Beef carpaccio is a restaurant quality appetizer that you can easily make at home and make it better. Great as a dinner party appetizer or a shared light lunch.
This post will show you how to make carpaccio on top of a toasted crostini, drizzled in a creamy mustard horseradish sauce, and finished with a few zippy capers.
I would have never known that raw beef tenderloin in the form of carpaccio is actually totally delicious, if it wasn’t for Debbie. She ordered it at Cactus Club (yes we go there a lot…), I had a taste, and I have never looked back.
Eating raw beef used to sound totally crazy, but today we’re telling you to make this at home and that you will love it!
What is carpaccio anyways?
Carpaccio is a dish that’s often only found in high end restaurants, however since all it is, is thinly sliced raw beef, its simple to make at home. All you need is a quality piece of beef tenderloin and a good recipe for dressing. It will taste exactly the same at home as in the restaurant.
And actually, I will argue that it will taste even better because it will be super fresh and you can make it exactly how you like it. We like ours really thin, on a crostini and with a really good dressing.
Is it safe to eat?
I can understand a little worry about eating raw beef, however if you follow these tips you can safely eat this delicious appetizer.
- only use a fresh, good quality piece of meat – this is very important!
- wash your piece of meat well before using. Dry it with paper towel before slicing.
- if you are still worried, rub some olive oil, salt and pepper on the outside of the roast and sear the outside of the meat. That will kill any bacteria that might be lurking around.
- make sure to store the meat in the fridge right away. Don’t leave it on the counter for any length of time
- serve your carpaccio on a chilled plate when you are ready to serve it.
What Kind of Meat is Used for Beef Carpaccio?
Beef tenderloin is recommended because it is very tender and lean. It is easy to slice thin and it has good flavor.
How to Make This Recipe
This fancy appetizer is actually really quick and easy to make. There are just a few steps:
- get a really quality piece of beef tenderloin
- with a sharp knife, slice your beef tenderloin really thin and lay the pieces out on a piece of parchment paper
- place another piece of paper over top and use a rolling pin to thin out the slices (optional) and place them on a serving tray
- serve right away or store covered in the fridge until you are ready
Tips for making super thin slices
In our opinion, the best carpaccio is super thin, and making it so is easier than you think. The easiest way to get it really thin is to freeze your piece of beef tenderloin for about 2 hours. So its not totally frozen, but it is very firm and doesn’t fall apart when you slice it thin.
You don’t have to get it paper thin when you slice it, just do as good as you can and then place your slices on a piece of wrap or wax paper.
Make sure to space out your slices on the wax paper. At least an inch between the slices. Then put another piece of wrap or wax paper on top and use a rolling pin to lightly roll over and thin them out. You only need a light pressure and voila (!) its super thin. You can check out this quick video for a how to…
The Best Carpaccio Dressing
My beef carpaccio recipe must have a kick ass sauce to go with it. Maybe that means I’m not a true raw meat lover, but Im ok with that. I feel the same way about sushi.
Debbie and I like our homemade carpaccio with a creamy mustard sauce that’s full of flavor. Raw beef doesn’t have a lot of flavor, so we feel like the sauce needs to.
Our dressing is simply made with a little mayo, lemon juice, stone ground mustard, spicy horseradish for a little kick, parmesan cheese and of course, salt and pepper. It’s so good, I could just eat it with a spoon and it makes the best beef carpaccio that we have ever tasted!
How to Make This Recipe for Entertaining
We love making this beef carpaccio recipe for guests because you can make everything ahead of time! If you read our blog regularly, you know this is one thing that makes our lives easier when we are having people over.
The sauce can be made even up to a week or more ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Its also good on burgers or roast beef, among other things.
The crostinis can be made up to a day or maybe two and stored them in a big ziplock bag, or other air tight container. If you can though, make these the same day as you are serving them. They always taste the best fresh.
The beef can be sliced stored in between parchment paper, on a tray and layered on top of each other in the fridge for a couple days.
Then when you want to serve it, you can either pile the beef on the crostinis and drizzle with the sauce, or you can arrange the beef slices on a plate, serve everything separately and let your guests make their own.
