Last Updated on 4th August 2022 by
If you cooked up roast beef for dinner but you didn’t eat it all, you may be wondering what else to do with it. The idea of having roast beef the same way again and again until it’s all gone might not appeal to you.
You might have enjoyed it the first time, but it can get pretty old after another meal or two. So, what to do with leftover roast beef?
Let me give you a few different meal ideas where you can incorporate roast beef in various ways and change things up, so you’re not eating the same thing every day.
I’ll show you how to use leftover roast beef in inventive ways, so that you get plenty of variety and meals you can actually look forward to.
Roast Beef Sandwich
The simplest dish to make with your leftover roast beef is the sandwich. But it helps to know what goes well with roast beef, accentuating the flavor and texture so that you make the most of it.
Roast beef is often used in the famous Cuban sandwich, which combines roast beef, cheese, mustard, and pickles. The traditional Cuban sandwich uses ham, but roast beef is a good substitute and is sometimes used for varieties of the sandwich.
A spicy mustard is sometimes preferred to make the sandwich more interesting.
Beef Stroganoff
If you want to take your roast beef a little bit farther and use it in a more complex dish, I’ll show you what to make with leftover roast beef that’s simple and yet delightfully layered.
Beef stroganoff isn’t too difficult to make, as you’re mixing together egg noodles, sour cream, mushrooms, and pieces of beef. You can also add some Worcestershire sauce to that as well as onions to add some more texture and flavor to it.
Some recipes also call for a little bit of butter and flour to help flavor and thicken the sauce. It’s a dish that can be as complicated or as simple as you like, and it’s a great way to take plain roast beef and turn it into a much more rewarding dish.
I’m assuming your beef is already cooked, and that makes things pretty quick and simple. You’ll need to cook your egg noodles separately from everything else, and then cook up the mushrooms and onions.
Then, add everything together, cooking all your ingredients in a skillet until the butter and sour cream have melted and everything has mixed together. This is a great dish to try if you’re looking for what to do with leftover roast beef that is tough. The liquid sauce will help soften the beef as it cooks. You can add your beef to the pot of water with your egg noodles as they cook.
As the noodles soften, the beef will soften too, as the water permeates it and gets rid of some of the toughness. If you find that your roast beef is has dried out and become too tough, this is a great way to deal with that.
Roast Beef Stew
Would you like to know what to make with leftover roast beef and potatoes? You can add them into a savory stew mixture, with some other veggies and seasonings for a hearty, filling meal.
I like to add in baby carrots or sliced carrots, as well as onions, garlic, and beef broth. That’s really all you need, along with your potatoes and roast beef. You can add everything to a slow cooker or cook it on the stove top in a pot, with beef broth as the base. If you’re using beef stock instead, you’ll need to add some extra water to the soup to thin out the stock.
You want to cook all your food until the carrots and potatoes have softened. It’s okay to cook the beef with the rest of your food, even though the beef is already cooked ahead of time. This helps soften the beef and make it break apart easily in the soup. You may want to shred it first before adding it to the pot.
Beef Pot Pie
The final meal idea I want to leave you with for your leftover roast beef is beef pot pie, which is a wonderful comfort food.
You’ll need to make some of it in the oven, so preheat the oven to about 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook everything for about 2 hours altogether. Essentially, you’re making a beef stew and putting it inside a covered pie crust. You don’t have to brown the beef ahead of time, so if it’s not well done, that’s okay. It will cook and brown some more once it’s inside the pie and warming in the oven.
Your beef pot pie mixture will include garlic, onions, carrots, and maybe even potatoes, if you want to include them in there. You’ll need a broth or stock as well, and you can add seasonings and flavoring as you like. I like a little bay leaf, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce in mine.
So, you can make up your beef stew mixture first of all in a pot on the stove while the oven is heating. Then, make your pie crust in a deep dish pie plate. Once the dough is formed into a pie shape, mix in your beef stew and then put the pie cover on the pie. You’ll be folding down the overhanging pie so that it comes inward and then cutting a few slits in the top so it doesn’t explode.
You can brush the pastry crust with egg so that it gets the right texture. If the crust starts to brown, it should be done cooking at that point.
Oven Cooked Meatballs
You could ground up your leftover roast beef, add some breadcrumbs and egg and roll up into balls and bake in the oven, so the question is, how to cook meatballs in oven? We have a guide for that.
Conclusion
So, there you have a few ideas for what to do with your leftover roast beef. Some of them will require you to cook it softer or break it down into smaller pieces so that it is bite size, but you have some idea of just a sampling of ways you can use your roast beef rather than just eating it the same way again. Who says leftovers have to be boring?
I'm Pauline, a mother of four grown children, my passion for cooking stemmed from the joy i get cooking for my family. I love to try new dishes, especially when dining out but creating and sharing my own recipes is my favourite thing to do!
