Guess what time it is! Comfort-food-o’clock. And there’s no better comfort food than a rich creamy pasta dish, like this One Pot Beef Stroganoff. It cooks in just one pot, just like hamburger helper stroganoff, but it’s homemade and I promise it’s still super easy. You’re going to want to tuck this beef stroganoff recipe into your back pocket for those nights when you’re super tired and need an extra comforting meal. :)
What is Beef Stroganoff?
Beef stroganoff is a Russian dish that features pieces of sautéed beef in a rich and creamy sauce, often served over pasta. For this budget version of beef stroganoff, we’ve replaced the chunks of beef with budget-friendly ground beef, added mushrooms to stretch it a little further, and cooked everything in one pot for a quick and easy meal. It’s not a traditional beef stroganoff for sure, but it definitely is delicious!
Ingredients for One Pot Beef Stroganoff
Here’s what you’ll need to make this deliciously creamy One Pot Beef Stroganoff:
- Garlic: Garlic adds a nice deep flavor to the creamy sauce.
- Butter: We sauté the garlic in butter for extra flavor and richness.
- Ground Beef: Instead of using chunks of beef stew meat, we used ground beef for a more budget-friendly alternative.
- Mushrooms: We used a combination of mushrooms and beef to bulk up this one pot pasta while keeping the price low.
- Beef Broth: We cook the pasta one-pot style in the broth with all of the other ingredients so everything has maximum flavor. I suggest using a very flavorful broth or else your stroganoff will end up being bland. We use Better Than Bouillon to make our beef broth.
- Worcestershire Sauce & Dijon Mustard: Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard are added to the broth to add more dimension to the flavor.
- Egg Noodles: Wide egg noodles have the perfect light texture for this creamy sauce to keep the entire dish balanced.
- Sour Cream: Sour cream is stirred into the sauce to give it the classic creamy and tangy flavor of a stroganoff. If you’re looking for an alternative to sour cream, you can use Greek yogurt or heavy cream, which will be less tangy.
Beef Alternatives
I used half ground beef and half mushrooms to stretch my pennies a bit further, but you could do all mushrooms or all beef if you prefer. If you’re doing a vegetarian version with all mushrooms, use mushroom or vegetable broth to replace the beef broth.
Tips for Making One Pot Pasta
Every piece of cookware and every range top is different, so one pot recipes are a bit like riding a bike. You have to feel it out and find the sweet spot for the equipment you’re using. Here are some tips for making your one pot pasta a success:
- Use heavy, thick cookware to help the ingredients heat evenly.
- The broth does not need to fully cover the noodles for them to cook, so resist the urge to add extra water or broth.
- Make sure the liquid is simmering the whole time the pasta is cooking. If the heat is too low, the pasta will just get gummy.
- Stir the pot occasionally to prevent sticking, but not too often or your risk breaking down the pasta.
- Use your judgment. If your pasta looks close to being cooked through, but there is too much liquid left in the skillet, let it finish simmering with the lid off. If the liquid is gone but your pasta is still not tender, add a splash more water or broth and continue to simmer.
Use Good Broth
The broth brings a lot of flavor to this beef and mushroom stroganoff, so make sure you’re using a nice and flavorful broth that has adequate salt. I like to use Better than Bouillon to make broth for recipes because it’s super flavorful, I can mix up any amount I need, and the jar stays good in the refrigerator for months, so there are no leftovers to go to waste. If you still find your stroganoff to be on the bland side in the end, an extra pinch of salt can really help the flavors pop.
Want more One Pot Recipes? Check out our One Pot Recipe Archives!
One Pot Beef Stroganoff
Servings 4 about 1.5 cups eachIngredients
- 2 cloves garlic ($0.16)
- 2 Tbsp butter ($0.22)
- 1/2 lb. ground beef ($2.50)
- 8 oz. mushrooms ($1.49)
- 1/8 tsp Freshly cracked black pepper ($0.01)
- 2 cups beef broth ($0.26)
- 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce ($0.03)
- 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard ($0.02)
- 8 oz. wide egg noodles ($0.60)
- 1/3 cup sour cream ($0.15)
- 1 Tbsp chopped parsley (optional) ($0.10)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic. Add the garlic and butter to a large pot or skillet and sauté over medium heat for about one minute, or until the garlic is soft and fragrant.
