Easy Swiss Steak

Prep: 20 mins

Cook: 2 hrs 14 mins

Total: 2 hrs 34 mins

Servings: 6 servings

This classic Swiss steak with silky tomato sauce is comfort food at its best. The secret is buying less expensive cuts of steak, tenderizing them before cooking, and then letting them simmer slowly in a juicy sauce of tomatoes and onions.

Why Is It Called Swiss Steak?

Although you might think Swiss steak comes from Switzerland, in reality, the name comes from the "swissing" technique for tenderizing meat. Tough cuts of beef, like bottom round, top round, and chuck, go through a mechanical tenderizer, or a swissing machine, and come out the other end with cube-shaped indentations (hence it's other name, cube steak).

What to Use If You Can’t Find Swissed Steaks

Our recipe calls for beef chuck steak or bottom round, which is easily found at most grocery stores. If you do find swissed steaks, use those in this recipe and skip the tenderizing step.

If you don't have a meat tenderizer or don't want to do this step yourself, ask your butcher to do it for you. They might even have the machine and can provide you with beautifully tenderized steaks.

What to Serve With Swiss Steak

For a classic Swiss steak meal, serve with green beans and mashed potatoes. It also goes great with roasted vegetables and corn on the cob or on top of rice.

Need to Make this Gluten-Free?

These swiss steaks are coated with flour before cooking, which helps create a crust on the meat and also thickens the tomato sauce. If there are any guests with wheat allergies, simply skip the flour and reduce the sauce as much as possible before serving, so it’s nicely thick. Alternatively, you can use a cornstarch slurry at the end to obtain a thicker texture in your sauce.

What Is the Difference Between Salisbury Steak and Swiss Steak?

A Salisbury steak is made from ground beef that’s formed into a patty, and Swiss steak is actually steak. Additionally, Salisbury steak usually has a gravy that consists of beef broth, and Swiss steak is known for being cooked with tomatoes and onions.

«It does take some time to prep and brown the steak, but then you just combine everything in the Dutch oven and throw it into the oven for an hour and a half to cook. I would recommend wearing an apron when tenderizing the meat, as the flour goes a bit everywhere.» —Victoria Heydt

A Note From Our Recipe Tester

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 pounds boneless chuck steak, or bottom round, excess fat trimmed

• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 2 medium onions, quartered and sliced

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, more as needed

• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained and chopped

For Thickening the Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, as needed

• 1 tablespoon water, as needed

Steps to Make It

1. Gather the ingredients. Preheat the oven to 325 F/165 C.

   

2. Season the meat with pepper and salt. Add a good amount of flour on a cutting board and place the steak on it. Sprinkle more flour over the meat and pound it with a meat hammer to tenderize. Continue to turn, flour, and pound until most of the flour is used and the steak is nice and flat and feels spongy to the touch. Set aside.

   

3. Heat a large, heavy ovenproof skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil to the pan. 

   When the oil is hot, but not smoking, add the sliced onions. Cook, constantly stirring until the onions are translucent and lightly browned, for about 10 minutes. Remove the onions to a dish with a slotted spoon.

   

4. If needed, add another tablespoon of the remaining oil to the pan to cover its bottom.

   Cut the steak into 6 pieces and place them in the hot oil. If your pan isn't big enough, work in batches until all steaks are brown on all sides, 1 to 2 minutes per side, and there is no pink showing. If needed, use the remaining tablespoon of oil between each batch.

   

5. Place the onion on top of the steaks, add the canned tomatoes, and cover the pan. Place the meat in the oven and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until the steaks are tender.

   

6. Remove the steaks, tomatoes, and onions to a hot serving platter. 

   If the remaining sauce is too thin, place the pan over medium heat. Combine 1 tablespoon of flour with 1 tablespoon of cold water and stir the mixture into the sauce until no lumps remain. Simmer the sauce until well thickened.

   Pour the sauce over the steaks and serve.

   

Variations

Here are a few additional ingredients you can add to the recipe, or substitutions that will also make a wonderful dish:

• Use canned stewed tomatoes instead of the regular canned tomatoes.
• Add 1 cup of sliced celery to the onions when browning, and then add the tomatoes.
• Add 1 minced clove of garlic to the onions just before adding the tomatoes.
• Season the sauce with a dash of oregano and a teaspoon of celery flakes.
• Add 2 tablespoons of tomato paste along with the tomatoes if you’d rather not thicken it with flour.
• Add 1/2 cup of tomato juice or low-sodium beef broth when making the final sauce if you’d like a thinner and juicier consistency.
• For a totally hands-off experience, make this in the slow cooker.

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories	788
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 52g	66%
Saturated Fat 20g	101%
Cholesterol 197mg	66%
Sodium 409mg	18%
Total Carbohydrate 21g	8%
Dietary Fiber 2g	6%
Total Sugars 2g
Protein 60g
Vitamin C 6mg	28%
Calcium 58mg	4%
Iron 7mg	38%
Potassium 876mg	19%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.