Quick, easy meatless Healthy Mushroom Stroganoff ready in 30 minutes! This hearty vegetarian meal with mushrooms, pasta and a creamy sauce is lower in calories and fat, carnivore approved and endlessly comforting!
For more meat-free pasta inspiration try this olive, tomato, and goat cheese penne, one-pot chili beer mac n cheese, one-pot taco pasta, or zucchini and tomato pasta!
Table of contents
The flavors in this healthy mushroom stroganoff are not only rich and balanced but elevated. We are not vegetarians but definitely trying to eat less meat. And mushrooms stroganoff with 2 lbs of meaty brown mushrooms is a good substitute for beef stroganoff.
Savory mushroom noodles with a flavor loaded creamy sauce; keep this recipe handy, it’s always a crowd pleaser! In fact, mushrooms appear a lot in my meat-free recipes; bean mushroom soup, lentil and mushroom casserole, cauliflower mushroom risotto, and a spaghetti squash quiche with kale and mushrooms – just to name a few!
Why Make Vegetarian Stroganoff?
- Meatless: Going meatless once a week can save on your grocery budget as well as increase fiber, vitamin and nutrient intake.
- Flexible recipe: Add white wine or not for stroganoff sauce, use mushrooms you have on hand or try any dairy in your fridge!
- Healthy comfort food: Meaty mushrooms combined with creamy dairy and warm pasta, this meal satisfies on wintry days!
- Superfood mushrooms: Are a plant source of vitamin D, rich in vitamin B and contain high levels of the antioxidant nutrient selenium, if you didn’t like mushrooms then, you will now with this mushrooms noodles recipe!
- Easy to make: So much flavor, ready in only 30 minutes!
Love healthy comfort food? Make this on rotation with mac and cheese (or my roasted cauliflower mac and cheese), and my roasted red pepper lasagna – also meat-free, also super wholesome!
Ingredients for Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe
- Pasta: You can use any pasta that has openings and cavities to scoop up the stroganoff sauce. Not spaghetti. We like to use whole grain pasta for its fiber, vitamins and nutrients vs. regular pasta. But I will not judge. 🙂
Why not egg noodles for stroganoff sauce with mushrooms? By all means use egg noodles if that is your preference; our family prefers pasta with grooves to scoop up the sauce! If you are avoiding eggs or need a lower cholesterol pasta, using a different pasta such as penne, rigatoni, macaroni, rigatoni, rotini might become your new favorite for mushroom noodles!
- Mushrooms: I like to use brown mushrooms, also known as baby bellas or mini portobello. They don’t cost much more than white mushrooms but offer more flavor in the stroganoff sauce.
Do your kids eat mushrooms? Try these kid friendly mushroom dinner ideas: Broccoli mushroom stir fry, baked chicken and peppers or air fryer broccoli.
- Yogurt: To cut back on saturated fat, I like to use plain yogurt with 3.5% fat content.
- Onion, garlic and butter: Fresh onion and garlic sauteed in butter add sweetness, creaminess and flavor to stroganoff.
- Broth and spices: Any low sodium broth like vegetable and mushroom will work. Dried thyme goes well with mushrooms.
- Cornstarch or flour: This acts as a thickener for sauce and comes down to your personal preference and what’s in your pantry.
How to Make Healthy Mushroom Stroganoff
- Prep: Wash moss from mushrooms and slice.
To cook pasta, I recommend to start boiling water at same time as you start sauteing the onion. Then add pasta to water when you start making sauce. Maximum freshness guaranteed. 🙂
- Saute onion in melted butter: Just until translucent. Add dried thyme at the end to help it release its natural oils and flavors.
- Cook mushrooms and garlic for about 10 minutes: Or until a bit golden brown and amount reduced in half. Mushrooms consist of 90% water, so cooking them on medium-high heat before adding sauce helps with flavor.
- Make sauce: Whisk broth, cornstarch, salt and pepper and adding to the skillet. Let mushroom sauce first boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. And don’t forget to add pasta to boiling water now.
- Make sauce creamy by stirring in yogurt or sour cream off of heat. No need to cook it, especially yogurt that might curdle.
