No Hogwarts Feast is complete without a hearty, juicy roast beef after a day full of magical learning. This recipe is simple yet delicious!
Jump to RecipeBefore trying this recipe, I had never eaten roast beef made in this way. Growing up, we didn’t eat a lot of beef because my mom refuses (the bloodiness grosses her out). I wanted to make a roast beef dinner as the main meal for one of our monthly Harry Potter Club get-togethers. I had to do some searching online for this one.
Harry’s mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.
-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“Must be nice,” Ron said abruptly, when they had sat down and started serving themselves roast beef and Yorkshire puddings.
-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Of course, as with anything, there are many variations of the same recipe. Some required cooking all day long, and that just wasn’t going to happen in the Houston heat. Other recipes were very complicated. Especially for someone who’s never worked with this meat before except throwing it in the slow cooker. Then I found this recipe, and it looked easy enough.
The original recipe suggests choosing a cut of meat with a layer of fat on it, but I can’t stand fat on meat when I cook or eat. So I got the leanest one I could find. Of course, with rump roast, there aren’t any that are super-lean. So it still had a decent amount of fat to give the meat flavor.

Step by Step
The day before you want to make this roast beef, put the meat in the refrigerator to thaw. Then one hour before cooking, remove the meat from the refrigerator and set it out on the counter, covered, to let it come close to room temperature. You want the entire cut the same temperature. This allows the meat to cook more evenly. Sprinkle some salt on the meat while it sets.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Uncover the roast and pat it dry, then use a sharp knife to make a few slits in the meat. Slice the garlic cloves into a few pieces and stick those into the slits in the meat. Rub the meat with olive oil and season with some salt and pepper.

Place the entire thing on the middle oven rack with a pan below to catch the drippings. This is the first time I’ve ever cooked anything on the rack directly. I even cook my pizza on a stone. Start the roast at 375F for the first 30 minutes to brown the outside. Then lower the heat to 225F and cook another 1.5-2.5 hours. You want the meat to reach an internal temperature of 135F.

Take the roast out of the oven and place it on a plate and form a tent with a piece of aluminum foil to keep it warm while the roast beef rests for 20-30 minutes. Some of the juices may leak, so make sure it is on something with sides.

Thinly slice to roast and serve warm!


Recipe
Originally Published On: June 19, 2018
Last Updated On: November 28, 2019

Roast Dinner
Ingredients
- 3 lbs rump roast (boneless)
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic (sliced in half or thirds)
- 1 tsp pepper
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Thaw roast in the refrigerator the night before cooking
- Remove from the refrigerator to come to room temperature for about one hour before cooking
- Rub 2 tsp of salt on the roast while it sits covered
- Preheat the oven to 375F
- Make small slits in the roast and insert pieces of the sliced garlic in each slit
- Rub the meat with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper
- Place the roast directly on the middle oven rack with a pan underneath to catch the drippings
- Bake for 30 minutes at 375F then lower the temperature to 225F
- Bake another 1.5-2.5 hours, until the internal temperature reaches 135F
- Remove from the oven and place on a jellyroll pan
- Make a tent out of aluminum foil to cover the roast and let it rest for 20-30 minutes
- Cut into thin slices to serve
Notes
All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutrition content will vary based on brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.
Looks delicious! Honestly, I am not the best cook – my husband normally makes the roast dinners!
This one is so easy! I had never made anything like it before, but had no troubles with this one at all.
Yay more Harry Potter inspired recipes! As a vegan myself I will most likely not make this but I know some of my family members will appreciate this 🙂
We love making Harry Potter recipes! Especially now that my boys are (slowly) starting to read the books and getting into it even more.
YOU ARE IN A HARRY POTTER CLUB! I want to be your best friend… seriously. That roast is beautiful and my pregnant belly wants to eat it ASAP
Yes! We have so much fun getting together and enjoying delicious food plus our mutual love of Harry Potter.
We’ve never prepared roast this way either. Interesting! And it looks delicious. How do I join your HP club??!! That sounds like a lot of fun.
The roast comes out so yummy. We started the “club” just as friends with a mutual love of Harry Potter then made it into a monthly thing!
oh my gosh, you quoted Harry Potter! As a kid, I would dream to be a part of those feasts! I want to be a part of this Harry Potter club it sounds like so much fun!
Thank you for sharing this recipe, I feel closer to being a part of a real feast now 🙂
I would love to go to Hogwarts, too, and also dreamed of the amazing food at the feasts. That’s why we started making so much Harry Potter-inspired food with my monthly get-together 🙂
Ohhhh this would be perfect for a Sunday lunch with family and friends. Looks so tasty and filling!
April
It is very filling, so definitely something to get when you are sharing with others!
Yum. It came up perfect. I am going to love to give this recipe a go
It is such an easy recipe to make and a delicious dinner!
This is adorable! Love how you recreated the meal. Harry Potter World in Orlando is the coolest place ever! And this meal looks incredible!
I really enjoy trying to recreate meals like this. It’s so fun to try to figure it out based on a description. And I can’t wait to go back to Wizarding World next time we are in Orlando visiting friends and family!
That garlic has my mouth watering. I love love love garlic, and it’s really good for you too. My husband would probably love me forever if I made this. I’ll have to give it a try one weekday or better yet on a weekend.
The garlic gives it so much flavor! If you like it so much, you could add more throughout the meat. I made sure not to go too heavy so my boys would eat it.
Wow. Looks so good! I am definitely writing this one down to try!
It’s such a delicious way to prepare the roast. I hope you enjoy!
I love a good Sunday lunch, my friend prepares the most amazing vegi roast with all the trimmings too – yummy x
I’ve never tried a veggie roast before, but that sounds interesting, too!
what a tender meat! I’d love to make one for my parents. We love roast!
I was surprised at how tender the meat cooks up when it’s directly in the oven, but it works really well!
This really reminds me of the feasts on Harry Potter. This recipe looks really delicious!
I know, wouldn’t it be wonderful to attend just one of the feasts?!
How is it possible for one to read this, look at that mouth watering dish and not feel hungry… and love that it looks so easy to make too!
Umm… it’s not 🙂 I get so hungry writing up the posts, too. The roast is so easy, you could make it for yourself and satisfy that hunger!
Love love LOVEEE how you studded it with garlic! My dad typically studs his roasts with anchovies!!! It’s the bomb!
Oh, I don’t know if I could do it with anchovies, but I don’t like much fish. The garlic gives it just the right amount of flavor!
I am thinking seriously to make this for my Christmas dinner party this year. I have not made the menu yet. I am saving this, I will share with you and will let you know how mine turns out.
It would be perfect for a dinner party. We had it with one of our Harry Potter dinner club nights and everyone enjoyed it.
pepper + garlic is my favorite combo. I am going to do this recipe asap. Thank you for sharing.
It’s so simple, just those few things, but it makes such a delicious combination for the roast.
What a lovely idea for a family get together. I don’t eat meat, but for those that do this would be such a feast x
It is a good one when entertaining, since it’s so filling and makes a lot. I understand not eating meat, but thanks for passing the recipe on!
directly on the rack is so interesting. I never would have thought to have done something like that. I might pick up a roast for tonight and see
This was one of the first things I ever cooked directly on the rack. The only problem is I forgot to clean the rack afterward this last time and the juices started burning next time I used the oven! So just make sure you clean it off once it’s cooled.
I loveHarry Potter! How fun is this! It sounds really good. I love roast I just always somehow mess it up!
This recipe is so easy, that’s why I like it. I cook a lot of chicken but don’t use beef a lot so I am not as confident with it. As long as you don’t overcook it, it’s a great one to start with.