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Easy Hamburger Steaks

Stacey Littleby Updated: Oct 8, 2024

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These juicy Hamburger Steaks are a family favorite! Made with simple pantry ingredients, this quick and easy recipe delivers big flavor and is perfect for busy weeknights when you need a hearty, home-cooked meal fast.

This recipe for Easy Hamburger Steaks is a family favorite! They're so easy and super delicious!

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I just love a good hamburger steak. I grew up eating them. I’m sure we all did. And sometimes there is just nothing quite like this classic comfort food dish. Oftentimes, my mother would wrap a piece of bacon around the edges of each one for even more flavor.

This is a super easy hamburger steak recipe that you could whip up quickly on a busy weeknight. We usually serve these with mashed potatoes and a vegetable, but they are great served along rice or even french fries – if you want! Y’all enjoy!

This quick and easy recipe for Easy Hamburger Steaks is a family favorite! They're so easy, super delicious, and perfect for a busy weeknight!

Is hamburger steak just a hamburger patty?

The short and quick answer to this question is “Yes.” Hamburger steak is basically a hamburger patty typically cooked on the stovetop in a pan with gravy. The hamburger patty is seasoned similarly to a burger and the gravy mixture is a combo of ingredients consistent with a brown gravy. Most recipes call for you to sear the patty in a hot pan before adding in the gravy mixture.

Easy Hamburger Steaks

What is the difference between hamburger steak and Salisbury steak?

Moment of transparency… Growing up, I thought that hamburger steaks and Salisbury steaks were the same. When I got older and a bit more advanced in my culinary skills, I realized that while they are similar, there are several differences between the two. Both are simmered in gravy and look like hamburger patties, but they feature different ingredients.

Hamburger steak is made with simply seasoned ground beef patties cooked in a skillet and topped with a yummy brown gravy. Salisbury steak starts similarly to a hamburger steak but features added ingredients like breadcrumbs and egg. Also, the Salisbury steak sauce often features beef broth and mushrooms whereas the hamburger steak sauce usually features thinly sliced onions.

This recipe for Easy Hamburger Steaks is a family favorite! They're so easy and super delicious!

Tips for the Perfect Hamburger Steak

Keep in mind when you’re making your patties, they are going to shrink a bit. You need to make them bigger than you think with a little indention in the middle of each of them with your thumb. This prevents them from puffing up too much and turning into meatballs rather than hamburger steaks. 

Funny side story, my wife was once making hamburgers for the grill and didn’t quite get them big enough. They grilled up to look just like meatballs, so we always kid her about that all the time. But, she’d be embarrassed if I told you that, so don’t mention it. 

The second tip I have for you is to make sure you get your pan hot when you put the patties in there. The trick is to get the dark brown color on them. That’s where all that delicious flavor comes from. Put them in the skillet and don’t touch them until you flip them. Seriously, hands off!

Easy Hamburger Steaks with gravy.
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5 from 57 votes

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Easy Hamburger Steaks

Author Stacey Little
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Calories 485kcal

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds ground beef (I like using ground chuck)
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground mustard
  • 1 small onion thinly sliced
  • 1 (10.5-ounce) can French onion condensed soup (undiluted)
  • 1 (.87-ounce) packet brown gravy mix
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Instructions

  • Crumble the ground beef into a large bowl and sprinkle with the garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and ground mustard. Blend well. (I like to use a fork for this. It keeps you from overworking the mixture – which can produce a tough hamburger steak.) Divide the mixture into 4 equal amounts (or more if you want smaller steaks) and form them into patties.
  • Place a skillet (cast iron works great) over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, place the steaks in the skillet and allow them to cook without touching them for about 4 minutes. Flip them over and cook them for an additional 4 minutes. (You want to get a nice dark brown color on them – that's where the flavor is.) Remove the steaks from the pan and allow them to rest on paper towels.
  • Drain away all but about 2 tablespoons of the grease from the pan. Put the pan back on the heat and add the sliced onions. Cook until just translucent (about 3 minutes). Add the undiluted onion soup, gravy mix, and water and stir well. Bring to boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, and stir in the Worcestershire sauce. Add the hamburger steaks back to the pan and cook until they are done to your liking.

