Nutrition Facts Of Salisbury Steak

Salisbury steak gets its name from American Civil War-era physician James Henry Salisbury, a proponent of a beef-only diet decades before Dr. Atkins came onto the scene. At the time, many people considered Salisbury steak to be a health food, though modern dietary knowledge says otherwise. Salisbury steak can take a variety of forms, but it usually consists of ground meat that is mixed with starches and vegetables. Salisbury steak is usually served with a brown gravy.

Nutritional Considerations

If you buy a prepared Salisbury steak in the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires it to be at least 65 percent meat. The meat portion must be at least 75 percent beef. Each serving will contain several grams of saturated fat; the actual amount depends on the type of ground meat that is used. All Salisbury steaks are packed with sodium. If you make your own, many Salisbury steak recipes call for canned soups or broths, which will add a significant amount of sodium per serving. Bread crumbs and other fillers will boost the carbohydrate levels of this dish. On the positive side, a Salisbury steak does provide protein, and it may contain fiber and vitamins, depending on what vegetables are used in it.

Examples

A frozen Banquet Salisbury steak meal -- which also includes mashed potatoes and corn -- contains 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 25 grams of carbohydrates and a whopping 1,020 mg of sodium. It contains 11 grams of protein and only a smattering of vitamins and minerals, including phosphorous, manganese and folic acid. A homemade version using ground beef, bread crumbs, eggs and canned soup contains 7.1 grams of saturated fat, 764 mg of sodium and 13.8 grams of carbohydrates. This version has 25.3 grams of protein, which is about half of what you need in a single day.

Drawbacks

The American Heart Association recommends limiting your saturated fat intake to no more than 7 percent of your total calories. If you consume a 2,000-calories-per-day diet, consume no more than 16 grams of saturated fat per day. Exceeding this limit increases your risk of high cholesterol, heart disease and stroke. Too much sodium raises your risk of high blood pressure, and if you choose a frozen Salisbury steak or one that is made with canned soup, a single serving provides nearly half of the sodium you should be consuming per day.

Alternatives

If you like Salisbury steak, improve its nutritional profile by making a few substitutions. Prepare it yourself -- there is no getting around the high sodium content in frozen versions. You can use lean ground beef or substitute a leaner meat such as ground turkey to cut the saturated fat levels. Using 90 percent lean beef cuts the amount of saturated fat per serving by about a third (when compared to a steak made with 70 percent lean beef). A wine sauce will provide less fat and sodium than a soup- or broth-based sauce. You also can add extra vegetables such as green beans to add fiber and nutrients to the recipe.