Comfort Food Made from Scratch
Ground beef stroganoff is the kind of dinner that earns a permanent place in the family recipe collection. It is warm, filling, budget-friendly, and made with ingredients that are easy to keep on hand.
Tender egg noodles and golden mushrooms are smothered in a rich, beefy sour cream sauce, giving you everything you want from a comforting bowl of stroganoff. Using ground beef keeps the dish practical for an everyday dinner, while cooking everything in one skillet means fewer dishes and no separate pot of pasta water.
An Affordable Take on a Classic
Classic beef stroganoff is often made with strips of steak, but ground beef makes the dish more affordable and approachable. It browns quickly, remains tender, and distributes throughout the skillet so every serving has plenty of beef.
This may not be the formal Russian version of stroganoff, but it keeps the flavors most of us associate with the dish: savory beef, mushrooms, a creamy sauce, and the slight tang of sour cream.
It is an excellent way to turn one pound of ground beef into a generous dinner that can feed four to six people.
You Don’t Need a Can of Chemical Soup
Many ground beef stroganoff recipes begin with a can of condensed cream of mushroom soup. It may be convenient, but it is completely unnecessary.
Depending on the brand, canned condensed soup can contain highly processed oils, modified starches, flavorings, preservatives, and other ingredients you may not want in a homemade dinner. It also decides the flavor and consistency of your sauce before you even begin cooking.
Making the sauce yourself puts you in control. Butter, flour, beef stock, seasonings, and sour cream create a smooth, creamy sauce with real beef flavor and a pleasant tang. It only takes a few extra minutes, and there is no need to rely on a can of processed soup to make stroganoff creamy.
As always, read the label and decide which ingredients belong in your kitchen. For me, if I can make a better-tasting sauce from simple ingredients I already have, I would rather make it myself.
Mushrooms Belong in Stroganoff
Mushrooms are not simply something added to bulk up the recipe. Their deep, earthy flavor complements the beef and adds another savory layer to the sauce.
Browning them brings than letting them boil in liquid gives them better flavor and texture. They are added back near the end so they remain golden and meaty instead of disappearing into the sauce.
Cremini mushrooms have a slightly deeper flavor, but ordinary white button mushrooms work perfectly well. Use whichever are fresh, available, and reasonably priced.
Why Cook the Noodles in the Same Pan?
Cooking dried egg noodles directly in the skillet allows them to absorb the seasoned beef stock instead of plain pasta water. The starch they release also helps the sauce cling to the noodles.
It saves a pot, saves water, and turns the recipe into a genuine one-pan dinner—which is always appreciated in my small galley kitchen.
Different brands and shapes of egg noodles can absorb slightly different amounts of liquid. Keep a little additional beef stock nearby and add it only if the noodles need more before they become tender.
One-Pan Ground Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp butter, divided
- 8 oz cremini or white mushrooms, sliced
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
- 4 cups beef stock, plus more if needed
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 tsp white or black pepper
- 12 oz dried egg noodles
- 1/2 cup sour cream, brought close to room temperature
Instructions
- Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are browned and the liquid they release has evaporated. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate and set aside.Add the ground beef and diced onion to the same skillet. Cook for 7–8 minutes, breaking the beef into crumbles, until the meat is browned and the onion is tender. Drain off any excessive grease, leaving a light coating in the skillet.Reduce the heat to medium. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and the garlic. Cook for about 30 seconds, just until the garlic is fragrant.Sprinkle the flour evenly over the beef. Cook for 1–2 minutes, stirring continuously, so the flour coats the meat and loses its raw taste.Gradually pour in the beef stock while stirring and scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, paprika, salt, and pepper. Bring the liquid to a gentle boil.Add the dried egg noodles and stir to distribute them evenly. Reduce the heat to maintain a steady simmer, cover, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2–3 minutes so the noodles cook evenly and do not stick to the bottom of the skillet.If the noodles absorb the stock before they are tender, add additional stock a little at a time. The mixture should remain loose enough for the noodles to move through the sauce.Once the noodles are tender, return the browned mushrooms to the skillet and stir to combine. Remove the skillet from the heat and allow it to cool for about 1 minute.Stir in the sour cream until completely incorporated. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper as needed. Let the stroganoff rest for 2–3 minutes before serving; the sauce will continue to thicken as it stands.
Notes
- For fresh homemade egg noodles, begin with 2½ cups beef stock instead of 4 cups. Add the fresh noodles to the simmering sauce and cook uncovered for 3–5 minutes, depending on their thickness. Keep another ½ cup of stock nearby and add it a little at a time if the sauce becomes too thick before the noodles are tender.Sour cream can separate if it is added while the sauce is boiling. Remove the skillet from the heat and let it cool briefly before stirring it in.The mushrooms are cooked separately and returned near the end so they remain browned and do not become overly soft while the noodles cook.