Nutrition

Calories: 485kcal | Carbohydrates: 9g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 15g | Trans Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 124mg | Sodium: 932mg | Potassium: 879mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 59mg | Iron: 4mg


* If nutritional values are provided, they are an estimate and will vary depending on the brands used. The values do not include optional ingredients or when ingredients are added to taste. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, I recommend grabbing your favorite brands and plugging those ingredients into an online nutritional calculator.

Easy Hamburger Steaks with gravy.
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Stacey Little of Southern Bite

Hey, y’all! I’m Stacey…

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5 from 57 votes (8 ratings without comment)

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Comments

    • Stacey LittleStacey

      Aww, that makes my day! I’m so glad your kiddos and fiancé loved it—there’s nothing better than happy tummies around the table. Thanks for sharing!

      Reply

  2. Linda C

    5 stars
    I love these and more importantly, it is one of my husband’s favorites too. He never orders onions if he orders it in a restaurant but he does enjoy it when I use your recipe. Thx

    Reply

  3. Mary Medlock

    5 stars
    Best hamburger steak you’ll ever eat!! Searing the meat is a must…Thank you for sharing this recipe, I’ve made it many, many times.

    Reply

  4. slo_cook

    5 stars
    This is the kind of comfort food that you think about all day long before sitting down in the evening to enjoy it! I admit to making extra gravy just because you can never have too much gravy. I did swap out the Worcestershire for steak sauce because I prefer it over the W sauce. Two of them I vacuum sealed with some of the gravy for a super quick dinner when I’m having a busy day. As usual, another great recipe.

    Reply

  5. Tammie Averett

    5 stars
    This is probably the best hamburger steak I have ever made. EVER. Omg. The only thing I did different was I added chopped
    onions and mushrooms in the mix only because we love them so much. I will make this again and again and again. I’m so happy I found your recipe. Thanks so much for sharing

    Reply

  6. Monica

    5 stars
    Amazing! This has become a new staple in our house. It started with me trying to figure out something to do with frozen patties, and turned into a meal on our rotation.

    Reply

  7. Jennifer Burris

    So so so good. Thank you l!!! Was an absolute hit with my 16 year old son. His eyes popped out of his head the first bite.

    Reply

  9. Dixie mom

    5 stars
    Delish! I made this for my dad three days ago and he is still raving about it! Thank you for sharing this easy and oh so yummy recipe!

    Reply

  10. Laurie

    5 stars
    I made this tonight for the family and it was a huge hit!! We will definitely have it again! Thank you for sharing the recipe!

    Reply

  11. Brittany

    5 stars
    Loved this recipe!! Never been able to make a good hamburger steak but this recipe makes it easy. Family loved it!!

    Reply

  12. Dot Diambra

    5 stars
    Another wonderful meal. Thanks to you, I’m becoming a pretty good cook, but, I did one thing different. You put this out before your Y’ALL SALT was put out for us, so I used your Y’ALL SALT. I’m on my 4th. pint now, gotta put up another batch soon. Thank y’all for all the good stuff.

    Reply

  19. April D. Haynie-Solomon

    I just cooked this meal tonight and it was absolutely amazing! Even my pickiest eater loved it and was asking for more! Hearty and perfect for a Sunday dinner! Thank you for sharing!

    Reply

  25. Janie Tilley

    Can you substitute anything for the French onion condensed soup or omit it. Trying to save a trip to grocery store!

    Reply

  27. Mark Schmitz

    5 stars
    I will make these alot !!! They were fantastic! What wonderful flavor 😋. What leftovers? Too funny 😁.

    Reply

  28. Anthony Jackson

    5 stars
    This recipe is absolutely amazing!! I followed it almost to the letter with a couple of changes. I cooked each patty for about 7 minutes on each side to ensure a bit darker brown on each side and instead of using 1/2 cup of water, I used 1/4 cup of beef broth!! I love hamburger steak and thanks to this recipe, I can now make them on my own. I’ve made them twice in 2 weeks. Thank you!! I’m excited and have saved this recipe 🙂

    Reply

  31. Kelli

    5 stars
    I’ve been cooking since I was a little girl and this is the best HB steak I’ve ever had! I love everything about it! I’ve cooked it many many times!

    Reply

  34. Charlie

    5 stars
    My recipe for hamburger steak comes from Bettye Nelle Starr’s Osceola, Ark cookbook, Cooking in High Cotton from the 1960’s. Soak two slices of bread in milk, add 1 egg and meat. Mix in Italian seasoning and some diced celery. Fry with sliced onion. When the onions are limp add 1/2-pound sliced mushrooms. Cook on medium for 15 minutes. No other sauce. I’m 72 so one of these for a meal with onion and mushrooms and a drink are plenty for me. Tonight it will be a margarita.

    Reply

  35. Holly

    I love hamburger steak, and I love your recipe. One thing my mom always did, and I also do is dredge the hamburger steaks in flour. It makes the “gravy” a little thicker!

    Reply

  36. Becky Michaels

    5 stars
    Made this with vegetarian ground “beef” it was absolutely astounding how delicious it was. I wanted to eat all of it myself!! Thank you❤️!!

    Reply

    • Becky Michaels

      5 stars
      Oh– I forgot to say that I added big ole mushrooms and omitted the Worcestershire sauce, & French onion soup (not vegetarian friendly) and opted for vegetarian brown gravy mix- an onion soup seasoning packet and some extra vegetable broth instead.

      So easy, so yummy.

      Reply

  37. Jalisa

    5 stars
    Great recipe. Only thing I did different was use half water, half beef broth and added a can of beefy mushroom condensed soup. This recipe was so simple to follow!

    Reply

  38. Deanna

    5 stars
    I made this for supper tonight and it was not only easy but so good! I will definitely be making this again. Next time, I plan on adding some sliced baby bella mushrooms to the gravy. I told my husband that your recipes never let me down!! Thank you for such great recipes! ????

    Reply

      • Linda Trawick

        5 stars
        This sounds great. I will be trying it this week. It reminds me of a meal I made for myself when I was first trying to learn to cook. I would call mine Deconstructed Hamburger Steak with mushroom gravy.
        I took the raw hamburger meat and stir fried it, added salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I sliced onion and stir fried it with the meat. I then poured a can of cream of mushroom soup (undiluted) over the cooked meat mixture and cooked it to just boiling. I then made toast using two slices of white or wheat bread and poured the hot mixture over each slice of toast. I then ate it open-faced. It was wonderful. It was experiences like this and a lot of other concoctions that began my LOVE of cooking and experimenting. If I am stressed out, tired, sad, in mental or physical pain or happy, my best form of therapy is to cook. I won’t say I am always a good cook, but I am always at my best “trying” my best to be a good cook.
        p.s. Southern Bite is the only food/recipe blog that I follow and I check-in often. Thank you for your hard work, Stacey. I can tell that you really love what you do.

      • Stacey LittleStacey

        Thank you so much, Linda! That’s a honor. And I do love what I do. I’m still astonished every single morning that I get to do something I love so much! And that Deconstructed Hamburger Steak sound absolutely amazing! I am certainly going to try that!

  40. Cherry Dunbar

    5 stars
    I was late to the party but I made this today and just SO good! Sorry I can’t post a photo of how it turned out. Thanks for sharing all your recipes. I see I want to try. Following you on Instagram now too. 🙂

    Reply

  41. Angela Reece

    5 stars
    Wow, this is amazing. I made this last night doubled the recipe there were no left overs. Easy to make too! Definitely going to make this again. Thank you for the recipe.