- Serve: Add cooked pasta to plates and scoop generous amount of sauce with mushrooms on top. Then nothing is better than freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of fresh parsley or dill, and a pinch of freshly cracked pepper. Call me when you make mushroom stroganoff. 🙂
Optional Add-In’s and Variations
- Mushrooms: You can use white, wild or combination of any mushrooms.
- Yogurt substitution: If you are used to less tangy taste of sour cream, go for it. You could also use plain Greek yogurt.
- Olive oil: Can be used instead of butter.
- White wine: Replace 1/2 cup of broth with white wine for additional layer of flavor.
- Seasonings: Sub dried oregano for thyme if you would like.
- Thickener: Arrowroot starch, tapioca or potato starch could also be used.
- Dairy free: Use your favorite dairy free brand of dairy free yogurt and Parmesan. Taste may be slightly different.
- Worcestershire sauce: Adds a umami savory layer of flavor! Use a vegan brand or regular for that additional meaty taste.
- Umami taste: Alternately, add a splash of soy sauce, amino acids or small amount of miso past to your mushroom noodles dish.
Tips for Best Results
- Don’t over soak your mushrooms in water: Mushrooms are spongelike in texture and absorb water and then that leads to a spongy texture when you eat them! A better way to remove the peat moss from them is to gently wipe them with a dry paper towel.
- Be careful not to overcrowd your pan: You want your mushrooms to sear and become a beautiful brown color, if you crowd the pan you risk steaming them instead, which also leads to a spongy texture!
- Don’t salt your mushrooms: This also draws out moisture, which once again could lead to a spongy texture!
- Stir mushrooms occasionally: Allow them to sear beautifully on each side, this leads to the incredible flavorful taste!
- Don’t mix your cornstarch slurry in the pan: This will not thicken properly, it will clump! Make sure to stir together your slurry separately then add to the skillet, stirring as you add it.
FAQs
If you omit using the Parmesan garnish then yes, this is a completely vegetarian stroganoff!
Yes! Just use gluten free noodles or serve over rice, quinoa or mashed potatoes! Also, be sure to use a gluten free thickening agent for your stroganoff sauce.
You could add diced carrots, eggplant or broccoli and cauliflower florets when you saute your onion or add frozen peas after you stir in your slurry. The heat from the hot skillet should thaw peas quickly.
If your slurry did not thicken it to your preference, let it simmer longer in step 5, it should continue to thicken.
Add additional seasoning (thyme, oregano, Italian seasoning etc), a pinch of garlic or onion salt and don’t skip adding the fresh herbs at the end!
This dish originated in Russia and it is commonly attributed either to the elderly Count Alexander Grigorievich Stroganoff whose French chef was said to have invented it with smaller pieces of meat so the count could chew them easier; it has also been said to have been first served for guests of Count Stroganoff who had ‘open tables’ where he would invite people to dine and he would serve stroganoff because it was easier to portion out to the guests.
How to Serve Mushroom Stroganoff?
- Grains: You could also serve this up with quinoa or a grain instead.
Apart from pasta, quinoa is my favorite to add to my meat-free meals (lots of protein!)– like my black bean quinoa casserole, spinach and artichoke quinoa casserole, or Mediterranean quinoa salad– yummy!
- Other carbs or low carb: Serve over healthy mashed potatoes (or Instant Pot), Instant Pot baked potatoes, low carb cauliflower rice or cauliflower mashed potatoes.
- A simple salad: Lettuce salad, lemon kale salad, Greek salad or cucumber and tomato salad would all
round out a dinner of mushroom stroganoff. - Fresh bread: Added to the table with garlic olive oil dip always gets big smiles in my house, plus that bread comes in handy for sopping up all that delicious stroganoff sauce!
- Protein: You could also serve this over top of oven baked chicken breast or pork chops!
How to Store Vegetarian Stroganoff with Mushrooms
Refrigerate sauce with mushrooms in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat in a skillet by simmering on low heat and stirring.
You can freeze mushroom stroganoff but I highly recommend to leave out yogurt or sour cream for any portions you plan to freeze. It freezes great and add dairy when reheating. Also don’t freeze with pasta, as cooked pasta doesn’t freeze well.
