Sous Vide London Broil is the best way to cook the lean but budget-friendly top round steak, turning it to a tender and flavorful dinner! Marinated with balsamic and honey based sauce, and sous vide cooked to juicy perfection by controlling the temperature precisely, then finished in the skillet for a beautiful brown crust!
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What is London broil?
London Broil originally referred to a steak dish made by marinating and broiling a lean cut such as flank steak or top round to medium rare, and then slice it across the grain into thin strips. However, through the years butchers have been selling a cut of beef that is called a London Broil, which is typically a top round.
Why sous vide London broil?
Sous vide is a French cooking technique where the food is vacuum-sealed in a bag, and then cooked for a long time to a precise temperature in a warm water bath.
London broil or top round is a lean and tough cut of beef. When cooking it using traditional methods such as pan-frying, baking, or grilling, the meat can easily turn tough and dry if you miss the small window of the the perfect doneness. Sous vide method eliminates this issue by controlling temperature precisely and you can leave the meat in the water bath for a wide range of time. In addition, it produces the steak with an even doneness edge to edge. Try it once, and you’ll never look back!
How to sous vide London broil
- Start with marinating the steak with balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and olive oil in a bowl or zip-top bag for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Set the Sous Vide Precision Cooker to 133°F (56°C).
- Place the marinated steak in a zip-lock bag. Seal the bag using the water displacement technique.
- Place the bag in the warm water bath and cook for 6-8 hours (covered by foil to minimize water evaporation).
- When the timer goes off, remove the bag from the water and transfer it to an ice bath or refrigerator.
- Let it chill for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the steak from the bag and pat dry with paper towels. Grill or sear for about 1-2 minutes per side, just to caramelize the outside. Add more seasoning if needed.
- Slice against the grain and serve.
Sous vide London broil marinade
The marinade helps to boost flavor and tenderize this lean cut. Marinating for about 30 minutes to 2 hours will make the steak more tender as well as adding great flavors.
It’s important to marinate your steak BEFORE cooking it in the sous vide machine.
Sous vide London broil temperature
I like my London broil medium-rare, so I set the sous vide machine to 133°F/56°C. Top round is a very lean cut, so don’t cook it past medium doneness, as it will become tough and chewy.
If you’d like to try other doneness, follow the chart below:
| Steak Doneness | Temperature |
| Rare | 130°F (54°C) |
| Medium Rare | 135°F (57°C) |
| Medium | 145°F (63°C) |
How long does it take to sous vide London broil?
There are a wide range of cooking time, but I find cooking it at 133°F/56°C for 6-8 hours gives me the best result.
- If you cook it 12 hours, it will become softer, but can also be very dry with less flavor.
- 2-4 hours make slightly chewy meat but better flavor.
- 6-8 hours give you a good balance between tenderness and flavor.
Can you overcook London broil in the sous vide machine?
Although you cannot “overcook” a steak with sous vide method (you can leave the meat in a warm bath for an extra hour or two), the texture can become mushy if the steak is left in the water for too long.
Seal the bag without a vacuum sealer
For this recipe, you don’t need a vacuum sealer. I find Ziploc Freezer Bags are perfect for sealing the food, either wet or dry. The trick is called the “water displacement method” by using the pressure from the water to force all the air out of the bag.
Just place your food in the bag, seal all but one corner of the bag. Slowly place it in the water bath, and make sure everything below the zip-line is covered by water. Then seal the rest of the bag.
Can I sous vide frozen top round steak?
Yes, you can sous vide steak straight from frozen. For this recipe, the cooking time is the same as cooking the fresh top round steak.
More Sous Vide Steak Recipes
Sides to pair with Sous Vide London Broil:
Recipe Tools:
Sous Vide London Broil (Top Round Steak)
Ingredients
- 2 pounds top round steak or flank steak
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 3 garlic cloves smashed
- 2 teaspoons mustard optional
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Marinate the steak: In a zip-lock bag or mixing bowel, add balsamic vinegar, honey, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and mustard. Mix well.
- Add top round steak to the bag, close the bag and coat the meat thoroughly. Let it marinate for 30 minutes to 2 hours in the refrigerator.
- Sous Vide the steak: In the meantime, add water to the sous vide container or a large pot, set the Sous Vide Precision Cooker to 133°F (56°C).
- Remove the steak from the marinade and place it in a new zip-lock bag (discard the marinade).
- Seal all but one corner of the bag, and slowly place it in the water bath. Make sure everything below the zip-line is covered by water. Then seal the rest of the bag.
- Keep the bag in the sous vide container. Make sure the steak is fully submerged while the seams of the bag is above the water.
- Cover with several pieces of aluminum foil and sous vide cook for 6-8 hours.
- Sear the steak: When your steak is cooked in the sous vide machine, remove the bag from the water bath and transfer it to an ice bath or refrigerator. Let it chill for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the steak from the ziplock bag and wipe off the moisture with paper towels.
- Season with more salt and pepper if necessary. Brush the steak with oil.
- Place the cast-iron skillet or grill on medium-high heat. Once very hot, add the steak and sear about 1-2 minutes per side.
- Slice against the grain and serve with potatoes and veggies.
Nutrition
Juicy and so tasty- this was an excellent recipe. I am going to make it again for Father’s Day!
I’m so glad to hear that, Jessica!
