Back in the 40s and 50s, when my German mother-in-law (aka “Oma”) was a young girl in Northern German, rouladen was her family’s traditional Christmas dinner. Now, this classic meal is a common Sunday supper all over Germany, but back then, when money was tight, Rouladen was a special treat served only once a year.
What is Rouladen? Chuck roast is wrapped around bacon, onion and spices then simmered in pan gravy for hours until it becomes tender and flavorful. This recipe has been passed down through Oma’s family for generations. Oma learned it from her late mother who learned it from hers, etc. etc. Since Oma has been visiting, we decided to capture this recipe for our official family record, but you can enjoy it as well.
So I present to you Oma’s Old-Fashioned Rouladen.
Oma’s Old-Fashioned Rouladen
- 10 strips of chuck roast cut thin, approximately 3 3/4 pounds
- 15-20 strips of bacon
- yellow mustard
- sea salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 1 large onion, cut in half and sliced very thin
- vegetable oil
- water, divided
- sour cream, optional
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour (or cornstarch for a gluten-free option)
Serves 8-10.
ROLLING
Take a strip of chuck roast. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. If it is too thick, pound it down to the correct thickness. Spread the meat with a thin layer of mustard, then sprinkle with pepper and salt (go easy on the salt). Put a strip or two of bacon on the meat. This depends on how wide your meat is. You don’t want the bacon to stick out the side. Cover that with a thin layer of sliced onions.
Starting at the small end, roll the meat with it’s contents into a tight cylinder. Using kitchen twine (or in Oma’s case, sewing thread), tie this bundle tightly. See my first ever blog video for a demonstration of Oma’s rolling technique. This is cinema verite, so don’t expect high production value 😉
BROWNING
Put about 2-3 tablespoons of oil in the bottom of a heavy sauté pan. When the oil is hot, add the rouladen, and cook, turning as necessary, until it is very brown on all sides. This takes about 22-28 minutes. When the meat is very very brown all over, place them in a large dutch oven.
Heat about 2 cups of water in small sauce pan until hot. Pour the water into the sauté pan that you used to brown the rouladen and scrape up the drippings. Eventually, this will be the gravy. Pour this sauce over the meat in the dutch oven. If you didn’t get everything from the pan, add a little more water, scrape again and pour that over the meat. Oma says this is very important. Add enough water so that it covers about 2/3 of the meat like in the photo.
SIMMERING
Bring to a boil on the stove top, then reduce heat, cover and simmer very low for 1 1/2 hours. After the meat is tender, remove it to a plate covered with foil to stay warm.
GRAVY
Whisk together 1/4 cups flour and 1/4 cup water until smooth. This mixture will be the consistency of cream. Turn the heat off on the pot and add about 1/2 this mixture to the pan juices whisking until it is incorporated. Then turn the heat back on and simmer until it thickens. Just before serving, mix in approximately 1/4 cup of sour cream (optional). Taste for seasoning.
SERVING
Cut the string off the rouladen and place one on each plate. Cover with a generous portion of the gravy. Serve with potatoes or pasta and something that once grew in the ground. I choose broccoli, but Oma prefers to serve with corn.
Another delicious meal! Thanks Oma!
O.M.G. this looks fantastic. We will definitely be trying this.
And I just noticed the upcoming Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies alert. Wow.
I add ground paprika first then mustard salt pepper onion bacon and some pickles then roll
I made this but I fried the bacon beforehand, not quite crisp so it’ll bend when rolled. The texture I think.
I love recipes that are really family heirlooms.
It looks delicious!
Recommend eating these with Semmel Knodel (bread dumplings), Kartoffel Knodel (potato dumplings), or shredded potato knodel dumplings (halb & halb).
My german mother would saute her onions and fry the bacon first. There also was a german pickle spear inside too!!!!! she would brown then transfer to the oven and slow bake till tender!!!!! So yummy and I still make these wonderful rouladen on Sundays!!!!!! Mouth watering!!!!!
This is the way my family would make theirs…. I’m so glad I found this recipe!!!
BACON/PICKLE YUMMY
This is exactly how it should be made ! Very good Ursula
I have tried to saute the bacon first and I wouldn’t recommend it. I realized, that the tougher cut of meat (top round) needs the basting from the raw bacon fat to keep it moist. But I like the idea of frying the onions first though.
