Braciole is a recipe that is perfect for a special occasion that only requires 20 minutes of active preparation time. Flank Steak is topped with cheese, herbs, and breadcrumbs, seared, and then roasted in tomato sauce. Let this recipe for Braciole with tomato sauce be your secret weapon for hosting a dinnerparty.
This scalable Braciole recipe requires very little active preparation time, and is a perfect dinner to serve for a special occasion.
Braciole is an Italian meat dish that consists of thin flank steak rolled up with cheese, herbs, and breadcrumbs. The first step to prepare braciole with a tomato sauce is to pound the meat out until it is very thin.
Next you create a mixture of cheese, garlic, and breadcrumbs. I like to use a blend of Parmesan and provolone.
The cheese and breadcrumb mixture gets spread over the steak.
Then you roll up the steak and tie it up with butcher’s twine.
The meat is quickly browned before being cooked low and slow in a pool of tomato sauce.
The result is slices of tender beef with swirls of cheese, herbs, and breadcrumbs. It’s easy and elegant, and sure to impress your dinner guests.
The active preparation time for this recipe is just 20 minutes, and you can easily increase the number of portions by purchasing a larger steak. I love recipes that can be scaled without any extra effort.
If you have a large dutch oven you could even cook two bracioles together.
I like to use my roasted tomato sauce in this recipe. It is my go-to tomato sauce recipe. It is made my pureeing roasted cherry tomatoes and has a really fresh taste.
Sometimes I serve Braciole with roasted potatoes and asparagus.
Most recently I served it with baked penne in tomato sauce and creamy spinach.
And for dessert… I made an angel food cake with a light whipped chocolate frosting – it one of my all-time favorite desserts!
This is one of my favorite meals to serve at a dinner party – the prep work can all be done in advance before guests arrive.
Before we get to the recipe – want some more recipes for a special dinner? Here are some options:
This is my Mom’s recipe for Braciole – it is made with a red wine sauce instead of being cooked in tomato sauce.
I love this Classic Chicken Marsala recipe and it tastes even better then it is made a day ahead of time.
How to make Braciole with Tomato Sauce:
Braciole with Tomato Sauce
Yield: 2-3 servings
Active Time: 20 minutes
Additional Time: 1 hour30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour50 minutes
Braciole is a recipe that is perfect for a special occasion that only requires 20 minutes of active preparation time. Flank Steak is topped with cheese, herbs, and breadcrumbs, seared, and then roasted in tomato sauce. Let this recipe be your secret weapon for hosting a dinner party.
Ingredients
1 lb - 1.25lb Flank Steak
Salt and Pepper
1/3 cup grated Parmesan
1/3 cup grated Provolone
1/3 cup Italian Breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons finely chopped Italian Parsley
2 cloves pressed or finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons Butter
1 cup White Wine
3 cups Tomato Sauce
*Butchers Twine
Instructions
First heat your oven to 300 degrees.
Then get started by pounding the flank steak to make it thinner. Pound it for about a minute getting it as thin as possible. Then dust both sides with salt and pepper.
Mix the Parmesan, Provolone, breadcrumbs, parsley, and garlic together in a bowl. Then spread them out evenly on the top of the flank steak.
Next roll up the steak, and tie it closed with 3-4 pieces of butcher's twine. Tie the twine tightly so that the filling won't fall out of the steak as it cooks.
Then melt the butter in a dutch oven over medium high heat, and brown the steak on all sides. This will take about 8 minutes total, turning the steak every 2 minutes.
Once the steak has been browned, add the white wine, and bring to a bubble. Then pour the tomato sauce over the steak, and cover it with a lid, and place it in the oven.
Roast the steak at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, basting the steak every 30 minutes, by spooning the tomato sauce over it.
After 90 minutes, pull the dutch oven out of the oven, and let the braciole rest for 10 minutes before slicing it. Remove the butcher's twine as you slice. Serve immediately after slicing, spooning some of the tomato sauce on top.
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One of the biggest divides in the Italian-American braciole world centers around which cut of beef to use. The two main camps are those that favor flank steak and those that prefer top round.
Further, if you haven't pounded the meat thin enough, it can still be tough after cooking, so make sure to pound it to an even, thin slice. Lastly, the cooking time matters, as if you cook it too short it can be tough, so make sure to cook it slow and prolonged to get a more tender result.
Make ahead: The uncooked braciole can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. This dish gets better with time. If you can, make it in the morning or the night before, refrigerate, and reheat when you're ready to serve.
Two pounds of top round can be cut by your butcher to give you about 6 1/8 inch strips of 5 inch by 10 inch top round. Your supermarket may even have the meat pre-cut for you if you look for it. When each strip is rolled up, you will cut them in half, creating 12 bracioles.
What can I use instead of flank steak for braciole? Instead of flank steak, use a top round, which is typically a more cost-effective cut of beef and will yield similar results when pounded thinly. On the other hand, you can also use sirloin, pork loins, or even turkey breasts to make braciole.
In Sicilian cuisine, Italian-American cuisine and Italian Australian cuisine, braciola ( pl. : braciole) are thin slices of meat (typically pork, chicken, beef, or swordfish) that are rolled as a roulade (this category of rolled food is known as involtini in Italian) with cheese and breadcrumbs and fried.
Simmering is a process that you can't rush, you'll know they're done, they'll be nice and tender and the tip of a knife should go through them like butter! You can easily make braciole a day or two ahead of time, I've done that many times especially for parties.
Acidic ingredients like lemon juice, vinegar, or wine work great to soften up meat. Even a simple salmuera can do the trick! Let your steak soak for at least 30 minutes, but no more than a few hours, or it might get mushy. Also, a generous sprinkling of coarse salt can help break down proteins.
Reserve the term "braciole" for pork loins, large cuts of flank steak or turkey breasts - essentially, big cuts and roasts that get sliced up and served to many people. Involtini, however, is the name used for thin cutlets of meat that are most often served in individual portions.
The main difference between Spiedini and Braciole lies in the cooking technique. 'Spiedini' refers to skewers of meat, whereas 'Braciole' refers to rolled slices of meat. In Sicily, however, these terms can often be used interchangeably, as the meat is rolled and then sometimes cooked on skewers.
Braciole's rich, savory flavors pair well with wines that offer good acidity and complementary fruit and herbal notes. Chianti Classico, Barbera, Nero d'Avola, and red Patrimonio are all excellent choices.
If you want a slightly leaner salami you can use the chuck roast (which should have an 80/20 lean/fat ratio). Beef fat isn't a fat of choice for making salami as it's more firm than pork fat (higher melting point), it has a slight yellowish tint (unlike pork fat which is snow white), and it's flavor is rather strong.
The Ingredients You Will Need To Make An Italian Beef Sandwich. The Meat: Boneless chuck roast is the cut of choice. Due to its fantastic marbling, chuck roast cooks to that signature melt-in-your-mouth texture and rich beefy flavor you love.
Osso buco is an Italian dish of braised veal shanks, which are cross-cut from the leg bone beneath the knee and shoulder. The shank is a tougher cut of meat, so slow cooking in liquid is essential for the melt-in-your-mouth texture that osso buco is known for.
Filet mignon: A steakhouse favorite, filet mignon is considered the most tender steak on the market. Sear it in a cast-iron skillet on high heat or broil it in the oven. As long as you avoid overcooking it, you cannot diminish filet mignon's tenderness. 2.
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