London Broil Steak with Mushrooms

Name: London Broil Steak with Mushrooms
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 45 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: London broil steak rub; 1.25 pounds top round steak (1 large steak or 2 small/medium); 2 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon garlic powder; For the mushroom sauce; 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil; 1 cup onion, chopped (or you can used one chopped scallion); 10 ozs sliced button mushrooms; 5 shiitake mushrooms (optional), stem removed, washed and sliced; ½ cup dry red wine; ½ tsp dried thyme; ¼ tsp dried rosemary; 1 tbsp butter; salt and pepper to taste

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This easy London broil steak recipe gets a quick sear on the stovetop, a short roast in the oven, and a savory mushroom sauce on top. It’s an affordable way to put a good steak dinner on the table, and it pairs well with a Rhône red, whether you want to splurge on Châteauneuf-du-Pape or go with a more affordable Côtes du Rhône Villages.

London broil served with mushrooms, red cabbage, potatoes and red wine in the background. — *We recent paired this London broil with an affordable Côtes du Rhône Villages.*

I first made this recipe back in 2018 as part of a French Winophiles event, and recently made it again with top round from Walden Local. The key with this lean cut is not overcooking it. Pay attention to the time and temperature, and it comes out a nice medium rare.

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What is London Broil?
How to make London broil in the oven
Roasting time for London broil
What to Serve with London Broil
Wine Pairings for London Broil
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French Winophiles Explore Rhône Valley Wines
More M. Chapoutier Pairings from Cooking Chat

What is London Broil?

What is London broil steak, anyway? It refers to a preparation as opposed to a cut of steak. Top round steak is typically the cut used for London broil, and that’s what I used for this recipe. At Whole Foods they list this cut as London broil / top round, I think that is fairly typical. We used Walden Local Meat recently, and they label it beef top round London broil.

package of Walden Local Meat Beef Top Round London broil

I’m not sure why they call it London broil, but don’t go looking for it in London. London broil a name that got cooked up here in America at some point.

What you do need to know about London broil / top round is that it is a lean, relatively inexpensive cut of meat. While a marinade is a typical strategy for producing tender meat from this cut, my research suggested that the acidity from many marinades can lead to a less than desirable result with this cut. So I made a rub for our London broil steak.

How to make London broil in the oven

I start by making a simple rub for the London broil, with a generous amount of salt to tenderize the meat.

London broil with a spice rub, before cooking.

After letting the steak sit in the rub at room temperature for up to half an hour, it gets quickly pan seared on the stove top prior to roasting in the oven. We’ll cover getting the cooking time right after we touch upon our mushroom sauce.

Making the mushroom sauce

While the steak sits with the rub, I get the mushroom sauce going. Onions (or a shallot if you’d like to use that) go into the pan first, followed by the mushrooms, cooked until they start releasing their moisture.

My original recipe called for a combination of shiitake mushrooms and button. During our recent remake, we just used button mushrooms and it came out tasty. So I’m listing the shiitakes as optional here.

Some dry red wine, plus thyme and rosemary, simmers down before a little butter finishes the sauce. It holds fine on low heat while the steak sears and roasts.

Roasting time for London broil

London broil is a very lean cut, and you don’t want to overcook it. This steak is best served medium rare.

Start with a quick sear on both sides of the steak in an oven-proof skillet on the stovetop. Then move the steak to the oven for roasting.

Note that this cut can come in fairly different sizes and shapes. The first time I made this recipe, I had a thin piece, under 1 inches thick. It was a nice medium rare after 12 minutes.

London broil steak sliced on a platter. — *The first time we made London broil, we had a thin cut of steak.*

We had a much thicker cut from Walden Local Meat for our recent remake. It was closer to two inches, and wasn’t quite ready at 15 minutes. We put it back in for a couple more minutes after a check at 15, and it was perfect after the 2 additional minutes.

slicing London broil on a platter. — *Slicing a thick piece of top round London broil, cooked to medium rare.*

With this preparation, the London broil comes out flavorful and tender. Our son isn’t a fan of the mushrooms, and he has enjoyed this with just the simple rub. We grownups really enjoy the flavors added by the mushrooms, and that also sets up some good wine pairing options.

What to Serve with London Broil

Potatoes are a natural side dish for London broil. The first time we made this recipe, it was a simple baked potato on the side along with a green salad.

London broil steak topped with mushrooms on a plate with baked potato and salad.

Recently, we made some Spanish roasted potatoes as a side, along with some sautéed red cabbage, which added some nice color to the plate.

slices of London broil steak served with mushrooms.

