Recipe: One-Pot Weeknight Beef Stroganoff (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to Stroganoff for more flavor? ›

Quartered mushrooms and a combination of pearl onions and shallots give the finished dish a more interesting texture and flavor. Adding gelatin to the chicken stock gives it more body, letting the sauce come together more tightly to coat the meat and noodles.

Luckily, there's a quick and easy solution waiting quietly in your pantry — cornstarch. Cornstarch is a reliable and widely used thickening agent, that works in sauces, gravies, and soups.

The secret here is to wait to add the sour cream until the very end, temper it with a bit of the hot broth and then add it to the pan just long enough to warm it, as boiling can cause it to curdle.

Solution: Choose beef tenderloin for superior texture. Sauté button mushrooms, then brown the beef in the same pan and deglaze the pan with beef broth. For more complexity, prepare a sauce with onion, tomato paste, brown sugar, chicken broth, and wine. Sour cream can curdle if added directly to hot liquid.

Greek yogurt is a healthy alternative to the traditionally used sour cream in beef stroganoff recipes, so you can be confident that your family is getting a satisfying, healthy meal. Fresh dill and paprika will provide a sweet, slightly smoky garnish to top off the dish.

Sauce Ingredients: Butter, onion, garlic, white wine, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, flour and plain Greek yogurt (or sour cream) are the ingredients used to make classic beef stroganoff sauce. If you prefer not to cook with wine, feel free to just add in a little extra beef stock instead.

Add the onion and cook gently for 10 minutes, or until softened and starting to caramelise. Stir in the garlic and cook gently for 2 minutes. Crumble in the stock cube and stir in the paprika and tomato purée. Cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Another recipe, this one from 1909, adds onions and tomato sauce, and serves it with crisp potato straws, which are considered the traditional side dish for beef Stroganoff in Russia.

Temper the cream first. Add a liitle bit of tomato sauce at a time to the cream until it is warm and then add it all back into the tomato sauce. This will keep it from curdling. What makes a good beef stroganoff?

How to stop cream curdling in stroganoff? ›

If too runny, add more flour-water mixture and if too thick, add more sour cream.

You made a dish too sour

Sourness comes from acidic ingredients (including tomatoes, wine and vinegar). If your dish tastes too sour try to add sweetness—think sugar, honey (it's healthy!), cream or even caramelized onions. You can also dilute the dish (same as you would with a dish with too much salt).

Sour Cream, Crème Fraîche, or Mascarpone

These three ingredients can be used in place of heavy cream with a one-to-one substitution with just a few caveats. Sour cream will add tanginess to your dish, and if you use it for soups or other hot dishes, it's best to add it in at the end to avoid curdling.

In recipes that call for sour cream as a garnish (think nachos) or tangy thickening agent (salad dressing or dips), mayonnaise is a quick and easy swap thanks to its comparable body and lively tanginess.

Acidic ingredients help lift and balance flavor. Use small amounts of ingredients with bold flavors such as pomegranate seeds, chipotle pepper or cilantro. Give a flavor burst with condiments such as horseradish, flavored mustard, chutney, wasabi, bean purees, tapenade and salsas of all kinds.

Add hardy herbs like thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage, and marjoram to dishes early in the cooking process; this way, they release maximum flavor while ensuring that their texture will be less intrusive.

Add chopped fresh cilantro leaves and lime juice to plain sour cream for a fresh zesty flavor.