Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe for a Vegetarian Stroganoff

This creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe makes a vegetarian version of my beef Stroganoff recipe, based on my Russian-Ukrainian family’s Stroganoff and the earliest documented Russian beef Stroganoff recipe by Elena Molokhovets in A Gift to Young Housewives, dating to 1861. Not everyone could afford beef and mushroom Stroganoff was quite common. I also provide tips to making this a vegan mushroom Stroganoff.

One of our best mushroom recipes, my creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe makes a deliciously-rich vegetarian version of my beef Stroganoff recipe, based on one of my Russian-Ukrainian family recipes. It’s versatile, easy to make, comes together quickly, and like beef Stroganoff, it’s fantastic with classic Strog sides like crispy shoestring fries, buckwheat kasha and mashed potatoes.

When I first shared this recipe I thought that like my chicken Stroganoff, pork Stroganoff and spaghetti Stroganoff recipes, my mushroom Stroganoff recipe was my creation and was not traditional. A classic Stroganoff, like a traditional Russian beef stew, was always made with beef. Or so I thought. Research since has revealed that mushroom Stroganoff was common, as not everyone could afford beef, even my own ancestors who were landholding peasant farmers.

It didn’t help that when I first developed this mushroom Stroganoff recipe, there were only a few insipid-looking mushroom Stroganoff recipes online. Those recipes called for ingredients such as coconut milk, yoghurt, tahini, miso, chestnuts, and leaks, and strayed too far from the original Russian Stroganoff to even be called a ‘Stroganoff’. Dishes travel and evolve but they should still retain the essence of the original.

Now there are dozens of mushroom Stroganoff recipes on Google, some with so many questionable ingredients that they should just be called “creamy mushrooms with pasta recipe”. But the thing that sets my mushroom Stroganoff recipe apart from most is that, as much as I love to experiment, my mushroom Stroganoff stays true to the spirit of the original Russian beef Stroganoff.

Now before I tell you about my mushroom Stroganoff recipe, I have a favour to ask. Grantourismo is reader-funded. If you’ve cooked any of my Russian family recipes or any of our recipes and enjoyed them, please consider supporting Grantourismo. You could buy a handcrafted KROK, the best mortar and pestle ever, or buy something on Amazon such as these cookbooks for culinary travellers or classic cookbooks for serious cooks.

Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe for a Vegetarian Stroganoff

When I first shared this mushroom Stroganoff recipe some years ago, I felt sure I’d concocted it myself, as my family had never served a Stroganoff without beef. Although I liked to think that there was a mushroom Stroganoff recipe somewhere in an old Russian cookbook that I simply hadn’t discovered yet.

Because, historically, beef was a luxury for most Russians, eaten mainly on holidays and special occasions. While Russian nobles in the palaces of St Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, and Odessa, feasted on beef, as well as lamb, veal, ham, venison, peacocks, swans, cranes, roosters, chickens, ducks, quails, and even tortoise, during the Russian Empire the peasants mostly ate fish, grains and vegetables, including mushrooms.

Like my beef Stroganoff recipe, which I developed over the years based on my memory of my family’s beef Stroganoff, and the earliest documented Russian beef Stroganoff recipes, including that by Elena Molokhovets in A Gift to Young Housewives, published in 1861, my creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe stays true to the traditional Stroganoff recipes – apart from the optional addition of fish sauce, which vegetarians can substitute with soy sauce.

Fish sauce is not as strange an inclusion in a Stroganoff recipe as some of you might assume. Aside from the fact that I naturally reach for fish sauce for many dishes, as we’ve lived in Southeast Asia for 15 years and have been cooking Southeast Asian food for a few decades, some early Stroganoff recipes included ‘Kabul sauce’, a very Asian-like sauce.

Consider the journey that post-World War II Russian refugees made through Asia. Russian emigres fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution settled in China and Hong Kong and opened restaurants, many of whom later made their way down to Australia. Dishes evolve on their travels and Stroganoff certainly evolved in Asia.

The Hong Kong beef Stroganoff is distinguished by the addition of tomato sauce or tomato ketchup, which originated in China. I didn’t get to try it when we were last in Hong Kong and I’m still trying to track down a good recipe. If any of our readers have one, please do share it. I only have a few tips to making this creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe.

Tips to Making this Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe

As usual, just a few tips to making this creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe, one of my favourite vegetarian Sunday night dinner ideas.

I know not everyone is a fan of fish sauce, so do leave it out if you’re not. As someone who has cooked Southeast Asian food for over 35 years, fish sauce makes sense to me in this dish, giving it a bit more depth and colour. But you could always try a splash of soy sauce instead.

When it comes to fish sauce, I use an old artisanal Vietnamese fish sauce that tastes of caramel, which I bought on a trip to Vietnam. It is so good I could almost drink it.

If you’re not in Southeast Asia, we recommend Thailand’s Megachef for a top quality fish sauce, as it’s readily accessible and its sodium levels are always consistent.

