We show you how to roast topside beef joint to perfection. Plenty of flavours are added during cooking with beef stock used to create a delicious beef gravy to serve with your slices of tender roast beef and all the sides.
Cooking time calculations and tips given for rare, medium and well done, for different size beef joints.
Makes great tender beef slices to serve for Sunday roast dinner or an alternative to turkey for Christmas.
How to roast topside beef joint
The best way to cook topside beef is by roasting it in the oven. See the quick slideshow below for an example of how to roast
Or continue reading so you can see calculations for other sizes or want it cooked rare or well done?
What is topside beef?
Topside beef is a fairly cheap joint that works well for roasting. Fairly lean with some fat left on the top to help keep it moist during cooking.
Your topside joint may be supplied with an extra layer of basting fat which helps keep it more tender. The one we have used in this blog post didn't. It is hit and miss!
Preparing beef roasting joint
It’s best to remove the roasting joint from the fridge and keep it at room temperature for about an hour before cooking it. This prevents uneven cooking and aids juicer roast beef
To prevent too much heat coming from the bottom of the roasting tin, we use onions and carrots which act as a trivet to sit the beef on top. We also add garlic and thyme and finally water.
The vegetables and herbs are not wasted, they add flavour to the water which also gathers the beef juices during cooking.
This will later be used for re-basting the topside roasting joint halfway through cooking and then later used as the base for a homemade beef gravy.
Do you cook a beef joint with netting on?
If your beef roasting joint has a netting or string around it this should be kept on during cooking, to keep the joint in shape helping to cook evenly.
Fat side up or down?
The thin layer of fat should be facing up to allow the fat to melt into the joint.
For extra flavour and colour, we like to make a paste to rub over the beef. This simple paste is made out of olive oil mixed together with a stock cube.
Rub this all over the topside beef. It’s easiest to use your hands to rub it in. Then finally add a good grind of pepper.
Should I cover roast beef during cooking?
Cook topside beef covered with foil, this helps prevent the outside from cooking quicker than the inside and locks in the moisture in a similar way that pot roasting does during slow cooking.
Cooking time for roast topside beef?
Time will differ depending on two factors, the weight of the joint you are cooking and how you like it cooked rare, medium or well done.
Preheat the oven temperature to 160°C Fan / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 before roasting. See our Oven Conversion table for more help.
I have also included the roasting time for a few common-sized beef joints, to help you work it out.
| Topside Roasting Joint | Rare Very pink and bloody | Medium - Rare Blushing pink as seen on blog. | Medium - Well Only very slightly pink | Well - Done Brown, no pinkness at all! |
| Oven temperature 160°C Fan 180°C 350°F Gas Mark 4 | Remove foil for final 10 minutes | Remove foil for final 10 minutes | Remove foil for final 15 minutes | Remove foil for final 20 minutes |
| 800 g | 34 minutes | 42 minutes | 55 minutes | 1 hour 8 minutes |
| 1 kg | 40 minutes | 50 minutes | 1 hour 5 minutes | 1 hour 20 minutes |
| 1.2 kg | 46 minutes | 58 minutes | 1 hour 15 minutes | 1 hour 32 minutes |
| 1.5 kg | 55 minutes | 1 hour 10 minutes | 1 hour 30 minutes | 1 hour 50 minutes |
| 2 kg | 1 hour 10 minutes | 1 hour 30 minutes | 1 hour 55 minutes | 2 hour 20 minutes |
Is your size joint not shown? Use the below chart to work out the cooking time for roasting a topside beef joint, multiply the weight of your joint by cooking time for your desired doneness.
| Degree of Doneness Cooking time Oven set to 160°C Fan / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 | Multiply below time for each 100g of beef. | + additional time to brown outside without foil |
| Rare | 3 minutes | 10 minutes |
| Medium - Rare | 4 minutes | 10 minutes |
| Medium - Well | 5 minutes | 15 minutes |
| Well Done | 6 minutes | 20 minutes |
Basting
Halfway through cooking give the beef a quick basting using the liquid from the bottom of the tray.
