Beef Roulade with Bacon, Onion, and Thyme {Whole30, Paleo}
Beef Roulade with Bacon, Onion, and Thyme recipe. A naturally Paleo and Whole30 dish made of beef that is rolled together with bacon, onion, and thyme inside and cooked until a natural meat and bacon gravy forms.
Over the weekend my mother showed me how to make her Beef Roulade with Bacon, Onion, and Thyme recipe. It’s an eastern european recipe that was passed down from my grandmother, and it’s a dish that I fondly remember eating in my childhood.
It’s basically long flat pieces of beef with bacon, onion, and thyme on it, that is then rolled together, and cooked until it is surrounded in a natural meat and bacon gravy.
This roulade is one of those dishes where simple good quality ingredients result in the most flavorful melt-in-your mouth meals. And it just so happens to be naturally Paleo, Whole30, Gluten-free, Grain-free, and Clean… which is a great perk!
A few months ago my mother made this Beef Roulade with Bacon, Onion, and Thyme recipe and, as is the case every time that she makes it, I told her how delicious it was.
I asked her how she made it and realized a few things….
1) It’s really quite simple as there are only a few ingredients.
2) It’s made of all natural whole food ingredients and is naturally Paleo and Whole30… and
3) This needed to be on my blog ASAP.
I do have to admit that I forgot about it… which is why I am only putting it up now.
BUT at the grocery store over the weekend, I saw some great looking thin pieces of “beef skirt inside steak” at Whole Foods.
It seemed like the perfect time to have her teach me how to make her Beef Roulade with Bacon, Onion, and Thyme recipe, so that I could then share it with you!
She happily helped show me how to make it, and I took photos and notes of each step to make it easier to share.. 🙂
So to start, you will need long thin pieces of skirt steak or flank steak. My pieces were between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick and were about 8- 9 inches long.
Don’t worry if the steak is exactly 8-9 inches long, some of mine were 6 inches long and some were 11 inches long, but ideally 8-9 inches long is ideal.
Then, you lay a slice of bacon on top of one piece of skirt steak and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
After that, you take a wedge of onion and a branch of fresh thyme and place that towards the front side/ end of the steak. Then you roll the steak with the piece of onion inside it, onto it self, until the meat is completely rolled up.
It is helpful to use two toothpicks to secure the end into the roll /roulade.
You do this for each piece of steak, until all of them are rolled up. I had 10 roulades in this recipe.
Then you put all of the roulades into a big ceramic dutch oven filled with 2 cups of water. ( My mother likes to use water because she said there is enough fat in the bacon and beef that you don’t need any more in the recipe… which is true)
Lastly, you top the pan with 3 bay leaves, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, and 3 branches of thyme.
Then you let it cook for about an hour ( flipping the roulades on different sides twice).
Then you remove the meat from the dutch oven, and reduce the sauce until it thickens. You can either put the meat back in or put the meat into another pan and top it with the sauce. I like topping it with the sauce. 🙂
My mother told me that this dish is traditionally served with either boiled or mashed potatoes ( I have a great Whole30 Mashed Potatoes recipe which would taste great with this!), and with a cauliflower au gratin.
I highly highly recommend eating it with both. And with some homemade applesauce. 🙂
I did some research into this type of dish and found that it is also called a rouladen, which is German, and they make it with pickles in the middle.
My mother always called it a roulady ( I’m not sure how to spell it but the word ends in a “Y” sound haha), and said this was a Hungarian / Eastern European version that was made in her family growing up. ( Her parents were Hungarian).
Either way, it’s DELICIOUS and such a treat to have for dinner.
Beef Roulade with Bacon, Onion, and Thyme {Whole30, Paleo}
Ingredients
- 2 cups water
- 3 1/2 lbs thin beef skirt steak /flank steak ( long and thin pieces, between ¼-½ inch thick )
- 1 medium onion cut into thin wedges
- 10 pieces of bacon ,one piece per roulade ( make sure the bacon is nitrate-free and sugar-free)
- 13 fresh branches of thyme
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- toothpicks
Instructions
- Put 2 cups of water into a large ceramic dutch oven.
