Slow Cooker Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe

Slow Cooker Russian Beef Stroganoff Recipe -easy, perfect for a busy weeknight, made with all fresh ingredients (no canned soups), and delicious.

I love a good slow cooker recipe, especially on a busy week night when we’re all in a rush around here.  We get home from after school gymnastic practise right at dinner time every Wednesday night, and walking in to this all ready in the slow cooker is great.  This slow cooker Russian Beef Stroganoff is a real favourite.  My kids love it, and I do too.  It’s delicious and super easy, a I know anyone who loves who loves a creamy beef dish will love this recipe.

What is beef stroganoff?

Beef stroganoff is a Russian dish originally created by the French chef of the Stroganov family.  Count stroganoff was know to be a food contasour.  At the time the beef stroganoff was created in the late 19th century, French cuisine was very popular among the Russian upper classes in the Russian empire and this dish is a marriage of French and Russian influence.  

The original recipe contains beef, onion and mushroom in a rich creamy sauce made with mustard as influenced by the French and sour cream as influenced by the Russians.  The authentic Russian beef stroganoff recipe appeared in a popular Russian cookbook in 1871, and has been made by Russian cooks ever since.

Slow Cooker

We’ve created a version of classic beef stroganoff that cooks all day in the slow cooker.  This traditional beef stroganoff recipe is easy to put together in the morning.  It cooks for hours on a low heat and smells amazing when you return home to it.  We add the sour cream at the end and then serve this delicious tender beef dish full of beef pieces, and flavorful mushrooms on a bed of white rice, or egg noodles.

Beef

You can make this dish with any cut of beef.  We usually use a rump steak.  You can also use beef tenderloin, or sirloin steak.  A more tender best quality cut of beef gives the most tender results, but a less tender cut of beef benefits from cooking for many hours in our slow cooker version of the recipe and can stretch your budget for beef recipes, especially for big groups.  

Some People also like to use ground beef and make meatballs, but the classic dish uses strips of beef.  The beef is typically cut into long strips for this dish.  An interesting fact is that it was originally a quick dish typically made with steak that was sliced into long thin slices for quick cooking.  Our version is made in the slow cooker and cooked many hours, but still uses the traditional stips of beef from the original recipe.

Dijon Mustard

Not every recipe you find includes mustard in the stroganoff sauce, and it’s often left out of the United States version of the recipe.  This is a part of the traditional recipe and one of the  essential ingredients for Russian beef stroganoff.  It brings a tanginess and richness to the dish, and shows the French influence by the original French chef and creator of the dish.  You can use dijon mustard or grainy dijon mustard for the classic Russian dish.  We like the grainy dijon for flavor and texture.

If you have any leftovers store them in an airtight container in your refrigerator.  This recipe reheats beautifully the next day.

Serving Suggestions

We love to have our beef stroganoff on buttered noodles, and this is the traditional way of eating the dish.  You can also enjoy your classic beef stroganoff recipe served over a bed of rice, rice pilaf, or even mashed potatoes or french fries.  This dish is usually served over a starch that can soak up all the rich gravy.  

It’s also often accompanied with a green salad, or vegetables.  The slow cooker stroganoff dish is very rich, and often accompanied by something lighter.  We like to serve it with steamed green beans.  It also is great with roasted carrots, or steamed broccoli.  

How do you  keep the sour cream from curdling?

If you add your sour cream to the very hot beef stroganoff it can sometimes curdle on you.  The key to adding the sour cream to the dish without if curdling is to make sure the beef mixture isn’t too hot when you add in the sour cream.  Our recipe advices turning the slow cooker off and letting the slower cooker sit for at least 10 minutes before adding the sour cream to help prevent it from curdling.  Another tip is to temper the sour cream.  Start by adding some of the hot liquid into the sour cream and stirring it together, before adding it all back into the stroganoff.

Why does the sour cream curdle sometimes?  When the sour cream comes right out of the fridge and then into the hot stroganoff liquid it can shock the proteins in the sour cream.  This shock can cause the sour cream proteins to clump together creating the curdled effect in your sour cream sauce.  Although it doesn’t look pleasant, if this happens to you, the dish is still completely safe to eat and won’t make you sick.

Crowd Favorite

You will definitely want to add this easy slower cooker stroganoff recipe to your repertoire.  It’s made with all fresh ingredients.  There are no canned soups in this one.  It’s quick to put together for a busy weeknight, and the perfect comfort food for cold winter nights.  

But this isn’t just a good weeknight dish.  If feel special enough to serve to company, or to make for a Sunday super.  It’s always well received by guests, and often they ask for the recipe.  I love serving a slow cooker recipe when I’m entertaining.  It gives me time to work on other details for the dinner party like setting a beautiful table or making a special dessert.  When guests arrive just prepare your noodles, rice or potatoes and your main course is done and ready to serve.  This gives you the chance to spend more time with your guests.  And clean up is easy too, since there is just one slow cooker insert to wash up from this dish.

This dish is also a good option to bring to a potluck dinner.  Bring a side dish to serve it with and watch it disappear from the buffet table every time.

With this Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Recipe, life really is a party!

More Recipe Inspiration

You might also like our Butter Chicken Pizza recipe here.

Also check out our Tortellini and Italian Sausage Soup recipe here.

You might also enjoy our Unstuffed Zucchini recipe here.