Browning
Take the foil off for the final 10-25 minutes (depending on doneness), give another quick baste and allow the topside beef joint to brown.
Resting Beef
For best results once cooked, remove the netting and rest the beef after removing from the oven, for at least 30 minutes covered loosely with foil.
The remaining heat will finish cooking whilst allowing the juices to cool and redistribute through the topside beef joint. Leading to juicy tender slices of roast beef.
One of the biggest reasons for dry tough slices of beef is from carving too early.
When carved to early, the juice flows out, so before carving allow the beef to rest. I normally cook my roast dinner side dishes during this resting time. So it has about 50 minutes to rest before carving and is still warm.
Carving
Topside beef is so easy to carve, with no bones and not much fat, it can be carved into thick or thin slices easily with a large sharp knife.
The joint seen in these pictures is 1.5kg Topside beef from Tesco’s, we cooked it for 1 hour 15 minutes for a medium-rare result.
How to make gravy from beef juices
With the beef removed you now have a delicious stock created from the water, beef juices, vegetables, garlic and herbs.
Pour the cooking juices through a sieve into a saucepan. You can skim off some fat from the top if wanted.
To thicken the beef stock, mix cornflour and water together before whisking into the liquid. Next, crumble in a beef stock cube and bring to the boil.
Add browning to the gravy to give it a richer deeper colour. This is optional and the gravy will taste fine without it!
Once boiling, it will still look runny, simply turn heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally until it has thickened.
You may need to add more cornstarch depending on how thick you like it?
For extra richness, you can add 100ml of Red wine to the gravy too or alternatively why not try out our Red Wine Jus which goes perfectly with beef.
What to serve with Roast Topside Beef
When serving beef for your Sunday roast dinner you should also make our Yorkshire puddings, honey roast parsnips and roast potatoes, broccoli, carrots and mustard or horseradish sauce.
Roast topside beef makes a Christmas alternative to turkey, serve with our red cabbage and roasted brussels sprouts, carrots and parsnips.
Storage
Leftover beef can be stored safely in the fridge in an airtight container, foil or cling film for up to 3 days.
Slices of leftover beef are perfect for adding in sandwiches or used for a cold meat platter the next day
Reheating
For best results when reheating beef, I suggest slicing first and heating for long enough to heat through.
When reheating in the microwave the best way is to reheat the beef slices in gravy, to keep the slices moist. Try not to overheat them as it will dry the meat out.
📖 Step by Step Recipe
Roast Topside Beef Joint
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 large Onion - Halved
- 1 Large Carrot - Chopped into 3
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
- 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 Stock cube - Oxo or Knorr
- 1.5 kg Topside Beef
- 500 ml Water
Gravy
- Juices from the roasting tray.
- 3 tablespoon Cornflour
- 3 tablespoon Water
- 1 Stock cube - Oxo or Knorr
- 6 drops Browning (optional)
Instructions
How to roast 1.5 kg Topside Beef medium-rare
- Remove beef from the fridge 1 hour before roasting.After 1 hour remove the packaging, if it has netting or string this should be kept on during cooking.Pat the beef dry with a few pieces of kitchen roll. Preheat oven to 160°C Fan / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 41.5 kg Topside Beef
- Add vegetables and herbs to the roasting tray1 large Onion, 1 Large Carrot, 4 cloves Garlic, 4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
- Crumble the stock cube into the oil and stir into a paste1 Stock cube, 2 tablespoon Olive Oil
- Pour the stock paste over the beef joint.
- Use your hands to rub the stock and oil all over the roasting joint. Top, bottom and sides. Place beef with fat side up on top of the vegetables. So it is not touching the base of the roasting tin.Add some black pepper on top.1.5 kg Topside Beef
- Add 500ml of cold water to the roasting tin- Do not pour over the beef.500 ml Water
- Cover the whole tray with kitchen foil. Cook in the preheated oven at 160°C Fan / 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4 For 1 hour 10 minutes.The cooking time stated here is for 1.5 kg cooked medium-rare.See blog post for smaller or larger beef joint cooking times or for rare, medium or well-done roasting time.
