Authentic German Rouladen
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One of Germany’s most famous and delicious dishes, Rouladen (Rinderrouladen) are beef roulades filled with bacon, onions, mustard and pickles, then browned and simmered in the richest gravy imaginable. Mouthwateringly delicious and made the way my Mutti and Oma made it, this authentic Rouladen recipe is the only one you’ll ever need!
Growing up in Stuttgart, we regularly enjoyed family dinners with my Oma and Opa. My Oma was famous for her Kasseler, Kartoffelpuffer, Sauerbraten and her Rouladen. When a meal included gravy she always knew to make extra when we came over because I would heap copious amounts of it over my meat, potatoes, Semmelknödel, Kartoffelklöße, Rotkohl, Sauerkraut, you name it. (I still do.) For me the gravy was one of the primary highlights of the meal. Rouladen is one of my all-time favorite German dishes and its accompanying gravy is arguably the king of all gravies. Today I’m sharing my homemade Rouladen recipe with you and I’m confident you’re going to love it as much as we do!
What is Rouladen?
Rouladen is a traditional German dish featuring long, thin strips of meat slathered with mustard and filled with bacon, onions, and pickles. The filling is enclosed by rolling up the meat strips and the roulades are then browned and slow-simmered in a rich gravy.
Beef rouladen are enjoyed throughout the year in Germany but are often associated with Sunday dinners and special occasions like Christmas Eve.
Can Rouladen Be Made Ahead Of Time?
You can save time by assembling the rouladen in advance and chilling them until you’re ready to cook them. They are also good reheated.
How Large Should the Slices of Beef Be?
They need to be large enough to stuff and roll up, at least 4×6 inches in size and about 1/4 inch thick. This recipe makes 2 rouladen per person. Alternatively you can make larger rouladen and serve one large rouladen per person.
Authentic Rouladen Recipe
Rouladen aren’t hard to make, but they do take time. You can shave off some time on the day of your meal by assembling the rouladen ahead of time and chilling them until you’re ready to cook them.
Rouladen are made by spreading some German mustard on thinly cut slices of beef, adding bacon, sliced German pickles and chopped onions. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper and roll them up, securing the rolls with toothpicks or cooking twine. Next you generously fry the rouladen in oil until they’re nicely browned on all sides. They’re then removed and set aside so you can saute the onions and vegetables for the gravy. Add the liquids and spices to the cooked veggies and nestle the rouladen in this mixture to simmer on low until the meat is fork tender. The rouladen are removed, the sauce is poured through a strainer, and the resulting gravy is returned to the pot and thickened. The rouladen are returned to the gravy, heated through and served with Rotkohl and boiled potatoes, Knödel, or Spätzle.
Below I’ve provided step-by-step pictured instructions to ensure your success!
Lay the beef slices out on a work surface. Spread each beef slices with about 2 teaspoons of German mustard and sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Place a strip of bacon on each beef slice so it’s running the same length as the beef. Place the sliced German pickles and chopped onions on each beef slice.
Roll up the beef slices, tucking in the sides as best you can and securing the beef rolls with toothpicks or cooking twine.
Heat the butter and oil in a heavy Dutch oven or pot (make sure it’s oven-safe if baking in the oven) and generously brown the rouladen on all sides. Browning them well will ensure a rich and flavorful gravy. Set the rouladen aside on a plate.
*Do not remove the browned bits in the bottom of the pan, it’s key to the most flavorful gravy!
Add the onions to the pot and a little more butter or oil if needed. Cook the onions until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the leek, carrots and celery and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour in the red wine, bring to a rapid boil for one minute, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2-3 more minutes.
Add the beef broth, tomato paste, bay leaf, salt and pepper.
Nestle the rouladen in the pot.
Oven or Stovetop: You can cook the rouladen, covered, on the stovetop on low for about 90 minutes or until fork tender but for the most even cooking we recommend transferring the pot (make sure it’s oven-safe) to the oven preheated to 325 F and cook it there for about 90 minutes or until fork tender.
