Our family just got home from vacation and we are immediately jumping back into life, kid activities, and getting everyone ready for back to school. But the thing at the forefront of my mind? Family dinners. When our family’s life gets crazy beyond belief, I feel like family dinners are the thing that bring us back to center and help us reconnect and check in with each other. To make family dinners happen, we need a thick binder full of easy dinner recipes that we can whip together in a snap and that everyone loves. This London Broil recipe absolutely fits the bill. It is tender, has an easy simple flavor that even the pickiest eater will like, and it can be marinated the night before, making it easy to throw in the oven after you get home from work.
What is London Broil
London Broil actually refers to the method of cooking a roast and not the particular cut of meat. It involves marinating a piece of meat, then broiling and roasting it – as we are doing here. Most butchers today use top round to make a London Broil. That being said, I have seen some pieces of meat at the grocery store actually labeled “London Broil.” Those are fine to buy for this recipe, otherwise, I would recommend looking for Top Round.
How long should you marinate beef?
The old adage that the longer you marinate meat the better it is just isn’t quite true. We recommend marinating beef for 6 to 24 hours. Longer than 24 hours and the beef will start to break down too much. This is a great recipe to start the night before you want to have it. You can pop it in the oven when you get home from work.
Olive Oil is our base for this marinade. You could also go with grape seed oil as it has a great taste but will also handle the heat of the broil very well.Soy Sauce is acting as our salt in this marinade. It helps the other flavors penetrate the meat and also makes gaps in the roast to help hold in moisture.We are adding some brown sugar for depth of flavor in this recipe. I would like to point out that it is only 1 tablespoon. You can certainly cut it out if you need to, but the amount of total sugar you are left with in each portion of meat is very minimal.Lemon juice acts as our acid in this recipe. It is another way to tenderize the meat. A great substitute for it would be Balsamic Vinegar.Worcestershire sauce is being added for flavor.Finally, we are adding some garlic cloves and black pepper to enhance the flavor.
Additional Marinade Ideas
If you are looking to play around with this recipe, I would suggest adding some of the following.
Balsamic vinegar for the lemon juice would be a delicious twist, but keep the amount the same.Up the amount of garlic in this recipe. We are only calling for 2 cloves, but I would be a happy girl with about 6 cloves.Add in some dried herbs. I think some Rosemary or Thyme would be fantastic in this recipe. I would toss in about 2 teaspoons of either or 1 teaspoon of both.
How to Cook London Broil
We are making London Broil in the oven, and it could not be easier.
What to Serve with London Broil
Roasted Baby Potatoes are our absolute favorite side dish to serve with a roast. So easy and so delicious.Roasted Carrots are also a great dish we enjoy with this London Broil recipe.A Caesar Salad is perfect to go with this dish and you can’t beat the homemade dressing.Our Crockpot Sweet Potatoes are perfect if you don’t have a double oven.
If you make this London Broil Marinade or any of our recipes, leave a comment and let us know what you think! Instead, I highly recommend investing in an instant read thermometer, that way you can start checking your meat early on (poke it as many times as you want!) to get the exact temperature and doneness that your family is looking for. Taking it out at 125 is great if you like a tender and medium rare piece like you see here. This is the instant read thermometer that I use in my kitchen.
