Top round substitutes
Top round substitutes — 6 options, ranked, with the exact amount
Use Bottom round or sirloin tip roast
Same amount by weight as the top round
The best substitutes for top round are bottom round or sirloin tip roast at 1:1, or eye of round if you plan to slice very thin. Top sirloin is the swap that makes the dish better rather than merely equal. The job top round does is provide a big, cheap, uniformly lean block of beef that slices into wide neat pieces, which is why it is the standard cut for home roast beef, deli slicing, jerky and marinated London broil. It has almost no marbling, so its tenderness comes entirely from cooking no further than medium-rare and slicing thin across the grain.
- Verdict —
- Works
- Best for —
- roast beef
Updated 26 Jul 2026 · no sponsored swaps
Every option, one card
Ranked| # | Substitute | Instead of top round | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bottom round or sirloin tip roastroast beef | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 2 | Eye of round roastvery thinly sliced roast beef | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
| 3 | Top sirloin roastroast beef | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 4 | Rump roastpot roast | Same amount by weightWorks | Works |
| 5 | Beef chuck roast (for slow-cooked recipes only)pot roast | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
| 6 | Flank steakLondon broil | Same amount by weightTweak it | Tweak it |
Bottom round or sirloin tip roast
similar taste and texture
Neighbouring muscles from the same rear leg, equally lean and usually sitting right beside top round in the case.
- Best for
- roast beef, deli-style sliced beef, London broil, jerky, pot roast, beef braciole
So close that most cooks cannot tell the finished slices apart. Bottom round, or silverside, has slightly coarser fibres and eats a shade chewier, and sirloin tip is a little more tender than either. Cook to exactly the same target, 130 to 135 F for medium-rare, and slice just as thin. Bottom round benefits from a longer marinade if the recipe calls for one.
Eye of round roast
similar taste, different texture
The small cylindrical muscle in the middle of the round, often the cheapest roast in the shop.
- Best for
- very thinly sliced roast beef, cold beef sandwiches, carpaccio-style dishes, jerky
Even leaner than top round, with tighter fibres and a neat round shape that slices beautifully. The margin for error is smaller: at medium it turns dry and faintly livery in a way top round tolerates slightly better. Salt it a day ahead, reverse-sear in a 250 F oven, pull at 130 F and slice paper-thin, and it is excellent. Rush it and it is the worst roast in the case.
Top sirloin roast
enhanced taste and texture
A modest step up in price for a real step up in eating quality, stocked in essentially every supermarket.
- Best for
- roast beef, steak sliced for a crowd, London broil, sandwiches, cooks worried about dryness
Noticeably more tender and juicier, with a richer beefy flavor, because it carries some marbling that top round simply does not have. That also means it is more forgiving if you overshoot the temperature by a few degrees. The trade-offs are cost and marinade penetration: an acidic marinade flavors lean round more deeply than it flavors sirloin.
Rump roast
similar taste and texture
The cut just above the round, sold in the United States as rump roast or bottom round rump roast.
- Best for
- pot roast, slow-cooker beef, roast beef, shredded beef sandwiches
A close cousin with slightly more fat and connective tissue than top round, which makes it a better choice when the beef will be slow-cooked and shredded and a slightly less neat choice when you want wide even slices. If you are roasting it to medium-rare, treat it exactly like top round. If you are pot roasting, expect a moister, more shreddable result.
Beef chuck roast (for slow-cooked recipes only)
enhanced taste, different texture
A shoulder cut that is far better than round for anything braised, and far worse for anything roasted rare.
- Best for
- pot roast, shredded beef, stews, slow-cooker dinners, beef and gravy
If your top round was headed for the slow cooker, chuck is the better buy: it is full of collagen, so it turns silky and moist where round turns dry and fibrous. But it cannot replace top round for roast beef or deli slices, because seams of connective tissue never soften under two hours of dry heat and it will not carve into clean wide slices.
Flank steak
enhanced taste, different texture
A thin lean steak from the belly wall, useful when the top round in your recipe is being marinated and sliced.
- Best for
- London broil, marinated grilled beef, steak sandwiches, stir-fry, salad beef
Similar leanness and a similar reliance on thin cross-grain slicing, but the flavor is a little richer and more distinctly beefy, and it is much thinner, so cooking time drops from perhaps an hour of roasting to eight minutes of broiling. It cannot be carved into a roast, so use it only where the beef ends up in slices or strips.
Questions
5 questionsWhat is the difference between top round, bottom round and eye of round?
All three come from the rear leg and all are lean. Top round, or topside, is the largest and most tender of the three and slices widest. Bottom round, or silverside, is a little tougher and coarser. Eye of round is the small tight cylinder in the middle, the leanest of all and the least forgiving. They substitute for each other freely.
Can I just leave it out?
No, it is the main protein. But it is one of the easiest cuts to replace, because its job is only to be a big lean block of beef. Any lean roast from the round, rump or sirloin, cooked to medium-rare and sliced thin, will give you the same dish.
Is top round the same as London broil?
Usually, yes. London broil is a store label rather than an anatomical cut, and in most American supermarkets it is a thick piece of top round sold ready to marinate and broil. If you find top round but no London broil, you already have what the recipe wants.
Why did my top round come out tough and dry?
Almost always because it went past medium-rare, or because it was sliced with the grain instead of across it. There is no marbling to hide overcooking, so 140 F and above reads as dry. Cook to 130 to 135 F, rest fifteen minutes, and slice thin at right angles to the fibres.
Can I use top round for pot roast?
You can, but chuck is better. Round has little connective tissue, so hours of braising dry it out and squeeze it stringy rather than melting it into something silky, and the gravy stays thin. Keep round for roasting rare and buy chuck or brisket when you want to slow-cook.
Tips for substituting top round
5 tips- Top round has essentially no marbling, so the difference between good and awful is about ten degrees. Cook to 130 to 135 F for medium-rare and no further, and use an instant-read thermometer rather than a timer, because roast weights vary wildly.
- Salt the roast and leave it uncovered in the fridge overnight. On a cut this lean, dry brining is the single most useful thing you can do: it seasons the interior, holds on to moisture during cooking and dries the surface so it browns properly.
- Reverse-sear works better than a hot roast for round cuts. Cook at 225 to 250 F until the centre reaches 125 F, then blast it at 500 F for eight minutes or sear it in a pan. The gentle first stage keeps far more of the interior pink and juicy.
- Slice as thin as you physically can, across the grain, ideally with a long sharp carving knife on a chilled roast if you are making sandwich beef. Thin slicing shortens the muscle fibres and is what turns a lean cut from chewy into tender.
- Top round is the classic jerky cut precisely because it is lean, since fat goes rancid in dried meat. If you are substituting for jerky, choose eye of round or bottom round rather than sirloin, and trim every visible scrap of fat.