One Pot Beef Stroganoff
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Hearty stripes of steak, browned mushrooms, filling egg noodles, and creamy sauce, this one pot Beef Stroganoff has been specifically developed to be made at a campsite. All you need is a cast-iron skillet to get started.
It’s a well known among backpackers that beef stroganoff is one of the best tasting dehydrated “meals in a bag” on the market. It’s warming, filling, and loaded with big savory, umami flavors. When we go backpacking and don’t feel like cooking, nine times out of ten we’ll pick up a bag of stroganoff. We’ve even done a few multi-day hikes where we ate stroganoff every other night. It’s just that good.
But what about car campers? Eating a dehydrated meal seems a little silly in the front country, but making traditional beef stroganoff is too much of a project at a campground. What if there was a streamlined, simplified beef stroganoff that had all the flavor of fresh ingredients, but also wasn’t a total hassle? Is there a way to make it into a one pot dish? We endeavored to find out.
We did a lot of research beforehand and tested different versions, both in a kitchen as well as out in the field. Our goal was to keep the flavors while removing any non-essential elements. We tried a couple different cuts of meat, tinkered with the egg noodle to broth ratio, and tested to find just the right amount of sour cream. It was one of our more extensive (and delicious) recipe development processes.
In the end, we came up with a one pot beef stroganoff that’s worth every single second it takes to prepare! While it definitely takes more time and energy to prepare than pouring hot water into a dehydrated packet, we guarantee you that the flavors you get are so so so worth it.
What We Love About It:
↠ Unbelievably hearty, perfect camping comfort food
↠ Builds layers upon layers of flavor in the same skillet.
↠ No water big pot of water to strain for the noodles
↠ Get a lot of mileage out of that one cast iron skillet
How to make one pot beef stroganoff
Before you start, take a moment to quarter the mushrooms, dice the onion, and mince the garlic.
Begin by warming up your cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. While that’s going, liberally salt your steak on both sides. Add a couple of tablespoons of cooking oil into the skillet, then crank the heat all the way up to high. Once the oil starts to smoke, place the steak in the center of the skillet, and don’t touch it (1).
Let it sear on one side for 3-4 minutes, flip it, and sear on the opposite side for another 3-4 minutes (2). Remove from the skillet, tent with aluminum foil, and let rest on a cutting board.
Meanwhile, reduce the heat down to medium and add in your mushrooms and onions. If the pan feels a little dry, feel free to add some more oil. Toss occasionally with your tongs, until mushrooms and onions start to pick up a nice brown color (3). Then add in minced garlic and knock that around it becomes fragrant.
Now add the beef broth. The liquid will instantly boil once it hits the hot skillet, which will deglaze the fond stuck to the bottom of the skillet and release a ton of great flavor (4).
Add in the Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and egg noodles. Bring the broth to a simmer and stir the noodles frequently. As the noodles cook they will absorb most of the liquid (5).
Once the noodles are fully cooked, it’s time add in the sour cream. In a small container put half of the sour cream and a few spoons full of hot broth from the skillet (6). Mix thoroughly. This process tempers the sour cream so it doesn’t curdle once it hits the hot liquid in the skillet. Add this mixed sour cream to the skillet and mix thoroughly. Then add the rest of the sour cream directly to the skillet (7).
Uncover your steak, cutting against the grain, slice into thin strips or medallions (8). Add to the noodles.
Chop up some fresh parsley and sprinkle on top to garnish. Enjoy!
Equipment needed
↠ Camp Stove: While you can cook this recipe with most standard camp stoves, if you were in the market for a new stove, we would recommend this Camp Chef stove. It has two 20,000 BTU burners, which are twice as hot as most camp stoves. This allows you to put a beautiful high heat sear on the steak, while being able to dial down a really controlled simmer for the noodles.
↠ Cast Iron Skillet: Cast iron puts an amazing sear on the steak and retains heat like no other cookware. We cooked this meal in our 10” Lodge cast iron skillet, which is perfect for two people. If you’re doubling the recipe, then a 12” Lodge skillet would be better.
