Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff (Low Fat + Oil-Free!)
If you’ve been looking for your new favorite dinner, this Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff is it! Low fat, oil-free, and LOADED with creamy mushroom goodness, this meal is as delicious as it is healthy. Whole grain pasta, meaty mushrooms, and tons of flavor come together for an easy and wholesome one pot pasta meal that’s on the table in less than 30 minutes.
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I used to hate mushrooms before going vegan 6 years ago. Slowly I learned to appreciate them by cooking them properly and taking advantage of their meaty texture and umami flavor. I incorporated them in dishes like Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup, Vegan Scallops, Vegan Mushroom Risotto, Vegan Mushroom Pâté, Vegan Lentil Mushroom Loaf, Portobello Bacon, Vegan Stuffed Mushrooms, Portobello Steaks, and more.
But since most of those recipes are vegan (not necessarily WFPB, though they can all be adapted to be by removing the oil substituting miso paste for salt, etc.) I wanted to create another dish that celebrated mushrooms in a healthy whole foods plant-based sort of way, just like my Portobello Pizzas.
Thus my creamy mushroom stroganoff was born! It uses whole grain pasta (feel free to sub a legume pasta or your favorite gluten-free pasta if needed), lots of mushrooms and onions, miso instead of salt, zero oil, and an incredible white bean cream sauce.
There are many recipes out there for vegan mushroom stroganoff that use cashew butter or cashew cream for the sauce (the traditional version uses sour cream). That’s totally fine, but I need to eat low fat for my weight loss journey and it just makes me feel good to eat fewer nuts and seeds in my diet.
So yeah, there are plenty of substitutions in this recipe because I like to provide options! But I also highly recommend you make the recipe as written the first time for maximum success and flavor. It’s SO creamy and so delicious that I really want you to enjoy! (Of course, please substitute things you can’t eat due to allergies or intolerances!)
Ingredients
See the recipe card below for the full ingredients list (with amounts) and instructions.
- Yellow Onion: If you can’t have onions, you can leave this out, but if you can I highly recommend including it as it adds great flavor to our dairy-free stroganoff.
- Baby Bella Mushrooms: While any mushrooms will work, I like this recipe with Baby Bella / Cremini mushrooms or White Button mushrooms.
- Nutritional Yeast: This, like the rest of our spices, adds a lot of flavor to the vegan stroganoff. The stroganoff doesn’t taste cheesy, it has a rich umami and gravy-like flavor thanks in part to the nutritional yeast.
- Dried Herbs and Spices: I used a savory profile including dried oregano, ground rosemary (dried rosemary leaves can be too “crunchy,” so either use ground rosemary or grind it in a spice grinder), fresh cracked black pepper, and smoked paprika. I’m personally really averse to the texture of fresh or dried rosemary, so I buy ground rosemary so I can enjoy the flavor of it.
- Whole Grain Pasta: I used whole grain rotini for this dish, but any shorter pasta should work. Use gluten-free pasta if needed.
- Unsalted Vegetable Stock or Low Sodium Vegetable Broth: I am working on developing a vegetable stock powder that you can add into hot water, but in the meantime, use unsalted vegetable stock or low sodium vegetable broth as the cooking liquid in this dish.
- No-Salt-Added White Beans: You’ll need a small portion (about a half cup) of no-salt-added cooked white beans in this recipe. You can use navy beans, cannellini beans, Great Northern beans, or even garbanzo beans (chickpeas). You can use canned (look for no-salt-added) or you can use beans you cooked from dried. Every few weeks I cook 2 pounds of dried cannellini beans in my Instant Pot and freeze them in 1 cup portions, then defrost as I need them.
- Unflavored Unsweetened Soy Milk: You can use any unsweetened unflavored plant-based milk for this. I just always have a bunch of cartons of soy milk in my cupboard.
- Lemon Juice: I prefer fresh squeezed lemon juice but I have to be realistic and tell you I don’t always have it. Or sometimes I’m honestly too lazy to squeeze it. I LOVE the Italian Volcano brand of lemon juice (it’s organic and so much better than any other brand I’ve tried), which I often purchase in a 2-pack from Costco.
