Primal Philly Cheesesteak in a Bowl

primal philly cheese steak
Cheap, easy and a quick go-to meal, if you ask me. Who needs bread, when you can knife-n-fork it? You’re not losing any flavor, just a bit of texture–but really, who likes soppy, gloppy bread? No one. I stand corrected, some people. Skirt steak is substituted for the normal cheesesteak meat: ribeye. Skirt steak is cheap and equally as tasty. If you can’t find skirt steak, use ribeye, if you can afford it, or use flank, sirloin or london broil–just make sure to slice it as thinly as you can. And oh, did I mention, leftovers galore?

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. skirt steak, sliced thinly
  • 2 green peppers, sliced thinly
  • 2 yellow onions, sliced thinly
  • 8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
  • 4 oz. good melting cheese (I used raw milk Colby), sliced
  • 2 T butter
  • 1 T Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 T hot sauce
  • S&P

Method

Put your oven on broil and place the rack in the middle of the oven. In a large, oven proof saucepan, melt the butter over high heat and add hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Brown the beef really well. Seriously. Get a nice brown crust on each piece. Add the onions, peppers and mushrooms. Place a lid/cover on the saute pan and stir occasionally while the peppers and onions soften. Once that’s happened, top with cheese slices, stick the pan under the broiler until the cheese has reached the desired melty-ness stage. Some like it gooey and some like it brown and bubbly. Take it out of the oven and serve.


Comments

38 responses to “Primal Philly Cheesesteak in a Bowl”

  1. Thanks for this recipe. It sounds good, and I’ll try it. But actually, I did like soppy, gloppy bread, when I ate bread. That’s one of the things that I liked about bread, the way it soaked up juices and flavors.

    I think we can embrace the primal/paleo diet more positively by acknowledging that grains are bad for us but that they provide a pleasurable eating experience. I don’t really miss them, but I remember how good some grain-based foods were, and I don’t want to pretend that they weren’t delicious. I’m managing fine without them.

  2. Hey Paula. Thanks for the comment. We’d agree that wheat flour can add something to a meal in terms of texture (crispy, chewy, gooey) and that some things aren’t exactly the same without them in total eating experience. We believe that grains though, are typically just a vehicle to carry the real flavor. (think: oatmeal and water with no butter, sugar, fruit…..or plain wheat bread, etc.) So our point of view, and one reason we wanted to create the site is to prove that if you have enough of the real flavor….that looks and tastes delicious….you’ll miss grains even less or not at all.

  3. I love the recipes on this site. I’ve been following them for a while but I had to comment when I saw a way to eat a healthy Philly Cheesesteak. That’s just awesome! I’m going to make that this week. This kind of reminds me of the bacon cheeseburger salad I made the other day. Making traditionally unhealthy foods healthy is like making it legal to make your own money! Well, almost.

    1. hahahaha. thanks matt!

  4. So today is the first time I’ve noticed this recipe on here, but last year when I did the paleo challenge in the fall, I pretty much lived off this! It was about the only thing I could come up with if I wanted to eat out that fit the diet (Granted, I’m sure the cheese wasn’t raw, but hey we can’t all be perfect), and it’s so good. People looked at me like I was nuts when I ordered it, but once it was sitting on the table in front of me, they were singin a different tune.

  5. This is a fantastic recipe. Why stuff like this is called “Philly” I’ll never know because Philadelphia cheesesteaks are basically steak and processed cheese sauce and MAYBE onions. But none of that matters, and I know that. Back to the recipe: It is somewhat vague so just be careful to not overcook the beef. What I do is cook the vegetables until soft…and THEN throw the uncooked meat in for a few minutes…maybe 5. It is funny – apparently skirt steak is popular now, whereas before it was considered third rate meat. So, of course, the stores now charge an arm and a leg for it.

  6. Is there. Source where I can read about why raw cheese is paleo? Or can someone explain it to me?

  7. you probably won’t find anyone who will say it was an available source of food in the Paleolithic period (dairy that is). but there are quite a few Paleo/Primal proponents who think it’s fine at approximating Paleolithic metabolism (similar in composition to Paleolithic foods and not shown to be toxic or an agent of modern disease)…which is all we can really do with any of our modern foods. ex. fruit is not the wild edible it once was, etc.

    raw dairy just keeps the beneficial enzymes of dairy alive and pasteurization can also damage the proteins. for this and other reasons, many people who don’t tolerate pasteurized dairy do quite well on raw. dairy is a grey area food that sparks debate though and there could be concerns with dairy proteins etc. this is one of the foods you have to do your research on and decide how you feel about it.

    http://www.paleonu.com/panu-weblog/2009/6/13/using-dairy-to-substitute-fats-for-carbohydrates.html

    http://www.marksdailyapple.com/dairy-intolerance/

    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2004/04/24/raw-milk.aspx

    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2003/03/26/pasteurized-milk-part-one.aspx

  8. Hey can you suggest a substitution for the Worcestershire sauce? It contains gluten in some brands and I haven’t found a gluten-free variety to buy in Ireland yet.

