3 1/2 Pound Beef Roast Cooking Time

Roast beefiness might sound fancy and complicated to make, simply information technology's actually quite simple! With a skillful piece of meat and some simple herbs, you can have roast beef that's manner more tender and flavorful than the store-bought kind. Below, we break down what's almost important to know when preparing this classic dish.

The Cut

There's no single cut of beef that is necessary to brand roast beef. Some common cuts include:

- Meridian round roast

- Height sirloin roast

- Bottom round roast

- Eye of round roast

We usually use a top round roast, but a bottom round roast should work too. If you lot're unsure, ask your butcher! Since the meat is slow roasted for a long amount of time, even tougher, more lean cuts of meat will be tender. Simply be enlightened that if you choose a particularly lean cut of meat, it should be sliced relatively sparse to avoid being too chewy.

The Seasoning

This is where you can actually get creative. We kept things elementary in this recipe: merely thyme, rosemary, salt, and pepper. Feel free to bandy in any of your favorite herbs (sage, parsley, oregano etc.) or use dried if you prefer. Spices like cumin or coriander seeds would be delicious besides, do what feels right to y'all! Only don't exist shy on the flavorings, this is a big cutting of meat and the more flavor, the better. We suggest 1 teaspoon salt per pound. Alliums like onions, garlic, and scallions would be delicious additions as well. I prefer to mix all my flavorings with olive oil to make a paste — it allows for more than even distribution and ensures your beef gets seasoned all the way around. (Don't forget the bottom!)

Oven Temperature

You might exist wondering why you have to alter the temperature of the oven 15 minutes into cooking. I swear, there'south a good reason! Ideally, all roasted meats would exist seared on all sides in a hot skillet to develop a golden, delicious chaff. With something like a top circular roast, searing tin can be adjacent to impossible. (AKA information technology's Mode too big and heavy to motility around in a skillet.) Starting with a hot oven gives the roast a chance to get that beautiful chaff without bringing out a pan. Afterward you lot've got a head start on that crust, you can lower the temperature and the meat volition start cooking from the within out.

Dropping the temperature down to 325° lets the meat cook slowly and allows all of the tight muscle fibers to relax and will give you that tender slice of meat you're hoping for. A longer melt time for a cut like this will requite you lot better results. No need to rush things! If you are looking for something a little faster, try our Instant Pot Pot Roast!

Meat Temperature Myth

Conventional wisdom says to bring pretty much whatsoever meat you're cooking to room temperature — especially large pieces of meat like turkey breasts, whole chickens, and roasts. The logic: Putting a roast in your oven straight from the refrigerator would cause the exterior layers to be fully cooked (or overcooked) while the center remains undercooked. But the truth is that letting meat sit at room temperature raises the temperature by only a negligible corporeality. If your goal is to become meat to room temperature by letting it sit out, y'all really shouldn't. A cut this large (e.g, roast beef) would take several hours to come to room temperature, which is not ideal.

Thermometer Time!

Every bit far every bit postal service-cooking temperatures, we adopt a medium to medium-rare roast, with a little pink in the eye. In our opinion, the meat stays more than tender and flavorful this way. If you adopt non to see any pink, y'all can roast longer! One thing that's not optional, though, is a meat thermometer. It takes the guess work out of cooking big pieces of meat, and we swear it'll come up in handy more than than just this one time. Pro tip: make certain you're inserting your thermometer far enough to striking the center of the roast for an accurate reading. For a medium-rare pot roast, aim for an internal temperature of about 130°F.* The temperature of the meat will keep to rise a flake as it rests every bit well.

*Notation: The USDA recommends cooking whole cuts of beefiness to 145°F, which will yield a medium pot roast.

Slicing It

I know it'due south tempting to dig right in when your roast comes out of the oven. Resist! Transfer your meat to a cutting board and let it remainder for 30 minutes to allow all the juices to redistribute throughout the musculus. If yous cut it right abroad, all those flavorful juices will cease upwards on the cutting lath and your meat volition be dry and sad. 😢When it's time, brand certain to use your sharpest carving knife or chef's knife to go nice sparse slices.

Leftovers

Leftover common cold roast beef is 1 of life'south greatest pleasures. Information technology's so versatile! Use information technology in French dip sliders, in a breakfast hash, or simply common cold, straight from the fridge. We won't judge!

Have you made this recipe? Rate information technology and exit a comment below!