heat Oven to 225 degrees, and line a small, rimmed baking sheet with foil.

  • Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil (or any other oil with a high smoking point) over medium high heat until shimmering hot.

  • In the meantime, rub the Eye of Round with olive oil, then rub with very generous amounts of salt, pepper, and whatever mixed herb rub you think will be delicious.

  • Sear in the pan about 2 minutes per side (it has 4 sides, so a total of 8 minutes maximum)

  • Remove from heat and place Eye of Round on your baking sheet. If you can, try to get the fat side up— it will likely list or tip on its side, though.

  • Place in 225 degree oven for 40 minutes, until instant read thermometer placed into the thickest part of the roast reads 125 degrees (or slightly lower for the rarer side of medium rare). Check at 30 minutes just in case your oven runs hot!

  • Remove roast and let sit for 10 minutes so it reabsorbs its juices.

  • Sharpen that knife (or get out the meat slicer that you never use)— first remove the layer of fat (it has tough silverskin underneath it), then slice your roast paper thin.

SERVE WITH RED WINE JUS:

LIKE THIS ONE FROM THE BBC— CLICK HERE

OR THIS ONE FROM JAMIE OLIVER— CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO OUR RECIPES PAGE

… we’ve posted additional Eye of Round Recipes there.