    Thanks!

    1. Coconut amino acids you can buy off amazon if not local

  9. We combined this recipe with a broccoli slaw. Great stuff and you need a big pan to saute all those veggies. For Lara: you could try Tamari (wheat free soy) or liquid aminos (not fermented soy so it has its ups and downs depending on how you eat).

  10. Julie Gerbino

    Made this for dinner and it was soooooo amazing.
    The flavors just melted in your mouth… making it again tonight!
    Thanks for the great recipes… keep them coming!!

    1. awesome…thanks julie!

  11. Dave Baker

    This was awesome!! I always thought some what healthy food had to suck!! (I’m brand new to this style of eatting as you can tell).

    1. hahahaha. glad this didn’t suck! thanks dave

  12. I made this with chicken and it was just as amazing. Tremendous flavors for such a quick meal.

    1. so glad you enjoyed jess!

  13. […] Plan 12-28-11 By Christi, on December 28th, 2011 Beef with Broccoli Primal Philly Cheesesteak in a Bowl Bacon Lovers Dream Pie Roasted Cabbage with Bacon Steak with grilled veggies and sweet potatoes […]

  14. This was FABULOUS ! Thank you!

    1. you are very welcome sandy. glad you enjoyed!

  15. More paleo than you

    Good job with the photo. I’m sure this is delicious, but I bet it was hard as hell to make it look better than a pile of slop.

    1. a lot of things are like that…we don’t allow alpo or fancy feast on the site though (at least we think we don’t).

      this is an old one…i bet we could make it look even more mouth-watering now.

  16. Do you have the nutritional information for this recipe?

    1. nope. but i’m sure you can find it on a nutrition database somewhere via google.

    2. http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php is brilliant for analyzing recipes like this. You just paste in the list of ingredients, adjust for number of servings and make any minor corrections.

      The nutritional analysis for this (assuming 5 servings):

      Nutrition Facts
      Serving Size 262 g
      Amount Per Serving
      Calories 360
      Calories from Fat 193

      Total Fat 21.5g
      Saturated Fat 11.2g
      Trans Fat 0.0g

      Cholesterol 90mg
      Sodium 356mg
      Potassium 587mg

      Total Carbohydrates 8.7g
      Dietary Fiber 2.2g
      Sugars 4.6g

      Protein 32.0g

      Nutritional Analysis

      Good points
      High in phosphorus
      High in selenium
      Very high in vitamin B6
      High in vitamin B12
      Very high in vitamin C
      High in zinc

      Bad points
      High in saturated fat

  17. I’ve never had philly cheese steak to begin with, so I didn’t know what I was getting into. Holy SMACKERS this was good. I made it with sweet potatoes and regular potatoes, roasted, to have on the side, and asparagus as well. Great meal for a not-so-great cut of meat. AAahhhhhhh i want to eat MORE!!! Yum. thank you!!

    1. you are super welcome stiina. so glad you liked it!

  18. Jinnifer

    Made this tonight – it was SSOOO GOOD! have made quite a few other recipes, and always get excited when i see a health-bent email in the box (like pad thai frittata!) On another note – on the dairy debate – One of the things that led me to Paleo was the blood type diet and I wonder if any one has seen the correlation between the two, and that B blood types tend to do better with Dairy and that O and A types tend to have more issues….

  19. I made this last week and it was unbelievable! Super easy too. I think my favorite part was the left overs. Thanks for posting this recipe! BTW, I can’t wait for your cookbook.

  20. Lordy this was good. Whole family loved it. Served it atop some crispy sweet potato fries. Will definitely add it to the arsenal. Thanks for the recipe!

    1. oh my gosh, that sounds amazing!!

  21. How is the cheese ok? Is it non-dairy or what? Sounds awesome though, its be good with some coconut/almond bread

    1. well…we’re a pro dairy…primal sort of paleo here. we like to make dairy we use optional because we understand that some people avoid it entirely. we just feel that dairy is in somewhat of a gray area…not paleo “per se” as in…wasn’t likely something eaten 10,000+ years ago…but is similar in characteristics to some of the foods that were…and ok for those who tolerate it.

      paleo for us isn’t a re-enactment…it’s just a template we apply to the way we think about food…gives us an idea of what might be problematic but doesn’t necessarily mean that anything new is definitely bad.

  22. Holy cow! This was so easy but SO delicious! It’s going into my “favorite recipes” file. 🙂 I used hamburger instead of steak, because that’s what I had. Turned out awesome. Can’t wait to try the steak!

  23. This is one of my husband and I’s favorite meals! I am so glad I found this! It is so quick and easy. Thanks for sharing!

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