Slow cooked beef stroganoff made from scratch. It’s easy, comforting and incredibly flavourful.
Filled with mushrooms and tender fall-apart beef bathed in a rich creamy sauce, this easy stroganoff recipe, made in the slow cooker, is the perfect winter warmer.
We love it so much in our house, we often turn it into chicken stroganoff (using chicken thighs and just cooking for 6 hours. I even have this weeknight meatball stroganoff recipe. Also, crazy delicious.
Why you’ll love it
This Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff is a favourite in our house. A genuinely regular meal we have, most often on the weekends so that it cooks while we go about our day.
- Juicy, tender meat
- A rich and creamy sauce
- Cooks in the slow cooker – so easy
- Buttery, caramelised mushrooms
This beef stroganoff veers slightly from the traditional version in a couple of ways.
- Soy sauce instead of salt: Believe me, it’s amazing. Whilst adding the perfect amount of seasoning it also adds umami that salt just doesn’t have.
- The meat falls apart: Due to the slow cooking method, rather than the strips of beef you’d find in a traditional stroganoff, this meat is fall apart tender.
Done in the slow cooker, the beef stews for a good 8 hours to become ultra-tender. So, pull out your slow cooker or crockpot and let’s get started.
FEATURED COMMENT
Delicious meal! … Kids love and so do adults. Not much prep needed, and it basically cooks itself which is a bonus. It’s a must try.
Naomi
Never Miss a Recipe!
Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox!
Ingredients
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Beef: The best cut of beef is stewing beef, topside roast, chuck roast, blade roast – I’ve used all these cuts of beef and they all work. These tend to be tougher but more flavourful cuts of meat. The slow cooking removes the toughness. Boneless beef is the easiest to work with.
- Beef stock / beef broth: use a low sodium beef stock, if you can get it so you can control the salt level of the dish.
- Spices: Mustard is classic, pepper and paprika (which gives a wonderful earthiness). I use mustard powder but feel free to swap it for dijon mustard.
- Veg: Onion and mushrooms (and lots of ‘em).
- Garlic: Always adds a good hit of flavour.
- Fresh dill: The perfect herb for stroganoff. I often use parsley as well.
- Soy sauce: This is both for seasoning and umami flavour.
- Sour cream: This is what makes the sauce creamy.
- Flour: This thickens the sauce making it a nice, thick gravy.
- Butter: for cooking the mushrooms.
How to make beef stroganoff in the slow cooker
There is a couple of steps before throwing everything in the slow cooker or crock pot but they’re important, make all the difference when it comes to flavour and happen relatively quickly. Just like this slow cooker BBQ brisket, slow cooking the meat makes it so tender.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Brown the meat (photos 1&2): The meat is first dusted with the spices and flour, then browned over medium-high heat in a frying pan on the stove-top. This is not to cook the meat through, you just want that golden crust. Why? It adds so so much flavour and doesn’t take long.
- Into the slow cooker: Throw the meat and everything into the slow cooker (leaving out the mushrooms, sour cream, butter and dill) (photo 3). Let it cook low and slow for 7.5 hours.
- Brown the mushrooms (photos 4&5): The mushrooms get the same treatment as the beef. Cook them in a pan in some butter and oil until they get all golden and caramelised. Now leave them in the fridge until later.
- To finish: Add the mushrooms (photo 7) and sour cream and give it all a good mix (photo 8). Continue cooking for half an hour before serving up, topping with dill.
One of my favourite parts of this rich beef dish is the buttery mushrooms that get piled into the ‘strog (as we affectionately call it) right at the end with the sour cream.
What to serve with beef stroganoff
So what do you serve with the best beef stroganoff? If I had my way, it would always be pasta but my hubby is partial to rice. Some love it with mashed potatoes. So, pick your favourite – they all work well.
A good chunk of crusty bread is wonderful as well.
Warming, comforting, simple homey food – that’s what this slow cooked beef stroganoff recipe is all about. Rich flavours from basic ingredients, it’s why stroganoff is an absolute classic.
Did you try this beef stroganoff recipe?
Leaving a rating and comment below the recipe is so helpful!
Hungry for more? Subscribe to the newsletter for free recipes straight to your inbox. Also, follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (notes 1)
- 1 kg beef (blade chuck or stewing) (2.2lb)
- ⅓ cup plain (all-purp) flour (43g / 1.5oz)
- 3 teaspoons mustard powder (or dijon mustard)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 ½ tablespoons mild paprika (notes 1)
- 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 cup low sodium beef stock (250ml)
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (notes 1)
- 2 tablespoons butter (notes 1)
- 400 g sliced swiss brown mushrooms (14oz)
- 1 cup light sour cream (250ml) (notes 2)
- 1 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- Salt to taste
- Dill & parsley to serve
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- Slice the beef into 1.5cm thick strips, removing any sinew as you go.
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, mustard powder and paprika. Toss the beef strips in the flour mix to coat.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and fry half of the beef strips turning constantly until sealed and lightly browned. Repeat with the remaining beef strips.
- To your slow cooker, first add the onion and garlic then add the seared beef strips on top. Now add the beef stock and the soy sauce. Cook on low for 7 hours.
- In the same frypan melt the butter and add all the mushrooms. Fry on medium-high for 5-7 minutes until cooked and turning golden. Store in the fridge until required.
- After 7 hours add the mushrooms, sour cream and cracked pepper and give the mixture a good stir. Cook a further 30 minutes. This is a good time to get your rice or pasta cooking too.
- Add salt to taste if required. Serve the beef stroganoff over pasta or rice topped with small sprigs of dill and parsley.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- I use an Australian 20ml tablespoon
- I use light sour cream, but feel free to use full fat.
This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission for my referral, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Sugar Salt Magic.
10 Comments on “Slow Cooked Beef Stroganoff Recipe”
Delicious meal! Who doesn’t love tender beef in a creamy sauce with pasta? Kids love and so do adults. Not much prep needed, and it basically cooks itself which is a bonus.
It’s a must try.
So happy you love this recipe. It’s definitely a favourite in our house too.
Just beautiful thank you. I didn’t have any mustard powder but instead substituted 3 tabs of Dijon mustard instead. I also only had 500g of beef on hand but more sauce always goes down well in this house 😃
So happy you loved it Katrina. It’s truly one of our favourite family recipes.
Delicious recipe family love it.
So happy everyone loves it, Julie 🙂
You say see notes next to some ingredients but there’s only 1 more about light sour cream. Why do you use light soy sauce?
It just refers to the note that I use an Aussie 20ml tablespoon. The light soy sauce adds both seasoning (salt) and umami which adds a real depth of flavour.
Love this recipe. I’ve made it countless times and the flavour’s so good
Thanks so much, Scott 🙂