Wine Pairings for London Broil

A bold red wine is certainly my recommendation for London broil wine pairings. I originally cooked up this recipe to go with a Châteauneuf-du-Pape we were sampling as part of a French Winophiles event. More recently, we tried the steak with a more affordable Rhone red wine.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

When I first created this recipe, I had a bottle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape from M. Chapoutier to open for the Winophiles event noted above, and I wanted a dish that could stand up to it. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a big, bold red wine, so you don't want to mess around with lighter foods like chicken or seafood, generally speaking. (There's an exception to most every wine pairing rule, though!)

London broil steak topped with mushrooms served with potato, salad and red wine.

Pork tenderloin crossed my mind, but I thought it might get overwhelmed by the wine. Then I saw top round on sale at Whole Foods, marketed as London broil, and decided to make London broil steak with mushroom sauce.

Beef pairings for Châteauneuf-du-Pape such as this Chanterelle Beef Stew recipe I made previously, have worked well. So I had a good feeling about our London broil steak idea!

So as noted, we had a bottle of 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape “La Bernardine” Rouge ($60, 14.5% ABV) to open to pair with our London Broil Steak. I got scent of forest floor on the nose with a touch of menthol. I noted the thickness of the wine when first tasting it, with big blackberry fruit. Disclosure: this wine was provided to me as a complimentary sample.

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape opened nicely after some brief decanting while finishing making our London broil steak. As suspected, this big, fruit forward red wine was a very good pairing for the steak. Some of the more subtle aspects of the wine started to show as we ate, notes of roasted coffee, spice and licorice along with the fruit. Those more complex taste elements worked nicely with the mushroom. I definitely give this pairing a solid A!

At the time of the initial 2018 posting of this recipe and pairing, I noted this was a young wine with some potential to age. Circling back in 2026, quick research suggests that this 2015 vintage is perhaps a bit past its prime. You might aim for a 2019 or 2020 CDP, or perhaps even a bit more recent.

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is an appellation that allows up to 13 grape varieties in the red wine blends, with several of those being white wine grapes. I’ve had some CDP that use all the allowable grapes, and that is interesting. But M. Chapoutier goes in a different direction, using just one to three of the allowable grapes in La Bernardine in order to allow for true expression of the terroir to come through in the wine. The 2015 La Bernardine is comprised of 90% Grenache and 10% Syrah.

Affordable Côtes-du-Rhône Villages Pairing

If you are a fan of Châteauneuf-du-Pape like me, it’s worth getting to know some other Rhône red wines with some similar profiles for a more modest price. The alternative London broil wine pairing we went with for our updated recipe post is a Côtes-du-Rhône Villages.

London broil with mushrooms, paired with a red wine. — *A **Côtes-du-Rhône Villages** is a good, affordable red wine for London broil*

Côtes du Rhône is the broad regional category for the Rhône Valley. Côtes du Rhône Villages is a step up, with producers required to follow stricter grape-growing and winemaking rules than for basic Côtes du Rhône. A smaller group of those villages is allowed to add its own name to the label, and that's where Plan de Dieu comes in.

Plan de Dieu wines are all red, made mainly from Grenache with Syrah and Mourvèdre, the same core grapes as Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The vineyards also share a similar red clay and stone terroir with parts of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, at a fraction of the price.

The 2020 Vignobles Lambert Plan de Dieu Côtes-du-Rhône Villages ($15 to $20, 14.5% ABV) is what we went with this time. Dark red fruit notes along with some raisin. Good acidity, with the tannins starting to soften but still plenty of structure. Definitely a solid, affordable pairing for our London broil with mushrooms.

What cut of beef is London broil?

London broil is a preparation, not a specific cut. In stores, it's most often top round, sometimes flank steak. I used top round for this recipe.

Should I marinate London broil?

Marinades are common with London broil, but the acidity in many marinades can be off-putting with this cut. I use a simple salt and garlic rub instead and let the steak sit for 30 minutes before cooking.

What temperature should London broil be for medium rare?

Pull it from the oven at 125-130°F in the thickest part, then let it rest for 5 minutes. Because it's lean, it gets tough quickly when overcooked.

How do you slice London broil?

Slice thinly against the grain, on a diagonal. This makes a big difference in tenderness with a lean cut like top round.

What wine goes with London broil?

A Rhône red works well, especially with the mushroom sauce. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the splurge option, and a Côtes du Rhône Villages is a more affordable choice that was a solid pairing too.

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