- Take out the skirt steak/ flank steak, and cut into 8-9 inch long pieces (some can be longer than others, some 6 inches, some 11 etc.. ).
- Lay a piece of bacon flat on top of one piece of skirt /flank steak. ( If the bacon is too long, fold it over back on top of the steak or cut it to fit the piece ). Sprinkle it with salt and pepper. Towards the one side/end of the steak, place a wedge of onion and a branch of thyme, and roll the steak forward onto it self, until the meat is completely rolled up. Use two toothpicks to secure the end into the roll /roulade. Put the rolled roulade into the dutch oven, tooth pick side up, with the longest side facing down ( make sure the roulade is lying flat, like in my photo, you want the meat to roast/grill while it is cooking). Repeat until all the roulades are in the pan with water in it. Then, add 3 bay leaves, 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, and 3 branches of thyme on top of the meat in the pan.
- Cook over medium heat. Once the water starts to boil, put a lid/cover on top of the pan, but make sure to leave an opening for air to still come out, about ¾ inch wide of an opening.
- After 25 minutes, turn each roulade on their sides, or toothpick towards the bottom of the pan. Keep cooking with the lid almond fully on, still with a 3/4 inch opening to let air out. After 20 more minutes, turn each roulade onto their other side. Remove the lid completely and cook for 15 more minutes.
- Remove the meat from pan, and increase the heat to high to evaporate the remaining liquid. Cook for 4-5 minutes, mixing often. Turn the heat off. Either put the meat back into the pan or pour the liquid on top of the meat.
- This recipe yields 10 roulades total—usually the serving size is 2 per person, so this recipe should serve 5 people.
Nutrition
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17 Comments on “Beef Roulade with Bacon, Onion, and Thyme {Whole30, Paleo}”
can I brown the rolades in a frying pan to brown and then remove them, using the browning in pan to make the gravy, and thicken it and then add the rolades back to fry pan and simmer on top of stove to simmer/slowly to fully cook, say for 25 minutes to tenderness, and serve?
I haven’t tried that, but that sounds AMAZING and delicious. I don’t see why not. Let me know how it goes.
I am thrilled to see this recipe!
My grandma used to make this all the time, but called it “pigs in the blanket “ for reasons I have never been able to figure out.
Such wonderful memories making this! A taste of my childhood.
Definitely a taste of childhood. 🙂
Our German friend Margaret makes something like that and in Italy too, they make a similar rolled meat dish called “involtini”. My husband would be all over this dish! 🙂
I’d love to try both of those versions!
Wow, this looks amazing. Perfect for Sunday dinner – great comfort food!
Comfort food indeed!
This looks amazing! While we don’t follow Whole30, most of our dinners are Whole30 based — I can’t wait to add this to the rotation. I wonder if I can even speed it up in an InstantPot or slow it down in a crockpot to make it weeknight friendly — time to go experiment!
I’ve never done roulade before, but this might change it for me! Love the look of the meat, looks almost glazed! Lovely recipe!
I love roulade. Grew up with the best roulade my mom use to make. This looks so good.
This looks SO good! I can practically smell it cooking in my kitchen right now.
What a fantastic dish! This is total fall comfort food! I am also totally in love with the color of your le cruset! So vibrant!
I don’t know where to begin. You had me at bacon? beef? My mouth is watering looking at this.
Yummy! I love making roulade! It’s so fun making a recipe that your mom teaches you, isn’t it? Your roulade looks delicious and beautiful! I can not WAIT to try your recipe!
I have never attempted to make roulade. Looking at this recipe I just want to dive into my screen. The flavour profile sounds amazing, and I just know it would taste awesome too. I will have to give this a try soon.
Thank you!! It’s well worth a try!