One-Pot Ground Beef Stroganoff

This ground beef stroganoff cooks start to finish in one Dutch oven: browned beef, onion and mushrooms, a beef broth sauce sharpened with Worcestershire and Dijon, wide egg noodles simmered right in that broth, and sour cream stirred in at the end. There is no separate pot of pasta water, and the noodles soak up flavor as they soften.

It is a weeknight version of the classic. Ground beef replaces steak strips, so there is no slicing and no searing in batches, and the whole thing is on the table in about 45 minutes.

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How One-Pot Stroganoff Works

The trick is getting the liquid right. Dry egg noodles drink up broth as they cook, and an uncovered simmer boils some off. Whatever is left becomes the sauce once a little cornstarch and the sour cream go in. Too much broth and you get stroganoff soup; too little and the noodles stick and stay firm in the middle.

We worked through the numbers on the original version of this recipe, which called for 5 cups of broth with 8 ounces of noodles:

• 8 ounces of dry wide egg noodles take up roughly 1 1/2 cups of liquid as they cook.
• A 10-minute uncovered simmer in a wide Dutch oven evaporates roughly 1 cup.
• That leaves about 2 1/2 cups of thin broth from 5 cups, which is more than 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and the sour cream can turn into a clinging sauce.

So this recipe starts with 4 cups of broth. That still covers the noodles in a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven and leaves about 1 1/2 cups to thicken. Keep the fifth cup nearby: if the pot looks dry before the noodles are tender, add it 1/4 cup at a time.

Ingredients and Why

Lean ground beef: A pound and a half of 90% lean beef browns with little fat to drain. With fattier beef, spoon off the extra fat after the mushrooms cook.

Onion and mushrooms: One yellow onion and 8 ounces of sliced white button mushrooms. Mushrooms release a lot of water; cook them until that liquid is gone and the slices start to brown, or it ends up diluting the sauce.

Worcestershire and Dijon: The source amounts were 3 tablespoons of each. That much Dijon makes a mustard-forward sauce, and 3 tablespoons of Worcestershire adds a lot of salt on top of the broth. We use 2 tablespoons of each and taste at the end; stir in up to 1 more tablespoon of either if you want it sharper.

Broth: Low-sodium beef broth, so you control the salt. Regular broth plus the Worcestershire gets salty fast.

Seasonings: Garlic and herb seasoning, dried thyme and black pepper. Use a salt-free garlic and herb blend; if yours has salt in it, hold the added salt until the very end.

Wide egg noodles: 8 ounces, uncooked. They cook in 8 to 12 minutes depending on the brand and width.

Cornstarch and sour cream: A slurry of cornstarch and cold water thickens the remaining broth. Full-fat sour cream, at room temperature, gives the creamy finish and is the least likely to curdle.

Making Ground Beef Stroganoff

Brown the beef, onion and mushrooms

Heat a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the beef and onion and cook, breaking the beef into crumbles, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook 5 to 6 minutes more, until the mushroom liquid has cooked off, the beef is browned and reads 160°F, and the onion is soft. Drain off any fat. Stir in the garlic, garlic and herb seasoning, thyme and pepper and cook 1 minute.

Simmer the noodles in the broth

Stir in the Worcestershire and Dijon, then pour in 4 cups of broth and scrape up the browned bits on the bottom. Bring it to a boil, stir in the dry noodles and push them under the liquid. Lower the heat to a steady simmer and cook uncovered, stirring every 2 minutes so nothing sticks to the bottom, until the noodles are tender, 8 to 12 minutes.

Thicken

When the noodles are tender, there should still be broth around them, roughly level with the bottom third of the noodles. If the pot looks dry, add a splash of the reserved broth. Stir the cornstarch with the cold water and add it to the pot. Simmer, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes, until the liquid turns glossy and thick.

Finish with sour cream

Take the pot off the heat and let it sit 2 to 3 minutes, until it stops bubbling. Stir in the sour cream until the sauce is smooth and light brown. Don’t put it back on a boil; sour cream that boils can separate into grainy flecks. Taste, add salt if it needs it, and scatter with parsley.

Real Timing

The original listed 25 minutes of cooking. Browning, the mushrooms, bringing the broth to a boil and the noodle simmer add up closer to 35, so plan on 10 minutes of prep and about 45 minutes total.

Troubleshooting

• Soupy: Simmer uncovered another 2 to 3 minutes after the slurry, or mix a second tablespoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of cold water and add it before the sour cream. The sauce also tightens as it sits.
• Dry or sticking: The heat is too high or the broth boiled off. Add reserved broth 1/4 cup at a time and lower the heat.
• Noodles firm in the middle: Some were not submerged. Stir more often and keep a simmer, not a hard boil.
• Grainy sauce: The sour cream went into bubbling liquid or was cold. Let the pot rest off the heat first and use room-temperature sour cream.
• Too salty or sharp: Stir in a little more sour cream. Next time use low-sodium broth and start with less Worcestershire.

Storage and Reheating

• Refrigerate: Cool and refrigerate within 2 hours in a covered container for 3 to 4 days.
• Reheat: The noodles keep absorbing sauce in the fridge. Reheat gently on the stove or in the microwave with a few tablespoons of broth or water, stirring, to 165°F.
• Freeze: Sour cream sauces turn grainy after freezing and the noodles go soft, so this one is best eaten fresh or refrigerated.

More Beef Dinners

For another creamy one-pot pasta, try our creamy beef and shells. If you like mushroom gravy with your beef, the Salisbury steak with mushroom gravy is close in spirit. Browse the rest in our dinner recipes.

Beef Stroganoff Questions

Can I cook the noodles separately? You can, but then the sauce needs only about 2 cups of broth, and you lose the flavor the noodles pick up from the pot. This recipe is built around cooking them in the broth.

Can I use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream? Full-fat Greek yogurt works the same way off the heat. It is tangier and more prone to curdling, so let the pot cool a little longer.

Can I use steak? That’s a different method: steak strips are seared quickly and added back at the end. This stroganoff is built for ground beef.

What size pot do I need? A 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven or a deep, heavy pot of the same size. A smaller pot won’t keep the noodles under the broth.

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