    Reply

  44. Virginia

    Stacey…..this is an outstanding recipe. Loved it.
    I grew up eating this kind of recipe. I don’t know why, but my mother would mince-dice the onion and mix it into the hamburger meat, batter the patty in flour and then begin the frying part of the recipe. She thought that including the onion into the meat would flavor the meat more and keep the patty moist. I suppose it was just her way to make the recipe.
    I like it both ways.

    Reply

    • Stacey LittleStacey

      Thanks, Virginia! I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed these!! I love adding chopped onion to the patties, but the picky eaters in my family don’t. 🙂

      Reply

  47. Shannon

    5 stars
    Made these for the first time last night and they were so good! Definitely will make again. Thanks for all the great recipes!

    Reply

  49. Madeline

    I’m a new subscriber and I just wanna say that this recipe is absolutely delicious. It’s the only way I make hamburger steaks now!! Thank you!

    Reply

  54. Don Tice

    5 stars
    I am 77 years old (hmmm young) and your suggestion to mix ground beef and spices with a fork made this recipe the best hamburger steak I’ve ever eaten. My wife agreed!!!

    Reply

  55. Karen

    5 stars
    I was doubling your original recipe (#3 meat). I followed your meat seasoning and added 1 tbsp of creole seasoning and about 1/4 cup of panko as well as 1/4 cup of water. Mixed with a fork. Added some fresh garlic to the onions after 3 minutes. Tasted the gravy before I put everything in the oven and thought it needed more spice, so I topped it with some extra salt and creole seasoning. Excellent dish

    Reply

  56. Linda

    Just found this site and the Hamburger Steaks look good, but have you ever played around with the recipe to make your own sauce without using gravy mix or condensed soup? I would love to make this recipe using ingredients I know. I could saute several sweet onions and then make a sauce/gravy with thickened beef broth…or even just use the yummy sauteed onions.

    Reply

  57. Claudine

    5 stars
    YUM! Just made these for Sunday dinner. They were outrageously good.
    Stacey, I am married to an all time hamburger, ground meat eating husband, so you know he was in 7th Heaven after eating these. He’d rather have ground meat and hamburger than a good steak! Go figure!
    I’ve been married to him for almost 57 years and, well, that’s him and I wouldn’t trade him for all the gold in the world. LOL!
    Thank you for sharing this recipe and you know it will be a regular on our table.
    Claudine in Fort Worth, TX

    Reply

    • Stacey LittleStacey

      Hi Sherrie! You didn’t miss it. I just find that it’s not super accurate to provide nutritional info for my recipes when folks can vary when selecting different products and type of ground beef, etc.

      Reply

  60. Nana

    5 stars
    Looks delicious and I know my family would be up for these. I put it in my Yummly file for next time I have kids and grandkids here.

    Reply

  62. RAY J ORGERON

    I just cooked this and it was very good. The hamburger steaks are very well seasoned. Of course, I didnt measure any of the seasonings because that is what I do. But nonetheless, it was delicious. I also didn’t have the can of onion soup, so I used a dry onion soup mix and it worked well. Next time I will make sure to get the onion soup in the can. Thanks for the recipe!

    Reply

  64. Frani

    I made these for my fella and our work crew and they were a huge hit. I can tell from reading the recipe if it will be good and my mouth watered on this one.

    Reply

  65. Sandra

    Oh these burgers were so delicious. My family enjoyed these very much. I used ground turkey instead of hamburger. They were delicious. I will make these again.
    Thank you for this recipe.

    Reply

  66. Mel

    These burger steaks are absolutely delicious. The only change that I made was that I didn’t stop at 1/2 of a small onion. The whole onion went in the gravy mix. This is now one of my favorites.

