Ground Beef Stroganoff
Published 12/2/2021
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Ground beef stroganoff is the ultimate winter comfort meal! The whole family will love this super simple and oh so creamy ground beef stroganoff recipe.
Comfort Food at its Finest!
Calling all stroganoff lovers! We’re back with yet another amazing beef stroganoff recipe, and this time it features ground beef. Not only does this mean this recipe comes together super quickly, it also means that you’ll have amazing beef flavor throughout the entire dish.
What is beef stroganoff?
Beef Stroganoff is a Russian dish made with tender pieces of beef served with egg noodles and a sour cream-based sauce.
Classic beef stroganoff is made with sliced beef (we use a chuck roast because it’s inexpensive and easy to find), egg noodles, and a delicious savory mushroom and sour cream-based sauce.
For this beef stroganoff, we’re using ground beef (Linley’s childhood favorite for this dish!). If you’re looking for a more traditional stroganoff, check our our slow cooker beef stroganoff, easy beef stroganoff or our Instant Pot beef stroganoff.
What You Need for Ground Beef Stroganoff
- Ground beef: We used 85/15 beef for this stroganoff, but any fat percentage will do. The higher the fat content, the more fat that will cook out of the ground beef.
- Beef broth: beef broth is essential in the flavor of your ground beef stroganoff. Make sure to get normal beef broth and not low sodium.
- Crimini mushrooms: when thinking about classic stroganoff flavors, umami is definitely important. We used crimini mushrooms, but baby bellas would also work.
- Salt and pepper: don’t skip the salt. Not only does it tenderize the beef, but also enhances the flavors of the sauce.
- Fresh thyme and garlic: these flavors are critical to your stroganoff! We love using fresh thyme and garlic for the best flavor.
- Onion: onion is super important for flavoring the sauce. Yellow and white both work.
- Worcestershire sauce: the vinegar and savory flavors of Worcestershire sauce is a must!
- All purpose flour & butter: this is the base for your roux, which will make your ground beef stroganoff sauce thick and delicious.
- Greek yogurt and sour cream: most beef stroganoff recipes call for sour cream. We are using a combination of Greek yogurt and sour cream instead. Just make sure both the sour cream and Greek yogurt is full fat for optimal creaminess.
- Extra wide egg noodles: we love love love using extra wide egg noodles for our ground beef stroganoff because they keep their texture so well and don’t break down as much in the stroganoff sauce — aka delish leftovers!
How to Make Ground Beef Stroganoff
COOK THE EGG NOODLES
When you make this ground beef stroganoff recipe, you’ll start off by cooking the noodles. Then you can set them aside and not think about it for the rest of the cooking process 😀
Pro tip: We suggest cooking your egg noodles in salted water and then cook the noodles to al dente because they will continue to cook a bit when you add them to the stroganoff sauce.
Brown Ground Beef
Next, heat a large pan (or dutch oven) over medium/high heat and add ground beef and salt. Break the ground beef up in the pan with a wooden spoon. When the ground beef is almost cooked add the onion and garlic to the beef and mix.
Cook all those ingredients together until the beef is fully cooked. Remove from the heat and remove beef from the pan and set aside.
Sauté Mushrooms
You’ll use the same pan to sauté the mushrooms in butter. Let the mushrooms sauté for 6-8 minutes, tossing them every 3-4 minutes.
Then, turn the heat up to high heat and let the mushrooms brown for 1 minute. Why? This will help bring out that amazing umami flavor.
Make Stroganoff Sauce
While the mushrooms are browning, whisk together the beef broth and the Worcestershire in a bowl.
Turn the heat to low and add the last of the butter to the pan. Toss the mushrooms in the melted butter and then sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and toss again making sure the mushrooms are covered in flour.
Turn the heat to medium/high heat and slowly pour beef broth into the pan and whisk consistently until the mixture thickens.
Turn heat to low and add the fresh thyme to the pan and mix. When the fresh thyme is fragrant, remove the pan from heat.
