By Gabrielle. Images and styling by Lindsey Rose Johnson.
School has started. Fall is here. Life is as busy as ever. It’s a great time to start relying on slow cooker recipes to help get dinner on the table. And what could be better as cooler weather returns than a plate full of slow cooker Beef Stroganoff?
Stroganoff originated in Russia, but different versions have popped up all around the globe. This one is a pretty basic, traditional one made with big chunks of stew meat, flavorful cremini mushrooms, and red wine. The low and slow cooking time transforms the stew meat and it becomes super tender. All you need is a big bowl of buttered egg noodles and you’re set.
Any meat+sauce over egg noodles works as a comfort food for me, but I have a special fondness for Stroganoff because of a funny little childhood memory. My little brother Jared was making a spotlight poster about himself for an assignment — hobbies, favorite colors and foods, stuff like that. For the food example, he cut a picture of stroganoff out of a magazine, just to represent that he liked food in general — he didn’t know there was a name for the dish in the photo. But his teacher saw the image and recognized it has Beef Stroganoff and determined — to Jared’s surprise and confusion because he didn’t know what it was — that his favorite food was specifically Beef Stroganoff.
Throughout the rest of our childhood and into adulthood, any time Beef Stroganoff was seen on a menu, eaten in our home, or mentioned in any way, someone would be sure to comment, “Hey Jared, look, it’s your favorite meal!
A silly little memory that is making me nostalgic today. I hope it reminds you of a funny memory from your own childhood home. : )
This recipe makes enough for a large family. It’s great with some green veggies or a salad on the side.
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon oil
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds cubed stew beef
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch slices (I used cremini here, but I’ve used all sorts over the years)
1 cup low-sodium beef broth or stock
1 cup red wine (or more broth)
3-4 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
Hot cooked egg noodles or rice, for serving
Instructions:
Toss beef cubes with flour, salt, and black pepper. Heat a very large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil and heat for 30 seconds. Add the beef. Let the meat brown on one side, then turn over and cook until all sides have browned. Transfer meat to a slow cooker.
Add the onion to the pan. Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently and scraping up any cooked on bits on the bottom of the pan. If needed, add a little more oil to the pan to keep the onions from sticking and burning. Next, add the garlic and cook for 30-60 seconds until fragrant.
Transfer everything to the slow cooker and add the mushrooms, beef broth, red wine, and thyme sprigs. Set slow cooker to LOW for 8-10 hours or HIGH for 3-4 hours. Right before serving, stir in the sour cream or creme fraiche. Serve over hot egg noodles or rice.
Yield: 8 servings
TIPS:
– If you’re worried about the red wine, it can totally be substituted with more beef broth, but the wine does add to the flavor.
– Be sure not to add the sour cream until the very end, otherwise it will curdle.
– This can easily be made with chicken instead of beef. Use 2 pounds of chicken thighs or breasts, diced, and use 1 cup white wine instead of red, and use chicken broth. One teaspoon of Dijon mustard adds great flavor too.
P.S. — Have you checked out my Slow Cooker Recipe Series?
This looks great – definitely trying it!
Also, your brother’s story reminds me of something I did myself when making a similar project for school. I cut out a picture of Jack Daniels Lemonade as my favorite drink. I liked lemonade, I just thought it was a different brand! Luckily, my mom caught it before I took it to school. :P
So funny, Summer!
I’ve just printed the French onion soup and this recipe (plus Martha Stewart’s herb vinaigrette you linked to from the soup). I’d been feeling a little uninspired lately, but I think these two will be welcome additions to my line-up.
Yay! I hope you love all 3 recipes.
Ooh, yum! I love stroganoff – although I’ll be making it with chicken :)
Chicken stroganoff used to be one my family’s regular weekly meals back home in Australia but we haven’t had it in ages. I used to buy the pre-prepared (but not cooked) stroganoff from our local chicken shop (a butcher dedicated to just poultry) along with all sorts of other yummy pre-prepared chicken meals. I haven’t found any stores like this in the Bay Area but they are everywhere in Australia. The perfect in-between home made and take out! If I had any experience in running a butcher shop I’d open one right away!
For now though I think I’ll stick to just making stroganoff at home ;)
I’ve only ever tried making it in the slow cooker once but it came out pretty bland. Your recipe sounds much nicer than the others I found online.
P.S. Right now my slow cooker is full of your three bean chili. My family can’t get enough of it!
Enjoy the chili tonight! It makes me so happy when I hear people are using these recipes! And don’t miss the chicken tips at the end of this post. : )
My family and I have been loving your recipe ‘Slow Cooker Chicken Gyros’. Though I cheat and buy the Tzatziki sauce from Trader Joes’s ;)
One of my favorite discoveries of the last year is the Ninja 3-in-1 Slow Cooker. It has a stove-top function so all the browning can be done in the slow cooker. There are probably other brands that do the same thing but I LOVE using one pot.
Thanks for sharing your recipes.
Made this tonight for friends who just had a baby, and for my own family. Big hit all around! My 2 year old announced “I ate all my beefs.” And to our surprised delight, he actually had eaten all his beefs. Thanks for the recipe!
So adorable!
I made this on Monday and the family loved it!
Yay! So glad to hear it.
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I LOVE THIS SERIES and I’ve made of few of your recipes all ready. Anyway you can set it up so we can just print out a recipe card? I just wasted about 20 sheets of paper trying to print out the recipe. oxoxo
Good idea! Let me do some research and figure out if there’s a quick print option.
I love stroganoff and I love the slow cooker idea – we’ve just always done it stove top. But I always double or triple the mushrooms because I love them so much.
Also if you are on wordpress this is a great recipe plug-in that makes printing much easier: http://www.easyrecipeplugin.com/
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