Ground Beef Stroganoff

My easy Ground Beef Stroganoff has all the classic savory, beefy flavor you love but at a fraction of the cost. Ready in only 30 minutes too!

Creamy Pastas like my Crazy Tender Beef Stroganoff and Meatball Stroganoff have long been my most popular recipes on this site and for good reason! My ground beef version is a quicker, less expensive recipe, but all the delicious flavors that make the original so well-loved.

Sabrina’s Ground Beef Stroganoff Recipe

If you’re a longtime fan of the site, you know creamy, beefy pasta is a weakness for me, and I especially love making stroganoff different ways. Of all the stroganoff recipes I have on the site, I think this one might be the easiest one! And even better, this is a recipe without canned soup. This is one of the best versions of classic comfort food the whole family will love!

Recipe Card

About this Recipe

My Ground Beef Stroganoff (also known as hamburger stroganoff) still has all the traditional flavors of regular beef stroganoff, including sour cream, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, and mushrooms. The only thing missing? Steak. I promise this is comfort food you’re going to want as we head into the cooler months of the year. You can even make this in the Slow Cooker! Check it out!

Ingredients

• 8 ounces Egg Noodles: The base for soaking up all the creamy sauce is the noodles. They should be curly, like rigatoni. Wide egg noodles work, but any pasta will do if you’re in a pinch.
• 1 pound Ground Beef (85/15): I like using the 85/15 lean ground beef because it keeps it juicy without too much grease.
• 2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter: This is used to brown the mushrooms and onions and give them a nice buttery flavor. Omit the extra salt if salted butter is used.
• 8 ounces Mushrooms: I use Cremini or button mushrooms, which are common, but shiitakes can add a different flavor.
• ½ Yellow Onion, Sliced: Yellow is preferred here for its mildness, but purple onion, white onions, or even a shallot will do if needed.
• 1 clove Garlic, Minced: You can use 2 cloves garlic if you like extra garlicky flavor. A teaspoon of garlic powder would work too.
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce: This tangy sauce is the secret ingredient that deepens the beef flavor. Soy sauce can work as a substitute.
• ¾ cup Sour Cream: This is the classic creamy base that most stroganoff recipes use.
• 2 cups Beef Broth: You could use water, but the beef broth adds lots of flavor. The noodles and cornstarch will soak this up so that it’s not soupy.
• 1 tablespoon Cornstarch: This is used to thicken the stroganoff. You could swap it with all-purpose flour, but cornstarch is quicker to dissolve and incorporate into the sauce.

Can this be made ahead of time?

You can easily make this meal ahead of time and refrigerate, tightly covered, to reheat the day you want to serve it. Quick note, refrigerating the noodles will cause them to soak up more moisture so under-cook them, also re-constitute the sauce with a little bit of milk, just a tablespoon at a time as you reheat over the stovetop. You could also prepare the sauce, refrigerate it, then cook the noodles fresh while the sauce heats up and toss it all together to serve.

How to Store

• Serve: Don’t leave stroganoff at room temperature for more than 2 hours.
• Store: After the stroganoff cools down, you can put it in an airtight container to store in the fridge. It will stay good for 3-4 days.
• Freeze: You can also freeze leftovers for up to 3 months. Let it thaw in the fridge before reheating the dish.

Alternative Cooking Techniques

Slow Cooker Method

• Brown the ground beef well and add it to the slow cooker along with the rest of the ingredients except for the sour cream and pasta.
• Cook on low for 4 hours then mix with sour cream and cooked egg noodles before serving.

Casserole Method

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Cook the pasta for two minutes shy of the instructions on the box.
• Drain but do not rinse. Add the pasta to a 9×13 baking dish.
• Prepare the beef and mushroom mixtures separately as usual, adding to the pasta as they are done cooking.
• Mix the sauce as usual until it is just combined, no need to thicken.
• Pour the sauce over the beef, mushroom and pasta in the dish. Stir until everything is well coated and mixed up.
• Bake covered with foil for 18-20 minutes, then uncover and bake another 5 minutes until bubbling. Stir and serve.

Variations

• Sour Cream: You can make this stroganoff with cream cheese instead of sour cream for a thicker, richer sauce. If you want to cut calories you can even swap out the sour cream for Greek yogurt.
• Thinner Sauce: If you want to thin it out more add an additional half cup of beef broth to your mixture.
• Beef: You can always swap out the ground beef for ground chicken or ground turkey. If you do, cut it out strictly for health reasons you can pump the beefy flavor back up with an additional tablespoon of beef base in the mixture.
• No Mushrooms: If mushrooms aren’t your thing, just leave them out or replace them with extra onions or bell peppers for added texture.
• Vegetarian Stroganoff: Use plant-based ground meat or double the mushrooms (16 ounces total) to create a meatless version that’s still filling. And then just swap out vegetable broth for the beef broth.
• Herbed Stroganoff: For a fun and fresh twist, add 1 teaspoon of dried thyme and 1 teaspoon of dried parsley to the sauce while cooking. Fresh herbs like chopped parsley or dill (1 tablespoon) stirred in at the end also brighten up the flavors beautifully.
• Low-Carb Version: If you’re counting carbs, swap the egg noodles with spiralized zucchini or cauliflower rice. Sauté them separately and add just before serving. Keep an eye on sauce thickness, as lower-carb options release less starch, so you may want to reduce the broth by about ¼ cup unless you like it soupier.

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The following photos were used in previous versions of this post: