Our Best Homemade Beef Stroganoff Recipe: Ready in 30 Minutes

Are you on the hunt for a meal that offers deep comfort and incredible flavour, all without spending hours in the kitchen? We know that after a long day, the last thing anyone needs is a complex recipe with endless washing up. What we crave is a dish that’s like a comforting embrace, one that will have the entire family asking for seconds. If this strikes a chord, you’re in exactly the right spot.

Your search ends here. We are delighted to share our tried-and-tested Homemade Beef Stroganoff Recipe, a cherished classic that delivers meltingly tender beef, savoury mushrooms, and a wonderfully smooth, tangy sauce. The best part? This remarkable meal can be on your table in roughly 30 minutes, making it the perfect answer to busy weeknight dinners. We’ll walk you through how to turn everyday ingredients into an unforgettable meal that has all the depth of a slow-cooked dish.

Why You’ll Adore This Recipe

• Restaurant-Style Excellence: We’ve fine-tuned the balance of flavours, allowing you to create a dish that rivals what you’d find in a top restaurant, but for a fraction of the price.
• Wonderfully Quick: This is a genuine 30-minute meal, from prep to serving. It’s the ideal sophisticated yet speedy family dinner recipe.
• Pantry-Friendly Ingredients: There’s no need to search for obscure items. This recipe relies on everyday staples from your kitchen to achieve something truly special.
• The Ultimate Comfort Food: Rich, creamy, and deeply satisfying, this is the definitive comfort food beef pasta designed to warm you from the soul outwards.
• Fantastically Versatile: We also offer our favourite tips for adapting the recipe, from choosing the best cut of beef to exploring serving ideas beyond the traditional pasta.

Ingredients

• 500g sirloin, rump or fillet steak, thinly sliced against the grain
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 400ml hot beef stock (from a quality stock cube or pot is fine)
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 150ml soured cream, at room temperature
• 300g egg noodles or tagliatelle pasta, to serve
• A small bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Step-by-Step Guide to the Perfect Homemade Beef Stroganoff

Achieving a truly spectacular stroganoff comes down to the right technique. By following our straightforward method, you’ll guarantee the beef is succulent, the sauce is silky, and the finished dish is brimming with flavour. Let’s begin!

1. Preparing and Searing the Beef

The initial key to a tender stroganoff lies in how the beef is prepared and cooked. By slicing it thinly against the grain, you break down the muscle fibres, which results in a much more tender bite.

1. Thoroughly pat the sliced steak dry with a paper towel; this is vital for getting a beautiful sear. Season it well on all sides with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a high heat. When the oil is shimmering, carefully add the beef in a single layer. Avoid overcrowding the pan—you may need to cook it in two separate batches.
3. Sear the beef for about 1–2 minutes on each side until it is richly browned. We are not aiming to cook it through at this point, just to build flavour. Use a slotted spoon to remove the beef from the pan and set it aside.

2. Building the Flavourful Mushroom Sauce

With a superb flavour foundation from the seared beef, we can now construct our rich and creamy mushroom sauce. Those caramelised bits stuck to the bottom of the pan are where the magic really begins!

1. Lower the heat to medium and add the butter to the pan. As soon as it melts, add the finely chopped onion. Cook for 5–7 minutes, stirring now and then, until it has softened and become translucent.
2. Toss in the sliced mushrooms along with a pinch of salt. Continue to cook for a further 5–8 minutes, until the mushrooms have released their moisture and have started to turn a lovely golden brown.
3. Stir in the minced garlic and smoked paprika. Cook for one minute more, until you can smell their wonderful aroma, but take care that the garlic doesn’t burn.
4. Sprinkle the plain flour evenly over the vegetables. Stir it in and cook for one minute to eliminate any raw flour taste. This step creates the roux that will thicken our sauce.
5. Bit by bit, pour in the hot beef stock, whisking continuously to prevent any lumps from forming. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pan to incorporate all those tasty brown bits. Allow it to bubble for 3–4 minutes until it has thickened nicely.

3. Bringing It All Together

Here we are at the final, transformative stage, where all the elements come together to create the classic beef stroganoff we all adore. As the sauce is simmering away, now is the perfect time to cook your pasta as per the packet directions.