    Reply

  67. James

    Tried this recipe tonight for dinner, fixed it for my wife and we both enjoyed it. I changed the brown gravy to Heinz gravy with mushrooms it was delicious. thanks for sharing this with us ????????❗

    Reply

  68. Erin

    Such a simple and delicious recipe. Took me 30 minutes to make everything, mashed potatoes included. Next time I’m doubling this recipe because I can’t get enough of it!

    There’s a lot more complex Salisbury/hamburger steaks out there but forget those recipes because this is easy and best!

    Reply

  70. Family Cook

    I’m always looking for something easy using ground beef, and like you, hamburger steaks are frequently found on our table. I fixed this recipe for supper last night. Everyone really enjoyed it and asked to have it placed in the regular meal rotation (highest compliment). I didn’t have the onion soup on hand (it’s a little on the sweet side for my tastes), so substituted Beefy Mushroom. Thank you for the post!

    Reply

  71. The Mrs.

    I’ve made this for my husband countless times using the recipe. I tweaked it a bit by upping the amount of seasoning used. He loved it!

    Reply

  72. Lauren

    I have made this several times and my husband requests it regularly. How would I adjust the measurements of ingredients if I was making this for 6 people?

    Reply

  74. Amy

    I just made these. They were insanely good. My Daddy made hamburger steak a lot. This brought back some great memories. You were right about putting the steaks in a hot skillet. It really does bring out good flavor. I enjoy reading your blog.

    Reply

  75. Dawn

    Made this recipe tonight. SO DELICIOUS!!! Thank you for posting this fabulous recipe. It is definitely a keeper.

    Reply

  76. Theresa Taylor

    Oh my word……love love love your hamburger steaks!! My family did too!! Thankful for your blog….keep the recipes coming!!

    Reply

  77. Andrea

    I made this tonite and it was wonderful! My husband really enjoyed it. Definitely will make these again. May try adding some mushrooms, per hubby’s request 😉

    Reply

  78. Samantha

    Stacey, I finally made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! Believe it or not, I’ve never made hamburger steaks before, but I had to try it when I saw your recipe.

    I followed your recipe exactly and it was perfect! I used a large Vidalia onion, by the way, and I served it with mashed potatoes which was just great for that delicious gravy. Thanks so much for a quick, easy, tasty recipe, Stacey. I’ll definitely be making this dinner regularly as we all loved it!

    Reply

  79. Lynn

    Humm., here is the main dish for supper and then your Strawberry pie for dessert. You have made my day a lot easier. God Bless.

    Reply

  82. Lauren

    Looks delicious! My mom used to cook hamburger steak when I was younger so I am looking forward to trying this. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!

    Reply

  83. Gandy

    Thanks Stacey, can’t wait to try some of these great sounding recipes. I used to live in Montgomery, many years ago!

    Reply

  84. Elizabeth

    Thanks Stacey for this reicpe. I never did know how to cook a good hamburger steak, so I stopped trying, but now I know thanks to you. I can’t wait to try this recipe.

    Reply

  87. Denise

    This looks like supper tonight! This is actually one of my favorite meals, hands down, I swear! You just need to add some good old yeast rolls to sop up that delicious brown gravy too! 😉

    Reply

  88. Winnie Mom

    My husband and I both like hamburger steaks and I do mine pretty much like you do. we enjoy putting the gravy over our homemade french fires or the baked potato. We like almost as much onion as the beef patty. Vidalia onions are coming in now here in south GA so I know what we will be having soon!!

    Reply

  89. Angela

    Ground mustard… How clever. I am going to try this recipe with ground venison. Beef is outrageous in SW Michigan right now.

    Reply

  90. Samantha

    This looks great. I know that my husband will love these burgers, so I’ll definitely be trying them soon. Thanks for the recipe, Stacey.

    By the way, I’m a brand new subscriber, having found your site via Christy at Southern Plate. I’ve already looked around a bit and printed out a few recipes. I’ll be sure to be back for more. Thanks for such a great site! I see some Honey Mustard Barbecue Sticky Chicken in my near future, yay, lol.

    Reply

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