↠ Heat Resistant Gloves: The cast iron is going to get screaming hot, so you’ll want to have some heat resistant gloves to move the skillet around.
↠ Tongs: You’ll need a good pair of tongs for flipping the steak, moving the mushrooms, and stirring up the egg noodles.
Other one pot meals
↠ Dutch Oven Chili
↠ One Pot Pasta Primavera
↠ Dutch Oven Chicken Marbella
↠ 16 One Pot Camping Meals
One Pot Beef Stroganoff
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound strip steak, sliced into bite sized pieces
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 8 oz mushrooms, quartered
- 1 small brown onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 1/2 cups broth
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoom thyme
- ¼ lb wide egg noodles
- ½ cup full fat sour cream, divided
Instructions
- Quarter the mushrooms, dice the onion, and mince the garlic.
- Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed 10” skillet until smoking hot. Season the strip steak with salt & pepper. Add the steak to the skillet and cook, until browned on both sides and cooked through. Remove from the skillet, tent with foil, and allow it to rest while preparing the vegetables and noodles.
- Reduce heat to medium. Add the mushrooms and saute 5 minutes, stirring infrequently. Add the onions and continue to saute an additional 5 minutes. Add garlic and saute 1 minute.
- Add the broth, Worcestershire sauce, and thyme. Use a wooden spoon or a spatula to scrape up any brown bits on the bottom of the skillet. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat. Add the noodles and cook according to package instructions (this will depend on the noodles you buy - ours took 8 minutes), stirring occasionally to ensure the noodles cook evenly.
- Once the noodles are tender, remove skillet from heat. Temper half the sour cream with some of the sauce by adding a few spoonfuls of broth to the sour cream and stirring - this will raise the temperature of the sour cream and help prevent it from curdling when added to the pan. Mix the tempered sour cream to the pan, stir, then add the rest of the sour cream and stir to combine.
- Slice the cooked steak into bite-sized pieces, add to skillet, season to taste and serve!
Just found your blog this week and am very much enjoying it. I’m learning quite a bit and enjoying see parts of our country so different from where we live in Florida. This recipe looks great – my 12 year old will have to test it out and see if he can multiply it several times to cook for his Boy Scout troop.
Thanks, Marianne! This country’s landscape is SO incredibly diverse – and we haven’t even hit the Midwest or the South yet!
I imagine that this recipe would be a good candidate for multiplying – especially if his Boy Scout troop has Dutch ovens. I think the trick would be to make sure that the water/broth doesn’t *quite* cover the pasta, and then stir the pasta frequently to make sure it all cooks evenly – otherwise the sauce might end up a little thin. But, I think it’s a pretty forgiving dish. I’d love to hear how it works for them!
Thanks for the tip about the broth and yes, the boys use BIG Dutch ovens to cook. If you ever get to Florida check out the Florida Wildlife Corridor and Bigfoot Natural Wilderness. The boys hiked in (everything on their backs), but I’m sure there must be car camping spots. It’s real Florida. And look into the various springs like Ginnie Springs.
Ideas for a veggie version? Or just omit the steak? Thanks!
Yes, this could easily adapted to be vegetarian! Omit the steak and use veg broth, and bump up the mushrooms – maybe a pound instead of 8oz as listed? If you want some extra umami flavor (though the mushrooms + soy sauce should contribute!) you could always increase the soy sauce a bit (maybe reduce the salt in that case) or use liquid aminos.
Hope you enjoy it! We’d love to hear how you modify it and what worked!
This was the first recipe I tried and it was the perfect meal for a VERY cold camping trip. This was a great pick-me-up after a full day of climbing in the cold! I can’t wait to try more of the recipes! Thank you!!
this is very nice tips and please also write about nepalese organic foods…
whats the drink pictured in the shots ?. looks delicious.
Hey Frank! This is the drink: https://www.freshoffthegrid.com/blackberry-citrus-old-fashioned-cocktail/
Definitely one of our summer favorites!
Hi. This recipe looks great. I am going to test it at home first. But then it may end up being one of the dinners for my husband’s race team in the Adirondack Canoe Classic 90 miler race. In the video, you use a whole piece of steak, but in the recipe, it has them being cut into bite sized pieces. Can I do either?