- White or Yellow Miso Paste: This is to replace the salt in the recipe, but I also love the little hint of umami flavors. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. Please feel free to omit or use a pinch of salt if that is what you prefer.
- Fresh Parsley, Optional: This is just a garnish for the finished mushroom stroganoff. Skip it if you don’t have parsley on hand.
Substitutions
- Yellow Onion: Sweet onion or white onion will also work. Note that white onion has a little more “bite” too it, flavor-wise. Yellow onion (also known as Spanish onion or brown onion) or sweet onion are the best choices for this recipe.
- Baby Bella Mushrooms: Any mushrooms will work but some have stronger flavors (such as shiitake). My favorite choices of mushroom for this recipe are Baby Bella / Cremini or White Button. Portobello will also work, but chop them in slightly smaller pieces (quarter-size).
- Nutritional Yeast: You can omit this if you don’t like the flavor or can’t have it, but your “gravy” may be thinner without it. A good substitute is dehydrated potato flakes.
- Dried Herbs and Spices: Use any spices you like in this recipe, but I chose the ones I listed above for a reason… I think they work well together and with the rest of the ingredients in the recipe.
- Whole Grain Pasta: You can use a legume-based pasta for more protein (or if gluten-free). You can also use other pastas if you prefer. Note that different kinds of pasta (legume, brown rice, white pasta, etc.) have different cooking times and liquid requirements, so you may need to adjust the amount of liquid or cooking time slightly.
- Unsalted Vegetable Stock or Low Sodium Vegetable Broth: If you cannot find unsalted vegetable stock and eating very low sodium is important to you, water will work, but the broth adds more flavor.
- No-Salt-Added White Beans: If you don’t want to white beans, you can use plain vegan yogurt like my Instant Pot Soy Yogurt as the base, dehydrated potato flakes, or a cooked potato or two (I recommend gold potatoes or new potatoes) to keep this recipe low fat. If you don’t have to worry about that, you can use raw cashews or raw sunflower seeds (you may need slightly more liquid to blend) OR you can use cashew butter or sunflower seed butter (and possibly less liquid to blend).
- Soy Milk: You can use any unsweetened unflavored non-dairy milk for the white bean cream sauce.
- Lemon Juice: You can use a vinegar you enjoy if you don’t have any lemon juice on hand, but I don’t recommend a strong flavored vinegar like balsamic vinegar in this recipe. Rice vinegar or apple cider vinegar are nice choices, or a smaller amount of white vinegar, to taste.
- White or Yellow Miso Paste: If you’re fine eating salt (or if you eat the potassium chloride salt substitute) you can go ahead and use that. If you are totally avoiding added sodium, you can leave it out. Maybe add an extra tablespoon of lemon juice!
How to Make Low Fat Mushroom Stroganoff
Watch me make this recipe or follow the step-by-step instructions below.
- Cook the onions: Heat a large non-stick pot over medium-high heat for one minute and add onions. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until they start to soften, adding 1 tablespoon of water at a time if they start to stick.
- Cook the mushrooms: Add the mushrooms, nutritional yeast, and dried herbs/spices and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until they have released most of their water.
- Add pasta and stock: Add the dry pasta and 2 cups of the unsalted vegetable stock or broth to start and stir well. Push all the pasta down so it’s been moistened by the liquid.
- Cook the pasta: Lower the heat to medium, place a lid on the pot but tilt it so it let’s some air through, and cook the pasta for 5 to 7 minutes until the pasta is al dente, stirring occasionally and removing the lid halfway through so that the excess liquid can evaporate, and pushing the pasta back down every time you stir. If the pasta has absorbed all of the liquid but isn’t cooked yet, you can add a quarter to a half cup more stock (or water), but don’t add too much.
- Make the cream sauce: Add the white beans, soy milk (or any unsweetened plant-based milk), lemon juice, and miso paste to a blender. Blend until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape down the blender and re-blend since it’s a small batch. You could also double it if you want a really saucy mushroom stroganoff.
- Troubleshooting: If there’s too much liquid in the pot and the pasta is cooked, use oven mitts to carefully spill the excess liquid out. Use one hand to hold the lid slightly ajar so you can spill out some of the excess cooking liquid. You can dump it into a colander, but I like to keep some of that liquid for the sauce. You could also make a cornstarch or arrowroot powder slurry by mixing one tablespoon of the starch with 2-3 tablespoons of water and stirring it really well, then stirring it into the pasta and cook over medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens.
