Tender eye of round roast beef, crusted with garlic herb seasoning is perfect for a Sunday or holiday dinner. This fool proof off-oven cooking method results in perfectly medium rare, juicy roast beef every time.

Making a whole roast anything can be intimidating. I promise you, making this tender eye of round roast is an easy way to get a show stopping meal on the table with minimal fuss. This roast is great for a Sunday dinner with all of the fixings or for a holiday when you need to feed a crowd like Christmas or Easter.
The trick to this recipe is following the cooking and serving instructions exactly for perfectly cooked, melt in your mouth slices of well seasoned roast beef.
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Jump to:
- What is Eye of Round?
- How much roast beef do I need?
- How to season Eye of Round Roast
- Ingredients
- Off-Oven Cooking Method
- Step by Step Instructions for perfect roast beef
- Why is my Eye of Round Roast Tough?
- Recommended tools for this recipe
- What to serve with eye of round roast beef
- Garlic Herb Crusted Eye of Round Roast Beef

What is Eye of Round?
Eye of round is a boneless roast that looks like a tenderloin, but it’s much tougher. It’s an economical cut of beef from the hindquarter of the animal best enjoyed medium rare and sliced thinly against the grain.
How much roast beef do I need?
For a holiday meal or Sunday supper, plan for about a half a pound per person. This will be plenty for everyone with some leftovers for the best roast beef sandwiches to enjoy for a few days after.
How to season Eye of Round Roast
This cut of meat can stand up to a generous amount of seasoning. Whole cloves of fresh garlic, dried herbs and a little bit of salt and oil get mashed together to coat the entire piece of meat and create a delicious crust while it roasts. The garlic herb seasoning is key!

Ingredients
All you need is a few simple ingredients to make a stunning eye of round roast.
- Eye of Round Roast – I find that this recipe works best with a 2-3 pound roast.
- Dried Herbs – I like basil and oregano but you can definitely experiment here with your favorite dried herbs. You could use Italian seasoning, thyme, rosemary or any other combination of your choice.
- Fresh Garlic
- Black Pepper
- Kosher Salt
- Red Pepper Flakes – this is optional but it adds a bit of heat.
- Fresh Garlic
- Avocado Oil – or other high heat netural oil.

Off-Oven Cooking Method
The off-oven cooking method is the best way to cook an eye of round roast without any guess work. To be successful with this recipe, the most important thing is to follow the instructions exactly. Do not deviate from the plan! You’ll roast for five minutes per pound and then turn the oven off and let it finish in the residual heat. After about 90 minutes, your roast will come out at a temperature between 125 and 130 degrees for perfectly cooked medium rare roast beef.
Sounds crazy, I know. Trust me, if you follow these exact steps, you’ll be amazed at yourself.
Here are the critical steps for getting a perfect eye of round roast.
- Know the exact weight – we will roast for EXACTLY 5 minutes per pound. No more, no less. If you buy from the grocery store, the weight should be on the packaging sticker. Using a kitchen scale to double check is absolutely worth the trouble. Do not estimate here. If your roast is 2 pounds, you roast for 10 minutes. If your roast is 2.5 pounds, you roast for 12 minutes and 30 seconds. Be exact.
- Know your oven temperature – All ovens are different. I keep an oven thermometer hanging on my rack so I always know the exact temperature of my oven. They can vary a lot which can really throw off your recipe.
- DO NOT open the oven – under any circumstances. You will be so tempted to do it. DON’T
- Slice thinly against the grain – this part matters. If you slice it any other way, you will still have a tough roast! Use a good serrated knife. If you have an electric knife, this is the time to bust it out!

Step by Step Instructions for perfect roast beef
- Remove roast from the fridge, pat dry with paper towels and rub down the whole thing with one teaspoon of kosher salt.
- Let the roast sit on the counter for about 45 minutes to an hour. This will give the salt time to penetrate and tenderize the meat.
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Give your oven plenty of time to come to temperature. Make the garlic herb seasoning by combining fresh pressed garlic with dried basil, dried oregano, more salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
- Coat the roast in the seasoning and place on a baking sheet fitted with a rack.
- Roast for EXACTLY five minutes per pound. If your eye of round is 2.5 pounds, you roast for 12 minutes and 30 seconds. Be precise.
- Turn the oven off and do not open it for EXACTLY 90 minutes.
- Remove roast from oven. Check internal temperature with meat thermometer. It should be between 125 and 130 degrees.
- Tent with foil and let it rest for 10-20 minutes before slicing thinly against the grain with a serrated knife.



Why is my Eye of Round Roast Tough?
Do not deviate from the recipe! If your roast turned out tough, it may be because you didn’t have the accurate weight, oven temperature or did not slice against the grain.
This cut of meat is naturally pretty tough but when cooked and sliced correctly, you can have perfectly tender, juicy slices of roast beef. Eye of round has a thin fat cap but it doesn’t have much marbling or connective tissue which is how you get that fall apart, melt in your mouth texture. If you’re looking for that kind of experience, chuck roast is your best bet.

