Classic Beef Stroganoff Recipe (Home Cooked Meal) - Savory Simple (2024)

This classic Beef Stroganoff recipe makes fall comfort food in 30 minutes! Tender beef with mushrooms in a rich, creamy sauce. Make this quick and easy home cooked meal for dinner tonight!

Beef Stroganoff is one of my favorite hearty dinners. It’s comfort food that’s especially wonderful on a chilly day, but it’s also perfect for any time when you just want something a bit more substantial. It’s also a great choice for dinner parties!

The combination of seared beef, caramelized mushrooms, buttery noodles, and sour cream-thickened gravy is so incredibly satisfying.

This is a surprisingly fast and easy recipe to throw together. Once the ingredients start hitting the pan, everything comes together quickly. Let’s break down how to prepare this recipe in a bit more detail than you’ll see in the instructions, so you’ll understand the “why” of each step.

How to Make our Classic Beef Stroganoff recipe

1. Brown the Mushrooms: You start by browning the mushrooms in oil over medium-high heat in a flat-sided skillet,Dutch ovenor heavy-bottom saucepan to caramelize them. Once the mushrooms are brown, transfer them to a bowl.

2. Sear the Meat: Next, in the same pan, quickly sear the beef; just 30 seconds per side on high heat. The beef is thinly sliced so it won’t take long, plus it will have more time to finishing cooking in the sauce at the end. Transfer to the same bowl with the mushrooms.

3. Deglaze the Pan: The beef and mushrooms will have left a brown glaze on the bottom of the pan. This glaze is also known in culinary terms as fond. There’s a ton of incredible flavor in fond that needs to be incorporated back into the sauce.

This is done by adding butter, onions and a pinch of salt to the pan. Salt causes water to release from the onions, which loosens up the fond, allowing it to be scraped up with a spatula and incorporated into the onions as they cook.

4. Prepare the Sauce: Once the bottom of the pan is relatively clear of brown bits, it’s time to make the sauce. Flour is added to the pan, which creates a roux (a thickener) when mixed with the butter.

Next we add stock, wine, and the juices that have collected in the beef and mushrooms (so much flavor!). Turning up the heat will activate the roux and cause the liquid to simmer and thicken.

Finally, sour cream is added, and the beef and mushrooms are returned to the pan for a minute until warmed through. Serve over buttered noodles and top with chopped fresh parsley.

{Learn more culinary terms from my Kitchen Glossary}

Recipe Tips For success

• Prep ahead. Before you start cooking, have your ingredients measured out and lined up in the order they go into the pan. That makes the cooking process so much more brainless. If you’re anything like me (scattered), this is very important!
• Use the proper pan. Since you want to quickly get a good sear on the beef without overcooking it, do not use a nonstick saucepan or skillet for this recipe. Beef Stroganoff gets so much flavor from caramelization. It’s possible to caramelize with nonstick pans, but it takes longer than 30 seconds. {Check out this roundup of my favorite cookware for some good options}
• Use the best meat. You want to use a tender cut of beef for best results. I’ve suggested tenderloin or sirloin. While I was originally planning to use tenderloin, I was finding the cut to be too expensive everywhere I checked. Because of the cost, I ultimately went with sirloin and thought it worked fine. However, I suspect tenderloin will be even better. I suggest comparing the prices where you live and making your own judgement call.
• Monitor the heat. If the pan seems like it’s getting too smokey while searing, simply move it off the burner for a moment until the smoke lessens slightly. Then, move it back to the heat as soon as possible. You’re in control of the heat.
• Temper the dairy products. The sour cream might curdle if you add it directly to the pan, so be sure to ladle some of the hot liquid into the sour cream first, whisking to combine. This will warm up and thin out the sour cream (the culinary term for this is “tempering”) so it incorporates smoothly.
• Monitor the sodium. Soy sauce is listed as an optional ingredient toward the end. If you use a splash of soy sauce instead of salt (1-2 teaspoons), it adds some extra umami, or savoriness. However, depending on how well the beef and onions were salted, you might not want to add it.

What is Beef Stroganoff?

This dish, also known as Beef Stroganov (бефстроганов befstróganov, in Russian), originated in Russia in the mid-19th century.

Classically, the preparation is sautéed beef served in a sauce finished with sour cream, or smetana.

Various sources say the dish is either named after one of the members of the Stroganov family, or from the Russian verb строгать (strogat’): to chip or shave off.

Will this classic beef stroganoff recipe work in a Slow Cooker?

To add flavor to the sauce, beef and mushrooms, it is necessary to caramelize the ingredients. Unfortunately, this cooking technique isn’t possible with a slow cooker.

For this reason, I don’t believe the recipe is compatible for a slow cooker.

However, you can absolutely brown the ingredients in a skillet on the stove first, then add them to the slow cooker and follow the recipe from there.

Even still, the dish needs just 15 minutes of additional cook time after the browning.

Ultimately, making this quick and easy home cooked meal on the stove top makes the most sense to me.

Ingredient notes

• What cut of beef is best for stroganoff?

For best results, you want to use a tender cut of beef, such as tenderloin or sirloin.

However, because tenderloin can be pricey, sirloin is a perfectly fine way to go. Some people like to make ground beef stroganoff but honestly, ground beef lacks the rich flavor you want in stroganoff.

• Understanding the Smoke Point of Oils

This recipe requires using an oil with a high smoke point.

Are you wondering what a smoke point is, and which oils are appropriate to use? Check out my post Understanding The Smoke Point of Cooking Oils and Fats!

• Shallots

This recipe uses one of my favorite ingredients: shallots!

Learn more about shallots and when to use them in recipes with my ingredient overview: What Are Shallots?

• Onions

This recipe calls for chopped onions. Check out my fast and easy technique for how to chop an onion with step-by-step photos!

Other Fall Comfort Food with Beef

If you like this classic beef stroganoff recipe, you may also enjoy my Cumin Flank Steak with Salsa. It’s full of flavor and cooks up very quickly.

Beer Marinated Grilled Flat Iron Steakis the ultimate meal for hearty eaters.

Dolsot Bibimbap, allows you to create a popular Korean restaurant dish at home, and Cincinnati Chiliis the perfect meal for a cool fall day.