Steak and Creamy Mushroom Sauce

Here I share with you some tips for pan frying the perfect steak. I’ve also got the most gorgeous creamy mushroom sauce recipe to pair alongside!

There is seriously no better pairing in the world than a tender juicy steak with a dreamy creamy mushroom sauce. Not only is this dinner for two so easy to make, it’s actually really quick. We’re talking 20mins max. We’ll talk all things sauce in just a sec, but let’s quickly discuss how to cook the perfect steak…

Tips for how to cook the Perfect Steak

1. Room Temp

When frying any meat, you want to bring it to room temperature before you cook it. If you chuck it straight in the pan cold, it’ll seize up and be chewy. You also want to pat the steaks dry to get rid of as much unwanted moisture as possible. This will give you a better sear on the outside.

2. Season Well

Bring out the best in your steaks by giving them a heavy seasoning of salt and pepper before you add them to the pan. Rub into the meat with olive oil to give it an even coating.

3. Hot Pan

If you ignore all of my previous points, for heaven’s sake make sure the pan is scorching hot before the steak goes near it. To give it the perfect sear and properly caramelize the outside (without cooking the inside too much) the pan needs to be very hot. When you place the steak in don’t move or press down on it.

4. Baste

When you flip the steak add butter, rosemary, thyme and garlic and baste away to add some more gorgeous flavour to the steak.

5. Rest

Once cooked, let it rest undisturbed for at least 5 mins. This will ensure the as much moisture is retained in the steak as possible.

Okay, quick recap.

How to Pan Fry Steak (quick summary)

1. Bring to room temp and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Season with salt and pepper, then coat in a drizzle of olive oil.
3. Lay down on a scorching hot pan or cast iron skillet. Leave undisturbed.
4. Flip over.
5. Add butter, garlic, thyme and rosemary.
6. Baste, then lay to rest.

Tips for the Perfect Creamy Mushroom Sauce

1. Pan Juices

A lot of the flavour in this sauce actually comes from the butter, garlic, herbs and steak juices, so 100% make this sauce in the same pan as your steaks. The different is pretty significant.

2. Chop Finely

You don’t want the steak to go cold, so a quick sauce is ideal. In order to do that you want to ‘flash fry’ the mushrooms, so make sure you really finely slice them. Plus, nobody really wants chunky mushrooms in their steak sauce…

3. Reduce

You want to end up with a nice thick sauce. The more you reduce, arguably the more the flavour intensifies. Watery sauces are no good for steaks.

Okay, just to recap…

How to make Creamy Mushroom Sauce for Steak (quick summary)

1. Leaves the juices, herbs and garlic in the pan from the sauce.
2. Fry mushrooms until they soften.
3. Add shallots and fry until they pick up colour.
4. Remove herbs and garlic, pour in white wine and reduce.
5. Pour in beef stock.
6. Add cream and simmer until thickened.

Can I make this sauce without the steak?

You can, but as I mentioned you will miss out on the gorgeous flavours from the pan juices from the steak. If you are frying other meats i.e pork or chicken, then use those meat juices to start the sauce. If you’re going from scratch then fry the mushrooms/shallots in 1 tbsp butter and infuse with the garlic and herbs stated in the recipe below.

What to serve with Steak?

• Roasted Baby Potatoes or Mini Hasselback Potatoes
• Oven Baked Fries
• Dauphinoise Potatoes
• Honey Balsamic Carrots
• Garlic Green Beans
• Duchess Potatoes

Looking for more steak sauces? Check out these beauties:

Steak Sauce Recipes

• Cowboy Butter
• Blue Cheese Sauce
• Whisky Cream Sauce
• Creamy Peppercorn Sauce
• Garlic Cream Sauce

Alrighty, let’s tuck into this creamy mushroom sauce recipe shall we!?

How to make Steak and Creamy Mushroom Sauce (Full Recipe & Video)

5 from 5 votes

Creamy Mushroom Sauce for Steak

By: Chris Collins

Here I share with you some tips for pan frying the perfect steak. I've also got the most gorgeous creamy mushroom sauce recipe to pair alongside!

