Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
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A thoroughly delicious and fuss-free Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff recipe that has been a reader favorite since I first published it in 2014! Rich in flavor with a luxuriously creamy sauce you can enjoy over egg noodles or rice, this is destined to become a new family favorite!
I’ve always been a fan of rich and creamy sauces and beef stroganoff is a prime example (be sure to also check out my Chicken Stroganoff and vegetarian Creamy Mushroom and Tofu Stroganoff). Whether it’s a more labor intensive gourmet version (recipe to come!) or a simple but thoroughly delicious crock pot beef stroganoff, I love them both. With it’s robust flavors of beef and mustard combined with the delicate flavors of cream and herbs, it’s a dish I always look forward to sitting down to and it makes for the perfect comfort food. (And speaking of Russian comfort food, be sure to also check out my recipe for the famous Olivier Salad!)
I threw this crockpot beef stroganoff recipe together one Sunday many years ago before our family headed out to church so it would be ready when we got home. When we opened the door we were met with a heavenly smell and we could hardly wait to get the noodles boiled so we could sit down and enjoy our family dinner!
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Ingredients
This slow cooker beef stroganoff recipe is fuss-free, just as a slow cooker recipe should be, and chances are you already have most everything you need. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Beef: Use chuck roast or stewing beef.
- Yellow onion and garlic: Because no stroganoff is complete without them.
- Mushrooms: You can use cremini or regular white button mushrooms.
- Beef broth: Use a good one.
- Dijon mustard: The flavor profile is much better and more refined than yellow mustard.
- Worcestershire sauce: This adds wonderful depth and “umami”.
- Onion powder: For added flavor.
- Dried thyme: I love the woodsy, floral notes that thyme contributes.
- Salt and pepper: To tie everything together.
- Sour cream: A key ingredient in stroganoff, it adds a wonderful tang and creamy texture.
- Cream cheese: I love including this in addition to the sour cream for an even more luxurious texture and flavor.
- Parsley: This adds a nice fresh element to finished dish.
- Cornstarch: To thicken the sauce. This recipe is naturally gluten free.
- Egg noodles: For serving. If you prefer you can use a different pasta of choice, Spätzle, rice, or a low carb option like cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles.
Best Cut of Beef for Beef Stroganoff
Use chuck roast or stewing meat, which are usually one and the same. Using a marbled cut is important because the fat will melt during the low and slow cooking process, making the meat beautifully fork-tender and moist. If you don’t have chuck, you can substitute bottom round or rump roast.
Pro Tips
While you don’t have to brown the beef first – you can simply throw everything into the slow cooker and walk away and it will taste deeelicious! – browning the beef first will do wonders for the flavor of your slow cooker beef stroganoff. That single step of searing the meat will contribute so much flavor, it is well worth taking a few extra minutes to do that. Secondly, frying up the onions and mushrooms before adding them to the slow cooker will likewise draw out their natural sugar and flavors. I promise, you will be well rewarded!
Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Recipe
Let’s get started!
Spread the onions and garlic on the bottom of the slow cooker followed by the mushrooms.
Place the beef evenly over the mushrooms (as mentioned above, if you have time to brown the beef and onions and mushrooms first, the flavor will be even better!).
In a bowl, stir together the broth, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, thyme, onion powder, salt and pepper.
Pour the mixture over the beef.
Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours. About 20 minutes before done, dissolve 2 tablespoons cornstarch in 1/2 cup broth and add it to the slow cooker. Stir and continue to cook for another 20 minutes or until thickened.
Stir in the cream cheese until dissolved.
Stir in the sour cream and chopped fresh parsley and heat through. Add salt and pepper to taste and add a little more mustard if desired.
Serving Recommendations
Egg noodles are the traditional accompaniment. If you prefer, you can use another pasta of choice or even use homemade Spätzle (yummy!). For sides, stroganoff pairs great with any steamed veggie and/or a leafy green salad or German Creamy Cucumber Salad (one of my favorites!).
Enjoy!
For more delicious slow cooker recipes be sure to try my:
- Slow Cooker Pot Roast
- Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken
- Slow Cooker Pineapple Orange BBQ Chicken
- Greek Chicken
- Creamy Tortellini Soup
- Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup
- Pulled Pork Gyros
- Peach Crisp
- Apple Butter
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Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 pounds beef stew meat (e.g., chuck) , cut any large pieces into bite-sized pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion , diced
- 2 cloves garlic , minced
- 12 ounces fresh cremini or white button mushrooms , cleaned and sliced
- 1 1/4 cup beef broth
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/2 cup beef broth
- 6 ounces cream cheese
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 10 ounces uncooked egg noodles , cook according to package instructions and toss with some melted butter before serving
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the broth, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, onion powder and thyme. Pour over the beef in the slow cooker. Cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours or until the beef is tender.
- About 20 minutes before it's done, add the beef broth/cornstarch mixture to the slow cooker and stir to combine. Cook until thickened.Stir in the cream cheese until dissolved. Stir in the sour cream and chopped fresh parsley and heat through. Add salt, pepper and mustard to taste.Serve over hot egg noodles.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet on December 17, 2014
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Made this tonight and it was a complete success so delicious. I have some very picky eaters so I threw the mushrooms in th food processor to hide them! Thanks for a great recipe.
Fantastic, Heather, yayyy!! Super clever move with the mushrooms, too – good job! :)
Really?!? Even though the recipe says 7-8 hours on low? I thought I might have to turn it up to high at some point to fully cook the meat by then? ;).
