A tender eye round roast beef with an herb crust makes for a lovely Sunday dinner. This keto roast recipe serves a crowd, making it a perfect main dish for entertaining.
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Growing up we had Sunday dinners at my Nanas house. One of my favorite Sunday dinners was her roast beef. Her cut of choice was always eyeround roast, which she served with green beans and boiled new potatoes. She made the best Sunday roasts; its a tradition I like to honor as often as possible.
Beef is a comfort food for this Texas transplant. And I enjoy making it all kinds of ways like slow cooker Mississippi roast or vegetablebeef soup. Low carb Italian meatballs or homemade sloppy Joes remind me of mom, and moms hamburger stroganoff was a favorite meal growing up. To me these all say comfort, but nothing says gathering like a nice roast beef.
Why eye round roast beef?
While I love to prepare and serve a whole beef tenderloin, its an expensive cut of meat; one not everyone can afford. Comparatively, eye of round roast, which looks like a tenderloin, is an inexpensive and flavorful cut thats perfect for roasting.
Two of the most popular cuts of meat for roast beef are chuck roast and eye round roast. According to Ask John the Butcher, chuck roast comes from the shoulder. Because of this it is a bit fattier and full of connective tissues. Chuck likes to be cooked moist and slow to allow all of the connective tissues to break down. Whats left is meltingly tender beef that easily shreds apart.
Eye of round comes from the round primal located at the hind leg, from thigh to shank. Eye round round, like most cuts from this area, is very lean and perfect marinating and oven roasting. Since these are the muscles used in walking, they are tougher. My instructor used to say, If it walks, its tough and if it rides, its tender. A tenderloin, the most tender cut of beef, rides. The eye of round walks.
Feed a crowd with this eye round roast beef recipe!
As I mentioned, nothing says gathering like roast beef and this herb crusted eye round roast beef makes a nice holiday meal for a crowd. When serving meat as the main component of a meal, its best to plan on 6-8 ounces per person. In that spirit, thisrecipe serves 12 to 16 people, but it scales down beautifully.
Part of the trick to making this roast beef recipe feed a crowd is to cook it at a lower temperature. Not only does this ensure the perfect medium rare finish, keeping the meat tender, but it also helps minimize product loss.
Cooking this cut at higher temperatures can result in a dry, tough roast beef not what you want to serve family and friends. I find that cooking eye of round roast at 275 F keeps the meat perfectly tender, medium rare, and moist. Incidentally, there are high temperature roast beef recipes that do result in a nice medium rare roast like this one from NY Times Cooking.
Is an herb crusted roast beef keto approved?
Generally, no, but this one is!
Since most herb crusted roast recipes use breadcrumbs in the herb mixture, they pack a healthy punch of carbs. In this recipe, I replace the regular breadcrumbs with a combination of crushed pork rinds and Parmesan cheese what the low carb community calls Keto panko!
To make crushed pork rinds, I just pop them in the food processor and process until they reach a fine-breadcrumb consistency. If you dont eat pork, use an equal amount of low carb bread crumbs. A combination of shallots, parsley and chives season the crust while butter binds it together.
Do I really need to use a meat thermometer to cook roast beef?
I absolutely recommend using a meat thermometer for cooking eye round roast beef. Overcooking the roast past medium rare will result in tougher meat.
To make sure this doesnt happen, use a meat thermometer and pull the roast out of the oven as soon as it reads 135 if youve let the roast come up to room temperature prior to cooking. Then tend loosely with foil. Carry over cooking should take it the rest of the way to 140.
There are all kinds of meat thermometers available these days. I have an old school meat thermometer, an instant-read thermometer and a digital oven thermometer. Fancier models send alerts your phone when the meat has reached the desired temperature.
Serving Suggestions for a Show stopping Meal
This herb crusted eye round roast beef feels elegant and deserves to be served with sides that will perfectly complement it. To keep things low carb. Any of these low carb sides will do.
- cauliflower rice pilaf
- fluffy mock mashed potatoes
- roasted Brussels sprouts with walnuts and blue cheese
- pan fried turnips
- green beans Almondine
- asparagus with Hollandaise
- roasted cauliflower bacon and onion
- roasted rutabaga
What to do with Leftover Eye Round?
We love leftover roast beef!
Our favorite way to enjoy leftovers is to slice it very thin for French dips.
The ends, which tend to be a little overdone are perfect for chopping up finely and cooking with low carb BBQ sauce and beef broth for barbecue beef. This is great served over cauliflower mash or cauliflower rice.
Pickle it! My dad taught me this trick. Put sliced roast beef into a quart mason jar with sliced onion and garlic. Add white vinegar of the way and water the rest of the way. Make sure there are no hidden air pockets and it will keep in the refrigerator for weeks. Use on sandwiches or salads.
Herb Crusted Eye Round Roast Beef
A tender herb crusted eye round roast beef makes for a lovely Sunday dinner. This keto roast recipe serves a crowd, making it a perfect main dish for entertaining.
- 4 pounds eye round roast
- 2 tbsp olive oil ((divided use))
- salt and pepper to season
- 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
Herb Crust
- 1/2 cup crushed pork rinds (1 oz/30 g)* ((or low carb bread crumbs))
- 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup shallots, minced
- 2 tbsp garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp parsley, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Preparation
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Mince the shallots, garlic and herbs and place them in a medium bowl. Add the crushed pork rinds, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Stir together.
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Preheat oven to 275 F. Tie roast with twine to help it keep its round shape. Rub roast with 1 TBSP olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper.
Method
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Heat a large heavy bottomed pan over medium high heat. When hot, Add 2 teaspoons oil and swirl to coat. Sear/brown roast on all sides and place onto a large rimmed sheet pan or roasting pan and make the herbed crust.
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Smear the top and upper sides of the eye roast with Dijon mustard.
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Melt the butter and stir into the herb crust ingredients. The mixture should be moist enough to hold together if squeezed lightly in your hand. If not, add a little more melted butter. Gently press the mixture onto the dijon mustard, coating the top and upper sides of the whole roast.
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Place the thermometer into the roast making sure that it reaches the center of the meat. If using an electronic timer, set it to alert you when the internal temperature of the roast reaches 135 F, for medium rare. (Cooking time will vary depending on the size of the roast. I recommend using an electronic oven meat thermometer.)
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Remove roast from the oven, tent loosely with foil and let rest for 15-20 minutes. Slice and serve.
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The ends will be more cooked than the middle of the roast, which should be medium rare. Leftovers are great sliced thinly for French dip sandwiches. Well-done ends are great chopped and made into BBQ beef.
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Serves 12 people with approximately 4.5 ounces of meat per person at 1.5 net carbs each.
*To crush pork rinds, place 1 oz into a zip loc bag and hit them with a meat mallet until they resemble very fine bread crumbs. Alternately, put them into a food processor and process until very finely ground. Discard any large, harder pieces. Use low carb bread crumbs if you dont eat pork.
Slow Cooker Mississippi Pot Roast
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