You’ll be amazed that you can make this healthy chicken stroganoff with mushrooms in only 20 minutes! Using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream makes this traditional comfort food lighter and healthier, with every bite smothered in a creamy, delicious, gravy-like sauce.
This Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff is creamy and decadent tasting, yet guilt-free. It’s full of simple, creamy, salty, gravy-like chicken and mushroom goodness. And the sauce sticks to every piece of pasta in the most delicious way possible- it will be hard to stop eating this one!
But that’s OK, because it’s so healthy :-)
Traditional stroganoff dishes frequently use lots of added butter and heavy cream or sour cream. Now don’t get me wrong- I am the last person to be against the use of any of those ingredients. But this version uses only a small amount of olive oil for added fat, and Greek yogurt to make it super creamy and delicious.
AND IT ONLY TAKES 20 MINUTES!!!!!
I’ll stop shouting and explain how to actually make this now.
How to make healthy chicken and mushroom stroganoff
- First, sauté some onions in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Inhale deeply. This is the best smell on earth (well, besides fresh cut grass). Make sure you’re cooking up the pasta at this point, too, so it’s ready to go!
- Then, add some mushrooms and salt to the onions and sauté for a few minutes. Whenever you sauté mushrooms, it’s important to a) add salt, and b) not stir it around too much (this causes the moisture to evaporate faster). These tricks leave you with a concentrated mushroom flavor that won’t make your dish soggy with the liquid from the mushrooms (here’s more on how to make perfectly browned sautéed mushrooms).
- Add some all-purpose flour and stir to coat in order to thicken the sauce. You can use whole wheat if you like, but I find all-purpose to be better at thickening and have a better taste for the gravy-base.
- Stir in some chicken broth (or vegetable), some of the water from the pasta, the almost cooked pasta, and some salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer to thicken. Mmmmm… creamy gravy deliciousness.
- Add some shredded cooked chicken and Greek yogurt, and viola! Healthy and fast Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff.
How do I make this with uncooked chicken?
If you don’t have already cooked chicken, fear not. It will take you about ten minutes longer to prepare this meal, but you can simply sauté two cut up boneless skinless chicken breasts with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper before cooking everything else and you’ll be all set.
Alternatively, you can poach the chicken for an even healthier version.
Tips and Tricks
- Cook the pasta until just BEFORE it’s completely finished cooking. In SALTED water! I usually take it out 1 minute before it’s al-dente according to the package instructions. This will ensure it can finish cooking in the sauce, enhancing the flavor and thickening the sauce a bit. It’s a trick I like to use for pasta bolognese, too.
- For a low-fat recipe, use low-fat or nonfat Greek yogurt. For a richer taste, use whole milk Greek yogurt.
- Use lots of salt and pepper. As with most recipes that use fairly bland ingredients, you want to make sure you season it well.
What kind of pasta to use for stroganoff
Traditionally, stroganoffs are often made with egg noodles. But I used whole wheat fusilli for this recipe.
I like using whole wheat pasta for this because it’s a) healthier, and b) I think the nutty, earthy flavor goes really well with the mushrooms.
But you can use any kind of pasta you want! Whole wheat, chickpea, regular, egg noodles, linguine, etc. all work fine. It’s a great way to use up that leftover half box of pasta you have in your pantry.
Other easy comfort food recipes
- Tuna Casserole from Scratch
- Chicken Pot Pie with a Whole Wheat Biscuit Crust
- Chicken and Dumplings from Scratch
- Pasta e Fagioli
- Wild Rice and Mushroom Casserole
Be sure to check out More Pasta Recipes for easy weeknight dinner ideas!
Did you make this healthy chicken and mushroom stroganoff recipe? Please click the stars below to comment and Rate this Recipe
Healthy 20-Minute Chicken and Mushroom Stroganoff
Equipment
- Large Skillet
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 onion quartered and thinly sliced
- 16 oz. mushrooms sliced
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chicken stock/broth vegetable can also be used
- 3/4 cup Greek yogurt preferably full fat, see notes
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
- 2 cups cooked shredded chicken such as rotisserie
- 8 oz. whole wheat fusilli or other noodles, such as egg noodles or fettuccini
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions in heavily salted water until 1 minute BEFORE it's al dente.
- Meanwhile, sauté the onions in the olive oil (2 tablespoons) in a large pot or skillet over medium-high heat until softened and starting to brown (about 3 minutes)
- Add the sliced mushrooms and 1/2 tsp. salt to the pot and sauté for a few minutes more until most of the liquid has evaporated and mushrooms have developed a golden brown color, stirring infrequently (about 4 minutes).
- Add the all-purpose flour (2 tablespoons) and stir to coat each mushroom well, getting rid of as many chunks of flour as possible and cooking out the raw flour taste (about 1 minute).
- Add the chicken stock gradually and stir well, incorporating the flour as much as possible. Add the almost al dente pasta and 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water. Bring to a simmer to thicken and finish cooking the pasta, stirring frequently (about 2 minutes).
