German Beef Rouladen Recipe – One of the most famous and well-loved German dish! 

German beef Rouladen are considered a festival dish or eaten during Sundays in Germany. These fist-sized meat rolls are strong in flavour. Most importantly, you get a savoury sauce with it to enjoy with some German Spätzle and Red Cabbage. Nothing shouts more German than that!

This German beef Rouladen recipe is originated from my mother-in-law, who almost only cooks German and sometimes Austrian dishes. Her Roulades with hard-boiled eggs is her speciality because not many people put eggs in their German beef Rouladen. Eggs can be replaced with cheese as well.

The first time I tried this dish, I was blown away by its deliciousness. However, I did not cook this dish until last year. It looks intimidating and difficult. In reality, it is easier than it looks. It just takes time. Good food needs patience.

Tips on making German Beef Rouladen Recipe

Top round beef: In Germany, thinly sliced beef for roulades are readily available at the butcher’s. The beef slices should be about 20 – 25 cm long, 10 – 12 cm wide and 0.6 cm thick. It is best to ask your butcher to cut the meat for you. If the meat is not thin enough, then flatten it with a meat mallet or the back of your knife (like me), so that the meat will be tender. 

Typical ingredients: Bacon strips and pickled cucumbers are the main ingredients in the roulades. Most recipes contain onions as well. However, instead of putting onion slices into my roulades. We enjoy it with hard-boiled eggs. My father-in-law loves this recipe with cheese in the middle of the beef Rouladen. This is just how my mother-in-law makes her beef Rouladen recipe.

Yellow mustard: Germans love their mustard. You can understand why from this recipe because this is the key to the savoury meat and sauce.

Broth: Vegetables, tomato paste, beef broth and the roulades give the broth its strong flavours. I prefer using a pressure cooker to cook this dish because it speeds up the cooking process.

Sauce: There are 2 methods to make this famous sauce – one is made using roux (check this post out) or in this case, I simply mix 1 portion of all-purpose flour to 2 portions of water. This is to prevent flour lumps forming in your sauce. Transfer the flour mixture into the broth and stir continuously until the gravy thickens.

How to make German Beef Rouladen Recipe

1. Season the meat on both sides with salt and pepper. 
2. Thereafter, we can start layering the roulade meat. According to this order
1. Beef
2. Bacon 
3. 4-6 Pickled cucumber slices for each roulade
4. 1 hard-boiled egg 
3. Roll the beef Rouladen. Make sure that everything is in place and the egg is not showing. Thereafter, secure the roulades with a thick kitchen twine (approx. 60 to 80 cm long). Spread a generous amount of mustard over your beef rolls. 
4. For the broth, heat up cooking oil in a pressure cooker. If you do not own a pressure cooker, you can use a normal pot. Pressure cooker just makes everything faster. 
5. Sauté vegetables and tomato paste for several minutes. 
6. Then, transfer your Rouladen into your pot. Make sure the German beef roulades touch the bottom of the cooker, so that we can get a nice brownish colour on both sides of the rolls. 
7. Pour beef broth into the pressure cooker and almost covering the beef Rouladen. 
8. Season the broth with salt and ground black pepper according to taste. Cover the pressure cooker with lid and cook according to instructions. 
9. Cook the roulades for about 30 to 45 minutes in a pressure cooker and 1 to 1.5 hours in a normal pot. 
10. Once cooked, removed the roulades and discard vegetables/ chunks. 
11. Cut the beef rolls into 0.5 to 1 cm thick slices and place them in a serving dish. 
12. Mix water and all-purpose flour thoroughly in a small bowl until we do not get lumps. Pour in flour mixture slowly and in portions into the broth. Continuously stir the broth until it thickens into a delicious heavy sauce. 
13. Pour the sauce over the German beef Rouladen and serve! 

You might also like

• Beef Tongue Recipe
• Roasted Venison Recipe
• German Red Cabbage Recipe

How to serve German Beef Rouladen 

Cut the German beef Rouladen into 1 cm thick slices. Place the roulades into a serving dish and pour a generous amount of sauce over them. Nothing shouts more German than enjoying this beef Rouladen recipe with an authentic German Red Cabbage or a German lamb’s lettuce salad and a traditional German Spätzle or some ribbon noodles.

How to store German Beef Rouladen

To be honest, this German beef Rouladen recipe tastes even better the next day. I usually cut the meat rolls into slices and place them in the sauce directly in a pot with a lid, so that I can reheat these famous German beef rolls in the sauce easily the next day.

Reheat the pot of goodies over medium heat. Add a little broth into the pot to ease the reheating process. However, do not stir the content in the pot. Simply pour the gravy constantly over the meat to warm up the rolls.

Have you heard of this popular German dish before? Tell me in the comment section below!

Have you tried this recipe? If yes, I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as my family does. Show me and tag me #chenguins on social media, so that I can see your recreation as well.

Until next time & guten Appetit!

Greetings from the Black Forest,
Pia

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