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.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Video
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. :)
Delicious!!
Tasty tasty! I had ground pork sausage that I used instead of ground beef and I topped it with wild green onions. The sausage already has a lot of flavor so didn’t need stock (just water). Looking forward to lunch leftovers tomorrow! Just another amazing budget bytes recipe, I have yet to find one I don’t love.
I added Worcestershire sauce, paprika and a had full of peas, delicious, husband called for more, also had no sour cream, but added a lid of vinegar to thickened cream, great sub.
Amazing!
This was delicious and wicked easy to make. Although, I would definitely recommend doubling or even tripling the recipe for families.
the previous should have been FIVE stars, not four.
Even in the middle of summer here, I needed a meaty meal for the family visiting for their ‘free feed’. This was perfect – but I had to get past the imperial measurements and change it into kilos etc! It’s been saved – will have this one again for sure. Thanks for this!
This recipe that is supposed to serve 4, magically only serves 2 whenever I make this for my husband and I! Very good, very easy. Sometimes I dress it up with a slap of red wine or worschester sauce!
Sooooo yummy. I used 1 1/3 pound ground beef (thanks for the large quantity Costco) and double the rest of the ingredients. My husband and I along with our extremely picky 2 and 4 yr old kids loved it. Thanks so much!
O.M.G.!! This is delicious! I tried it this week for the first time and I usually don’t alter a recipe first time out, but I misread the recipe and accidentally doubled the beef and mushrooms. I had to increase the liquid, but I just kept adding the broth thru the cooking prpcess until it “looked right” and I was ensuring the noodles had enough liquid to cook properly. I would say I maybe added an extra cup of broth, perhaps a bit more. My hubby and 16 year old daughter both had two helpings at dinner, and my daughter asked if she could take some for lunch the next day!! This will definitely be a go to for us now!
Made this tonight and it was fantastic! I stumbled upon it while looking up ways to use ingredients I currently have in the fridge. It was easy, quick, and tasted great. My husband and my toddler scarfed it down– next time I might have to make a double batch.
I tried this last night for my husband’s birthday dinner. It was fast, easy to make, and flavorful. My husband was so pleased that I found a recipe that didn’t have onion (allergy) and very little dairy (intolerance.) All three of my kids ate it (and two of them are mushroom haters!) I also used Better than Bouillon Beef base for this recipe and the flavor was excellent. This will become a member of our dinner recipe rotation. Thank you.
This is the best ever. My sons will eat a whole pot between the 2 of them, event the one who doesn’t like mushrooms.
If you need salt-free soup base, Penzey’s Spices make them in beef, pork, chicken, ham, vegetable, and seafood. (Penzey’s is also an American company, if that sort of thing matters to anyone reading.)
I think Penzey’s beef base is magic! I call it my “secret ingredient” in my kitchen. Everything I’ve ever made with it just has that extra something special. It’s the best!
I had half a pound of cooked ground beef in the fridge and came across this recipe. I had almost everything on hand, so gave it a whirl. For those people that read reviews, I modified from the original a bit (Greek yogurt, Worcestershire sauce, and half an onion add). This review is of my modified (and tasty) version, but still using the original directions.
Since my beef was already cooked, I started with half a diced onion in my pan, then after about 5 minutes, added the cooked ground beef and the garlic. Because of this site, I am now using Better than Bouillon, and really love the flavor it brings to the dish! In the middle of making this, I realized I was out of flour, so I used corn starch out of necessity and it worked out perfectly. I added it when the recipe called for flour. When it was time to add the broth, I added the beef base to the pan, mixed it a bit, then added the water for the 2 cup equivalent. Lastly, this is when I added a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce because my mother added it to her stroganoff. I followed the cooking directions for this one pot meal, and mine was done around 8 minutes or so. I then turned off the heat and added the Greek yogurt and a little more black pepper. The yogurt made a beautiful and creamy sauce, and I will most likely keep this addition, since I always have yogurt in the fridge.
I served this classic TV dinner style with some simple peas and carrots, and this was wonderful, comforting dinner. It reminded me of the homemade hamburger helper/stroganoff Mom used to make back before there was the box stuff, but a more grown up version (since she wasn’t a mushroom fan, and I love them!). Hubby ate 2 helpings and put up dinner so he would have some of this to take to work for lunch.
This is definitely a keeper, and will be another recipe added to the week night rotation for a quick and healthy dinner.