Either way its awesome! Eat raw meat! We dare you 🙂
Tools You Need:
- A good sharp knife – if you don’t have a good sharp knife, you need one. I am always surprised how many people don’t! It is essential for all types of cooking and for slicing this meat really thin. It can be a bit of an investment, but its one that will pay off many times over. The knife we have linked to is the knife that I have and I love it!
- A knife sharpener – this honing steel is excellent for sharpening your knives. I have had a few knife sharpeners, but my honing steel worked better. I just got this other knife sharpener for Christmas last year and it also seems to work well. It’s an EdgeLogix sharpener.
Other Beef Appetizer Recipes You Might Like
If you’ve tried this beef carpaccio recipe then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let us know how it turned out in the comments below. We love hearing from you!
We love to see your creations! Tag @Cookswithcocktails if you post a picture of this recipe on INSTAGRAM.
How to make Beef Carpaccio with a Kick Ass Mustard Horseradish Sauce
Ingredients
SAUCE
- 4 tbsp mayo
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp stone ground mustard
- 2 tbsp fresh grated Parmesan
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 1/2 tsp horseradish (or more if you like more)
- salt and pepper to taste
FOR THE BEEF
- 250 g good quality tenderloin beef
- steak seasoning or salt and pepper
- couple tbsp capers
- shaved parmesan cheese
FOR THE CROSTINIS
FOR THE SALAD
- 2 cups or so of baby kale and arugula
- drizzle olive oil
- just a sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
MAKE THE SAUCE
- Add all the sauce ingredients to a bowl and mix well. Cover and store in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
MAKE THE CROSTINIS
- Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Slice your loaf of bread up. Mix the garlic seasoning with the oil, and brush a little on both sides of the bread. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven till they brown a little. About 5 – 8 mins. Flip them over and cook till they are browned on the other side as well. About 3 – 5 mins. Set aside.
MAKE THE BEEF
- Season your piece of beef well on all sides and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place the tenderloin in the freezer for 2 hours or so. You want it to be very firm, but not frozen all the way through so it doesn’t fall apart when you slice it thin.
- Take it out and with a very sharp knife, slice the beef as thin as you can without wrecking the slice. It doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to get it paper thin when you slice it, just do as good as you can and then place your slices on a piece of plastic wrap or wax paper. Make sure to space out your slices at least an inch apart. Then put another piece of wrap or wax paper on top and use a rolling pin to lightly roll over and thin them out. You only need a light pressure to make them super thin.
- Leave the plastic wrap on and place on a baking sheet. Continue with the rest of the beef in the same way until you have as many slices as you need. Store the beef on the baking tray in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
SERVE
- Mix the salad with the olive oil, salt and pepper.
- Serve this appy by arranging the beef slices on a platter, place a handful of the salad in the middle of the plate. Drizzle the sauce over the beef generously and sprinkle some capers and shaved parmesan cheese over top. Serve with the crostinis and more sauce on the side.
OR
- Put the crostinis together and serve. Start with a crostini on the bottom, next place a slice of beef and drizzle generously with the sauce. Top with the salad, capers and some sliced parmesan cheese.
Ruthie says
Used this as a jumping off point, I used 2T mayo, 2 T lemon juice, 2T stone ground mustard, 2T Parmesan and 2T horseradish. And for the salad I used micro greens.
Turned out great.
Susie Harvey says
I made this exactly as written and it was devoured by my guests. They were fabulous! The only criticism was to cut the crostini really thin. I was multitasking and think I may have let the bread get too toasty (hard). And cutting bread on the diagonal made them more than bite size. I’ll cut them on less of a diagonal next time for perfect one bite beef carpaccio.
Julie & Debbie says
So glad you and your guests loved these!
damascus knives maker says
I made this exactly as written and it was loved by my kids and husband keep sharing this sort of more recipes i have to focus cutting next time
Mike says
I love simple recipes that work out perfectly, and this is an example of exactly that.
Julie & Debbie says
so happy to hear you enjoyed it! We love it too 🙂