- Add the ground beef and continue to sauté until it is fully browned.
- While the beef is browning, slice the mushrooms. Add the sliced mushrooms and some freshly cracked pepper to the pot with the beef. Continue to sauté until the mushrooms are soft (about five minutes).
- Add the uncooked egg noodles to the pot along with the beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and Dijon mustard. Stir to combine. The liquid will not fully cover the noodles, but that's okay.
- Place a lid on the pot and allow the liquid to come up to a boil over medium-high heat. As soon as it reaches a boil, give the pot a stir, replace the lid, and reduce the heat to low. Allow the pot to simmer on low heat for about 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally and replacing the lid every couple of minutes. After 7-10 minutes the pasta should be tender and most of the liquid absorbed.
- Once the noodles are tender, add the sour cream and fold it into the noodles until everything is rich and creamy. Give the noodles a taste and add extra salt or pepper, if needed. Roughly chop a handful of parsley leaves and sprinkle over top. Serve hot.
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Nutrition
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How to Make One Pot Beef Stroganoff – Step by Step Photos
Begin by sautéing 2 cloves of minced garlic in 2 Tbsp of butter until soft (1-2 minutes). You can use a large pot or large skillet, as long as it is big enough to hold all of the pasta AND has a lid (the lid will be used later).
Next, add 1/2 lb. ground beef and continue to sauté until it is fully browned.
While the beef is browning, slice 8oz. mushrooms. White button mushrooms are fine, but if you can get these baby bella mushrooms they are even more awesome (shout out to ALDI for carrying these at an affordable price).
Once the beef is browned, add the mushrooms and some freshly cracked pepper. Continue to sauté until they are soft (about five minutes).
Add ½ lb. wide egg noodles to the skillet along with 2 cups beef broth, 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce, and ½ tsp Dijon mustard. Stir to combine. The broth will not fully cover the noodles, but that’s okay. The steam in the skillet will help cook them and they’ll be stirred to make sure even cooking.
Place a lid on the skillet and bring the broth up to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, give it a quick stir to loosen the noodles from the bottom, return the lid quickly, and turn the heat down to low. Let the skillet simmer, stirring occasionally and always replacing the lid, for 7-10 minutes or until the noodles are tender and there is only a small amount of thick sauce left in the skillet.
Finally, add ⅓ cup sour cream and fold it into the noodles until everything is creamy and delicious!
Top off the beef stroganoff with a little chopped parsley for color (because stroganoff is kind of boring to look at) and it’s time to dive into that skillet full of creamy goodness! You might want to give it a taste at this point to see if you want a little extra salt or pepper (again, depending on the salt content of your broth), but other than that it’s time to eat! And only one dish to clean. :)
This was ah-mazing! I haven’t had beef stroganoff since I was a kid, and even then it was always out of a box. I wanted to try this out because it looked pretty simple and I needed to get rid of some egg noodles. Sooo good! I also sauteed some zucchini for a side and it went really well with it.
I am new to your blog and I am so excited to try your recipes. I’ve got my eye on those strawberry white chocolate scones next! ;)
I will march right alongside you and submit my own commercial-style endorsement for Better Than Bouillon! I can’t buy boxed or canned anymore. The price difference is too significant.
Our Costco sells the large jars of organic chicken base. It makes, like … 76 cups and costs a little under $7. Granted, many people will say that nothing beats homemade, but not everyone has the time or supplies to make/store their own stock. When you consider price, storage space, and convenience, Better Than Bouillon is really the second-best thing to making your own, in my opinion.
I had never heard of it up until I found your website. Now it’s a kitchen staple, and it saves us a ton of coin — especially since soup is one of my favorite meals. So, thanks, Beth. -:)
Can I add onion or onion powder? All the other recipes I’ve seen for stroganoff use them
Yep, absolutely. :) I almost sauteed an onion with the garlic, but decided to keep it simple.