Add Greek yogurt, sour cream, and pepper and mix until combined. Sauce too thick? Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of additional beef broth to thin out, if needed.
Pour the ground beef mixture into the sauce and mix and return to the heat until it reaches the desired temperature.
Mix and enjoy!
Fold the egg noodles into the ground beef sauce, serve and enjoy.
How to Serve Ground Beef Stroganoff
Extra-wide egg noodles all the way! We tried this recipe with medium, wide, and extra-wide noodles and extra-wide is the way to go. Don’t have egg noodles? Pappardelle is a great alternative.
Mashed potatoes also make an amazing pairing for ground beef stroganoff.
Storage
It is important to let your ground beef stroganoff cool completely before transferring it into an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days.
Can you Freeze Beef Stroganoff?
While you can absolutely freeze the cooked meat and vegetables for this beef stroganoff, we recommend waiting to add the egg noodles, sour cream and Greek yogurt to this dish if you’re planning to freeze it.
The consistency of the yogurt and sour cream can become a bit lumpy and inconsistent when frozen and then thawed, and the egg noodles tend to get a bit mushy.
If you’re planning to make this ahead of time and then freeze for later, simply leave the yogurt, sour cream and noodles out, and add them in once the dish is thawed.
Ground Beef Stroganoff Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 oz. extra wide egg noodles
- 1 lb. ground beef
- 1/4 large white onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, separated
- 8 oz. crimini mushrooms, sliced
- 1 teaspoon salt, separated
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup beef broth, + more if needed to thin out the sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, roughly chopped
- ½ cup sour cream
- ⅓ cup nonfat Greek yogurt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Begin by bringing a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add egg noodles.
- Let the egg noodles cook until they are al dente and then strain the water from the noodles. Rinse the noodles with cold water and set aside.
- Next, heat a large pan (or dutch oven) over medium/high heat and add ground beef and ½ teaspoon salt.
- Break the ground beef up in the pan with a wooden spoon. When the ground beef is almost cooked add the onion and garlic to the beef and mix.
- Cook all those ingredients together for 2-3 minutes or until the beef is fully cooked.
- Remove from the heat and remove beef from the pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, add 2 tablespoons of butter and heat over medium heat.
- When the butter is melted, add all of the mushrooms and ½ teaspoon of salt and turn the heat down to medium/low.
- Let the mushrooms sauté for 6-8 minutes, tossing them every 3-4 minutes.
- Then, turn the heat up to high heat and let the mushrooms brown for 1 minute.
- While the mushrooms are browning, measure out the beef broth and add the Worcestershire to the broth and whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Turn the heat to low and add the last 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan.
- Toss the mushrooms in the melted butter and then sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and toss again making sure the mushrooms are covered in flour.
- Turn the heat to medium/high heat and slowly pour beef broth into the pan and whisk consistently until the mixture thickens.
- Turn heat to low and add the fresh thyme to the pan and mix.
- When the fresh thyme is fragrant, remove the pan from heat.
- Add Greek yogurt, sour cream, and pepper and mix until combined. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of additional beef broth to thin out, if needed.
- Pour the ground beef mixture into the sauce and mix and return to the heat. Heat the mixture over low heat until it reaches the desired temperature.
- Fold the egg noodles into the ground beef sauce and let the mixture and serve.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Photography: photos taken in this post are by Erin from The Wooden Skillet.
I love this recipe! I grew up with my mom making something similar with cream of mushroom soup and this is elevated with the fresh mushrooms, beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. I do leave out the fresh thyme. My husband suggests that I make this!
So I’m sure not what happen. was very excited to see this recipe because this momma can’t stand box hamburger helper or whatever its called. I Went by the recipe and all and just seemed to be missing something. It was okay and very easy to make. Will try again
Both kids went back for seconds!! I may have put in a secret ingredient 🙂 There was a bit of bacon mixed in with the ground beef!! But otherwise made as directed and gravy was just delicious.
Oh YUM! We fully endorse your bacon addition 😀
Made this tonight for my family and it was a big hit! Perfect for a cold winter night!
Just made this, so good!