Ground Beef Stroganoff

Who’s in the mood for some weeknight dinner comfort food?

If you’ve ever had to chew your way through a dry and tough stroganoff with a gray, unappetizing sauce, then this is the recipe you need.  The recipe you deserve!

Juicy ground beef, plenty of mushrooms and onions, all smothered in the most mouthwateringly rich, beefy gravy with that classic tang from the sour cream and some grainy mustard.

There’s a reason I call this the ultimate beef stroganoff!  Using ground beef saves you a bit of money without sacrificing juiciness, extra mushrooms (and not white mushrooms – baby portobello) with a beefy flavor, and a perfect combination of beef broth sour cream and dijon mustard… all yield a dish that’s fit to serve to company, yet easy enough to make on a weeknight for the family.

How to make ground beef stroganoff?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Brown beef. Crumble as it cooks and browns, then drain and set aside.
2. Cook veggies. Cook the onion and mushrooms together, until onions are soft and mushrooms are getting golden.
3. Cook garlic. This is added at the end to prevent the garlic from burning.
4. Return beef to skillet.
5. Add flour. Make sure to stir this well and cook it for a minute to remove the taste of raw flour.
6. Add liquids. In this recipe the liquids are dry white wine and beef broth. Cook them until thickened a bit.
7. Add flavor enhancers. That’s the Worcestershire sauce, sour cream, and mustard.
8. Stir and simmer. Once stirred together, continue to simmer another few minutes, until warmed through and thickened a bit more.

Variations of this recipe

• Other protein – to lighten this recipe up a bit, feel free to try it out with ground turkey or even ground chicken!
• Alcohol-free – if you’d prefer not to use any alcohol for this recipe, just replace the wine with an equal amount of additional beef broth.
• Other alcohol – instead of the white wine, add an equal amount of cognac or sherry to the pan, letting it cook a minute or two before adding the beef broth.
• Mushrooms – if you can’t find baby bella or cremini mushrooms, you can substitute with an equal amount of white button mushrooms.
• Sour cream – instead of sour cream, you could try using some plain greek yogurt.
• Serving options – here in the U.S., stroganoff is traditionally served over egg noodles, but it’s also amazing over mashed potatoes, rice, or even as a sandwich!  Pick up a few crusty sub rolls, split them open, and add a few heaping spoonfuls of beef stroganoff (draining off some of the sauce so it’s not too sloppy).  My favorite sandwich toppings are some sliced red onion and some peppery arugula lettuce!

Making beef stroganoff ahead of time

I prefer this dish when it’s made right before serving, but you CAN make it ahead of time if you’d like.

Make the beef gravy, and boil the egg noodles, but don’t stir them together. Cool both of them, and store them separately in airtight containers in the refrigerator.

When reheating the beef gravy, feel free to add a splash of beef broth if it needs some loosening up.

Storage

Leftover beef stroganoff should be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days.