I just made them myself today – I learned from my mom – OMA – and now I am the Oma – it is a tradition for my oldest grandson to help me make them – as I used to help my OPA make them after Oma passed away.. I don’t remember a Christmas without them. I know Tracy makes them also! Glad you ENJOY them too!
Frohe Weihnachten!.
My Oma and Tante (aunty) used to make them usually accompanied by red cabbage (with bacon and apple!!!) SOOOO scrummy!!!!!!
My grandma used to make this with the red cabbage and raisins. YUM!!
We LOVE this recipe!!
I make it very few months.
Worth it! Worth it!!!
I’m glad I found this recipe. I tried making this once when my husband and I first started dating, it was ok but not as good as Omi’s . The only difference is my Omi uses a German pickle in the middle and German mustard with hers. I saw a few different recipes of your Oma’s. Do you have more posted?
My mother-in-law learned to make rouladen when they were stationed in Germany in the 60s. Before we got married, my husband said I would have to learn how to make it for him to “keep me.” Partially in jest, I think. Anyway, this recipe replicates what I do for family and friends on a regular basis. It is luscious and warming in the winter.
This is such a delicious recipe, I grew up on this and continue to make my mothers recipe for my family. I add a dill pickle in the middle, and use Dijon mustard.
I really want to make this recipe. I loved it when we were stationed in Germany 80-86. I really miss being there. It is a beautiful country.
This is devine. I can vouch for that. I was in Germany twice and have even made it myself. The longer it cooks and stand in the sauce the better the taste. We even put sausages in as well
What is the consistency of that bacon when you eat it? Seems like it should be (at least partially) cooked before rolling them up. Are they still fatty inside?
Thanks!
I chop the onion and cut up the bacon into small pieces and sprinkle it on the meat.
I use pork butt in small strips, not crunchy but delish combined on your fork with the whole goodness of all ingredients. Put the gravy on the red cabbage and it’s pretty close to Heaven!!!
My German mother-in-law always put mushrooms in her rouladen, so that’s the way I learned to make them – with mushrooms, onions and bacon. Then, while living in Germany we traveled to Rothenburg ob Tauber, and I had rouladen in a nice restaurant there. They put a piece of dill pickle in their rouladen, and that added another dimension of flavor, so I’ve done that too ever since. You can put just about anything you like in them. I’ve added minced garlic and a bit of thyme. Rouladen are delicious and well worth the effort to make them.
I remember my aunt from Germany putting a pickle inside too!
I like it like this but also with grated dill pickles in them. It is more a Hessen thing.
This recipe has the most important ingredient missing, which makes the delicious sauce, the German dill pickles. One also can use Bread and Butter pickles.
My Oma used to dice Speck, parsley, onions and carots, we never used pickles.asome do.Since I could not find speck {unsalted} in the states I mix my vegies with a good bulk breakfast sausage and fill the meat after using mustard an d little flour. The gravy is so incredidable. Potatoe dumplings and red cabbage round up this meal. As a matter of fact thats what I will cook for my adult kids this weekend. Also liber dumpling soup with german pancake strips.
My mom made this when I was growing up but she never put the mustard on there and she used dill pickle slices also. I will have to try that. I think my Oma may have used the mustard because my cousin has it in his recipe.
my family’s rouladen isn’t complete without a thin strip of pickle added in!. (and maybe a few matchsticks of carrot.)
My German Grandmother (I’m 76 years old) made it this way. My mother always used top round steak. When I make it I fry bacon first to get rid of grease, add pickle and serve with spaetzle.
I always use top round steak!
I lived in Germany for 3 years while in the military and Rouladen was my go to meal at any restaurant. Traditional rouldaden includes a strip of thin uncooked bacon (the fat renders nicely during the cooking process. I use Hormel bacon (not center cut), as Hormel’s bacon contains a good balance of fat and meat and is long enough to stretch the length of the meat. I also include dill or German pickles. I typically chop them up with the onion and spread the length of the meat before rolling. I also use beef broth and French onion soup instead of water. The French onion soup gives the roulandens a nice flavor and the gravy has a nice taste as well.
this recipe looks awesome. I will fill mine with onions bacon mushrooms and newfie dressing. also a thin spread of mustard first 🙂 Ill brown them first and cook them with some beef stock in my instant pot. theyll be tender in half an hr. then make gravy with the liquid. Mmmmm…. my newfie man will be happy 2nite haha
There are very few foods in this world that can come close to my mom’s Rouladan! Thank you for sharing this recipe, I look forward to making this!