- Baste the joint with the juices from the tray halfway through cooking time.Juices from the roasting tray.
- Remove foil baste again and roast uncovered for the final 10 minutes. (Times may differ depending on how well you want your beef done?)Juices from the roasting tray.
- Remove beef from the tray, cut away any netting or string.
- Wrap beef loosely with foil. It is important to allow the beef to rest for at least 30 minutes or longer.
- Whilst resting, cook all the other side dishes and gravy.
Making gravy from beef cooking juices
- Pour the liquid from the baking tray through a sieve into a saucepan.Juices from the roasting tray.
- Mix cornflour and water together, then whisk the liquid into the saucepan.3 tablespoon Cornflour, 3 tablespoon Water
- Crumble in a stock cube1 Stock cube
- Optional- Add some browning for a richer colour.6 drops Browning (optional)
- Bring to the boil whilst whisking turn heat down to simmer until it thickens.
Video
Nutrition
Hope you have found everything you need to know about roasting a topside of beef. Leave us a comment below if there are any questions or just to let us know how delicious and tender the beef came out.
Other Roast Dinner Recipes
Take a look at other roast dinner recipes you might like, such as our Boneless Rolled Rib of Beef, Slow Roast Lamb Leg or Lamb Shoulder. We also have recipes for Roast Gammon or a Small Roast Turkey, it's not just for Christmas you know!
Kate says
Best beef I’ve ever done - thanks so much for clear instructions.
Luke and Kay says
Thank you for taking the time to review our Roast Topside Beef Recipe, Kate! We are overjoyed to hear that it was your best beef yet and our instructions were helpful. It's always a pleasure to receive positive feedback; hearing that our recipes make an impression is what drives us! Please come back and explore some of our other recipes soon. Thanks again for your rave review. 🙂
Frank Long says
Excellent and easy to follow,thanks
Luke and Kay says
Thank you, Frank, for your appreciation of our roast topside beef recipe. We really appreciate your taking the time to review it. Our goal is to make cooking easy and delicious and we're delighted that we've succeeded in that with our roast beef recipe. We hope you will enjoy making it again soon! 🙂
Luke and Kay says
Hi Greg
Can you confirm what size beef joint you are using, are you using a fan or conventional oven, was the oven preheated, and finally what degree of doneness was you hoping for?
Please confirm and we will try and help you with the problem.
Irish says
I'm so confused 34 minutes for 600grams doesn't sound right at all.
Luke and Kay says
Hi Irish
Not sure what your confused about, all the timings and degree of doneness is on the cooking chart, if you want your beef joint cooked rare as explained on the chart you cook your joint for 34 minutes and if you want medium or well done you cook it for longer as it states on the chart, hope this helps with your confusion and you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Anne says
Very clear and straightforward instructions, thank you.
Luke and Kay says
I'm so glad you found the instructions clear and straightforward, Anne! Thank you for your feedback. 🙂
Jacqueline Willes says
I’m so sorry to report that, despite following the recipe carefully, the beef was wet, tasteless and difficult to carve. I roasted the joint for 50 mins, uncovered for last 10 mins. The joint was .962g. I wanted medium/rare. Got fairly rare. I did the olive oil/oxo/pepper rub. Added 350 mls water. Placed joint on onion/garlic trivet. Tightly wrapped joint in tray with foil Basted halfway through. Took joint out, removed string and wrapped joint with foil, left it to rest for 45 mins before carving. I made an amazing gravy with the stock, oxo cube and red wine. But someone please tell me where I went wrong?
Luke and Kay says
Hi Jacqueline, glad to hear your feedback!
We appreciate your effort in cooking the beef joint, just as the instructions state. It's possible it wasn't as delicious as expected due to the quality of beef used - try taking a look at reviews online for where you got yours from and find out what others think about its taste and texture. Some stores add extra water to bulk up the weight of the joint, which affects the overall flavour and ability to carve; in the 2 years this post has been on our blog, we have had some fantastic feedback on this recipe as can be seen by the 5* rating 😉
I hope you have success with this recipe in the future, and let us know how it goes.
