Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Beef Stroganoff
Seared strips of beef and mushrooms in a mustard-spiked sour cream sauce over noodles, 19th-century Moscow at its most elegant.
Russian · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min
~971 cal · 71g protein · 55g carbs · 49g fat · 7g fiber · 8g sugars · 25g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Beef stroganoff carries the name of the Stroganovs, one of Imperial Russia's grandest aristocratic families, and it belongs to the French-influenced haute cuisine of the nineteenth-century Russian court, where French chefs cooked for the nobility. From that elegant table it spread, improbably, all the way around the world, turning up in diners and home kitchens on every continent.
The classic is restrained and quick. Strips of tender beef are seared fast over high heat, mushrooms are browned separately, and the two are brought together in a sauce built on smetana, the Russian sour cream, sharpened with a little mustard. The point is speed and tang: the beef must not stew, and the sour cream must not boil hard.
Where the world often serves it over rice or pasta, the Russian way leans to buttery noodles or thin straw potatoes. Rich, tangy, and comforting, it is one of the few dishes of the old Russian court to become genuinely global home cooking.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
1.25 lb beef sirloin, cut in thin strips
3 tbsp flour, for dredging and thickening
12 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 cup sour cream
2 lb potatoes, for mashing or frying, to serve
2 onions, sliced in half-circles
2 tsp Dijon or wholegrain mustard
1.5 cups beef (or mushroom)
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp sweet paprika
to taste salt and black pepper
a handful fresh dill, chopped
Instructions
1
Toss the beef strips (or mushrooms) in flour seasoned with salt, pepper, and the allspice, and sear hard in a hot pan until browned; set aside.
✎ Chef’s note
Cut the beef the way you would cut beetroot for borshch: thin julienne strips off a lightly pounded slice. The 19th-century cookbooks are specific about it, and thin strips are what make the dish tender.
2
Soften the onions, add the cremini and the paprika, and cook until deeply browned and any liquid has boiled off.
3
Stir in any leftover flour, then pour in the stock and mustard and simmer to a velvety gravy.
4
Lower the heat and stir in the sour cream (or dairy-free cream), do not let it boil or it will split.
5
Return the beef and its juices to warm through, then serve with mashed or fried potatoes and a shower of dill.
✎ Chef’s note
Russians serve stroganoff with potatoes, mashed or fried, on the side. The bed of egg noodles is a Western habit, not the Russian one. Mushrooms are late too: Molokhovets’ 1861 original is just beef, mustard, sour cream and bouillon, and onions only arrive in the 1890s.
Moscow classic.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Moscow. Moscow is a capital of sour cream, dill, and long winters, where beetroot borscht, pelmeni dumplings, and layered Olivier salad hold the table. Preserving shaped the pantry: pickles, salted fish, smetana, and rye bread in every form.
🗺️
Russia. Tea is the ritual that organises the afternoon. A samovar keeps water hot and a concentrated brew, the zavarka, sits on top to be diluted cup by cup, and it is drunk with jam either stirred in or eaten by the spoonful alongside. The pickling that fills the rest of the table, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms and cabbage, is what makes a long winter edible.
🌍
Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Russia
Grechnevaya KashaToasted buckwheat simmered until fluffy and served with butter, the quintessential Russian porridge.
PelmeniSmall dumplings of thin dough around a juicy meat filling, boiled and served with sour cream, a Russian staple.
MedovikMany thin honey-baked layers stacked with a tangy sour-cream frosting, Russia's classic honey cake.
Browse all Russia recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
Make it a Russia meal
KvassDrink
MedovikDessert
PelmeniLunch
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Beef Stroganoff?
Seared strips of beef and mushrooms in a mustard-spiked sour cream sauce over noodles, 19th-century Moscow at its most elegant.
Where does Beef Stroganoff come from?
Beef Stroganoff is a Russian dish from Moscow, Russia.
Can Beef Stroganoff be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Beef Stroganoff recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Beef Stroganoff safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Beef Stroganoff take to make?
About 45 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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