Oops, I thought you said you were cooking it on “low”, Jennifer. In any case, because the meat is cut into strips it will be “done” well before 7 hours, it’s just a question of how tender you want it and that’s largely determined by what cut of beef you used. Is this all sounding too complicated now? :) Don’t fret one bit, it will all turn out! Bon appetit!
Hi there,
Just started this in the crockpot for tonight….can’t wait for our family to try it. Looks fabulous! I started it on low at 11, & need to serve it around 4:30. What time would you recommend turning the heat up? I prefer to cook low & slow so that the meat is as tender as possible, but got a late start today. :(. Also, used fresh thyme since I had some. Many thanks!
Hi Jennifer, if you started it at 11am that will give you plenty of time. It should be done by, or even likely before, 4:30pm. Test the meat around 3pm to see if it’s tender enough. If so, you can turn it off and just keep it at “warm” until you’re ready to eat. Fresh herbs are always better than dried :)
HI Kimberly, so I’m using beef bouillon. I’m gonna double the sauce cause i loooove sauce, so using 1 cube gives me 2 cups of water. Would I avoid the addition of salt completely since bouillon is salty?
Hi Jennifer, that just comes down to personal preference but you’re most likely going to need to add more salt. Taste the sauce towards the end and if you think it needs more salt, add some more.
It didn’t turn out so well :( I cut my beef too thin and so it became grainy and into bits. I think I put a little more than 2 TBSP of dijon cause the taste was off. Overall, thumbs down for the family. I have no idea how to repair it :( BUT I’m gonna try again in a few months.
Oh, that’s too bad :( Not sure what could have gone wrong with the flavor – even adding a little more mustard wouldn’t have ruined it (unless you simply don’t like mustard). But the texture of the beef could have been an overall turnoff, sure. Next time you can also try slicing the beef a little thicker and then only cooking it for 4-5 hours on “high”.
We didn’t like it. Made it to the recipe. Meat was fine, but too much thyme.
Adding some wine and more sour cream to try to salvage for tomorrow. Unfortunately, lots of leftovers. Sad to think a cow’s life was wasted on this. That’s the only reason I’ll try to salvage. I also wasted really good homemade noodles on this dish.
Zero stars for this one, even if the rating scale below will go no lower than 3 stars.
Very disappointed and won’t be fooled again.
Sorry you didn’t care for the thyme, Mitch.
The cow doesn’t care and the cow’s life wasn’t wasted. Since the cow was already dead giving ribeyes, strip steaks and roasts to other competent cooks. Taste! Taste again! Adjust seasonings.
Dear Kimberly,
I have just discovered your site and it’s wonderful. Question, pls: can I replace mushrooms with something else? many thanks
Hi Julia! Thank you and welcome! You can either simply leave the mushrooms out and have a creamy meat sauce or, towards the end (like the last 15 minutes or so) add another vegetable that you like (eg, broccoli). Happy Cooking!
Thanks a lot, Kimberly, for your kind reply! Apologies if it has been discussed elsewhere but I would like to purchase a slow cooker (all your recipes sound great!) but am wondering whether all the “goodness” might be gone after so many hours of cooking…(
Many thanks!
Definitely not in terms of flavor, Julia. The slow cooking process only enhances the flavor! In terms of nutrition, some nutrients will always be lost through the process of cooking (while other nutrients are only made available through the process of cooking – for example, cooking tomatoes releases certain nutrients that aren’t available if it’s eaten raw). But the biggest culprit of nutrient loss is high heat cooking, and that’s an advantage of slow cookers. Even though some nutrients will be lost because of the length of cooking time, the advantage is that slow cookers use very low heat. Even the “high” setting (which will reduce the cooking time) is relatively low heat. So, whether you’re making a stir-fry in 15 minutes or a beef stroganoff in 6 hours, it may very well be a toss-up as to which dish will have retained the most nutrients.
I must have missed the mustard powder sugar and red wine. You can’t have a stroganoff without those ingrediants, just ask any Russian. Add to taste and don’t skimp on the sour cream.
Hi Richard, the original version of beef stroganoff published in a Russian cookbook in 1871 doesn’t even have onions or mushrooms let alone sugar or wine. It was made simply with beef, prepared mustard (no powder), bouillon and sour cream. Over time different variations were created and here on The Daring Gourmet we have two so far – this one for the slow cooker and a vegetarian version. At some point I’ll also be publishing my classic stovetop version.
I’d sure like to see that stovetop version :-)
Richard…..shhhhhhhh. Who comes on a blog to complain about a free recipe that Kimberly was very gracious to post. Stop being a dick.
I agree with Kristen, if your such a great cook why are you looking for the recipe?
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve been using a ready-made packaged mix to make this in the slow cooker. No more – this was super easy and delicious. Even on a week day i can slice down all the ingredients the night before, assemble in the morning and come home to a great meal.
Awesome, Kim, I’m thrilled to hear that! It’s true, this is so fast and easy to make, is far healthier than the bought stuff, and tastes much better! It’s a win-win all around :)
Looks yummy, will be making this soon!
You’ll love it, sj82!
I made this two days ago and it was delicious! Thank you for another great recipe!
Wonderful, Courtney, so glad you enjoyed it!
Thank you for a lovely recipe. I have to say also that you are one very cute cook as well!
Thanks for both compliments, Cookboy!