Chopped Steak Recipe with Onions and Mushrooms

This chopped steak recipe is seared to perfection and then topped off with herbs, caramelized onions, and mushrooms and served with a side of homemade hash browns for the perfect weeknight family meal.

Chopped Steaks are so dang underrated!  They are packed with protein, delicious flavor and are usually smothered in roasted onions and mushrooms for an incredibly tasty meal.

There’s no beating around the bush, steak prices are going up which is making it harder and harder to purchase it. However, this recipe is simply ground sirloin that is packed together, seasoned up well with salt and pepper and then pan-roasted, or grilled, to your desired internal temperature, simple as that.

What Is a Chopped Steak

It’s essentially a burger that is created from chopped, or ground, beef.  I think a chopped sirloin steak is the best way to go because you can ensure that it comes from a good cut of beef, the sirloin, and it’s got a nice combo of lean to fat which and is usually 90/10.

The lean-to fat ratios are just that, the 90 means 90% of the ground meat is lean and 10% of it is fat.  Don’t be overly concerned with the fat percentage because you need some fat to help hold the ground meat together.

You can absolutely use ground chuck or ground round if you are looking to save some money, but usually, these cuts come with a higher fat to lean ratio somewhere around 80/20 which is about 5-10% higher than ground sirloin meat and can seam a little fatty.  Higher fat to lean ratio meats will also tend to shrink up when cooking because of the fat will cookout.

Chopped steak is jam-packed with protein, flavor, and affordability.  I mean come on, who wouldn’t want any of that chopped steak goodness?  In addition, chopped steaks are incredibly versatile when it comes to the cooking method as well as what to serve it with.

What Goes On It

The beautiful thing about this, or really any steak for that matter, is that you can put on it whatever your heart desires!  They always say that a good steak doesn’t need anything on it and I agree!  This chopped steak recipe can absolutely be eaten by itself but man oh man do the caramelized onions and roasted mushrooms enhance the flavor so much.

Caramelized onions and mushrooms give off umami which is that delicious flavor you taste where you can’t put it down and you need to keep eating it.

Meat is umami in nature so if you are combining that with 2 other umami ingredients then you’ve got an absolute flavor explosion going on in your mouth so thank the Lord for that!  Honestly just the chopped steak and onions are good by itself and the mushrooms just take it to another level.

If you are not a fan of onions and mushrooms try forming your burger patties with finely minced garlic or soy sauce before cooking to help give more flavor to the meat and simply simmer it in the stock by itself.

Foods With Umami: Other foods that have umami are soy sauce, ginger, garlic, kimchi, aged cheese and tomatoes, and several others.

How to Make It

1: Start by forming your meat patties using your hands into roughly 8 ounce sized portions, it’s ok to eyeball it.  Set them to the side on a plate and season them on both sides with sea salt and cracked black pepper.  It’s ok to season them ahead of time and let them sit for a few minutes.

2: Add some chopped up bacon to a large frying pan over medium-high heat and cook them until they are crispy lardons.  This takes about 5 to 6 minutes.  Set the cooked bacon to the side in a bowl.

3: Place the seasoned chopped steaks into the pan with the rendered bacon fat and sear the chopped steaks until browned on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.  You do not want to cook the burgers completely through, you just want a nice brown sear on each side.

4: Set the chopped steaks to the side and then add the prepared onions and mushrooms to that same pan with the rendered bacon and chopped steak fat.  Cooking in the fat will just bring about more flavor to this dish.  If you want you can drain all of the fat and start over with 2 to 3 tablespoons of olive oil.

5: Cook the onions and mushrooms over medium heat until they are golden brown, stirring them every 2 to 3 minutes for a total of 15 minutes.  You do not have to do a perfect caramelization but the longer you caramelize the more flavorful your dish will be.  Your onions should lightly golden brown on all sides and flimsy.

6: Add the beef stock, thyme, salt and pepper to the pan with the onions and mushrooms and bring it to a boil over high heat.

7: Turn the heat down to low, add back in the chopped steaks and cooked bacon and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes or until the vegetables are tender and the chopped steaks are cooked through.  Serve!

How to Caramelize Onions

Just when you think you’ve caramelized onions, it probably needs 10 to 15 minutes more.  True caramelized onions take about 45 minutes or so to properly caramelize but the flavor, oh the flavor that comes from it.

It all starts by adding some fat to a pan over medium heat and then adding in your sliced onions and forgetting about them for 45 minutes.  Well not really, you do need to come back every 5 minutes or so to give it a stir but you don’t want to agitate them too much or they’ll never get the chance to caramelize.

You can also add in a bit of water or wine to deglaze the pan with and get off all the fond that is stuck to the bottom of that pan.  Fond is that goodness on the bottom of the pan when roasting something that adds SOOO MUCH flavor to your recipe.  Now dump all that goodness overtop this chopped steak recipe.

What to Serve With a Chopped Steak

I decided to take it a step further and serve up this chopped steak on some homemade hash browns.  They are incredibly easy to make and go great with this steak recipe and here’s how easy they are to make.

• Shred some medium-sized Idaho potatoes and submerge them in a bowl in cold water until they are ready to be cooked. Strain very well in a strainer before cooking because the water in the potatoes can cause flames to come from a hot pan with oil.
• Add some oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat and once it begins to lightly smoke, evenly add in the shredded potatoes all over the pan.
• Cook the potatoes for 4-5 minutes then flip them over using a spatula, it’s ok to flip them in sections since there will be a lot at the beginning before they start to cook down.
• Hash browns take about 20 to 25 minutes to cook so flip them every 4 to 5 minutes in the pan.  They should be golden brown and cooked through.
• Finish by seasoning them with salt and pepper.  Serve hot!

Recipe Chef Notes + Tips

How to Reheat: Add your desired portions to a sauté pan with a 1/4 cup of beef stock, cover in foil and cook in the oven at 400° for 10 to 12 minutes.  Reheating your steak will 100% cause it to increase in internal temperature most likely past medium and into medium-well.

How to STore: Store this chopped steak in a plastic container or covered in plastic and refrigerate for up to 4 days.  It can also be frozen for up to 60 days covered in plastic.  Thaw for 1 day in the refrigerator before reheating.

My Favorite Steak Recipes

Well that’s all I got friends, thanks for stopping by and if you love chopped steak and want to check out one of my favorite chopped steak recipes then see these

• Steak Frites recipe
• Grilled Carne Asada Steak Fajitas
• Grilled T Bone Steak Recipe
• Reversed Seared Smoked Steak
• Flank Steak Jibarito Sandwich
• Bone-In Standing Ribeye Roast