Our aim was to achieve a single-step pressure-heat process that would produce tender, juicy beef steaks from meat that would otherwise be tough when cooked. Steak portions (25 mm thick) from hind-quarter muscles were subjected to heat treatment at 60, 64, 68, 72 or 76 °C for 20 min, with or without simultaneous application of high pressure (200 MPa). Control steaks were heated at 60 °C for 20 min with or without pressure and cooked at 80 °C for 30 min. Compared with heat alone, pressure treatment resulted in higher lightness scores at all tem- peratures and overall yield was improved by pressure treatment at each temperature. Even at 76 °C, the overall water losses were b 10% compared with N 30% for heat alone. Meat tenderness (peak shear force) was improved for the pressure–heat samples at temperatures above 64 °C, and was optimal at 76 °C. Therefore, subject to mi- crobial evaluation, this single-step pressure-heat process could be used to produce tender, high moisture content steaks ready for consumption.