- Turn down the heat to low. Add the cooked chicken and Greek yogurt and heat through. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve hot.
Notes
- Make it more flavorful: Add sherry or white wine to the cooked mushrooms before adding the flour to deglaze, stirring any browned bits as you go. You can also use sour cream instead of Greek yogurt for a richer taste.
- Be sure to heavily salt the pasta water- I usually add about two whole tablespoons of kosher salt to the cooking water when I make pasta of any kind!
- Make it vegetarian: leave the chicken out and make sure to use vegetable broth instead of chicken.
- Full fat yogurt is recommended because lower fat or no fat tends to curdle easier. If you want to save on some calories, you can use low or no fat, but I recommend turning off the heat and letting it cool off a bit before stirring the yogurt in to prevent curdling.
Nutrition
Nutrition Information Disclaimer
The provided nutrition information is my best estimate and reflects one serving of the recipe (total servings indicated at top of recipe card). It does not include any added sodium from seasoning to taste, any optional ingredients, and it does not take brands into account. I use an automatic API to calculate this information. Feel free to calculate it yourself using one of these tools:
This post originally appeared on Bowl of Delicious in August 2015. It has been updated with new photos, an improved recipe, and more pertinent information in the post.
Karen
Making this tonight – but I plan on using zoodles instead of pasta.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oooo I hope it comes out good with zoodles! That’s a great idea for a healthier option.
Karen
Made this tonight, really easy abs tasty. Used noodles instead of pasta but made far too much, any ideas if it freezes or reheats well?
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it! I don’t think it would freeze very well (pasta almost never freezes well) but I love these leftovers reheated in the fridge. Hope that helps!
Denise
Really good and easy!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it!
Jill
Loved this recipe! I made it Weight Watcher friendly with whole wheat pasta and fat free greek yogurt. Threw in a little low fat cream cheese as well at the end. Delicious! Will be keeping this on rotation for sure.
Elizabeth Lindemann
So glad you liked it and were able to make it WW friendly!
Saundra
This was very healthy and tasty but it took me almost an hour to put together. With chopping the onion, stripping the chicken, cleaning and chopping the mushrooms.
Once you had all the ingredients ready it only took 15 minutes max.
Elizabeth Lindemann
I appreciate this feedback. I’ll say this: prep time varies quite a bit depending on a number of factors, and it’s almost impossible for me to accurately represent it. That said, with this particular recipe, it’s written assuming that the chicken was already shredded and ready to go and that the mushrooms were bought already sliced. That way, all that’s needed is to slice the onion! Hope that helps, for you or anyone else reading this who may be concerned about prep time :-)
Nicole Nerswick
This dish was absolutely amazing and there were zero leftovers! Even the two people who don’t typically like mushrooms went back for more. Beef stroganoff is one of my favorite meals but I wanted to try something lighter and this was simply delicious. I used vegetable broth and left cooked cubed chicken in a separate skillet because we have a vegetarian in the house and what do you know, this also makes a delicious vegetarian meal! I used rigatoni because it’s what I had in the pantry and this meal was hearty but not heavy. Can’t say thank you enough for this easy, quick recipe!
Elizabeth Lindemann
So happy to hear you liked the recipe!
Cathy
It seems healthy fat wise, but there is a lot of salt in this recipe.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks for pointing this out! For this recipe, you can easily control the salt content by using low sodium chicken broth, making sure that the cooked chicken you use doesn’t have too much salt (store-bought rotisserie might be pretty high), and not adding too much salt to taste. The nutrition information in my recipe card is a best estimate and I use an API to calculate it – unfortunately, it’s not always super accurate, and it has a tendency to add a LOT of sodium to any recipe I use chicken stock in. So you’ll have to take the sodium estimate with a grain of salt. HAH! get it? Anyway, for you, or anyone else trying this recipe that’s concerned about the salt- just use low-salt ingredients and you should be fine.
Carolina
Woah, this was Absolutely delicious! Also, small detail, but thank you so much for repeating the ingredient amounts in the instructions in (). I always hate having to scroll back up to the ingredients section every time. Makes such a huge difference!!!
Elizabeth Lindemann
I’m SO glad that the ingredients in the instructions was helpful for you! I also get annoyed by this when I visit other recipe sites, and it’s something I integrated into my recipes about a year ago. It’s really helpful to hear this feedback. So glad you liked the recipe!
Chloe Booth
Could you to use cornflour instead of all purpose flour for a gluten free option?
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hm I don’t think cornflour (masa) would work, but cornstarch definitely would! I recommend making a slurry with 2 tablespoons water or chicken broth and two tablespoons of cornstarch, then adding it in after you’ve added the chicken broth to the veggie mixture and continuing to heat until it’s thickened. And of course, use GF pasta as well. Hope that helps and I’d love to know how it comes out if you try it!
