Cast Iron

Marriage Is All About Compromise Beef Stroganoff

February  8, 2019
3.6
5 Ratings
Photo by Julia Gartland
  • Prep time 20 minutes
  • Cook time 40 minutes
  • Serves 2
Author Notes

This is a beef stroganoff my husband and I can both get behind. There’s less beef, more vegetables—mushroom, onion, carrot, parsnip, scallion—and Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. The one aspect of the original we agree on? Heavily buttered and parsleyed egg noodles.

About the stock: Homemade is ideal, but obviously not practical all the time. If your go-to shortcut is boxed stock, use chicken instead of beef (beef versions are reliably bland). Or, do as I do and mix up your own with bouillon or Better Than Bouillon (either beef or chicken works). —Emma Laperruque

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable (or other high-heat, neutral-flavor) oil, divided
  • 5 ounces sirloin steak, cubed (½-inch)
  • 10 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered (stems still attached)
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 large carrot (about 7 ounces), finely diced (about 1 ½ cups)
  • 1 large parsnip (about 7 ounces), finely diced (about 1 ½ cups)
  • 1 medium yellow onion (about 8 ounces), finely diced (about 1 ½ cups)
  • 6 scallions, finely chopped (both the white and green parts)
  • 2 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups beef or chicken stock (see headnote)
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon prepared horseradish
  • 1/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt, room temperature, plus more to taste
Directions
  1. Set a large cast-iron skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. When it’s very hot, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil. When that’s very hot, add the cubed beef in an even layer. Sear until crusty and deeply browned on all sides—about 1 to 2 minutes total. (The best way to get a good sear is to move the beef as little as possible.) Transfer the beef to a plate to rest and sprinkle generously with salt.
  2. Add the remaining tablespoon vegetable oil to the pan, still over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms. Cook, stirring only once or twice, until deeply browned and there’s no more liquid in the pan. Transfer to the mushrooms to a plate to rest and sprinkle generously with salt.
  3. Add the butter to the pan. Once it’s melted, add the carrot, parsnip, and onion. Season with salt. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring regularly, until the vegetables are browned and quite soft.
  4. Add the scallion and garlic. Stir to combine. Cook for another 5 minutes until the scallion has wilted and the garlic is very fragrant.
  5. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables. Stir to combine. Cook for another minute or so, just to get rid of the raw flour taste.
  6. Pour the stock on top. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 2 minutes to thicken.
  7. Stir in the Dijon, apple cider vinegar, and horseradish. Now stir in the yogurt. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary (more Dijon? more yogurt? more salt?). When it tastes just right to you, stir in the beef and mushrooms, plus any of their juices.
  8. Serve on top of extra-wide egg noodles—boiled in salty water, heavily buttered, and tossed lots of chopped flat-leaf parsley. (Or, if that's not your thing, with bread.)

See what other Food52ers are saying.

  • Luciana Rodrigues
    Luciana Rodrigues
  • Emma Laperruque
    Emma Laperruque
  • Smaug
    Smaug
  • Dirt_Seller
    Dirt_Seller
Emma was the food editor at Food52. She created the award-winning column, Big Little Recipes, and turned it into a cookbook in 2021. These days, she's a senior editor at Bon Appétit, leading digital cooking coverage. Say hello on Instagram at @emmalaperruque.

11 Reviews

Dirt_Seller May 19, 2024
It's an interesting recipe but it's not beef Stroganoff.
 
Ruth R. December 31, 2022
One of the things I love about Food 52 is, the bottomless inspiration and for that I am grateful to contributors like Emma Lapurruque. I just made this for NY Eve dinner for me and my Dad. Overall, it's good, not great. If I make it again, I would use a bit more vinegar and horseradish, and use traditional sour creme instead of Greek Yogurt.
 
NXL November 16, 2021
Oh, my! The flavors here are so good! I love that there is such a concentration of vegetables. I was trying to use up Covid pantry items, so I used gnocchi instead of noodles, and would not recommend that.
 
Karen February 21, 2019
This is similar to the way I make beef stroganoff. Sometimes I get a second pan going without meat (just mushroom stroganoff) for my vegetarian daughter. Vegetable stock works fine for that. But my favorite substitute is spaetzle for the noodles. OMG so good---either homemade or packaged. Try it!
 
Amanda February 24, 2019
Ooooo, I bet that could be even better with a rich mushroom stock
 
Luciana R. February 14, 2019
I love beef stroganoff! My husband hates mushrooms:( do you have any ideas about what to swap in for mushrooms?
 
Emma L. February 14, 2019
Oh no! You could increase the amount of beef—maybe from 5 ounces to 10 ounces? Or, you could swap in another hearty vegetable (thinking eggplant or beans). Or, could you increase the other vegetables already in the recipe (carrot, parsnip, onion, scallion). Hope this helps!
 
Ttrockwood February 15, 2019
In step 7) just keep mushrooms seperate and add them to only your bowl/portion. Keep leftover mushrooms and stew seperate too.
 
Luciana R. February 15, 2019
Great ideas - thank you! Can you believe the meal I ever cooked for him was beed strogonoff?! He didn’t say anything but there was a pile of mushrooms on the plate at the end!
 
Smaug February 16, 2019
There seem to be infinitely many dishes identified as "beef stroganoff", though this is about the farthest afield that I've seen. At any rate, mushrooms are not ingredients in a lot of them, including some of the oldest, and serving over noodles is by no means universal.
 
Emma L. February 18, 2019
Great idea, Ttrockwood!