- Make it creamy: Use a blender spatula if you have one to scrape out as much of the blended cream sauce as possible, stir, and heat for a few minutes.
- Finish up: Remove from heat and stir the parsley. Taste and add any additional lemon juice, thinned miso, black pepper, etc. If the sauce is only slightly too thin, you can either spill out some of the liquid (see step 6) or you can add some nutritional yeast or dehydrated potato flakes to thicken it.
- Serve: Serve immediately and enjoy. I like to serve this with a large side of vegetables or a side salad.
- Storage: Let the vegan mushroom stroganoff cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat gently in the microwave or over low heat in a pot on the stove. Add a splash of unsweetened plant-based milk if needed.
Expert Tips
- Don’t chop your mushrooms too finely: Unless you hate mushrooms, leave them in larger chunks. They WILL shrink, and I love the meaty texture left by quartering the mushrooms (or halving them if they are small)
- Don’t add all the liquid: Don’t add all your stock/broth right away. Learning to cook one pot pasta is challenging. Even I overdo it sometimes and end up having to spill out some liquid at the end (which totally isn’t the end of the world, it’s just an inconvenience). Start with two cups as the instructions state. If your pasta soaks up all the liquid and still isn’t done, add a quarter to a half cup more liquid, stir, and cook a little longer. Repeat as needed. Different pastas (whole wheat vs white vs legume, etc.) and even different brands may require a different amount of liquid.
- Add the cream sauce at the end: You shouldn’t be adding the cream sauce until the pasta is cooked (otherwise the excess water can dilute your nice creamy sauce).
- Double the cream sauce: If you want extra creamy vegan mushroom stroganoff, double the recipe for the cream sauce! I know it seems like a lot of miso (the sauce itself will taste much too salty on it’s own) but I promise it tastes really good once you mix it with the rest of the pasta dish!
Serving Suggestions
Since I try to limit myself to one portion (about a quarter of the recipe) and it’s hard for me to limit pasta (haha), so I usually serve vegan mushroom stroganoff with a large helping of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, or a large side salad.
Of course, serve this dish any way you like with your favorite side!
More Delicious Plant-Based Entrees
- Portobello Pizzas
- Kale Sweet Potato Salad
- Bell Pepper Nachos with Edamame Guacamole and Plant-Based Nacho Cheese Sauce
- Chickpea Tuna Salad
- Hummus Veggie Sandwich
- Potato and Cauliflower Soup
- Butter Bean Scramble
- Cabbage Mushroom Soup
Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff Recipe
Creamy Mushroom Stroganoff
Equipment
- 1 Blender
- 1 Blender spatula This is optional but it helps me get every last bit of deliciousness out of the blender.
Ingredients
Mushroom Stroganoff
- 1 Medium Yellow Onion, halved and thinly sliced, sweet onion works too
- 16 Ounces Baby Bella / Cremini Mushrooms, sliced or quartered, white button mushrooms work too
- 4 Tablespoons Nutritional Yeast, see notes section below for substitutions
- 1 Teaspoon Dried Oregano
- ½ Teaspoon Ground Rosemary, dried rosemary leaves may leave an unpleasant texture in the dish, so buy ground rosemary, grind dried in a spice grinder, or omit
- ¼ Teaspoon Fresh Cracked Black Pepper, to taste
- ¼ Teaspoon Smoked Paprika
- 8 Ounces Dry Whole Grain Pasta, I recommend a short pasta, see notes section below for substitutions
- 2-3 Cups Unsalted Vegetable Stock, or use low sodium vegetable broth or water
- 2 Tablespoons Fresh Parsley, finely chopped, optional garnish
White Bean Cream Sauce
- ½ Cup Cooked White Beans, see notes section below for substitutions
- ½ Cup Unsweetened Soy Milk, or any unflavored and unsweetened plant-based milk
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice, or use neutral vinegar
- 1 + ½ Tablespoons White or Yellow Miso Paste, or more to taste, see notes section below for substitutions
Instructions
- Cook the onions: Heat a large non-stick pot over medium-high heat for one minute and add onions. Sauté for 3 to 4 minutes until they start to soften, adding 1 tablespoon of water at a time if they start to stick.
