Chicken breasts sautéed with butter, cremini mushrooms and a touch of white wine, then mixed with sour cream for a rich and satisfying sauce. Serve over rice or mashed potatoes. Do you need this Chicken Stroganoff recipe? Absolutely!! Creamy, dreamy and all around delicious!
For another creamy chicken breast recipe, check out my Chicken and Chickpea Paprikash.
Loving all things creamy is not surprising when one comes from an Eastern European background. We love things cozy, and you friends would too if you had to face long, cold winters!
But I feel like we are not alone in our passion for rich and velvety dinners since my recipe for Best Beef Stroganoff is the most popular dish on my blog to date!
We share this love, my friends and that makes me very, very happy! So happy that I wanted to show you more ways to enjoy Stroganoff.
Where it comes from
Chicken Stroganoff originated after its more famous, beaf based sibling, which was made with beef fillet in a rich and creamy sauce. The dish was a favourite of the Stroganoff family and was often found at their dinner parties.
As time went on and the dish became more popular, other versions were created including the chicken version that we know today.
And while there is no doubt that beef is delicious, you will need rather high quality steak to achieve best results and that puts Stroganoff in a pricey meal category. Not great since it’s too tasty to enjoy only once in while!
The dish has gone through many changes over time. The recipe evolved into more of a method of cooking meat in gravy than an actual recipe.
Yet the basic elements of the dish have remained largely the same, with tender chicken cooked in a rich and creamy sauce of mushrooms, onions and sour cream.
With that in mind I decided to develop a chicken stroganoff recipe, which would be similar to the original yet distinctly different.
This Chicken Stroganoff recipe is not just a pale cousin of Beef Stroganoff. It is its rival!
If you are into creamy dishes like this, you will love our Meatballs Stroganoff or go for a meat free version with Mushroom Stroganoff.
Stroganoff sauce
The main ingredient in stroganoff sauce is sour cream. Sometimes double or heavy cream is used in place of sour cream. I personally prefer using creme fraiche as its the next closest thing to Russian smetana (sour cream).
When coming up with the recipe, I knew that a few more ingredients were needed to set off the delicate taste of chicken breasts. I think a splash of white wine and a tablespoon of tomato paste did that job beautifully.
Whatever cream you use, make sure to flavour it with a touch of dry white wine, tomato paste, whole grain or dijon mustard and a bay leaf.
Recipe tips and notes
- Take you time browning mushrooms. Be careful not to steam. They need to get a good colour on them, so turn you heat up and make them look extra golden.
- Use a combination of olive oil and butter for extra delicious flavour, or use clarified butter to avoid burning.
- Cook your sauce over low heat to prevent sour cream from separating.
- If you find the taste of sour cream too strong, use half sour cream and half double cream.
- Make sure that the wine you choose is dry rather than sweet, to get the best results. If you don’t want to use white wine, it is possible to use the same quantity of apple juice with a tablespoon of white wine vinegar.
Serving suggestions
- Serve over a combination of white and wild rice for extra fibre.
- Other side dishes that are excellent with this chicken recipe are mashed potatoes and egg noodles!
- A creamy sauce like this benefits from being pared with fresh vegetables like in a salad, or with roasted vegetables like my Roasted Asparagus and Radishes.
Leftovers and storage
Sour cream sauce tends to separate after freezing. If you want to freeze chicken stroganoff and keep the sauce texture smooth, I would recommend using double/heavy cream instead of sour cream.
Leftovers will keep well in the fridge for 4-5 days. Store in an airtight container and warm up in a microwave. Or heat on your stovetop on low heat until the pieces of chicken are hot all the way through, but be careful not to boil the sauce!
More creamy chicken recipes
Creamy Chicken Stroganoff with Mushrooms
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 cup/125g chestnut mushrooms
- 0.5 tsp salt
- 1 onion small, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lbs chicken breasts skinless, boneless
- 0.5 tsp salt
- ¼ cup/70 ml white wine dry
- ⅓ cup/85 ml chicken stock
- 1 tsp whole grain mustard
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cup/250ml sour cream or smetana
- 1 tbsp parsley chopped
Instructions
- Heat the oil and butter in a large and deep pan and brown sliced or halved if small chestnut mushroom over medium heat until golden, stir once in a while to avoid burning. This will take approximately 5-7 minutes, do not rush that process. Add chopped onion and garlic and cook over lower heat for 5 minutes longer. Remove to a separate plate and set aside.
- To the same pan add bite-sized sliced chicken breasts with a pinch of salt and brown on all sides over high heat for 5-7 minutes. When the chicken is browned pour the white wine all over and scrape the bottom of the pan with a spatula to release the brown bits. Then add the chicken stock, mustard, tomato paste and bay leaf.
- Return the onions and mushrooms back to the pan, bring everything to a boil and then lower the heat, add the sour cream and chopped parsley and let it simmer uncovered for 5 minutes or until the sauce is thickened to a desired consistency.
