Seared Steak and Roasted Potatoes
A proper seared steak with crisp roasted potatoes and greens — about 52 grams of protein and 760 honest calories. The dinner you’d order out, built to feed a building day. Big flavour, real carbs, nothing fancy and nothing missing.
Plate 01 / Finished
This is the dinner I cook when I want to feel like I’m eating out without the bill or the guesswork. Steak and potatoes is a plate restaurants charge a fortune for, and most of the time you can do it better at home — a properly seared steak rested right, potatoes roasted crisp in a little of the beef fat, and a pile of greens to round it out. On a build it’s perfect: real protein, real carbs, and the kind of meal you actually look forward to all afternoon.
I went through a phase early on of being scared of potatoes — convinced they’d undo my training, which is nonsense I picked up from the internet and wish I’d never believed. Potatoes are one of the most filling, satisfying carbs there is, and roasted properly they’re a thing of beauty. Here they give the plate around 760 honest calories and carry the steak beautifully. The greens add fibre and colour and stop it feeling like a slab of meat on a slab of starch. It’s balance, not restriction.
This takes a bit longer than my weeknight bowls because the potatoes need real oven time to crisp — but most of that is hands-off, and the result is worth it. It’s a Friday-night plate, a feed-someone-you-love plate, a treat-yourself-after-a-hard-week plate. Learn to sear a steak and roast a potato and you’ve got dinner sorted for life. No rush — stand at the stove and I’ll walk you through it. I’ve got you on this one.
01Who it’s for & when to eat it
This is a hearty, high-protein plate that flexes to your goal. The steak stays the star; you move the potato portion, the fat, and the cut. Here’s how I steer it.
The default plate
A generous steak, a full tray of crisp potatoes, greens on the side. Calorie-dense and deeply satisfying — my Friday-night dinner when I want to eat well and refill after a hard week.
Trim it down
Swap to a leaner sirloin, halve the potatoes, roast with minimal oil, and double the greens. You keep the steak-dinner feel for far fewer calories. See the variations below.
Steady fuel
A full steak, a moderate potato portion, and plenty of greens. Good fats, real carbs and high protein to keep you full and recovering without overshooting the day. A solid main any time.
Timing: a post-training dinner at its best — protein to rebuild, potatoes to refill what you emptied. It’s also the weekend plate I make when I’ve got the time to do the steak and potatoes properly.
02Ingredients
Makes 1 plate. Doubling? Roast the potatoes on two trays so they don’t steam each other, and sear the steaks one at a time in a hot pan.
Servings 1 · adjust on the live recipe card- Sirloin or rump steak220 g · 7.8 oz
- Potatoes floury, e.g. Maris Piper300 g · 10.6 oz
- Tenderstem broccoli or greens120 g · 4.2 oz
- Olive oil1 tbsp · 15 ml
- Garlic, crushed2 cloves
- Rosemary optional1 sprig
- Butter to baste1 tsp · 5 g
- Sea saltto taste
- Black pepperto taste
Swaps I actually use: for a hard bulk, step up to a fattier ribeye and add an extra knob of butter to baste — easy clean calories. On a cut, stick with lean sirloin, roast the potatoes in a teaspoon of oil instead of a tablespoon, and load the greens. No floury potatoes? New potatoes roast lovely and crisp too; just cut them small.
03Step by step
A quick boil for crisp edges
Heat the oven to 210°C (410°F). Cut the potatoes into even chunks and boil them for 8 minutes until just tender at the edges, then drain and let them steam-dry in the colander for a minute. This is the secret to crisp roast potatoes.
Magnus says: rough up the edges in the colander after draining — those fluffy bits go gloriously crisp.
Hot tray, plenty of space
Toss the potatoes with most of the oil, salt and pepper and spread them on a hot tray with space between each. Roast 30 to 35 minutes, turning once, until deep golden and crisp. Crowd them and they steam instead of crisping.
Out of the fridge, dry and seasoned
While the potatoes roast, take the steak out to lose its chill. Pat it bone-dry and season both sides well with salt and pepper. A dry, room-temperature steak sears far better than a cold, damp one.
Magnus says: dry the steak like you mean it. Moisture is the enemy of a good crust.
Smoking pan, leave it alone
Heat a heavy pan until it just smokes. Lay the steak in away from you and leave it two to three minutes until a deep crust forms, then flip. Add the butter, garlic and rosemary and spoon the foaming butter over for a minute.
Let the steak settle
Lift the steak onto a board and rest it five minutes — non-negotiable for a juicy steak. While it rests, steam or quickly fry the greens until tender with a bit of bite, seasoned with a little salt and pepper.
Magnus says: resting keeps the juices in the meat instead of on your board. Five minutes, every time.
Slice the steak, build the plate
Slice the steak across the grain, lay it out with the crisp potatoes and greens, and spoon any resting juices over the top. A final pinch of salt and dinner’s done — the plate you’d order out, made better at home.
