If beef stroganoff is one of your favorite dishes, then you know that it can be difficult to make a thick and hearty sauce.
One way to thicken beef stroganoff is with flour or cornstarch. These are both common cooking ingredients that will help create an excellent thickening agent for beef stroganoff recipes.
Another option is roux, which is made from butter and flour and creates a thicker and more flavorful beef stroganoff sauce than the other two options.
In this blog post, we will discuss how to use these three methods in order to thicken beef stroganoff sauces!
How To Thicken Beef Stroganoff Using Flour
Flour is one of the most common thickeners used in beef stroganoff recipes. It’s an easy, straightforward way to make a beef stroganoff sauce thick and hearty.
It doesn’t take much flour to thicken beef stroganoff sauces – just 1 tablespoon for every cup of liquid will do it! If you’re looking for a thickening agent that’s easy and fast, flour should be your go-to!
Adding flour when frying your meat
When beef stroganoff is on the menu, you need a thick and hearty sauce to go with your beef.
One way to thicken beef stroganoff sauce is by adding flour to your beef when you’re baking it in the frying pan. Adding flour when cooking your beef in a frying pan can be tricky because of its tendency to burn.
This is how you do it:
- Cook your beef like normal, but before you take the beef out of the frying pan, take 1 to 2 tablespoon of flour and sprinkle it on the beef.
- Fry your beef for another 1 to 2 minutes or until the flour is fully dissolved.
This will thicken your sauce because the cooking process of meat into sauce begins to break down gluten in your flour causing it to accumulate and absorb liquid. This is what thickens your sauce!
Adding flour while your sauce is cooking
You don’t know what to do because your sauce is too thin and the meat is already cooking in it.
You can add 2 to 3 tablespoons of flour straight into your sauce while it’s boiling (give the flour 5 minutes to dissolve into your sauce before adding more or until you’ve achieved the desired thickness.).
The process will break down the gluten in that flour and cause it to accumulate more, effectively absorbing liquid as well.
How To Thicken Beef Stroganoff Using Roux
If you’ve ever tried beef stroganoff at home and found that the sauce is too thin or watery for your liking, it may be time to use roux!
Roux is made from butter and flour which will thicken beef stroganoff sauces. It also helps give beef stroganoffs an extra rich flavor.
Roux can be used in place of other thickening agents like cornstarch or flour.
You can buy premade roux in every grocery store or you could make it ahead and stash it away for when you need a quick fix.
Here’s how to make roux at home:
- Add butter to a pot on low heat, heat the pot until the butter is melted.
- Add flour to the melted butter (1 tablespoon of flour for every 50 grams or 2 oz of butter)
- Whisk constantly until the mixture becomes smooth with no lumps.
- Let cool the roux in a storage container.
How to use roux: Using roux is surprisingly easy. Bring your sauce to a boil and add the roux or let it melt in gradually if you want to avoid lumps.
Let this simmer for another 5 minutes before serving on top of seafood, meat, vegetables
How To Thicken Beef Stroganoff Using Cornstarch
Thickening beef stroganoff with flour or roux will work, but if you’re looking for another option, try using cornstarch instead!
Cornstarch thickens without changing the consistency of your sauce as much as flour does. It also helps to give your beef stroganoff a slightly thicker mouthfeel.
Here’s how to thicken beef stroganoff with cornstarch:
- Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to a glass of water.
- Whisk the water until the cornstarch is fully dissolved.
- Add the cornstarch liquid to your boiling sauce after your beef stroganoff is ready. (Make sure your beef is fully cooked! The gluten in the cornstarch will cause your sauce to burn if you have to cook it for much longer).
- Make sure to stir your beef stroganoff until the sauce is boiling again.
- If the sauce still isn’t thick enough, repeat this process and cook it for an additional 10 minutes.
Kitchen tools
Every cook has their favorite kitchen tools and utensils, but there are a few indispensable pieces that every cook needs to have on hand.
Here are our favorite’s:
- Argo 100% Pure Corn Starch
- 10″+12″ Nonstick Frying Pan Sets with Lids – Ultra Nonstick Cookware
- King Arthur Flour, Organic All Purpose Flour
- Good Grips 11-Inch Balloon Whisk
- Cook N Home 16 Quart Stockpot with Lid, Stainless Steel
Conclusion
If you’re looking for other beef stroganoff thickening methods, we’ve got them covered!
With the help of some kitchen tools and a few ingredients like flour or cornstarch (or roux), beef stroganoffs can be made to your desired thickness.
If you have any questions feel free to reach out or leave a comment below.
