Mary Berry Beef Stroganoff

Mary Berry’s beef stroganoff is thin strips of steak seared with quartered shallots and halved mushrooms, finished with soured cream and parsley. It serves four, cooks on the hob in about 15 minutes, and goes straight to the table with rice.

Her version in Cooking with Mary Berry (2016) is the simplest of her three stroganoff recipes. There’s no paprika, no lemon juice, no long onion stage. Just beef, shallots, mushrooms and soured cream in one pan, which makes it the fastest to cook.

Berry’s cutting guide says to “slice the beef at an angle into thin strips, 5mm (¼in) wide and 5cm (2in) long.” That diagonal cut across the grain keeps each strip tender rather than chewy, and the thin width means they sear in minutes.

Mary Berry Beef Stroganoff

Recipe by Pinch PerfectCourse: DinnerCuisine: British

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

10

minutes

Cooking time

10

minutes

Calories

560

kcal

Total time

20

minutes

Berry’s three-step stovetop supper from Cooking with Mary Berry (2016), stripped back to beef, shallots, mushrooms and soured cream. No paprika, no fuss.

Ingredients

• 30g (1oz) butter

• 1 tbsp sunflower oil

• 750g (1½lb) flank steak, trimmed and cut into strips

• 8 shallots, quartered

• 300g (10oz) button mushrooms, halved

• salt and black pepper

• 300ml (10fl oz) soured cream

• chopped parsley, to garnish

Directions

• Melt the butter with the oil in a large frying pan. When the butter is foaming, add the steak strips, in batches if necessary, and cook over high heat for 5 minutes or until browned all over. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon.
• Add the shallots and mushrooms and cook for about 5 minutes until browned.
• Return the steak strips to the pan and season with salt and pepper. Stir in the sour cream and heat gently. Garnish with the chopped parsley, and serve at once with boiled rice.

Notes

• e: The cookbook database contains the US edition text. Measurements converted to British metric-first format. “Sour cream” retained as Berry’s term from the recipe; “soured cream” used in editorial text per British convention.
• Calories: Butter (30g): 215. Oil (15ml): 135. Flank steak (750g): 1,163. Shallots (240g): 86. Mushrooms (300g): 66. Soured cream (300g): 579. Total: 2,244 ÷ 4 = 561 → rounded to 560 kcal per serving. Berry’s published figure: 329 kcal (likely uses different nutritional database values for beef and soured cream).

FAQs

Why doesn’t Berry add paprika to this version?

Berry’s pork stroganoff uses three teaspoons of paprika and her Mushroom Stroganoff uses two. This beef version has none, which lets the flavour of the steak and shallots come through without any spice.

It’s a different approach to stroganoff entirely. The pork version is warm and creamy from the paprika, while this one is sharper and more direct. The soured cream stands alone without paprika softening it, so you taste the beef and shallots more clearly. I prefer the pork version for guests but reach for this one on a busy weeknight.

What cut of beef should I use?

Berry says flank steak, which in the UK is sometimes sold as bavette. It’s a lean, well-flavoured cut with a loose grain that stays tender when sliced thinly across the fibres. Skirt steak works as a substitute and has a similar texture.

Sirloin or rump would also work but they’re more expensive and don’t add much here. The soured cream sauce is rich enough to carry a cheaper cut. That’s part of why stroganoff became a classic midweek supper in the first place.

How do I slice the beef properly?

Berry gives a specific cutting guide: “Slice the beef at an angle into thin strips, 5mm wide and 5cm long, using a sharp chef’s knife.” The angle cuts across the grain, which shortens the muscle fibres and keeps each strip tender.

If you cut along the grain instead of across it, the strips will be stringy and tough no matter how briefly you cook them. I find it easier to slice the beef when it’s slightly chilled, so I put it in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting.

Can I use crème fraîche instead of soured cream?

Berry uses soured cream here and crème fraîche in her Pork Stroganoff, so both work. Soured cream is thinner and tangier, which gives this version its sharper flavour. Crème fraîche is richer and more stable in a hot pan.

If you swap to crème fraîche, the sauce will taste milder and creamier. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to bring back some of the tang that soured cream provides naturally. Berry includes lemon juice in her pork version for exactly this reason.

Can I prepare beef stroganoff ahead?

Berry doesn’t include a Prepare Ahead note for this recipe, and stroganoff is best served straight from the pan while the sauce is fresh. The soured cream thickens as it cools and the beef strips toughen if they sit in residual heat for too long.

If you need to get ahead, slice the beef, quarter the shallots and halve the mushrooms up to a day in advance and keep them in the fridge. The actual cooking takes under 15 minutes, which is faster than reheating a pre-made batch and the result tastes better.

What makes this different from Berry’s other stroganoffs?

This is the simplest of the three. No paprika, no lemon juice, no covered onion stage. Berry’s pork stroganoff is the most layered. It includes all of those elements plus a 10-minute covered onion step that builds sweetness into the sauce.

Her Mushroom Stroganoff in the same book as this beef version is the most different. It uses dried porcini, red peppers and artichoke hearts with cornflour-thickened stock rather than cream. The soured cream goes on the side as a garnish instead of into the sauce.