Made this tonight, so YUMMY! I added some chopped up dill pickles with about 5 minutes cooking time left. They added a nice zing!!!
Do you have any suggestions for a cut of beef other than ground? I’m always uncertain which beef to buy for a recipe that calls for ground. My husband refuses to eat any sort of ground meat. (Believe me, it’s annoying)
I’ll be honest, I don’t cook with beef often. This dish cooks quickly, so you want to steer clear of anything listed as stew meat. Stew meat is rather tough and is meant for long, slow cooking methods that can soften up the connective tissue.
Top sirloin would be a good choice for this–it’s what I have always used in the past for stroganoff. Slice it thin against the grain and cook it quickly so it doesn’t dry out and toughen up. I like it ’cause it’s nice and lean, but it’s not a cheap cut, unfortunately.
Best of luck, Danielle.
Another good quick-cooking, tender beef cut is blade steak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blade_steak). Because you have to cut around to remove the tough central line of connective tissue, it’s often cheaper than top sirloin.
We called something very similar to this “Poor man’s stroganoff” in our house — we also do “Poor man’s pepper steak” too! Pepper steak is almost the same thing, but you put peppers in instead of mushrooms and add some Worcestershire sauce. I get my beef and chicken base I from a local restaurant supply – it is a lot cheaper here than “Better than Bouillion”
Looks so simple and so delicious. I’ll definitely be trying this. I love that you put the egg noodle right in the pot and avoided washing another pot. Hee Hee! I’m always looking for great beef meals since we have several cows and always have a freezer full of beef.
I love one-pot meals and we always seem to have ground beef! This looks perfect.
I’ve been making a similar version of this for awhile now and can attest to its deliciousness! I suggest adding a bit of paprika and fresh (or dried) rosemary or thyme to kick it up a notch! Love these one pot meals!
I am making this now and decided to take a look through the comments to see if anyone else suggested paprika. I thought paprika was a major component of Stroganoff. I’m gonna add a few shakes myself :)
Add Hungarian Hot Paprika or some Emeril’s Essence
Can’t wait to try this! Stroganoff is one of my favorite dishes; and I really like your one dishes.
This looks delicious. Can you tell me how the leftovers are? I have tried a couple of different one pot pasta dishes and the noodles get a bit gluey. Maybe the egg noodles work better….
Hmm, I wouldn’t say they were gluey, but some of the sauce does absorb into the noodles, so it’s not quite as “saucy” as it was when it was fresh. Still totally YUM, though! :)
Made this TWICE this week! I don’t have a microwave , but this reheated nicely with about ¼ of an inch of water in the bottom of the pot on my stove. Re-heat on medium-low and stir. Not gluey at all!
Love better than bouillon! It’s so handy!
Do you think using half ground beef and half lentils (instead of mushrooms) would change the taste a lot?
It might make it taste more earthy, but most of the flavor comes from the broth anyway. I find that button mushrooms don’t really add that much flavor to dishes.
I was going to suggest chickpeas instead of meat.
This has nothing to do with that delicious-looking stroganoff, but I just found this link for home-made sriracha and I thought, I bet Beth could make this perfect. http://www.freshbitesdaily.com/sriracha/
This looks pretty awesome and I’m totally putting on the list for next week’s menu! I also use Better than Bullion instead of buying broth. LOVE IT. It’s the best!
this looks so good! can’t wait to try it! can I ask you a question about better than bullion? the instructions for it day to dissolve the bouillon in boiling water, do you think that’s necessary or do you just stir it up in room temperature/warm/hot water?
Great question! I wondered about that too.
What I usually do is throw some water in the microwave. Sense you have to keep the bouillon in the fridge, it does have to warm up to dissolve.
If I’m using a dish that already requires boiling water for pasta or whatever, I’ll just take a cup of that already boiled water and add the bullion.
I use better than bullion all the time and I just use super hot tap water and stir until everything is dissolved.
I always put a small amount of boiling water in a measuring cup and dissolve the required amount of B than B in it.