1. Stir the Dijon mustard into the simmering sauce. Add the seared beef, along with any juices that have collected on the plate, back into the pan.
2. Turn the heat down to its lowest setting. It is crucial to either remove the pan from the heat or lower it significantly before you add the soured cream, as this will prevent it from splitting.
3. Carefully stir in the room-temperature soured cream until you have a smooth, pale, and luxuriously creamy sauce. Do not allow it to boil.
4. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if you feel it needs it. Stir through the majority of the chopped fresh parsley.
5. Serve straight away, spooned over a generous helping of hot egg noodles or your preferred pasta, and garnish with the last of the parsley.

Our Top Tips for Stroganoff Success

Ready to take your stroganoff from simply delicious to utterly memorable? Here are a few of the expert tips we always rely on.

• Choosing the Right Beef: While fillet steak provides an exceptionally tender and luxurious result, sirloin or rump steak offer a superb balance of rich flavour and pleasing texture for a more economical choice. The most important thing is to slice it thinly against the grain.
• Don’t Crowd the Pan: We’ve said it once, but it bears repeating! Allowing the beef enough space to sear properly, rather than steam, is the most effective way to develop a deep, savoury flavour. For a more detailed look at this method, this guide on how to brown meat properly from BBC Good Food is an excellent read.
• Room Temperature Soured Cream: Introducing cold soured cream to a hot liquid is the primary cause of curdling. Simply let it rest on the worktop for 20–30 minutes before you begin cooking. Removing the pan from the heat before stirring it in is the final step to guarantee a silky-smooth sauce.
• Mushroom Magic: We favour chestnut mushrooms for their wonderfully robust, earthy taste, but using a medley of wild mushrooms or even standard button mushrooms will still yield delicious results.

Serving Suggestions and Variations

Although stroganoff is classically paired with egg noodles, it’s an incredibly adaptable dish. It is equally delicious served with other pasta shapes, similar to how we enjoy our much-loved Garlic Parmesan Chicken Pasta Recipe.

For some other fantastic serving ideas, try it alongside:

• Light and fluffy white rice
• Creamy, smooth mashed potatoes
• Soft, cheesy polenta
• Crispy golden potato rostis

Fancy a change? A small splash of brandy or dry white wine, added after the mushrooms are cooked, will introduce a remarkable depth of flavour. If you’re on the lookout for other comforting, one-pan meals that deliver on taste with minimal effort, our Low Carb Chicken Casserole is another wonderful choice for a stress-free family meal.

FAQ

A New Family Favourite Awaits

And there you have it – our simple, elegant, and profoundly satisfying Homemade Beef Stroganoff Recipe, which we are sure will become a regular feature in your weekly meal plan. It serves as perfect proof that you don’t need to spend all evening in the kitchen to produce a meal brimming with flavour that everyone will enjoy. This dish is wonderfully suited for a speedy weeknight supper, a relaxed weekend treat, or even to serve when you have company.

We are so excited for you to discover the pleasure of creating this classic dish in your own home. We encourage you to give this recipe a go and find out just how simple it is to bring a real taste of comfort to your family. We’d love it if you could leave a comment and a rating below to share how you got on!

Recipe Card

Print Recipe
Pin Recipe

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 20 mins
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 500g sirloin, rump or fillet steak, thinly sliced against the grain
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 400ml hot beef stock
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 150ml soured cream, at room temperature
• 300g egg noodles or tagliatelle pasta, to serve
• A small bunch of fresh parsley, finely chopped
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Pat the sliced beef dry, then season well with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large pan over high heat. Sear the beef in batches for 1-2 minutes per side until well browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Lower the heat to medium, add the butter, and sauté the onion for 5-7 minutes until soft. Add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt, cooking for 5-8 minutes until golden. Stir in the garlic and smoked paprika and cook for one more minute until fragrant.
3. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables, stir, and cook for one minute. Gradually whisk in the hot beef stock until smooth. Bring to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pan, until the sauce thickens.
4. Stir the Dijon mustard into the sauce. Return the seared beef and any accumulated juices to the pan.
5. Reduce the heat to its lowest setting. Remove the pan from the heat and gently stir in the room-temperature soured cream until the sauce is smooth and creamy. Do not allow it to boil.
6. Stir in most of the chopped parsley. Season to taste with more salt and pepper if needed. Serve immediately over hot cooked egg noodles, garnished with the remaining parsley.

Nutrition (per serving, estimated):
Calories: 715 kcal,
Carbs: 64g,
Protein: 37g,
Fat: 29g