Roast Beef Dinner with Yorkshire Puddings

Looking for a recipe for a roast beef dinner with all the trimmings, including Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, carrots and gravy? You’re in the right place! Rather than you having to jump around to different recipes, I’ve created a master recipe here for my favourite roast beef dinner, start to finish.

A good roast beef is absolutely delicious, but I used to find making it at home a bit of a risk, particularly when you factor in the Yorkshire puddings. Getting perfectly cooked beef, puddings AND potatoes seemed a bit out of reach.

But then I tried cooking it this way, and it’s changed my roast dinners forever. Perfectly tender, pink beef – sorted. Beautifully fluffy Yorkshire puddings – done. Crisp, golden roast potatoes – easy. Plus carrots and gravy. The ideal roast beef dinner.

Now, I know everyone likes to do things slightly differently, which is why this recipe is customisable. You can add whatever you like. In particular, I left out green vegetables. This is partly because they’re pretty easy to cook, and partly because I know everyone has a different preference. Peas or kale or broccoli or leeks? You decide! You could even go for my Welsh style dauphinoise potatoes – delicious.

The key to your roast beef dinner working properly is timings. I’ve been as accurate as possible in the recipe – just follow along and make sure to read the next step in advance for the best results.

The Ingredients

• Beef – get a beef roasting joint, ideally from your butchers. I got one which was 1.5kg, and it would have easily served 5-6, with all of the sides. The cooking times below are for a 1.5kg piece of meat.
• Mustard powder, salt, olive oil, garlic, onion – for the beef rub and flavouring while it’s roasting. You’ll want all of these for the best results.
• Potatoes, cornflour, goose fat – for the roast potatoes. You want white potatoes. Goose fat is ideal for roasting potatoes. You could use olive oil instead, but you just won’t get the same results.
• Milk, eggs, plain flour, goose fat – for the Yorkshire puddings. You DO NOT need self-raising flour for Yorkshire puddings, no matter how much it might seem that way! The hot fat causes the perfect rise. I used goose fat here because I was already using it for my potatoes, but if you’re making Yorkshire puddings as part of a separate meal you can use vegetable oil instead.
• Carrots, honey, thyme, olive oil – there’s nothing quite like accentuating a carrot’s natural sweetness with honey on a rich dish like this. You’ll love this flavour combination.
• Red wine, beef stock, plain flour- when you make gravy from the roasting juices, there’s very few additional ingredients needed. This gravy is packed full of flavour.

Cooking the Roast – Top Tips

As I said, this roast is all about timings. I used to struggle with the fact that roast beef really needs to be cooked at a low temperature to get the perfect medium rare pinkness, but Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes need high heat. What gives when you only have one oven? Well, here are my tips:

• Don’t skip the resting time! Beef is best when it has been allowed to rest for plenty of time. I rested mine for an hour here. Under tin foil, it stays warm and becomes perfectly tender.
• Make sure your fat or oil is hot! This is true for both the potatoes and the Yorkshire puddings. Cold fat means flat yorkshires and rubbish roasties.
• Treat your roast with love – you’ve paid a lot for this piece of meat. Treat it well, cook slowly and keep an eye on it.
• Got leftovers? Good! You can now make a banging leftover cottage pie.

More roast dinner recipes:

• The Best Barbecued Pork Loin
• Classic Baked Ham
• Ginger Beer Baked Ham
• Persian Roast Spatchcock Chicken
• Orange and Brandy Roast Duck
• Greek Style Roast Chicken and Vegetables
• Roast Duck with Chips and Hoisin Sauce
• One Pan Mediterranean Roast Chicken and Vegetables with Garlic Yoghurt
• Slow Roast Lamb with Dauphinoise Potatoes