We’ve done it both ways! Though, we definitely prefer searing the whole piece, letting it rest before cutting, and then adding the slices to the finished meal.
We discovered your blog a few weeks ago and thought your recipes all sounded amazing! We just made this recipe on a weekend car camping trip and it was so good! Even my 2 picky kids liked it! We want to try the chilequiles next!
We loved this recipe! We made it vegetarian by doubling the amount of mushrooms, using (low sodium) vegetable broth and not adding the meat. It was delicious! We are making it again this weekend
Awesome! We’ve made a veggie version of it too! The mushrooms are kind of the best part.
I also added 2 cloves minced garlic with the onion.
We have never regretted adding garlic to a recipe!
Has anybody substituted the soy sauce with worcester sauce? If anybody
out there has tried both soy or worcester sauce, which sauce would you recommend?
worcester sauce
I just made this at home, to test it out for camping. I used a large/wide iron skillet, like the video, which was just right. It turned out really good. Here are some of my thoughts/tips on improvement for next time around. I would use a little more meat (2/3 to 3/4 lb). I couldn’t find strip steak at the store, so I bought a New York steak and cut it up, which was a perfect cut of meat for this meal since it’s so tender. Also, I added 2-3 tablespoon of butter when I cooked the mushrooms (you can add more oil if you don’t have butter), since they will burn if the pan’s too dry. I used fresh chopped thyme leaves, but I would imagine dried thyme would also do. When adding the egg noodles, the bag said 6-8 minutes, but mine took 11 minutes since the liquid did not cover them completely. Because of that, I covered them on & off with a lid, to prevent too much evaporation and better cook the noodles, so bring a lid just in case. My family absolutely loved this one (and they are picky eaters), thank you!
What is the broth you are using? Chicken Stock?
We use beef broth, but chicken broth could work as well.
Who doesn’t like Stroganoff? This was very good! It is now a permanent recipe in our camping cook book, except I added two cloves of chopped garlic while sauteing the mushrooms and onion.
The only issue we had was that the liquid was evaporating before the noodles cooked, probably because it wasn’t covered. No problem, I just added some more beef broth, and two more teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce.
For something made in one pot on a camp stove, this was pretty decent, but it was definitely not our favourite. It was quick and easy-to-make, but we wouldn’t make it again. We ended up with a lot of leftovers because the portions were very large as well though we are camping with 2 kids, so their appetites might not be the same as 4 grown-ups eating together.
I’m looking forward to trying this this weekend. I did notice that the ingredients in the video don’t quite match the ingredients in the recipe. For example, the video lists 4 oz of egg noodles, while the recipe shows 1/2 lb (8 oz) of egg noodles. Other very minor examples are that the video shows black pepper on both sides of the meat and the additional of garlic; those aren’t listed in the recipe. Again, those last two are very minor, and I will definitely add the black pepper and garlic.
K.W., thank you so much for catching those little things and letting us know! I’ve updated the recipe for accuracy!
This recipe is FABULOUS!!! I made it a few days ago and am still dreaming about it. I added a little more noodles, broth, and sauce and it worked out fine. I included fresh rosemary and thyme when I cooked the steak, and added butter to the pan when I flipped the steak. Overall 10/10. My fellow campers asked me if I could cook extra for them next time. I used a beef broth, which I feel added to the flavor more so than other broths would have. I omitted the parsley (generally not a fan) and topped with rosemary and thyme and it was wonderful.
We’re so glad to hear you enjoyed it! Fresh rosemary & thyme takes the steak to the next level! Also, that’s a great idea for garnishing, instead of picking up the parsley. We might want to try that next time. Thanks!
Stroganoff is our fav!!! I have used my recipe for almost 30 years. Stumbled upon this recipe and was interested, love the ease and flavor! WILL make it again for sure! I tried a different recipe over the weekend from this site and LOVED it. We are headed to Zion UT and wanted something easy and flavorful and these recipes are keepers! My sister-in-law is gluten intolerant so your section on gluten free is great. Thank you