More Vegetarian Dinner Recipes
- Tex Mex sweet potato skillet
- Vegetarian quesadillas
- Buckwheat stir fry
- Instant Pot vegetarian chili
- Spaghetti squash veggie quiche
- Instant Pot lentil daal
You might also enjoy browsing through this list of one-pot vegetarian meals or my entire collection of vegetarian recipes!
Healthy Mushroom Stroganoff {Easy and Creamy!}
Ingredients
- 12 oz 4 cups pasta
- 2 lbs brown mushrooms sliced
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1/4 tsp thyme dried
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 tbsp butter unsalted
- 2 cups vegetable or mushroom broth low sodium
- 3 tbsp cornstarch or whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt at least 3.5% fat
- 3/4 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- Parsley or dill finely chopped
- Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salted water until al dente or as per package instructions. I recommend to add pasta to boiling water at same time as you add broth to mushrooms.
- Preheat large deep skillet on medium heat and melt butter.
- Add onion and cook for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add thyme and cook for 30 seconds, stirring often.
- Add mushrooms and garlic. Cook uncovered on medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- In a medium bowl, whisk broth, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Add to skillet, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let sauce simmer for 5 minutes.
- Don’t forget to add pasta to boiling water now as well.
- Turn off heat, add yogurt and stir. Garnish with more pepper to taste and dill/parsley.
- Serve over pasta garnished with parmesan cheese.
Store: Refrigerate sauce with mushrooms in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Reheat in a skillet by simmering on low heat and stirring.
Freeze: Freeze in an airtight container up to 3 months. I highly recommend to leave out yogurt or sour cream for any portions you plan to freeze. Add dairy when reheating. Also don't freeze with pasta, as cooked pasta doesn't freeze well.
Notes
- Mushrooms: You can use white, wild or combination of any mushrooms.
- Yogurt substitution: If you are used to less tangy taste of sour cream, go for it. You could also use plain Greek yogurt.
- Olive oil: Can be used instead of butter.
- White wine: Replace 1/2 cup of broth with white wine for additional layer of flavor.
- Seasonings: Sub dried oregano for thyme if you would like.
- Thickener: Arrow starch, tapioca or potato starch could also be used.
- Dairy free: Use your favorite dairy free brand of yogurt and Parmesan. Taste may be slightly different.
- Worcestershire sauce: Adds a umami savory layer of flavor! Use a vegan brand or regular for that additional meaty taste.
- Umami taste: Alternately, add a splash of soy sauce, amino acids or small amount of miso paste.
- Mushroom tips:
- Don’t over soak your mushrooms in water while cleaning them, this leads to a spongy texture.
- Don’t salt your mushrooms when you add them to the pan, this draws out moisture which will lead to a spongy mushroom.
- Don’t steam your mushrooms by overcrowding your pan, ensure your skillet is large enough so mushrooms can brown on each side.
Nutrition
Recipes and images are a copyright of ifoodreal.com. It is against the law to republish recipes anywhere including social media, print and all world wide web. Nutritional info is provided for informational purposes only and to the best knowledge.
Made this dish tonight in my Instant Pot using your IP Beef Stroganoff recipe. I skipped the beef, sautéed the mushroom and onions, then followed the Beef Stroganoff recipe to a T.
Was it ever good!!! It’s coming back for sure, so satisfying!
Also looking forward to try these mushrooms on steaks (without the noodles), thanks for the suggestion😁
So happy to Marie and yes over steaks = amazing!
I forgot to put the yogurt in at the end, and it was still really good! 🙂 Thank you! Nice and easy, too.
Next time for the yogurt! 🙂 Glad to hear it still turned out great!
What would happen if you use 0% fat Greek yogurt instead?
It will be less flavorful/creamy – maybe a bit more watery. It’s okay to use if that is all you have on hand, just note the differences that may occur. Can’t wait to hear how it goes.
Goodness gracious that was good!!!
I’m so happy to read this! Thank you for your positive feedback!