Prep: 5 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Total: 20 minutes mins

Servings: 2

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Equipment

• Heavy Duty Pan & Tongs (like a cast iron skillet)
• Wooden Spoon
• Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
• Paper Towels
• Jug (for stock)

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

Steak

• ▢ 2 Steaks of choice, at room temp & patted dry with paper towels (see notes)
• ▢ 1 heaped tbsp Butter
• ▢ 2 small sprigs Fresh Rosemary
• ▢ 2 small sprigs Fresh Thyme
• ▢ 2 cloves of Garlic, skins on & lightly crushed with palm of hand
• ▢ Olive Oil, as needed
• ▢ Salt & Pepper, as needed

Creamy Mushroom Sauce

• ▢ 1 cup / 250ml Heavy/Double Cream, at room temp
• ▢ 1/2 cup / 125ml Beef Stock
• ▢ 1/4 cup / 60ml Dry White Wine
• ▢ 1 cup / 100g Button Mushrooms, very finely sliced (see notes)
• ▢ 2 small Shallots, very finely diced
• ▢ Salt & Black Pepper, to taste

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions 

• Bring steak to room temp, then drizzle with olive oil and give a heavy seasoning of salt & pepper.
• Bring a ‘heavy duty’ pan or cast iron skillet to very high temp, then lay down your steaks (pan must be hot!) Don’t push down or move the steak. For medium rare with a steak approx 2cm thick fry for 2 mins, or until the sighting of blood emerges through the upper surface. Then flip and fry for 1min.
• Add butter, thyme, rosemary & garlic and baste for another 1min. Remove steaks from pan & leave to rest (important).
• Lower temp to medium-high. Add mushrooms & fry for 1-2mins until soft, then add shallots. Fry for another couple of minutes until they pick up colour, then remove herbs & garlic.
• Pour in wine & allow to simmer and reduce until it mostly evaporates (important otherwise sauce will be too sour). Pour in stock and cream, then season to taste. Lower heat to medium and simmer until thickened. Before serving you can also stir in any resting juices from the steak, just for extra flavour!

Video

Notes

a) What cut of Steak to use? - Here I used 2x 9oz/250g Sirloins. These were about 2cm thick, so only needed 2mins max on either side to get medium-rare. If you're using a thicker fillet steak, them medium rare would require 3 - 3.5mins on each side for medium rare. If you're looking to cook in any other way just increase/decrease the times accordingly.

b) How to keep the Steak warm? - to ensure the steak doesn’t go cold firstly ensure your mushrooms/shallots are finely chopped so they ‘flash fry’. Also consider very loosely covering with foil, just to contain some heat (but not so tight that they cook further through the centre).

c) Pan Juices - a lot of flavour in the sauce comes from the steak juices, butter, herbs and garlic. So make sure you make it in the same pan.

d) Can I make the sauce without the steak? - You can, you just loose out on a lot of the flavour. If you want to make the sauce ahead of time just start from melting the 1 heaped tbsp butter.

e) Serving Size & Calories - The 2 steaks will of course serve 2, but the sauce would actually stretch to 4. Calories based on the sauce only, with the 1 tbsp of butter, sharing between 4.

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Nutrition

Calories: 230kcal | Carbohydrates: 4.06g | Protein: 2.72g | Fat: 22.13g | Saturated Fat: 13.728g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.861g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6.372g | Cholesterol: 82mg | Sodium: 85mg | Potassium: 207mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 2.85g | Vitamin A: 1900IU | Vitamin C: 1.7mg | Calcium: 50mg | Iron: 0.4mg

Looking for more?

You’ll find plenty more delicious comfort food like this in my Debut Cookbook ‘Comfy’

Hey, whilst you’re here why not check out my other dinner recipes for two?

Date Night Dinner Recipes

• Honey Garlic Pork Chops
• Chicken Avocado Pasta
• Pan Fried Cod
• Baked Gnocchi with Bacon
• Pistachio Crusted Chicken
• Steak Pasta