What To Do With Leftover Roast Beef
Roast beef is one of those classic comfort foods that nourishes the soul. Typically rubbed with seasonings, seared on all sides, and then baked in the oven, roast beef can be made from a variety of cuts of meat. Whether you're working with chuck roast, bottom round rump, tri-tip, or any other large hunk of beef, the right techniques will consistently reward you with savory, juicy slices of meat. Traditionally paired with a rich gravy, creamy mashed potatoes, and vegetables like brussel sprouts or glazed carrots, there's no doubt that a roast beef dinner is bound to leave you happily stuffed and loosening your belt. But there's usually a dilemma in the aftermath of such a massive meal: what should you do with all the leftovers?
Because roast beef is often made with such a sizable chunk of beef, there's a good chance that, when it's all said and done, you'll still be left with a substantial portion. Rather than warming it all up again to eat in simple slices, the truth is that there is a wide range of delicious ways you can repurpose your leftover roast beef by transforming it into an entirely new dish. Think about it: tons of recipes call for beef, so why not put that leftover roast to good use and turn it into something completely different? From the deliciously bold flavors of Mexican cuisine to one of America's favorite sandwiches, there's no shortage of options at your fingertips. Here are some ideas about what you can do with leftover roast beef.
Philly cheesesteaks
According to lore, the Philly cheesesteak as we know it was created sometime between the 1930s and '40s, evolving from a hot dog cart in Philadelphia that experimented with chopped beef and onions. Eventually, some cheese was thrown into the mix and a star was born. Today, there's no doubt that the Philly cheesesteak is one of the best sandwiches in the country. It's easy to see why the Philly cheesesteak is so beloved; the combination of tender beef, sauteed onions, and peppers, along with some gooey cheese to hold everything together delivers a truly filling and flavorful meal.
The leftover roast beef in your fridge can be easily transformed into a Philly cheesesteak with minimal effort. All you really have to do is dice up the roast beef and saute it with some peppers and onions until everything's hot. Throw your choice of cheese into the mix, slap it all onto a hoagie and voila — your leftover roast beef is now a killer sandwich.
Pro tip: when adding the cheese, make it a two-step process. First, fold some into the beef and veggies until it's all thoroughly mixed and melted with everything. Then add a little more cheese on top of the bread and broil it. By mixing and melting the cheese directly into the steak and veggies first, each bite of your sandwich will be rewarded with a much cheesier texture.
Beef stroganoff
Made with a luscious mix of succulent sliced beef and mushrooms, beef stroganoff is creamy, garlicky, and downright delicious. When served over a bed of egg noodles, beef stroganoff's flavorful sauce coats everything in a beefy sheen that's delicious to the very last bite. Normally, in order to make this dish you'd have to go out and buy a cut of raw steak and start from scratch, but since we have some leftover roast beef on our hands to work with, most of the prep work here is already done. All you really need are a handful of ingredients to whip this up, and there's a good chance you already have most of them on hand.
Gather yourself some mushrooms, sour cream, garlic, onions, beef broth, and egg noodles. Make sure to slice your leftover roast beef into thin strips so it's ready to go when your sauce is done. After your veggies are sauteed, stir in your broth and sour cream, making sure to thoroughly combine everything until it's smooth and velvety. Add your roast beef and mix everything together. You can add a ladle of starchy pasta water from your pot of egg noodles — this will help bind and thicken the sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Once everything's hot and mixed, plate it up and dig in. In a matter of minutes, your leftover roast beef will have transformed into a hearty, steaming bowl of beef stroganoff.
Patty melts
The patty melt represents everything we love about diner food. Simple, comforting, and decadent, patty melts are typically made on buttered and toasted rye bread and come with caramelized onions and melted cheese. Even though patty melts are made with a burger patty, there's no reason why you can't swap out the ground meat for another form of beef. At the end of the day, the purpose of a patty melt is to capture juicy beefiness on some toasted, cheesy bread — and that leftover roast beef of yours can accomplish that task with amazingly delicious results.
You have a couple of options here in terms of how to approach cutting the roast beef. You could simply cut off a few slices and call it a day, you could dice it, or you could shred it, depending on the texture you want and the cut of beef that you're working with. Our first instinct is to dice it since dicing will mimic the structure of ground beef and achieve a tender texture. We'd also recommend stirring in some caramelized onions as the beef heats up since patty melts benefit from their inherent sweetness and luscious consistency. Lay down some cheese (preferably Swiss or American) on your toasted rye bread, slap it all together, and it's chow time.
