A Comfort Food Staple, Mushroom Stroganoff

I grew up eating stroganoff and although I didn’t like mushrooms as a kid, this mushroom stroganoff is one of our favourite dishes these days. I’ve kept the classic flavours here – of course – with white wine, Dijon mustard, and paprika, and used a plant-based cooking cream instead of smetana or sour cream (I am, sadly, allergic to milk protein). If you eat dairy, use that.

I understand now that what I didn’t like about mushrooms as a child had more to do with how they were cooked than how they tasted. An important element of this dish is cooking down the mushrooms before adding anything else, to get the right meaty texture, not soggy or chewy, and reduce the water content.

Served with a wide-cut pasta, rice, or even mashed potatoes, vegetarian stroganoff is a comfort-food treat that’s just right for colder weather. If you’re a mushroom fan, you’ll love this, especially if you like creamy pasta. This is ready in about half an hour and can be a weeknight dinner or a special meal to serve to guests with a nice winter salad.

I first published this recipe in 2022. It’s been updated with improvements to the text and some slight improvements to the recipe, and new photos.

Ingredients You’ll Need and Why

The mushrooms are the most important part of a good mushroom stroganoff, so choose ones that are fresh and in-season. These are my notes from recipe testing and you can find the full recipe card below.

• Cooking cream: use traditional smetana, sour cream, or heavy cream. While you can use a dairy-free sour cream substitute, I haven’t found any that actually taste good. Cashew cream is too sweet and oat cream sometimes separates when it comes into contact with the wine, so for this recipe, a store-bought option is best. Dairy and non-dairy alternatives can be used in the same quantity as outlined in the recipe.
• White wine: there’s no good substitute for wine here. It’s a key flavour note and can’t be omitted. Use a dry wine. Most of the alcohol should evaporate as the wine reduces.
• Mushrooms: button mushrooms are fine but don’t have a very strong flavour, so I prefer something a bit more distinctive like oyster mushrooms. When they’re in season we use wild mushrooms like boletes.
• Mustard: this must be Dijon or equivalent, like German mustard. Yellow mustard is not a good substitution.
• Pasta: I usually use egg pasta. Pappardelle and tagliatelle are usually made with eggs, roughly equivalent fettuccine is usually made with water if you need it to be vegan. I generally use spelt pasta but any works (choose a gluten-free type if needed).

How to Make Mushroom Stroganoff

Start cooking the pasta while the wine is reducing for a speedy mushroom pasta. Cooking the mushrooms will take the most time and is the most important element, but this is easy to make at home!

Step 1: add the oil and mushrooms to a hot frying pan. Please note that my portable induction cook top runs much hotter than a regular stove, so what looks like medium-low is more like medium-high on a normal stove.

Step 2: cook until lightly browned and any liquid has evaporated. Keep in mind that the mushrooms will cook for a while longer with the onions, so they don’t need to be fully cooked at this point.

Step 3: add the onions and cook several minutes longer, until translucent. The heat can be reduced for this if the onions start to brown, but I find that with the mushrooms in the pan they don’t cook too quickly.

Step 4: stir in the garlic and spices, and cook for another minute or two. There will probably be some sticking at this point and that’s normal.

Step 5: add the wine and deglaze the pan. This means that the liquid will lift any pieces of onion, garlic, spices, and so on that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. You incorporate these stuck pieces (fond) into the sauce, improving the flavour.

Step 6: reduce the wine by about half. Reducing will intensify the flavour. If you skip this step, the sauce will be too thin.

Step 7: stir in the sour cream or cooking cream, mustard, and lemon juice. Make sure the pan isn’t too hot at this point or the cream can split.

Step 8: the sauce is ready. Season as needed, to taste, and serve hot.

Expert Tips for the Best Stroganoff

• Start the pasta: don’t wait until the sauce is done to cook the pasta if you want to meal to be ready in a timely fashion. Remember that water takes a while to boil.
• Don’t forget to reduce: if you don’t reduce the wine, the sauce will be bland and too thin. This is a key step and can’t be skipped.
• Sear the mushrooms: for the best texture and flavour, the mushrooms must be seared, not steamed. This means that you must use a large pan, don’t crowd it, and avoid stirring.
• Keep warm: the sauce can be kept warm in a covered pan over very low heat while the rice or pasta cooks if necessary. If making brown rice, be sure to prepare it ahead of time as it takes a lot longer to cook than the mushroom sauce does.
• Don’t skip the lemon: adding a little extra lemon juice helps to imitate the classic slightly sour flavour of smetana, and it shouldn’t be left out if using whipped cream or a vegan substitute. The sauce is meant to be slightly sharp to balance out the cream.
• Omit the paprika if necessary: a touch of smoked paprika is added to give a hint of meaty flavour, but it can be replaced with all sweet paprika if you can’t get smoked. It doesn’t make the dish taste smokey at all but rather adds a bit of complexity.

• More Vegetarian Dinner Recipes

Tomato Lentil Soup

One-Pot Three Bean Chili

Biscuit Topped Vegetarian Pot Pie

Lemon Broccoli Pasta

If you make this Mushroom Stroganoff or any other vegetarian mains on Occasionally Eggs, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more OE, follow along on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, purchase the Occasionally Eggs cookbook, or subscribe for new posts via email.