A tender eye round roast beef with an herb crust makes for a lovely Sunday dinner. This keto roast recipe serves a crowd, making it a perfect main dish for entertaining.

Eye Round Roast Beef with Brussels sprouts and turnips

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Growing up we had Sunday dinners at my Nana’s house. One of my favorite Sunday dinners was her roast beef. Her cut of choice was always eye round roast, which she served with green beans and boiled new potatoes. She made the best Sunday roasts; it’s a tradition I like to honor as often as possible.

Beef is a comfort food for this Texas transplant. And I enjoy making it all kinds of ways like slow cooker Mississippi roast or vegetable beef soup. Low carb Italian meatballs or homemade sloppy Joe’s remind me of mom, and mom’s hamburger stroganoff was a favorite meal growing up. To me these all say comfort, but nothing says “gathering” like a nice roast beef.

ingredients for low carb herb crust: shallots, parsley, chives, Parmesan cheese, crushed pork rinds, butter and Dijon mustard

Why eye round roast beef?

While I love to prepare and serve a whole beef tenderloin, it’s an expensive cut of meat; one not everyone can afford. Comparatively, eye of round roast, which looks like a tenderloin, is an inexpensive and flavorful cut that's perfect for roasting.

Two of the most popular cuts of meat for roast beef are chuck roast and eye round roast. According to Ask John the Butcher, chuck roast comes from the shoulder. Because of this it is a bit fattier and full of connective tissues. Chuck likes to be cooked moist and slow to allow all of the connective tissues to break down. What’s left is meltingly tender beef that easily shreds apart.

Eye of round comes from the "round" primal located at the hind leg, from thigh to shank. Eye round round, like most cuts from this area, is very lean and perfect marinating and oven roasting. Since these are the muscles used in walking, they are tougher. My instructor used to say, "If it walks, it's tough and if it rides, it's tender." A tenderloin, the most tender cut of beef, rides. The eye of round walks.

eye round roast tied with cotton twine on a cutting board

Feed a crowd with this eye round roast beef recipe!

As I mentioned, nothing says “gathering” like roast beef and this herb crusted eye round roast beef makes a nice holiday meal for a crowd. When serving meat as the main component of a meal, it's best to plan on 6-8 ounces per person. In that spirit, this recipe serves 12 to 16 people, but it scales down beautifully.

Part of the trick to making this roast beef recipe feed a crowd is to cook it at a lower temperature. Not only does this ensure the perfect medium rare finish, keeping the meat tender, but it also helps minimize product loss.

Cooking this cut at higher temperatures can result in a dry, tough roast beef - not what you want to serve family and friends. I find that cooking eye of round roast at 275 F keeps the meat perfectly tender, medium rare, and moist. Incidentally, there are high temperature roast beef recipes that do result in a nice medium rare roast like this one from NY Times Cooking.

Eye round roast tied in butcher's twine with herb crust before roasting

Is an herb crusted roast beef keto approved?

Generally, no, but this one is!

Since most herb crusted roast recipes use breadcrumbs in the herb mixture, they pack a healthy punch of carbs. In this recipe, I replace the regular breadcrumbs with a combination of crushed pork rinds and Parmesan cheese - what the low carb community calls Keto panko!

To make crushed pork rinds, I just pop them in the food processor and process until they reach a fine-breadcrumb consistency. If you don’t eat pork, use an equal amount of low carb bread crumbs. A combination of shallots, parsley and chives season the crust while butter binds it together.

Sliced eye round roast beef with herb crust on a cutting board with parsley

Do I really need to use a meat thermometer to cook roast beef?

I absolutely recommend using a meat thermometer for cooking eye round roast beef. Overcooking the roast past medium rare will result in tougher meat.

To make sure this doesn’t happen, use a meat thermometer and pull the roast out of the oven as soon as it reads 135 if you’ve let the roast come up to room temperature prior to cooking. Then tend loosely with foil. Carry over cooking should take it the rest of the way to 140.

There are all kinds of meat thermometers available these days. I have an old school meat thermometer, an instant-read thermometer and a digital oven thermometer. Fancier models send alerts your phone when the meat has reached the desired temperature.

Serving Suggestions for a Show stopping Meal

This herb crusted eye round roast beef feels elegant and deserves to be served with sides that will perfectly complement it. To keep things low carb. Any of these low carb sides will do.

What to do with Leftover Eye Round?

We love leftover roast beef!

Dip it! Our favorite way to enjoy leftover roast beef is to slice it very thin for French dips. We wrap them in lettuce leaves and dip away!

BBQ it! The ends, which tend to be a little overdone are perfect for chopping up finely and cooking with low carb BBQ sauce and beef broth for barbecue beef. This is great served over cauliflower mash or cauliflower rice.

Pickle it! My dad taught me this trick. Put sliced roast beef into a quart mason jar with sliced onion and garlic. Add white vinegar ⅔ of the way and water the rest of the way. Make sure there are no hidden air pockets and it will keep in the refrigerator for weeks. Use on sandwiches or salads.