Gordon Ramsay’s beef stroganoff is strips of beef fillet seared with smoked paprika in a brandy and sour cream sauce with chestnut mushrooms. Ready in under 20 minutes. Serves 4 with buttered pasta or rice.
Ramsay publishes this as a pork tenderloin stroganoff in his cookbook, calling it “a lovely, unfussy dish to make for supper.” The technique, the paprika, the brandy, and the cream are identical whether you use pork or beef. I’ve swapped in beef fillet because it sears the same way and cooks in the same time.
The trick is speed. You sear the beef strips over high heat for 90 seconds total, then take them out while the sauce builds in the same pan. The beef goes back in at the very end just to warm through. If the meat sits in the sauce, it overcooks and turns chewy.
Gordon Ramsay’s Beef Stroganoff
Course: DinnersCuisine: RussianDifficulty: Easy4
10
minutes10
minutes450
kcal20
minutesAdapted from Ramsay’s pork tenderloin stroganoff. Quick-seared beef in a smoky, creamy sauce with a splash of brandy. Around 450 kcal per serving, ready in 20 minutes.
Ingredients
500g (1 lb) beef fillet, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 tsp sweet smoked paprika, plus an extra pinch
4 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
200g (7 oz) chestnut mushrooms, sliced
Splash of brandy
125ml (½ cup) sour cream or double cream
Squeeze of lemon juice
Handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Sea salt and black pepper
Directions
- Season the beef: Slice the fillet into thin strips. Season with salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika. Toss to coat evenly.
- Cook the aromatics: Heat half the oil in a wide frying pan over medium heat. Fry the onion, stirring often, until soft and translucent, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the garlic and mushrooms, increase the heat, and fry for 3 to 4 minutes until the mushrooms are tender. Tip everything onto a plate.
- Sear the beef: Add the remaining oil to the pan over high heat. Fry the beef strips until golden brown, 1½ to 2 minutes total. Work in batches if your pan is small so the strips sear rather than steam.
- Build the sauce: Return the onions, garlic, and mushrooms to the pan. Add a splash of brandy and let it boil until almost all reduced. Stir in the sour cream and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Finish: Adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Throw in the chopped parsley and remove from the heat. Serve straight away, sprinkled with a pinch of paprika.
FAQs
Why does Ramsay sear the beef and then take it out?
If beef fillet sits in a sauce for more than a minute, it overcooks and turns chewy. Ramsay’s technique is always the same: sear fast, remove, build the sauce in the drippings. The beef slides back in at the end just to warm through.
When you fry the onions and mushrooms in that same pan, they pick up the browned bits from the bottom. That’s free flavour you can’t get any other way. His bolognese uses the same principle: build the sauce in the fond the meat leaves behind.
What’s Ramsay’s original cookbook version?
In his cookbook, Ramsay makes this with pork tenderloin, not beef. The recipe is identical in every other way: smoked paprika, mushrooms, onion, garlic, brandy, sour cream, lemon juice, and parsley. He calls it “a lovely, unfussy dish to make for supper” and serves it with buttered pasta or steamed rice.
Pork tenderloin and beef fillet cook at the same speed because both are lean, tender cuts with no connective tissue. If you want to try the original, swap the beef for the same weight of pork and follow the recipe exactly. His beef cheek ragu takes the same sear-first approach but braises for hours instead of minutes.
Does Ramsay make a chicken stroganoff?
On The F Word, he makes a Smoked Paprika Chicken Stroganoff. Chicken breast with 2 teaspoons of paprika, green pepper, mushrooms, white wine, and sour cream. He serves it with homemade spätzle, which is German crispy pasta fried in butter.
The chicken version uses white wine instead of brandy and adds green pepper for crunch. The searing time is longer because chicken needs to cook through, unlike beef which stays pink. His chicken tikka masala uses a similar technique: sear the protein first, build the sauce separately, combine at the end.
Can you use crème fraîche instead of sour cream?
In another recipe, Ramsay writes “I find crème fraîche adds a lovely, velvety richness to the sauce.” Crème fraîche has more fat than sour cream, so it won’t split when the pan is hot. Sour cream curdles above 85°C, so you need to keep the heat low once it goes in.
If you’re nervous about the sauce splitting, use crème fraîche and don’t worry about temperature. If you use sour cream, stir it in off the heat and let the residual warmth do the work. Either way, his mashed potatoes underneath will catch every drop.
Can you make this in a slow cooker?
Not with fillet or sirloin. Those cuts dry out in a slow cooker because they have no connective tissue to break down. Stroganoff is a fast sauté, not a braise. The whole point is speed: sear hard, sauce fast, eat now.
If you want a slow cooker version, use chuck steak cut into chunks instead of strips. Brown it first, then cook on low for 6 to 8 hours in beef stock. Add the mushrooms in the last hour and stir in the sour cream off the heat once it’s done. It’ll taste more like his beef stew than a classic stroganoff, but the flavour works.
