Beef Stroganoff

Growing up my Dad cooked for us a lot, and he had 2 signature meals.  One was his famous “Thin Cakes,” and if you asked any of my siblings what the other one was, they’d undoubtedly answer: Beef Stroganoff.  My Mom actually made it often as well, but it will always be a “Dad meal” for me.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Now the recipe I’m sharing today isn’t my family recipe.  Growing up, Stroganoff always involved ground beef, cream of mushroom soup (which my mom always put through the blender first because if my brother found even one microscopic speck of a mushroom the meal was over) and generally we ate it over rice.  My Dad always started with that condensed soup, but added layers of flavor, and creamy sour cream, and always a “secret ingredient” which was always Parmesan cheese.

This is my version, in which I ditched the condensed soup, use tender sliced steak, and instead of blending mushrooms, I actually add real mushrooms.  This is one of those meals where the ingredient list almost looks too simple, yet time and time again I’m reminded of how amazing, and how comforting the finished product is.  My kids LOVE this meal.  And it can totally be done in under 30 minutes in one pan, so I love this meal, too.  I actually wrote this recipe for our very first book, and people have consistently told me over the years that this is one of their most favorite recipes, so I figured it was time it had a place here on the site!

Some of you may stop reading right as this next photo comes up because you hate mushrooms, so just stick with me.  Guess what, I actually don’t love mushrooms myself.  But when they are sauteed in butter with onions and garlic and covered in a creamy sauce with steak that happens to be the same color, well- it works.  And my mushroom-hating kids don’t really notice either.  That being said, if you hate mushrooms, feel free to leave them out- this will still be delicious!  You can even add a little extra steak to compensate.

Okay so step one.  Saute some mushrooms in butter with garlic and onions.   When you put the mushrooms in the pan it will seem like a ton, but they cook down so much it’s the perfect amount, so just go with it. It’s important to cook these long enough so that the onions are soft and tender so make sure you test one before you move on to the next step or you’ll have crunchy sauce and no one wants crunchy sauce.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Slide all those shrooms onto a plate and add a little more butter to your pan.  I’m using a white pan so you can see all that color.  That’s going to flavor your meat and build depth into your sauce.  The butter you’re adding here is going to help lift that up and make a super silky, creamy sauce.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Dump in a bunch of steak now and saute it until it’s no longer pink.  Sliced steak cooks really fast; don’t over cook it or it will be tough.  You can use your favorite cut of steak, here. Lately I’ve loved flank steak, and this batch in the photos is made with tri-tip. Those aren’t the most economical cuts of steak- at all, but they’re really good.

Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

While it’s cooking, you can whisk up your quick sauce. It has beef base, Worcestershire, and a little flour to thicken.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

As the sauce heats it will turn into a gorgeous gravy.  Add those mushrooms back to the pan and stir it all up.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

The final step is a big dollop of sour cream.  You can use full fat or reduced fat, here.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

The result is an ultra creamy, beefy, sauce over tender steak.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

You can serve it over pasta or rice.  Growing up we usually had it on rice, but my family prefers wide egg noodles.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

And honestly, you might notice I don’t call for parsley in the recipe- the only reason I’m adding it here is because Beef Stroganoff is possibly one of the hardest things I’ve ever photographed.  Tastes AMAZING, looks blah. ha.

The Best Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Trust me on this and put it on your menu this week.  Family favorite, right here!

 

Speaking of our very first book, it was actually just re-printed!  It has a new format, similar to our most recent 400 Calories or Less Book.  “Our Best Bites: 150 Family Friendly Recipes” is a long-standing favorite full of great recipes.  Since it’s a new printing, it actually has a brand new listing on Amazon, so if you happen to have it and love it we would sure appreciate reviews there!  Looks like all of the former reviews are gone and so many of you left great ones!

 

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Meet The Author

Sara Wells

Sara Wells co-founded Our Best Bites in 2008. She is the author of three Bestselling Cook Books, Best Bites: 150 Family Favorite RecipesSavoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites, and 400 Calories or Less from Our Best Bites. Sara’s work has been featured in many local and national news outlets and publications such as Parenting MagazineBetter Homes & GardensFine CookingThe Rachel Ray Show and the New York Times.

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Questions & Reviews

  1. I made this for dinner tonight but used ground beef and doubled the sauce/gravy ingredients. I think I might have changed my husband and kids’ minds about stroganoff – it was delicious as well as nice and quick to make!

  2. I made this for our dinner tonight – it was delicious! I’ll be making it again for sure! I also want to say I’m super excited that the ‘print this’ button has reappeared! I know you told me several months ago that it wasn’t gone – but it never showed up on my end! Another commenter said that they would request the desktop site and it showed up – I did that for a while, but it stopped working too after a time. Anyway, I’ve noticed that the last couple recipes the print button is there again! Hooray! It’s the simple things, you know?! ?

    1. Ha, that’s because the print feature we were using suddenly went out of business so we are using the old “print this” until we find a new one! But I’m glad it’s working for you now! haha

  3. My family loves beef stroganoff! Your pictures are so gorgeous, btw.

  4. We had this a couple nights ago and it was delicious! The Worcestershire sauce really added a lot of flavor, other beef stroganoff I’ve tried was very bland.

  5. Wonderful recipe to try soon. Plan to serve over quinoa. Thanks for sharing so many terrific recipes with all of us.

  6. I love that you ditched the canned soup – I’m excited to try this recipe. I have a tendency to substitute plain Greek yogurt for sour cream in other recipes – what are your thoughts on using it here over sour cream? I’m not opposed to sour cream, I just usually have an excess of Greek yogurt. Thoughts?

    1. I’m guessing plain Greek would be just fine. It would definitely work from a consistency standpoint, in terms of taste, I’m partial to sour cream, so it would just be a preference thing.

  7. Okay so I loooove beef stroganoff – but have never made it myself?! Time to change that! This looks absolutely delicious, and I love the story about dad cooking 😉 My dads signature dish was oven roasted chicken, and he didn’t really care what vegetables and sides we wanted with that.