Beef Stroganoff
Tender beef strips with mushrooms in a creamy mustard and sour cream sauce, ready in twenty minutes.
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cook/bake time
- 20 min
- Total
- 40 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
- 703 kcal
- Servings
- 4
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cooking & baking
- 20 min
Tender beef strips with mushrooms in a creamy mustard and sour cream sauce, ready in twenty minutes. The meat is seared very briefly and only returned to the sauce at the very end, because cooking it too long inevitably makes it tough. A classic of Russian cuisine that has made a career worldwide.
Why this works
Muscle fibers contract from about 60 °C and press out water in the process. With lean beef strips, this takes only seconds. That is why the meat is seared hot and briefly and only returned to the sauce at the end, where it only warms through at under 80 °C. Returned to the boiling sauce, it would become dry and firm within a few minutes, no matter how tender the cut was.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Sear the meat
Pat the meat strips dry and salt them only shortly before frying. Heat the oil in a large pan until it almost smokes, and sear the meat in two batches for only one minute per side. It should have color on the outside and still be clearly pink on the inside. Take it out immediately and set it aside.
- 2
Brown the mushrooms
Add the butter to the same pan and fry the mushroom slices over high heat for six to eight minutes, without salting them too early. At the beginning they draw water, which must first evaporate before they can brown. Only when they are golden brown have they developed their full aroma.
- 3
Onions and flour
Add the onion strips and fry them soft for four minutes. Sprinkle the flour over them and stir it in for one minute, so that it binds the sauce later and the raw flour taste disappears. The mixture should now seem dry and slightly sandy.
- 4
Start the sauce
Deglaze with the white wine and scrape the fond from the bottom of the pan, there is a lot of flavor there. Pour in the broth and let everything simmer for five minutes, until the sauce visibly thickens. Then stir in the mustard and paprika powder and season strongly with salt and pepper.
- 5
Finish
Take the pan off the heat and stir in the Schmand, because it curdles if the heat is too high. Return the meat along with any escaped juices and the pickle matchsticks to the sauce and let everything steep for only one minute. Sprinkle parsley over it and serve with ribbon noodles, rice or mashed potatoes.
Our best tips
- Sear the meat only very briefly and only return it to the sauce at the end. Overcooking makes it tough.
- Always stir in the Schmand off the heat, otherwise it curdles and the sauce becomes grainy.
- The pickles are not an accessory. Their acidity cuts through the cream and is part of the original.
Tasty variations
With chicken
Use chicken breast in strips instead of beef, then fry for three minutes and also set aside.
Vegetarian
Omit the meat and double the amount of mushrooms to 800 g, adding a few king oyster mushrooms for bite.
Nutrition facts
| Calories | 703 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 43 g |
| Carbohydrates | 10 g |
| – of which sugar | 6 g |
| Fat | 52 g |
| Fiber | 3 g |
Where the 703 kcal come from
per serving
Calculated from the ingredients – how we do it
We add up reference values for every ingredient and divide by the number of servings. These assumptions are baked in:
- Reference values per 100 g – for the raw ingredient, exactly as listed.
- Tinned goods count at drained weight, bone-in meat at purchase weight: you eat about 70 per cent of a chicken thigh and leave the rest.
- Water evaporates as you cook. The energy stays in the pot, the weight does not – so the figure is per serving, not per 100 g of finished dish.
- Anything listed without a quantity – “salt and pepper” – is not counted.
A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.
Frequently asked questions
Which meat is suitable?
Quick-frying cuts like tenderloin, sirloin or roast beef. Braising meat does not work here, because the cooking time is much too short.
Why does my sauce curdle?
The Schmand was added at too high a temperature. Take the pan off the heat, let it cool down briefly and then stir it in.
Do pickles really belong in it?
Yes, pickled cucumbers are common in the original Russian version. They provide the acidity that balances the dish.
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