Hope this helps with your enquiry 🙂
Jacqueline says
Thanks for replying so quickly! I do think the joint was “swimming “ in a lot of water by the end. So possibly steamed instead of roasted? I will get beef from a butcher rather than supermarket next time and try again.
Aidan Denton-Smith says
Absolute perfection thank you. Aidan
Luke and Kay says
Thank you so much, Aidan, for taking the time to provide us with your feedback on our roast topside beef recipe. We are delighted to hear that you enjoyed it! 🙂
Mary says
So pleased with this recipe, family loved the meal, so satisfying for me to see them enjoy the roast beef
I have cooked them the silverside about a month ago and today we had topside, I followed both recipes and it was a great success both times. I’m looking forward to trying more of your recipes thank you so much 🙂
Luke and Kay says
Mary, thank you so much for your glowing review of our roast topside beef recipe! It's always so gratifying to hear when it doesn't just check off the boxes for you, but that your entire family enjoyed the meal. We are pleased that we have done our job in providing a delicious, enjoyable and easy meal for the whole group. 🙂
Graham says
Special occasion coming up and I can’t wait to try this recipe. I have a 1.5kg joint on order and the recipe suggests this is sufficient for 4 people. The Slow Roast Silverside recipe suggests 6 servings from a 1.5kg joint. Should I get a bigger topside joint for 6?
Sally says
For this recipe How long should I cook a 750g topside beef and what temperature fan please?
Luke and Kay says
Hi Sally, thanks for the question; I would cook it at 160C Fan, 750g topside beef will take:
Rare - 34 minutes + 10 mins uncovered
Medium rare - 42 Minutes +10 mins uncovered
Medium well - 55 Minutes +15 mins uncovered
Well done - 1hr 8 mins +20 mins uncovered
Hope you enjoy the recipe and let us know how it goes. 🙂
Aidan Denton-Smith says
very clear, presise directions going to try this recipe sunday.
Luke and Kay says
Thank you for taking the time to review our roast topside beef recipe, Aiden! We are so glad that you found the directions clear and precise.
We hope you enjoy your dinner on Sunday, and please let us know how it turns out! If you have any questions or feedback about this recipe, don't hesitate to reach out. 🙂
Sally Horrigan says
I’ve been cooking roast beef for 40+ years. I cooked a 2kg piece of topside using this recipe for the first time this Christmas Day and it’s the best result I have ever had. Medium rare right through the joint - spot on. Thank you so much.
Joanna says
Best instructions and recipe I've ever used, this willl be the 3rd time of cooking my beef joint this way and I wouldn't stray - it's a keeper! Thank you both for such a cracking clear page, I shall delve further into your other recipes.
Kay says
Thank you for your kind words, Joanna! We're so happy you enjoyed the recipe and found it clear and easy to follow. We hope you'll give some of our other recipes a try as well.
Matt says
Well made instructions. Clear and concise. I appreciated the summary, which I did not expect.
Thanks a lot!
Kay says
Hi Matt,
Thank you so much for trying out our roast topside beef recipe and for leaving such a positive review. We're glad you found the instructions clear and concise. It's great to know that you appreciated the summary too! We hope you'll give this recipe a try again soon. 🙂
Sierra says
Very disappointing - had high hopes and followed instructions to the letter for medium/well done, but beef was raw in the middle.
Kay says
Hi Sierra! I'm sorry to hear that your beef never came out well. Can you please let me know where things went wrong, and we might be able to help with this?
We have a lot of happy customers who cook our beef topside joint using the recipe card and method, as you can see from their reviews and ratings. Their meat comes out perfectly every time!
Pauline says
Made this today and it was delicious ! I had a 1.2kg topside joint and tbh I was a little ‘scared’ of only cooking for 58 mins then resting for 30 mins. Happy days it was fab !
Kay says
Thank you for trying our roast topside beef joint, Pauline. I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed it! Cooking times can vary depending on the size and cut of meat, so I'm glad that 58 minutes was just right for your joint.
Thank you for sharing your experience with us, and we hope you'll enjoy our roast beef joints again in the future.