Suzanne Valadez
YUMMY!!!! In my hurry to make a shopping list, I missed the part about 16 oz of mushrooms and only bought 8 oz. I can’t wait to make it again with twice the mushrooms! Also, FYI, I noticed a typo in the amount of flour to use. In the ingredient list, it says 2 Tablespoons, but in the description, it says 3 Tablespoons. I used 3 Tablespoons flour with 8 oz of mushrooms, and it was still very tasty. Definitely will be making again. Comfort food reigns!
Elizabeth Lindemann
Oh yay! SO happy you liked it, and thank you SO MUCH for pointing out that typo!! Fixing now :-) You’re the best!
Christine
Loved this recipe, quick and easy and very tasty. Even my husband loved it which is so good, he doesn’t like tagliatelle so I served his with noodles, a great success. Thank you.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Yay! So happy you and your husband liked it!
nazanin khorshidi
This was delicious! I couldn’t believe how yummy yet healthy this recipe was. I added some garlic with the Onions and fresh parsley at the end. I’ve made a batch for work night dinners
Elizabeth Lindemann
SO glad you liked it!
Susan
Good but a bit bland. I think I would add a little sherry and sour cream instead of yogurt – maybe part yogurt and sour cream.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Thanks for the feedback! Sour cream definitely has a richer taste than Greek yogurt, but I used yogurt to make this recipe a little healthier (it’s lower in calories and fat and higher in protein than sour cream). I do have a few suggestions for increasing the flavor without using sour cream. First, make sure you HEAVILY salt the pasta cooking water. I use about 2 tablespoons of kosher salt when I cook pasta. This will flavor the pasta and also help flavor the sauce since you add the pasta water to it. Finishing cooking the pasta for the last couple minutes directly in the sauce also helps it absorb all the flavors. Also, make sure you cook the onions and mushrooms enough to develop some browning- all those browned bits will add richer flavor to the sauce. I LOVE your idea of adding sherry- white wine would also work- for deglazing the pan right before adding the flour to the mushrooms. And sour cream can absolutely be used instead of Greek yogurt! I went ahead and updated the recipe to include these suggestions- hopefully this helps future readers, so again, thanks for the feedback! :-)
Patricia Smith
This seem simple I will make this for Sunday and weeknight meals. Sometimes you just want to get out the kitchen quickly. I will add some roasted red bell peppers for color. Thanks for sharing.
Elizabeth Lindemann
Hope you like it!
Kim
I’ve done this twice now and it’s a huge hit with the family, especially with my 8 month old son who licks the sauce off first then eats the chicken!! This recipe is firmly in our list of weekly favourites xx
Elizabeth
Haha, my kids usually lick the sauce off things first too! I actually haven’t made this yet for them, but it’s a great recipe for kids. SO happy you and your family liked it, and thanks for the comment!
Carol Pratt
I had some frozen meatballs from IKEA, some mushrooms about to go bad, some Greek yogurt I had made in my Instant Pot, some rice that I had frozen from a batch that was way too big, and I needed to pull together a quick dinner. I googled “mushroom gravy with yogurt” and found your recipe. It was simple, quick, and I had all the ingredients. So I made the gravy, microwaved the frozen meatballs and rice for a couple of minutes, put it all together and it was delicious! The gravy was amazing! It tasted so rich and delicious, and yet it is so healthy. Thank you!
Elizabeth
Oh wow I’m so glad you liked it! LOVE the idea of using IKEA meatballs in this. Yum!
Sarah
Thank you so much for this recipe – it was delicious plus incredibly quick and easy. And I absolutely love how it’s healthy – there’s no cream, butter or cheese! I’ll definitely be making this again :)
Elizabeth
So happy you liked it!!
Caella
I don’t know if I was using the wrong kind of flour but mine turned out clumpy and wouldn’t thicken.
Elizabeth
Oh no! So sorry that happened to you. As long as you use regular, all-purpose flour, you should be fine. But it did take me a while as I was learning how to cook to be able to thicken things well with flour. Here are a few tips: when you add the flour in, make sure you stir it well to coat everything and get rid of as many clumps as possible. Then, add a little bit of the liquid to the pan and stir well. Keep adding a little bit of the liquid gradually and it should come out smoother and thicken better. Make sure you keep the heat on for it to thicken as well. I’ll add these tips to the recipe now. Hope that helps, and better luck next time!
Ashley
Thanks for this recipe! Turned out great. I think it would be even better with a little garlic though :)
Elizabeth
It would be delicious with garlic! Glad you liked it :-)
karen
Thank you for your version of the recipe! It was delicious. Next time I make I’ll a bit less chicken broth because I had to cook to reduce the liquid to a thicker consistency. That said, my picky husband liked it and I loved that you can start to finish get this dish to the table quickly on a work night!
Many thanks!
Elizabeth
I’m so happy you and your husband liked it! Thanks for the comment :-)
Zoe
Sounds delicious- thank you – making this weekend? Love the Greek yogurt- ⭐️