To Make the Rouladen Gravy:
When the beef is fork tender, remove the rouladen from the pot and set aside. Pour the liquid and vegetables through a strainer and reserve the liquid. (You can set the veggies aside for another purpose, they are yummy. Or you can puree the veggies in the blender and then return them to the gravy.)
Return the strained liquid back to the pot and bring to a simmer. Thicken the gravy either with either a cornstarch slurry (for a clear/translucent gravy) or flour slurry (for an opaque gravy). For a creamy gravy you can also add a few tablespoons of heavy cream at this point. Simmer, whisking constantly, until the gravy is thickened.
Add the chilled butter, whisking constantly, until the butter is melted and incorporated. Add salt, pepper and mustard to taste. Note: If you’d like creamy gravy you can stir in some heavy cream at this point.
Carefully remove the toothpicks or cooking twine from the rouladen and return them to the gravy and heat through.
Serve the Rouladen with Rotkohl and either boiled potatoes, Semmelknödel (bread dumplings) or Kartoffelklöße (potato dumplings) or Spätzle.
What to Serve With Rouladen
Here are some traditional German sides you can pair with your Rinderrouladen:
- Rotkohl (German Red Cabbage)
- Spätzle (German Noodles)
- Semmelknödel (German Bread Dumplings)
- Kartoffelklöße (German Potato Dumplings)
- Kartoffelpuffer (German Potato Pancakes)
- German Potato Salad (Kartoffelsalat)
- Creamy German Cucumber Salad (Gurkensalat)
- Bohnensalat (German Green Bean Salad)
- German Carrot Salad (Karottensalat)
For more authentic German dishes, be sure to also try my:
- Sauerbraten
- Königsberger Klopse
- Käsespätzle
- German Potato Salad
- Senfbraten
- Schnitzel
- Jägerschnitzel
- Schweinshaxe
- Maultaschen
- German Potato Soup
- Frikadellen
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Authentic German Rouladen
Equipment
Ingredients
- For the Rouladen:
- 8 slices top round beef, about 4×6 inches in size and 1/4 inch thick (*see note) (ask your butcher), gently pound the slices with a meat mallet until they're a little thinner than 1/4 inch (be careful not to pound holes into them)
- 1/3 cup German yellow mustard
- 8 slices bacon
- 8 medium German pickles , sliced lengthwise
- 1 medium yellow onion , chopped
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the Gravy:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil (I use avocado oil because it's ideal for high heat)
- 1 medium yellow onion , chopped
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- 1 small leek , chopped, rinsed and drained in colander
- 1 large carrot , chopped
- 1 large celery stalk , chopped
- 1 cup dry red wine
- 2 cups strong beef broth
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 tablespoons chilled butter
- cornstarch or flour dissolved in a little water for thickening (depending on how much gravy liquid there is you'll need about 1-2 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved in 2-3 tablespoons of water or 2-3 tablespoons flour dissolved in 1/4 – 1/3 cup water)
Instructions
- Lay the beef slices out on a work surface. Spread each beef slices with about 2 teaspoons of mustard and sprinkle with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place a strip of bacon on each beef slice so it's running the same length as the beef. Place the sliced German pickles and chopped onions on each beef slice. Roll up the beef slices, tucking in the sides as best you can and securing the beef rolls with toothpicks or cooking twine.
- Heat the butter and oil in a heavy Dutch oven or pot (make sure it's oven-safe if baking in the oven) and generously brown the rouladen on all sides. Browning them well will ensure a rich and flavorful gravy. Set the rouladen aside on a plate.
- *Do not remove the browned bits in the bottom of the pan (important for a flavorful gravy): Add the onions to the pot and a little more butter or oil if needed. Cook the onions until softened and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the leek, carrots and celery and cook for another 5 minutes. Pour in the red wine, bring to a rapid boil for one minute, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2-3 more minutes. Add the beef broth, tomato paste, bay leaf, sugar, salt and pepper.
- Nestle the beef rouladen in the pot. Oven or Stovetop: You can cook the rouladen, covered, on the stovetop on low for about 90 minutes or until fork tender, but for the most even cooking we recommend transferring the pot (make sure it's oven-safe) to the oven preheated to 325 F and cook it there for about 90 minutes or until fork tender.