- Cook the mushrooms: Add the mushrooms, nutritional yeast, and dried herbs/spices and cook for 5 to 7 minutes until they have released most of their water.
- Add pasta and stock: Add the dry pasta and 2 cups of the unsalted vegetable stock or broth to start and stir well. Push all the pasta down so it’s been moistened by the liquid.
- Cook the pasta: Lower the heat to medium, place a lid on the pot but tilt it so it let's some air through, and cook the pasta for 5 to 7 minutes until the pasta is al dente, stirring occasionally and removing the lid halfway through so that the excess liquid can evaporate, and pushing the pasta back down every time you stir. If the pasta has absorbed all of the liquid but isn't cooked yet, you can add a quarter to a half cup more stock (or water), but don't add too much.
- Make the cream sauce: Add the white beans, soy milk (or any unsweetened plant-based milk), lemon juice, and miso paste to a blender. Blend until smooth. You may need to stop and scrape down the blender and re-blend since it's a small batch. You could also double it if you want a really saucy mushroom stroganoff.
- Troubleshooting: If there's too much liquid in the pot and the pasta is cooked, use oven mitts to carefully spill the excess liquid out. Use one hand to hold the lid slightly ajar so you can spill out some of the excess cooking liquid. You can dump it into a colander, but I like to keep some of that liquid for the sauce. You could also make a cornstarch or arrowroot powder slurry by mixing one tablespoon of the starch with 2-3 tablespoons of water and stirring it really well, then stirring it into the pasta and cook over medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens.
- Make it creamy: Use a blender spatula if you have one to scrape out as much of the blended cream sauce as possible, stir, and heat for a few minutes.
- Finish up: Remove from heat and stir the parsley. Taste and add any additional lemon juice, thinned miso, black pepper, etc. If the sauce is only slightly too thin, you can either spill out some of the liquid (see step 6) or you can add some nutritional yeast or dehydrated potato flakes to thicken it.
- Serve: Serve immediately and enjoy. I like to serve this with a large side of vegetables or a side salad.
- Storage: Let the vegan mushroom stroganoff cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Reheat gently in the microwave or over low heat in a pot on the stove. Add a splash of unsweetened plant-based milk if needed.
Video
Notes
- Nutritional Yeast: You can omit this if you don’t like the flavor or can’t have it, but your “gravy” may be thinner without it. A good substitute is dehydrated potato flakes.
- Whole Grain Pasta: You can use a legume-based pasta for more protein (or if gluten-free). You can also use other pastas if you prefer. Note that different kinds of pasta (legume, brown rice, white pasta, etc.) have different cooking times and liquid requirements, so you may need to adjust the amount of liquid or cooking time slightly.
- No-Salt-Added White Beans: If you don’t want to white beans, you can use plain vegan yogurt like my Instant Pot Soy Yogurt as the base, dehydrated potato flakes, or a cooked potato or two (I recommend gold potatoes or new potatoes) to keep this recipe low fat. If you don’t have to worry about that, you can use raw cashews or raw sunflower seeds (you may need slightly more liquid to blend) OR you can use cashew butter or sunflower seed butter (and possibly less liquid to blend).
- Unsalted Vegetable Stock or Low Sodium Vegetable Broth: If you cannot find unsalted vegetable stock and eating very low sodium is important to you, water will work, but the broth adds more flavor.
- White or Yellow Miso Paste: This is to replace the salt in the recipe, but I also love the little hint of umami flavors. Per Dr. Michael Greger of NutritionFacts.org, the soy in miso has a protective effect so the sodium in miso paste will not affect us negatively. If you’re fine eating salt (or if you eat the potassium chloride salt substitute) you can go ahead and use that.
- Less Sodium: If you need the recipe to be even lower sodium, leave out the miso paste. You can increase the lemon juice and other spices to add more flavor.
This was super tasty! I ended up doubling the spices just due to the fact that I accidentally added more cream than the original recipe. I love mushrooms and this is a simple tasty dish that I can now include them!
I’m so glad you liked it!!