04The spec sheet
Real numbers, calculated — not guessed. The recipe makes 1 plate, around 560g of cooked food total. Here’s what the full plate and a flat 100g actually give you.
| Nutrient | Per serving | Per 100g |
|---|---|---|
| Energy | 760 kcal | 136 kcal |
| Protein | 52.0 g | 9.3 g |
| Carbohydrate | 58.0 g | 10.4 g |
| — of which sugars | 3.5 g | 0.6 g |
| Fat | 32.0 g | 5.7 g |
| — of which saturates | 11.0 g | 2.0 g |
| Fibre | 7.0 g | 1.3 g |
| Sodium | ~0.5 g | ~0.09 g |
Moderate, helped by the greens bulking the plate. On a build that means real calories from a satisfying dinner without it feeling like an impossible mountain of food.
A lifter’s metric. Solid for a hearty steak-and-potato plate — the lean steak keeps the protein density up even with the roast potatoes carrying the carbs.
- Vitamin B12~4 µg · 167% DV
- Zinc~9 mg · 82% DV
- Vitamin C~70 mg · 78% DV
- Potassium~1500 mg · 32% DV
- Iron~4.5 mg · 25% DV
- Vitamin B6~1.1 mg · 65% DV
Macros are calculated from standard food-composition data and will shift a little with your exact ingredients and brands. Micronutrient figures are estimates against general adult Daily Values. Numbers are for guidance, not medical advice — see our Nutrition Disclaimer.
05Bulk / Cut / TRT variations
One plate, three jobs. The steak does the heavy lifting; you move the cut, the potatoes, and the fat. Macros below are for a full serving (one plate built as described).
Build it up
Step up to a ribeye, a full tray of potatoes roasted in a generous tablespoon of oil, and an extra knob of butter basted over the steak. Rich, calorie-dense, and a proper reward of a plate.
The lean version
Lean sirloin, potatoes halved and roasted in a teaspoon of oil, greens doubled, no butter baste. Keeps all the steak-dinner feel and protein while the calories come right down.
Steady & balanced
A full lean steak, a moderate potato portion, plenty of greens with a little olive oil. Real carbs, high protein and good fats to keep you full and recovering without overshooting.
06Meal prep & storage
Steak is best fresh, but the potatoes and greens prep well, and cooked steak keeps a couple of days. Here’s how I handle leftovers without ruining a good piece of meat.
Box the sliced steak separately from the potatoes. Slice the steak after resting so it reheats quickly and stays tender, or eat it cold the next day.
Roasted potatoes freeze and re-crisp well in a hot oven. I freeze cooked steak only when I must — thaw in the fridge and reheat gently.
Re-crisp the potatoes in a hot oven for 8–10 minutes; warm the steak fast and low so it doesn’t toughen. Or slice the cold steak over the hot potatoes — honestly lovely.
My honest advice: batch-roast the potatoes and cook the steak fresh to order — it takes five minutes in a pan. That keeps the part that suffers from reheating fresh, and the slower-cooking part done ahead.
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07Common questions
How do I get really crisp roast potatoes? +
Three things: parboil them until the edges are just soft, then steam-dry and rough them up in the colander to create fluffy surfaces; use a properly hot tray with hot oil; and give them space so they roast rather than steam. Floury potatoes like Maris Piper crisp best of all.
What’s the best steak for the money? +
For a lean, good-value plate I reach for sirloin or rump — plenty of flavour, high protein, less fat than ribeye. If you’re bulking and want richness, ribeye is worth the extra. Either way, dry it well and don’t overcook it; that matters more than the cut.
Are potatoes really fine when I’m training? +
Completely. Potatoes are a filling, nutritious carb — lots of potassium and vitamin C, and very satisfying for the calories. There’s no “bad” food here. They fit a build beautifully and, in smaller portions, a cut too. Eat the potatoes, love.
Can I cook the steak in the oven with the potatoes? +
You can reverse-sear a thicker steak — warm it low in the oven to your target temperature, then sear hard in a hot pan to finish. For a standard steak, though, a straight pan-sear is faster and gives a better crust. Use the oven mainly for the potatoes.
How do I know when the steak’s done? +
A thermometer is the honest answer — about 54°C / 130°F for medium-rare, 60°C / 140°F for medium, pulled a few degrees early to allow for carryover during the rest. A cheap probe takes all the guesswork out and saves a good steak from being overcooked.
This plate lives inside a full week of meals.
This steak-and-potato plate is one dinner in my 7-day bulking plan — seven days of high-protein, calorie-dense meals with the macros counted and the grocery list written. You pick the goal; I do the maths.
See the bulking meal plan →
08Pairs well with
Magnus Olafsson
I’m Magnus — twenty years under the iron, from a cold gym in Stockholm to the classic-physique stage, and now mostly in my kitchen in a pink apron. I’ve cut for shows, bulked through winters, and I’ve been on TRT since I was thirty-five. I know what it takes to eat for the body you’re chasing, and I know it shouldn’t come with a side of shame.
Everything here is food I actually cook and macros I actually count. I don’t diagnose, I don’t promise, and I never make a number up. I just feed you well and tell you the truth.
Slim Diet Era shares recipes and general nutrition information. It is not medical or dietetic advice, and we do not provide guidance on obtaining or using any controlled substance. See our Medical Disclaimer and Nutrition Disclaimer.