I think of mushrooms as ‘earth flesh’. My carnivore husband loved it and did not notice it was vegan! Added black garlic and shallots, did take the extra time to caramelize the onions. Black garlic and caramelized onions added depth and subtlety sufficient to omit dairy or substitute. Good splash of red wine helped too! Thank you for a splendid basic pattern to embroider. Shall make this often, and recommend to everyone!
I love the flavor the thyme gives the stroganoff! You always recommend the perfect amount of onion and garlic. My husband said he could smell dinner from outside and was very excited to try it. As usual, your recipe was spot on!
Wonderful to hear Betty!!!
This was really good. I used brown rice instead of pasta..
That would be good too! Almost like a mushroom risotto!
Hi. Sounds delicious! Can I substitute miso broth for the veggie broth? Thanks.
Miso broth! I think that would add a really nice flavor!
easy, flexible an tasty!
this looks great, i’ll be swapping pasta for greens i think. just a quick Q, but does the Calorie count include the pasta, or is it just for the Strog?
Hi! The nutritional info includes the pasta.
Very delicious
Yum!!
Looks so yummy, making this tonight!!
It was awesome.I added shrimp and spinachquick and easy,tastes so good.
This recipe was delicious. My husband and I really enjoyed it. Thank you for another healthy recipe!
You are very welcome Phyllis!
Loved it!
This recipe was amazing – even my kids (age 7 and 10) loved it. I substituted cashew yogurt for the Greek and no one knew it wasn’t cream/sour cream. We will def make this again.
That is so amazing to hear! Glad you and kids enjoyed my recipe, Kelly.
This recipe is great my only change to it is I add garlic and Italian herb and I use 1lb of mushrooms
Awesome!!! Happy to hear, Cinnamon. 🙂
This was delicious!
Easy to make and a pleasant change from eating meat.
I have made this several times and we really enjoy each time. This is a great base recipe and I like to add some shallots, garlic, Worcestershire sauce and top the individual servings with a bit of Parmesan. I know the cheese adds some calories, but a little goes a long way and it is worth it for us! Thanks so much for the great recipe!
A little cheese won’t make you unhealthy. I used to be a crazy strict dieter when I made this recipe, so go for cheese I would say now, a bit.:) Glad you enjoyed it!
I was just wondering if you have ever added curried chicken to this. Curried chicken (to me) is different from chicken curry. Chicken is in the pan with the curry ingredients and the curry soaks into the chicken while it cooks. Any chicken, however, can be curried chicken, just by adding separately-cooked curry to it.
I know what you mean. I haven’t tried but I cook chicken like this sometimes and I think it would be good in this recipe. Why not?!
I’ve used the Pacific organic cream of mushroom soup in my stroganoff. It’s great and doesn’t have anything in it that triggers my MSG sensitivity. I make mine with Gardein crumbles instead of beef and it’s very filling.
Yes, I like that soup. Pricey but worth it.
That’s so simple!!! I love a good stroganoff but often hate the high calories not to mention that I don’t digest red meat well. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Nobody should digest red meat often so feel like a lucky one that’s immune to it. You are not missing out on anything except health problems!
My 5 yr. old does not like mushrooms, unfortunately. We try and get him to try a bite of everything we serve, but sometimes that entails him touching it to his tongue and declaring that he doesn’t like it. I think texture if a big issue for him. Then there are times when he willingly tries things without us asking him to. Once we ordered Chinese takeout and he wanted to try the broccoli. I don’t understand how he works sometimes. 🙂 I just wish he was a little more adventurous in eating. All in due time I suppose.
Depends on a kid and age too. My 8 year old is easy but my 4 year old is hard. However, he is slowly getting better because growing up and I keep offering. I also know what texture he doesn’t like. Like jake goes into smoothies and wraps are served deconstructed lol. Just keep offering! Broccoli is a mystery to me how so many kids don’t mind it!!!
Being a Russian Gal, I have this great love of beef stoganoff. But I love how you used 3 pounds of mushrooms in here. Also have a few blood sugar issues and mushrooms are actually really good for regulating. Plus, makes pasta more edible for me. So I love this. My Russian and Ukrainian grandma would be proud if I made this =)