Allspice was in the Molokhovets recipe and I love it in this mushroom Stroganoff recipe. Paprika came much later but is also a must as far as I’m concerned.

Molokhovets included Sareptskaja mustard in her 19th century beef Stroganoff – which is widely available in Central and Eastern Europe and outside Europe, in European delis, but the closest we can get is wholegrain mustard.

While sour cream and cream make for a more authentic flavour profile, yoghurt appears to be a popular substitute for the health conscious. I adore yoghurt but yoghurt is not to my taste in Stroganoff – I have Russian-Ukrainian genes after all, which means I’d have sour cream on tap if I could – but do try it if you like.

Beef Stroganoff includes beef stock or bouillon and while I don’t think this mushroom Stroganoff needs it, by all means use vegetable stock if you like, particularly if you prefer to reduce the amount of cream or sour cream or skip them entirely.

While most cooks would automatically reach for a deep fry pan or cast-iron skillet for a dish like this, we love using our flat bottomed wok for browning the mushrooms then we transfer them to a pan.

How to Make this Vegetarian Mushroom Stroganoff Vegan

The easiest way to make my vegetarian mushroom Stroganoff recipe a vegan Stroganoff recipe is to leave out the fish sauce. You’ll also need to skip the sour cream or cream and do what Molokhovets did and add two tablespoons of flour to thicken the sauce.

It’s best to create a slurry first by whisking the flour into the warm stock or some hot water (which is essentially what a slurry is!) before you add it to the mushrooms in order to avoid lumps. Nobody likes lumps.

What to Serve with this Vegetarian Mushroom Stroganoff

I know the modern Russian-Australian and Russian American Stroganoffs are often dished up on a bed of pasta as a single-plate meal but my family rarely ate Stroganoff as a stand-alone dish. It always came with sides.

The traditional sides for beef Stroganoff are crispy shoestring fries or buckwheat kasha but my mum typically served Stroganoff with mashed potatoes which dad would make. You could also serve Stroganoff with rice, noodles or pasta. A Russian garden salad is a must.

Most of our family meals were shared meals with an array of dishes on the table. It was not unusual for a beef Stroganoff or beef stew to be served up as part of a family feast that included piroshki, pelmeni, vareniki, stuffed cabbage rolls, a pink beetroot potato salad, and perhaps chicken kotleti. Those dishes aren’t vegan or vegetarian obviously.

However you serve it, plate the mushroom Stroganoff with a generous dollop of sour cream and plenty of fresh dill, and serve additional bowls of gherkins and sour cream on the side. Unless you’re serving a vegan friend of course…

Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe

Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe

AuthorLara Dunston

This easy creamy mushroom Stroganoff recipe makes a vegetarian version of my beef Stroganoff recipe, which I based on my memory of my Russian grandmother’s beef Stroganoff and the earliest documented Russian beef Stroganoff recipe by Elena Molokhovets in A Gift to Young Housewives, dating to 1861. I also provide tips to making a vegan mushroom Stroganoff.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main

Cuisine Russian

Servings made with recipeServings 2

Calories 696 kcal

Equipment

Flat Bottomed Wok – Carbon Steel

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large white onion - roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves - finely chopped
• 200 g brown mushrooms or a mix of mushrooms - sliced
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• 150 ml sour cream
• 150 ml cooking cream
• 1 tbsp allspice - ground
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
• 1 tbsp fish sauce

Instructions

 

• In a flat-based wok, cast iron skillet or large pan, gently fry the onion on low-medium heat in a tablespoon of butter and tablespoon of olive oil for five minutes or so until they soften, brown and caramelise, then set aside.
• Add the finely chopped garlic cloves, a splash of oil if needed, and fry for a minute on low heat. Add another tablespoon each of butter and olive oil, the mushrooms, salt and black pepper, stir the mushrooms so they’re covered in the butter, oil and seasoning, turn the heat up to high and sauté the mushrooms until brown and soft.
• Turn the heat down to low, return the onions, add the cream and sour cream, allspice, paprika, mustard, and fish sauce, stir to combine well, then gently simmer for ten minutes or so. If the sauce has not thickened enough, turn the heat up to medium-high or even high for a few minutes or so to reduce.
• Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary to suit your taste, adding a little more salt, pepper, spices, and even another spoon of fish sauce if you like. Simmer for a few more minutes so the flavours meld together and taste again.
• Dish out into individual bowls, add a dollop of sour cream, garnish with plenty of fresh dill, and serve with bowls of gherkins and additional sour cream, and sides of your choice – buckwheat kasha, pasta, rice, crispy shoestring fries, and mashed potato all work. A Russian garden salad is a must.

Nutrition

Calories: 696kcalCarbohydrates: 18gProtein: 8gFat: 69gSaturated Fat: 35gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 25gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 172mgSodium: 2155mgPotassium: 800mgFiber: 3gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 2437IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 203mgIron: 1mg

Please do let us know if you make my mushroom Stroganoff recipe and how it turns out for you. We love to hear from our readers. I’d also love to hear from anyone who has tried the Russian beef Stroganoff in Hong Kong or China.