Shredded beef enchiladas
Does it get any better than shredded beef enchiladas? Beefy with a sparkle of spice and covered in melted cheese, enchiladas are easy to make and absolutely delicious. The first thing to consider here is the type of enchilada sauce you want — you could either go for salsa verde made from tomatillos, or a red enchilada sauce that has a smokier flavor profile and features tomatoes. Since we're working with red meat, we'd recommend using a red enchilada sauce, since it pairs so well with beef.
Of course, if you don't want to make your red enchilada sauce from scratch, you could always just pick up a few cans of premade enchilada sauce at the grocery store, which will cut down the prep time and make this meal even easier to whip up. After you've shredded your leftover roast beef, mix in a little red enchilada sauce to give it some extra flavor. Dip your corn tortillas in some of the enchilada sauce, add some shredded beef, and then roll them into tight little cylinders. Top everything with some more sauce, sprinkle on some cheese, and toss it in the oven to bake until everything is bubbly and melted. Garnish with some sour cream, lime wedges, and fresh cilantro, and you have yourself an amazing meal.
Chili
You can always count on a nice bowl of chili to warm the soul and fill your belly. Between all the tender beans, tangy tomatoes, and seasoned meat, each savory spoonful feels more nourishing and satisfying than the last. The beauty of chili lies in its versatility: a wide variety of beans, vegetables, and different cuts of meats can be used — all to delicious effect. Red meat tends to be the protein of choice when it comes to chili, and there are many types of cuts to choose from. And while it may have never occurred to you to use your leftover roast beef to make some chili, the reality is that it presents an ideal opportunity to make a flavorful bowl of chunky, beefy stew.
All you really need to do here is cook up some chopped onions and garlic, seasoning with some chili powder and salt along the way. Dice up your roast beef into bite-sized chunks, throw it into the pot with your veggies, and add some more seasoning. Dump in some beans and diced tomatoes, then let it all simmer together so that the flavors can intermingle. If you want to add some heat, add a few splashes of your favorite hot sauce and some diced jalapenos. Serve over some white rice, sprinkle a little cheese on top, and garnish with some chopped green onions for freshness, and you're all buckled up for a fire bowl of chili, thanks to that leftover roast beef.
Stuffed peppers
Stuffed peppers are such a great way to use all kinds of leftovers. Rice, chorizo, beef, a blend of different cheeses — all of these ingredients and more can be mixed into a tasty filling, stuffed into a bell pepper, and baked to perfection. This is a simple dish that doesn't really require too many ingredients and can be prepared relatively easily, making it a great choice for a weeknight meal. Of course, since we're working with leftover roast beef, it'll be even less time-consuming, which makes this recipe even more approachable.
Slice your leftover roast beef into bite-sized pieces, then mix the beef with some rice, chopped onions, garlic, salt, and tomato sauce, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. For a smoky and spicy kick, consider adding a touch of diced chipotle peppers. To help bind everything together, add some shredded cheese to the filling and mix it in — we'd recommend a blend of cheddar and mozzarella for this, since the butteriness of mozzarella pairs so well with the sharp nuttiness of cheddar. Stuff your filling into some bell peppers, add a little more cheese on top, and then bake until the peppers have softened up and the cheese has melted.
Shepherd's pie
Delicious as it is, making a batch of shepherd's pie is normally a fairly tedious task. Between dicing up all the vegetables, cooking off some ground beef, whipping up mashed potatoes from scratch, plus baking time in the oven — making shepherd's pie can feel like an all-day affair. The good news is that you can dramatically cut down on the prep time in a couple of ways. By using leftover roast beef, you can create the same beefy flavor you're looking for in your shepherd's pie without having to start from ground zero.
The other time-saving trick is instant mashed potatoes. Don't get us wrong — we love a fresh batch of creamy mashed potatoes made from scratch — but we're also not above using the instant kind to save some major time. To make the filling, just shred your roast beef and mix it with some cooked carrots, peas, and onions. For some extra herbaceousness, add some fresh diced thyme and rosemary. Top it with some mashed potatoes, toss it in the oven until the potatoes start to brown, and you have yourself an easy, tasty shepherd's pie.