Recommended tools for this recipe
What to serve with eye of round roast beef

Garlic Herb Crusted Eye of Round Roast Beef
Ingredients
- 2.5-3 pound eye of round roast
- 3 cloves garlic pressed
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil or other high heat neutral oil
Instructions
- Take the roast out of the refrigerator and pat dry with paper towels.
- Rub 1 teaspoon of kosher salt all over the roast, massaging it into the meat.
- Let the roast sit on the counter for 45 minutes to an hour and preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Make the garlic herb seasoning by mashing together pressed garlic, dried herbs, black pepper, red pepper flakes, remaining salt and avocado oil into a paste.
- Using your hands, rub the seasoning paste all over the roast.
- Place the roast on a baking sheet fitted with a rack.
- Roast at 500 degrees for exactly 5 minutes per pound.
- Turn the oven off and let the roast continue to cook in a closed oven for exactly 90 minutes. Do not open the oven.
- After 90 minutes, remove the roast from the oven and check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer in the thickest part. It should be between 125-130 degrees.
- Tent with foil and let stand for 10-20 minutes before slicing thinly against the grain with a serrated knife.
Equipment
Notes
Nutrition

Bev Mauck
I have used this technique on Prime Rib roasts on my 15+ year gas stove and it turned out perfect. Unfortunately, when using a newer model, the oven didn’t maintain the temp. This happened on 2 different ovens – so be ware! Also, since I prefer my meat Rare to Med. Rare, I use a digital probe thermometer and set it for 120º so I don’t go by the 90 minutes.
Once the alarm goes off, I remove the roast from the oven and let it rest for up to 30 min. It will increase to about 125-130º, which is perfect!
Inna
I am excited to try recipe I was wondering if it is possible to add baby potatoes around it when cooking. I’m a huge fan of one pan meals and hate wasting opportunities to cook the meat with the sides as well.
Jessica
I haven’t tried adding anything else in the pan yet but let me know if it works for you!
Freada
Recipe is perfect! Loved it! Leftovers make wonderful French dip sandwiches with sour dough rolls.
Chloe
Followed the instructions exactly and it turned out great!
Mary
I made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious. This will be my go to recipe from now on.
Jessica
So glad you enjoyed it!
Christy
I was skeptical and slightly anxious while I waited for the 90 minutes to pass, but it came out a perfect medium rare. Served it for Easter dinner and my family raved about it.
Rachael Schwieger
Very good. It is nicely, medium rare and not too tough. I have tried other recipes before but this was the best one that I have tried so far for Round Roast. I get tired of only doing Pot Roast. The leftovers will make really nice French Dip sandwiches too. Thank you.
Rinaca Freada
Love making French dip sandwiches with leftovers. Yum!
CARRIE LAVO
I’d love to try but am wondering if newer ovens cool off faster than older ovens? I’m afraid of my oven cooling to nothing in 90 mins, even without opening the door. An hour and 30 mins I’m thinking my oven would be well below 200 even if at 500 for 15-20 mins.?
Jessica
Hi Carrie! The oven I used to develop the recipe was about 6 years old. I know they are all different. I would definitely use a probe thermometer if you have one. Best way to get it to the exact temperature you want. Thanks for reaching out!
Celeste
Made a large eye round. (5 lbs) Followed exactly, 25 min roasting time. Used fresh thyme, rosemary, garlic and the end result was beyond delicious!! Thank you for the great directions and tips. Will not be afraid to make this for guests in the future.
Maureen Evans-Kelly
I just left a comment a little while ago. I wonder if putting some water in my pan made a difference in cooking time? I did let it rest then sliced it and put back in the oven for 10 min 350. Taste good, but was wondering by putting water in the pan altered anything. Thank you
Jessica
Hi Maureen,
I’ve never tried putting some water in the pan. I imagine it created some steam that may have accelerated the cooking process. Glad it tasted great!
Jessica
Maureen Evans-Kelly
Followed the recipe. After 90 minutes temperature only till 117. Do I throw this meat out? It was 2.77 lbs I put it at 500 for 13 minutes, then 90 minutes with the oven closed I’ve made it once before and it was good.
BicycleJoeNYC
you could reheat the oven at 350 for another 10 minutes and retake the temperature, that’s what I would do. I am going to try this recipe tomorrow.
Kristen F.
Made this tonight for Christmas dinner for just me and my husband. The recipe worked perfect, I followed it exactly, used a 3 lb grass fed eye round roast and have a gas stove/oven and the meat was cooked perfectly. I used my meat slicer to cut everything up so that it is thinly sliced and recipe ready for future meals this week. My husband loved it! I admit I was worried it wouldn’t be fully cooked but it was. I cooked it 15 minutes at 500, turned off the oven and let it sit in the oven for 90 minutes. It was amazing. Thank you!
Shannon
Great recipe. I’m about to throw my roast in the oven. Would it be a good idea to cook in a glass casserole dish?
Annie
This is now my go to Christmas meal. It is so easy and so delicious and economical too for a big piece of beef. I get lots and lots kudos!
Jessica
This made my day. Thank you so much!
Brianna
This was amazing! My husband was sure it would not be good/cooked completely. He ate his words and the meat! For sure will be making this again. Next time I may slice the meat and put garlic slices for more flavor is the middle. Thank you for this recipe!
Kayla B
Not sure if it depends on what type of oven but I have a gas oven and I followed the recipe and it was undercooked when I pulled it out after 90 minutes. It only read about 100-104 degrees. Ended up having to cook longer and it was still tasty but the timing was off unfortunately!
Jen
What if we wanted it medium instead of medium rare? How would we adjust the cook time? Also, would it make any difference if cooking 2 roasts at the same time? I would assume not, but wanted to be sure.
Jessica
Hi Jen! I imagine maybe just roast it a minute or two longer for medium. As long as the roasts are exactly the same weight, you should be able to cook them at the same time!
Britta
The flavor came out great. Mine cooked a lot faster – was only 40 minutes, not 90, so keep an eye on your thermometer. Grass fed, grass finished beef, so maybe the lower saturated fat content. Will definitely make again! Thank you for a great recipe.