The BEST Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff features tender chunks of beef and hearty mushrooms in an all-natural sour cream sauce for an easy, comforting, slow cooker dinner made with real ingredients!

If you enjoy hearty, comforting stroganoff, you'll also love Ground Beef Stroganoff and Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff Soup!

Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff is a slow cooker favorite that's an all-around hit when I make it for my family. My kids happily eat it, my husband raves about it, and I'm a happy camper because this tasty dinner doesn't require me to slave over the stove all day.

No Canned Soup

You may have seen a Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff recipe before that relies on canned cream of mushroom soup as the base for its creamy sauce...but not this one.

While you can definitely count on some shortcuts to hasten the preparation of this meal -- such as buying beef stew meat already cut up and fresh mushrooms already sliced -- canned soup is not necessary.

Instead, stirring two ingredients into the broth towards the end of the cooking time is all you need to do to create that signature thick and silky stroganoff sauce!

Ingredients

So what are the real, all-natural ingredients that make this Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff recipe THE BEST?

• Beef stew meat. Trimmed. You can also start out with a chuck roast and cube it yourself, which will end up being more economical per pound. But I wouldn't substitute leaner cuts, as those will result in slow-cooked beef that's less tender and succulent.
• White mushrooms. Cleaned and sliced.
• Minced garlic. You may certainly use fresh garlic cloves, but as with most crock pot recipes I cook, I use a refrigerated jar of minced garlic in lieu of chopping up the fresh stuff. I find that after cooking for so many hours in the slow cooker, the jarred garlic turns out just as good as fresh minced garlic, so I like to save myself the chopping time.
• Beef broth or stock. Or you can use water mixed with Organic Better Than Bouillon Beef Base.
• Red wine. Optional but recommended. Don't open a whole bottle of red wine just for the sake of this recipe. But if you already have a bottle open, or if you're going to be opening a bottle to drink with dinner, you can add a splash to your Slow Cooker Beef Stroganoff for another layer of flavor.
• Worcestershire sauce + Dijon mustard. To further boost the flavor.
• Dried herbs + spices. Specifically, garlic powder, onion powder, dried parsley, dried thyme, and a bay leaf.
• Flour. For effortless thickening. (Or scroll down a few headings for cornstarch slurry instructions if you'd prefer to avoid flour.)
• Salt + pepper. To taste.
• Cream cheese + sour cream. Both at room temperature. These are stirred into the broth after the beef is cooked to create that traditional creamy, silky stroganoff sauce that we all know and love!
• Fresh chopped parsley. Also optional but highly recommended, as it adds a pop of brightness, freshness, and color to the dish at the end of the cooking time.
• Egg noodles. For serving.

As for the onions that you might notice are missing from this recipe? Well, if you know me or have been following this blog for any period of time, you have probably noted that I abhor onions. Like, loathe them. Like, they make me gag. And I never ever buy them, much less include them in anything I cook. I tend to add extra garlic instead when a recipe calls for onions (is it weird that I simultaneously love garlic and hate onions?).

Anyway, I apologize for my inconvenient food aversion, but all of that is to say...I realize that beef stroganoff sometimes includes onions. So if you are an onion fan, by all means, feel free to slice a medium onion and add it to the slow cooker along with the mushrooms! I promise to look the other way. 😉

How to Make Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff

(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)

1. Place beef, mushrooms, and garlic in the bottom of a large slow cooker.
2. In a medium bowl, combine beef broth, red wine (if using), Worcestershire sauce, Dijon, dried herbs and spices, and flour. Whisk the mixture until the flour is completely dissolved. 

3. Pour the mixture into the crock pot over the beef and mushrooms. Add a bay leaf.

4. Stir until all ingredients are combined and coated.

5. Place the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 8 to 10 hours on LOW (or 4 to 5 hours on HIGH) until the beef is fall-apart tender.
6. About 20 minutes before serving time, add cubed, softened cream cheese to the crock pot and replace the lid. 

7. After 10 minutes, stir the warmed cream cheese into the sauce, smashing it with the back of a spoon to break it up and incorporate it into the sauce.
8. Carefully stir the sour cream into the sauce until well-combined, as well as some fresh parsley (if using).

9. Replace the lid on the crock pot for a few more minutes until the sauce is heated through.
10. In the meantime, boil and drain some egg noodles.

11. Remove the bay leaf from your Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff, taste, and adjust the salt and pepper as desired.

12. Serve over hot egg noodles and garnish with additional fresh minced parsley.

Gluten-Free Option

If you'd like to make this recipe gluten-free (and therefore need to avoid using any flour), you may use cornstarch as a thickener instead. However, instead of stirring it into the liquid ingredients at the beginning of the recipe, it will need to be added towards the end of the recipe as a slurry.

1. Once the beef is tender at the end of the primary cooking time, stir 2 tablespoons cornstarch into 3 tablespoons cold water in a small bowl until completely dissolved.
2. Mix this slurry into the sauce in the slow cooker, cover, and allow it to cook for about 15 minutes to thicken.
3. Continue following the original recipe directions, adding the cream cheese and then the sour cream.

For a truly GF meal, please just also double-check that your other ingredients (such as the Worcestershire sauce) are certified GF.

Can I Sear the Beef?

You don't have to! I find that this Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff turns out perfectly delicious as a dump-everything-into-the-slow-cooker recipe without any additional steps. After all, I always prefer slow cooker recipes with minimal steps. 🙂

That being said, if you prefer searing your beef in a pan on the stove before adding it to the crock pot, feel free to do so.

1. Preheat a pan and add a bit of EVOO.
2. Season your stew meat with some salt and pepper.
3. Cook the cubed beef until it's brown on all sides.
4. Deglaze the pan with the red wine or a bit of the beef broth.
5. Finally, dump your browned beef (and deglazing liquid) into the slow cooker and proceed with the recipe.

If you wish to sauté the mushrooms (and onions, if using) after the beef, you may do so in the same pan. Or you can just toss the raw veggies into the slow cooker on top of the seared beef. Either way, this recipe is pretty forgiving.

Freezer Meal Option

I do not recommend freezing leftover beef stroganoff simply because the sour cream and cream cheese may cause your sauce to separate and/or curdle during thawing and reheating. If you do decide to freeze it, stir well while reheating and before serving to try to avoid this issue as much as possible.

That being said, if you'd like to make this Crockpot Beef Strognoff ahead of time as a freezer meal, go ahead and prepare it in the slow cooker as directed except leave out the cream cheese and sour cream. Once cool, transfer the stroganoff to a freezer-safe container (or a freezer-thickness baggie with all of the air squeezed out), label, and freeze for up to 3 months.

When you're ready to enjoy it, thaw the stroganoff, reheat it as desired, and then stir in the room temperature cream cheese and sour cream until well-incorporated, allowing the sauce to completely heat back up before serving.

The BEST Crock Pot Beef Stroganoff is easy to make, hearty, tasty, and beyond comforting! It's mighty popular around here, and I hope that you all enjoy it as well. 🙂

More Comfort Food Recipes

• King Ranch Chicken Casserole
• Cheeseburger Macaroni {Homemade Hamburger Helper}
• Perfect Chicken & Dumplings
• Easy Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Post originally published on January 25, 2014, and updated on February 27, 2021, and February 1, 2023.