Chicken

Chicken Stroganoff

Creamy mushroom sauce over noodles. Made without MSG.

Prep 5 min LOW 6–7 hours HIGH 3–4 hours Serves 6

Chicken Stroganoff, finished and plated — Serving suggestion

Stroganoff is usually beef, and usually a weekend project — searing, deglazing, building a sauce, tempering sour cream so it doesn't split.

This is the chicken version, and it does all of that on its own. Real mushroom powder and a cream of mushroom base give it the depth, sour cream powder gives it the tang, and because the dairy is dry it can't break the way real sour cream does over long heat.

Serve it over wide egg noodles. That's not a suggestion, it's basically the law.

Why you'll love it

Made without MSG.

One of three in the chicken line.

The sour cream can't split.

Dry dairy is stable over a long cook in a way fresh sour cream isn't.

Deeply savory without being heavy.

Mushroom does the work that beef usually does.

A weekend dish on a weeknight.

Stroganoff normally takes real technique. This doesn't.

What's already in the packet

Dry cream of mushroom soup baseCream cheese powderWhole milk powderMushroom powderSour cream powderOnionGarlicChicken bouillonBlack pepperPaprikaParsleyThickener

Two forms of mushroom plus sour cream powder — that's what gives it the tang without the risk of splitting.

Choose your setting

Recommended

LOW · 6–7 hours

Low and slow gives collagen time to melt and flavors time to build. It is the setting this recipe was written for.

HIGH · 3–4 hours

For when you started late. It gets dinner done, but the texture is better on LOW.

Done at 165°F

Check a thick piece. Strips can overshoot quickly.

You'll Need

2 lbs Chicken (pick one below)
2½ cups Water or chicken broth
1 packet Cook SLO Chicken Stroganoff

Pick your chicken

2 lbs

Chicken breasts

2 lbs

Chicken thighs

2 lbs

Chicken tenderloins

Cook chicken to 165°F

Add vegetables

Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)Diced onion (fresh or frozen)Peas (frozen)Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)Pearl onions (frozen)

Diced onion (fresh or frozen) and sliced carrots (fresh or frozen) at the start, on the bottom; mushrooms at the start to melt into the sauce, or the last two hours to keep their shape; pearl onions (frozen) in the last two hours; peas (frozen) in the last twenty minutes.

When to add what

When	Add	Why
At the start, on the bottom	Diced onion (fresh or frozen)Sliced carrots (fresh or frozen)	Root vegetables cook slower than meat. They belong closest to the heat, and they hold the meat up out of the liquid. Cut everything an inch and a half or larger — smaller pieces disintegrate.
At the start, or the last two hours	Sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen)	Mushrooms are a choice. At the start they melt into the sauce and deepen it. In the last two hours they hold their shape and keep some bite.
Last two hours	Pearl onions (frozen)	Long enough to cook through, short enough to keep their shape.
Last 20 minutes	Peas (frozen)	Spinach wilts in about five. A whole bag cooks down to roughly half a cup, so use more than looks reasonable. Frozen peas go grey and wrinkled if added earlier.

Two ways to do this

If you're home

Follow the timing table above and add things when they're due.

About an hour is all you need

If you're out all day

Put in at the start as normal: diced onion (fresh or frozen), sliced carrots (fresh or frozen) and sliced mushrooms (fresh or frozen). These need the full cook anyway.

Add pearl onions (frozen) and peas (frozen) when you walk in the door. Forty-five minutes to an hour on LOW is enough for all of it, and it will taste better than if it had cooked all day.

If you would rather not touch it at all, put everything in at the start and use frozen where you can. It will be softer than the timing above intends and the greens will lose their colour, but it will taste good and dinner is ready when you walk in.

Frozen is the better choice for a long day. Already cut, holds its shape better than fresh over eight or nine hours, and goes in straight from the bag with no thawing. Frozen diced onion and pepper strips remove the only real prep this recipe has.

Pasta and noodles

**Cooked separately.** Wide egg noodles. Spaetzle is more traditional and better if you can find it. **Do not add dry pasta to the pot for this recipe.** The sauce is cream and cheese based. Pasta cooked in it releases starch that turns the sauce gluey and grainy. Boil it separately and combine at the end.

Before anything goes in the pot

1
Whisk the packet into the water before it goes in
Do not sprinkle dry powder onto liquid in the pot. Put the 2½ cups in a jug, add the packet, whisk until there are no lumps, then pour it over. Cheese and cream powders dissolve properly this way and the sauce comes out smooth instead of grainy.

These happen outside the crock pot, before it's switched on.

Tonight's Plan

1
Put the chicken in the crock pot.
Cut into strips or chunks first. Stroganoff is pieces, not shredded meat.
2
Pour in the 2½ cups of whisked liquid and stir once.
You dissolved the packet in the water already, so there is no powder to work in and no risk of lumps. One stir to settle everything.
3
Put the lid on.
Start the noodles about 20 minutes before it's done.

When about 30 minutes are left

Creamy upgrade

Stir well and leave the lid off 10 minutes.

It thickens noticeably in that time.

Serve over hot egg noodles.

Cook the noodles separately and spoon the stroganoff over.

Stirring

Stir once at the halfway point

Cheese and cream powders settle against the hot crock wall and scorch into a brown ring. That ring then breaks up into the sauce and makes it grainy. One stir at the halfway point prevents it, and one is all you need — every lift of the lid costs about twenty minutes.

Swaps and add-ins

Add a pound of fresh mushrooms.

Doubles the depth. The single best change you can make to this recipe.

Use beef instead.

We make a Beef Stroganoff packet, but chicken works with beef stew meat too — add three hours.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

Less traditional, arguably better.

Add a splash of white wine.

Half a cup replacing some of the liquid. Adds a proper restaurant note.

Tips for success

Cook the noodles separately. Noodles cooked in the sauce turn it starchy and gluey. Always separate.
More mushrooms is always right. The packet has mushroom powder for depth, but fresh mushrooms add texture that powder can't.
Don't boil it after adding noodles. Stroganoff is a gentle dish. High heat at the end makes it grainy.
Drop in a liner before anything else. Smooth it against the sides and fold the edges over the rim. When you're done, lift it out and throw it away — the crock never needs scrubbing.

Finish it right

Fresh chopped dill or parsley.

Dill is traditional in stroganoff and almost nobody does it. It transforms the dish.

A dollop of real sour cream on each plate.

Cold sour cream melting into hot stroganoff is the classic presentation.

Cracked black pepper.

Generously. Stroganoff should be peppery.

Serve it over

Wide egg noodlesMashed potatoesWhite riceButtered spaetzleCrusty bread

Tomorrow night

Stroganoff bake.

Mix with cooked noodles, top with cheese, bake 20 minutes.

Mushroom chicken soup.

Thin with broth and add more mushrooms.

Stroganoff-stuffed potatoes.

Split a baked potato and fill it.

Open-faced sandwiches.

Over toasted rye with extra dill.

Keeping it

Fridge

Airtight, up to 4 days

Freezer

3 months. Freezes better than fresh-dairy stroganoff would.

Reheating

Low and gentle with a splash of broth. Never boil it.

Questions people ask

Recipe card