If that doesn’t look like the most perfectly cooked steak, I don’t know what does! I need to get a sous vide cooker ASAP!
Can I put it in the ice bath, refrigerate it overnight and then sear it the next day and serve it?
Hi Debbie, you can definitely do that! Actually it’s ok to leave it in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. Hope you enjoy it!
Made this for dinner. Came out excellent.
Hi Rachel, great to hear that it came out excellent. Thanks for letting me know!
This one looks like a winner – I’m marinating over night and will put it in with my Anova tomorrow for 8 hours. Going to pan sear first, deglaze with a cup of red wine and butter and put it all in the bag… French Dip, here I come!
Will post results tomorrow:)
Hi Mitchell, glad to hear that you are making this recipe. I recently made this again and find 6 hours give me a better result than 8. Also I doubled the marinade sauce and cooked half for dipping. My kids love it more than the steak sauce!
Tried this recipe and it was excellent! Will definitely use again. I left in refrigerator about 5 hours before searing.
Fabulous! I had not sous vide for 6 hours and was a bit skeptical but it makes sense for the top round “London Broil” I purchased. I am so glad I tried this recipe ! Best ever top round London broil. We sliced it thin. Meat was tender, flavorful, juicy. My husband couldn’t stop saying how much he liked it. I will prepare this cut of meat no other way.
Hi Carolyn, thank you very much for letting me know. I’m glad that your family likes it! -Izzy
I’ve done this a couple times, I think 61/2 hours works best. This makes the very best Steak fajitas .
We just received a sous vide as a gift. I haven’t used it yet. Am going to try the London broil this weekend. Can you please tell me why the steak is placed in the refrigerator prior to finishing off on the grill? What happens if you grill the meat after cooking in the sous vide, without the cooling step?
Hi Emily, congrats on your new gift. London broil is a good choice to start. The reason we cooled it before searing is to prevent the steak to be overcooked. After sous vide cooking, your steak is fully cooked, so any additional heat can cause it to be overcooked when the steak is hot. Hope this helps. Izzy
I have never cooled or refrigerated my meat prior to searing and have never had any meat turn out overdone at all. 133 deg is a medium rare temperature and as long as you keep the sear to 2 min per side (use a timer!) you will not overcook your meat. I just made a London broil last night and went straight from the sous vide to the skillet for 2 min per side and when I cut into it for serving, the color of the meat was deep pink from edge to edge; not even the slightest gray band around the edges. It was deliciously perfect! I have done other cuts of thick steaks but this was my first time doing a LB in the sous vide and I was skeptical about the long cook time (we do 1 1/2-2inch steaks for 2 hrs at 133 degrees so I thought 6-8 hrs was too much) but wanted to follow the recipe so I pulled it at 7 hrs and it was the best LB I’ve ever eaten! Based on comments from the author within this thread, I will do 6 hrs next time to see if we notice a difference.
I’ve done it both ways and prefer cooling the meat prior to searing, it turns out better. You certainly can sear without cooling first, but the sear isn’t as nice and it does cook the meat a bit more on the inside.
That makes sense. Thank you for replying.
Is it ok to marinate overnight, or is 2 hours the max? I’m hoping it will infuse more of that delicious marinade into the meat.
Hi Tim, it’s better to marinate for less than 8 hours, so your steak won’t get mushy.
Looking forward to trying this. I have a shoulder London broil which from what I understand is tougher. Should I sous vide for longer?
Hi Shaya, you can cook your shoulder london broil for about 8-10 hours. Hope this helps. Izzy
Hello. I was looking for a simple way to to cook a (2.5 pound) London Broil to make French Dip. I set my sous vide device to 130 degree F and cooked for 4 hours to achieve rare to medium rare result. I salted and peppered the meat before vaccum baging. The result was perfect. After patting dry I seared the meat in a cast iron pan with a little duck fat. While not as good as thin sliced roast beef, I found this to be a good alternative. Toasting on a nice roll with a slice of Provelone cheese and Au Jus: Mmmmm.
Hi Larry, thanks for sharing your experience!
just did my first sous vide, with your recipe. i wanted it rare so i set it to 130° and let it go for six hours.it was pretty good,but still came out medium rare. next time i’ll be doing a frozen one (i’m by myself so i divided the 2lbs in four and froze three after marinating) should i set it to 128° to get rare?
Hi Elithea, you can definitely set it to 128°F (or as low as 125°F) if you’d like to get a more rare doneness.
Does the time for the sous vide change if you are making more than a 2lb London Broil? I am making this tomorrow and don’t want to ruin it.
Hi Michael, the time doesn’t change if your london broil is more than 2 lb. Just make sure that your bag is big enough.
Do you know if the time should change if I’m doing a frozen 1lb London broil?
Growing up the only steak we ever had was top round or london broil, just as the Sunday roast was top round roast. It was all we knew and we loved all of it. When I went looking for Sous Vide instructions I realized others had a quite different perspective on this cut of meat. I gave the steak 3:30 at 130F and even though I messed up the searing a bit it was fine to me. I think I’ll cut back a bit of time and see how it changes things. I should note that I always slice such steak very thin, and usually against the grain.
Thank you! I’ve been running my baths way too long. I wish I could post a photo of my bottom round @ 6.5-hours. After chilling it, I finished it in a countertop oven set to “Air Roast” 450F. It browned up quite nice in about ten minutes without affecting the edge-to-edge pink color.