I make mine with bacon and egg, I have always done it that way.
Wonderful recipe and reminds me of so many foods my mother and grandmothers made. I honestly didn’t know how they made it, but this is one meal I remember and wasn’t passed down to me so my family can enjoy it. This seems too simple to be so good, like so many old German recipes are.
I made this one time and it takes a little work, but your recipe produces perfect Rouladen if you follow it. I’ll be making this again tomorrow for my family and a sick friend.
Thanks for putting this out there to show what real German home cooking looks like!
Made rouladen a few days ago,following my mother in laws recipe,senf, smoked bacon, onions and gurkin finely chopped,browned in pan ,then a lovely rich sauce with a big splash on red wine, now marrinating in freezer ,serving with red cabbage ,mashed potatoes ready for friends next weekend, hope they enjoy it as much as my husband i and I do!
I make them like most of us,with the pickle,but my Sister in law,in Tübingen,used to make some ,with a boiled eggs in the middle,and called it a Schwalben Nest.Just another variation.
Enjoyed reading all the remarks.
The rouladen we got in Germany had the pickles, bacon or ham and onions chopped. I haven’t had this in years but thought about it the other day and looked up the recipe. These all sound wonderful. I was going to add chopped mushrooms in as well, but my mushrooms were bad. Another time.
Great photos of the process! My grandmother used coarse Dijon mustard instead of yellow, but pretty much the rest is the same. And you have a yummy looking gravy! http://oldworldtaste.com/germanrouladen/
Can you use toothpicks to hold roll togetherinstead of cooking string?
If you can get the meat to stay tightly rolled with toothpicks, that should be fine.
Oh my Goodness! I had never heard of Rouladen, but my market had a tray of good-looking thin beef slices “for Rouladen”, so I bought it and went on line for a recipe, found your’s and the rest is history. I’m making it now for the second time; it is so good! Thank you for the detailed instructions.
Wow.. I had rouladen when we were stationed in Germany. It was a favorite. I am trying my hand at it today. I hope that I do Oma’s rouladen justice. Your Oma is beautiful. Thank you for sharing her family recipe with the rest of us. Hugs to Oma.
You should use beef broth and red wine for the gravy! Also drop in some bay leaves while braising.
And do not forget the butter (for the glassy look…) after straining the gravy.
The gravy is the most important part of this meal!
recipe turned out delishicious! My family enjoyed it so much.
This is very close to my family’s recipe. We pound the meat so it’s extra thin and we use pickle as well. We also sprinkle with paprika prior to rolling it.
I’m so glad I learned how to make this. I think my Oma would be proud. I am now an Oma and look forward to teaching my daughter this wonderful family recipe
I am so glad a lot of people know what Rouladen is. My mom taught me how to make these many moons ago since we are a German family. This is our all time favorite dish from my grandparents, to parents to myself and now my kids. I also put a pickle in the filling. Happy Eating.. Need to teach my girls how to make them. I brown the Rouladen really well and then ad liquid to almost cover the meat then bake it off in the oven for about an 1-2 hours for tenderness. Classic comfort food.
Rouladen is my favourite meal, my mama and oma made it as well, but we cut the bacon and onions small and sliced pickles in. Next time will definitely make it without cutting, it will be much quicker to prepare. My husband and children also love rouladen. And homemade red cabbage. Danke schöne for other small tips I picked up watching the video.
My most favorite meal that my mom used to make. This recipe is just like hers except she put a small uncooked meatball on top of the onions before rolling them up. She always served it with mashed potatoes covered with the delicious sour cream gravy and red cabbage with grated apple and caraway seeds. I’m going to have to make this soon. Thanks for the memories.
By far the best rouladen I have tasted.
Thank you
My oma used to make this all the time, she taught my mother how to make it and my mom taught me. We are not fans of adding the pickle so we omit that. I have never tried it with the mustard. We just use salt and pepper, the bacon and the onions. Brown it on all sides then we put it in the oven. It is so yummy, I am making it tonight for a birthday dinner. We usually serve it with mashed potatoes. I love this tradition that my oma and opa brought over from Germany and shared it with the family.
Looking forward to making this! Can you make a couple of days ahead?
Yes, you definitely can. Sometimes, when Oma comes to visit, she makes it at home, then freezes the meat rolls in the sauce for travel. When she get to our house, she reheats it on the stove and it is delicious! – Heather