Breakfast hash
You've been hearing it your whole life, and it's true: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. According to a medically-reviewed article in WebMD, having breakfast is a surefire way to rejuvenate your body with the vitamins and nutrients it needs to maintain your energy. And what better way to kick off the day than with some classic breakfast hash? Much like chili, breakfast hash has a lot of flexibility when it comes to ingredients, making it a perfect dish to use up some leftovers. Typically made with seasoned roasted potatoes, onions, and a cured meat like corned beef or bacon, breakfast hash is often crowned with a fried egg, making it an easy meal that's delicious, nutritious, and filling.
That said, the truth is that breakfast hash can feature a wide range of proteins like carnitas, chorizo, and — you guessed it — roast beef. Cook your vegetables of choice (we'd recommend some potatoes, onions, garlic, and peppers). When the potatoes are crispy and the veggies have mostly softened, add in your bite-sized cubes of roast beef and mix everything together. Top with a fried egg and make sure the yolk is still somewhat runny — that way it can coat your roast beef hash with its buttery goodness.
Shredded beef ziti
With its tubular, saucy noodles baked under a luscious, bubbling layer of cheese, ziti tends to be a real crowd-pleaser. Most of the time, ziti tends to feature ground beef or Italian sausage, but leftover roast beef makes for a relatively seamless swap. When you're making your sauce for the ziti, simply shred up some of your leftover roast beef and add it into the mix, allowing some time for it to simmer and soak up the flavors of the tomatoes and garlic.
Pour your sauced noodles into a baking pan, top with mozzarella cheese, and bake as you normally would in the oven, until the ziti is bubbly and the edges are beginning to brown. The shredded roast beef incorporates into the sauce the same way ground beef does in a hearty bolognese, with just a slight change in texture. As a matter of fact, the juicy, melt-in-your-mouth consistency of shredded beef works so well in ziti that you might find yourself actually preferring this style once you try it. Combined with a garlicky tomato sauce and gobs of melted mozzarella, this is a great way to stretch out that leftover roast beef into another massive meal.
Sloppy joes
There's something nostalgic about sloppy joes. Maybe it's a reminder of our days in school when a questionable version of it was served up to us in some raucous, jam-packed cafeteria — or maybe it reminds us of something warmer and more personal when we had sloppy joes at home during those simple weeknight dinners lovingly made throughout childhood. Humble yet tasty, sloppy joes are practical, affordable, and undeniably delicious to the last bite.
Though sloppy joes are usually made with ground beef, the reality is that leftover roast beef can act as a great stand-in. Texture-wise, we'd recommend shredding the roast beef instead of dicing it, since strings of beef tend to hold together better and stay more contained in the sandwich. Once your roast beef is shredded, add your seasonings and sloppy joe sauce, then simmer until everything is well-mixed and bubbling. Spoon the beefy filling on some hamburger buns and buckle up for a tasty ride.
Beef stew
Stew is always a great way to make use of some leftovers. Whether you have a bit of leftover rotisserie chicken or a juicy hunk of roast beef, there's an abundance of different stew recipes that you can transform your leftovers into. There's no doubt that beef stew is a simple and delicious dish that you can easily make using your leftover roast beef.
To create some textural contrast with the smooth and silky broth, we'd recommend cutting the roast beef into bite-sized cubes. Mix in whatever other vegetables and ingredients you normally like in your beef stew — broth, carrots, onions, celery, along with some egg noodles always work for a straightforward stew that's easy to make and tasty. If you don't have any egg noodles on hand, swap them out for some cubed potatoes. For an extra dose of protein, you can also throw some mushrooms into the mix. Season to taste and ladle into a bowl, then grab a spoon, kick back, and nourish yourself over its glorious steam.
Shredded beef quesadillas
Quesadillas are one of the easiest, cheesiest ways to whip up a meal. Equally versatile as some of the other options on this list, quesadillas can be stuffed with an abundance of ingredients including chicken, vegetables, pork, and, of course — beef. In this context, shredding the roast beef will probably work best versus cubing it, since the strands will cling to the cheese and stay better enclosed inside the tortilla. To go the extra mile, add in some sauteed peppers and onions.
As far as the cheese is concerned, there's a lot to choose from that can work here. Ideally, a blend of different cheeses is best, since cheese is the star of the show in a quesadilla and a mix will deliver more flavor. A blend of cheddar, mozzarella, and pepper jack can provide the savory bite and meltability that we're looking for in a tasty quesadilla. For a little punch of heat and some extra tang, toss some pickled jalapenos into the mix. With a little time and inspiration, you can easily turn that leftover roast beef of yours into another hearty and delicious meal.