- To Make the Rouladen Gravy:When the beef is fork tender, remove the rouladen from the pot and set aside. Pour the liquid and vegetables through a strainer and reserve the liquid. (You can eat the veggies on the side or puree them in the blender and then return them to the gravy.) Return the strained liquid back to the pot and bring to a simmer. Thicken the gravy either with either a cornstarch slurry (for a clear/translucent gravy) or flour slurry (for an opaque gravy). For a creamy gravy you can also add a few tablespoons of heavy cream at this point. Simmer, whisking constantly, until the gravy is thickened.Add the chilled butter, whisking constantly, until the butter is melted and incorporated. Add salt, pepper and mustard to taste. Note: If you prefer a creamy gravy you can stir in some heavy cream.Carefully remove the toothpicks or cooking twine from the rouladen and return them to the gravy and heat through.
- Serve the rouladen and gravy with Homemade Rotkohl and either Homemade Spätzle, Homemade SemmelKnödel (or Kartoffelknödel) or boiled potatoes.
Notes
- This recipe makes 2 rouladen per person. Alternatively you can make larger rouladen for one large rouladen per person.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet October 29, 2019
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Absolutely fantastic. My Mum would use pickles only, and you’re way is much better. I served mine with Spatzel from Aldi’s versus Mum who made hers fresh. Thank you for the wonderful recipe and may God be with you
I’m so glad, Petar, thank you very much for the kind feedback!
So easy to follow the recipe and instructions, but then again I did have my German wife watching over my shoulder….😂
Lol! That’s great, Marc, well done! :)
This looks fabulous! Question – if you cook it in the oven, should you cover the pot? Thank you!
Hi Melissa, yes, keep it covered so that the liquid (eventual gravy) doesn’t evaporate.
I made this almost to the letter, except at the end I made a quick roux with flour and butter before adding the strained stock. This recipe was genius, came out so delicious, and will be in our rotation. Fine dining at home. Thank you.
Fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed it, thank you for the feedback, Jill!
thanks for sharing your recipe. it looks so good… Do you think I could use pork for the meat? thanks much
Hi Esther, technically there’s no reason you can’t use pork but they won’t be Rouladen, which are only made with beef, and of course will taste very different.
Made this for dinner the other night and it was delicious! Ok, I am fairly good at improvising, so had to make a few “adjustments”
German yellow mustard- no gots, so used plain old American yellow mustard
German pickles? Used Klausen dill pickles
Small leek? Never seen a small one, so used green onion
Red wine- had cooking Sherry, so I used that
Don’t like tomatoes, skipped that completely
Never really understood sugar in cooking too much, so guess what? Skipped that too!
Cooked in dutch oven in the oven. Smashed the veggies with a slotted spoon.
Maybe someday I will try it the correct way, but I have to say, it was really good!!
Thank you!
Thanks for the feedback, Bee, I’m happy you enjoyed it!
I’m excited to try this, it looks great! I’ve made rouladen before, but it had a filling of onions & saurkraut. It was amazing, the family loved it. Unfortunately I misplaced that recipe. Thanks for this more traditional recipe, I’m certain we’ll enjoy it
I made this for the first time and it was awesome 👌. Thanks so much for the recipe. I’m inviting my friend and his wife over to make this as we have a German friend Maryann who has made this for us and I told them this recipe is better then Maryann’s…🤭
Oh that’s wonderful, Geoff, I’m so glad you enjoyed it, thank you! Just don’t tell that to Maryann…. ;)
Excellent recipe, but not enough gravy for the spaetzle. Would it be ok to double the gravy ingredients for the same amount of meat?
Thank you, Carl! You can add some additional beef broth to stretch out the gravy, but I would start with less than half and taste it first to make sure that the flavor isn’t too diluted.
My mother-in-law was born, and spent her childhood, in Germany. I couldn’t find her recipe and my wife was at work, so I searched online and found yours. I cannot describe how much my MIL liked these. I’m not sure she would admit it, but I’m pretty sure she liked them better than her own! a five-star recipe for sure!
Oh that’s wonderful, Tom! I’m thrilled that they were a hit and I really appreciate the feedback, thank you! <3