You know Hamburger Helper right? Many of us (in my generation anyway) grew up on that stuff. Boy did we not know what we were missing! And I’m making this version the easy way, don’t worry no cream sauce by hand here! But none of that powdered junk, either. Once you’ve made it this way you’ll wonder why you ever settled for powder in the first place! Ready? Let’s go!
Sautee up some beef, just like you would for the ‘Helper’ but with a whole chopped onion in the mix. I know I’ve said it before but onions, seriously. How can they do anything but make a recipe better? It’s like they were put here on earth as consolation for any bad savory meal to lean on in it’s time of need.
While that’s browning, I start up a pot of water to boil. You really don’t need a pot this big. I just use this pot a lot, for stocks and things usually so it’s always handy and eh. Why not?
OK back to our meat, which has browned up nicely! This is the part where we cheat a little and make it easier on ourselves. Hey, it’s this or making a cream sauce from scratch, which I’m far from opposed to but some days you just don’t have time. Enter, Campbells! You can use cream of ANYTHING. I prefer cream of mushroom but Mr Mom can’t stand mushrooms (this is a constant source of dissension in our household) and cream of celery really just tastes like basic cream of soup, you don’t even notice the celery. So I use that.
Refill the can (just like you would with condensed soup and water) with milk and pour that in too, then mix it up really well and let it simmer
While it’s simmering, add the noodles to that boiling water and get them al-dente. It’s ok if they cool off a bit while this is cooking, the whole lot is going in the oven in a bit anyway
Add pepper, because it’s absolutely necessary for something like Stroganoff to have pepper in it. Trust me.
Salt, because everything needs salt. Even sweet isn’t sweet without salt. And stir it up
Now we have our drained noodles in a baking dish and our meaty cream saucey concoction in the pan. Time to have a wedding!
Just dump it on in, simple enough right? Then mix up the lot, cover it with aluminum foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or longer, if you need to keep it warm until everybody shows up from practice, clubs or work.
Pair it with some salad for balance and bread because bread! You can even take that bread and pile some beef stroganoff up on it and eat it together, so so good.

Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs Ground Beef
- 1 Onion Chopped
- 1 Can Cream of anything soup
- 1 Can of Milk
- 1 Tsp Pepper
- 2 Tsp Salt
- 1/2 Lb 8oz egg noodles
Instructions
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Chop one whole onion
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Brown Beef in pan with chopped onions
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Add in can of cream of soup
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Fill Can with milk and add to pan, mix
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Add Pepper and Salt, combine
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Cover and let simmer for 30-45 minutes
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Set pot of water to boil
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Add Egg noodles and boil until al-dente
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees
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Drain noodles and add to oven safe dish
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Pour in cream sauce/meat over noodles, stir
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Cover dish with aluminum foil
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Place in preheated oven for 30 minutes, serve
Have you ever had home made Beef Stroganoff before? Or just the boxed stuff? What do you think? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below