Last Updated on January 4, 2026
Diet Beef Stroganoff – a Healthy, Low-Calorie Treat
I make variations on the stroganoff theme whenever I want something that tastes a little luxurious. It is stunningly simple and depends on good-quality ingredients and careful preparation to make a delicious meal. This evening I’ve made a diet beef stroganoff, mostly because I had 50 grams of fillet steak left over from last night’s meal. But on occasions, I’ve made much the same dish with chicken breast, with venison, with pork fillet and even just with a mixture of mushrooms and no meat at all.
This time I did try quite hard to be careful about the amount of butter I used and I also used half fat creme fraiche. I still felt as if I was having my own little feast, although when I added up the calories, it could have been part of a 5:2 fast day. The trick is to use rather more mushrooms than you might do for a normal beef stroganoff – and make sure that wherever you can, you limit the amount of fat you use.
Simple Beef Stroganoff
Ingredients
- 50 g Fillet Steak Sliced
- 20 g Unsalted Butter
- 5 Chestnut Mushrooms Sliced
- 1-2 Banana Shallot Finely Sliced
- 1 tablespoon Half Fat Creme Fraiche
- 1 tablespoon Flat Leaved Parley Chopped
Instructions
- Pre heat the oven to 140c
- Melt the butter in a frying pan and cook the shallots gently for 8-10 minutes till caramelised around the edges and soft.
- Remove from the frying pan with a slotted spoon and put in a heatproof dish in the warm oven
- Cook the mushrooms the same way, till soft and just caramelised at the edges. Then remove from the pan and add to the shallots
- Turn up the heat and sear the steak strips briefly, turning them over once.
- Add the shallots and mushrooms to the meat and then stir through the creme fraiche and warm gently
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
- Serve on boiled rice or noodles garnished with parsley, or if you prefer with sweet paprika
Nutrition
I don’t think this recipe is in any way authentic – and I know when I make it for other people, I use more butter and flambe the meat with a tablespoon of brandy before adding back the mushrooms and shallot mixture. And I use cream, soured with half a lemon, rather than creme fraîche. You’ll find my classic beef stroganoff recipe linked at the bottom of this post, but this way, the dish is something I can enjoy every day. And, surprisingly, this healthy beef stroganoff recipe really isn’t that high in calories.
Calories
50g beef fillet – 50 cals
4 mushrooms -28 cals
1 shallot – 10 cals
1 tablespoon creme fraiche 50 cals
20g butter – 143 cals
So, in terms of a diet, this recipe could scrape in if you were careful with the amount of creme fraiche and butter, with a total of 281 calories for the quantities I’ve used (and perhaps another 150 calories for a small portion of rice). But, somehow, a dish with larger amounts of green vegetables works better for me in terms of making me feel full if I haven’t eaten much else during the day. And because it uses up most of the 500-calorie allowance, it’s something I wouldn’t recommend using on the 5:2 diet fast day unless you really wanted to fast for the rest of the day. But if you are following the new version of 5:2 with a calorie allowance of 800 a day – or, for that matter, any other low-calorie diet, this recipe is a good way to have a treat.
If you are following a low-calorie diet or simply trying to eat healthier food, why not pin my diet beef stroganoff recipe to make later
Looking for other low-calorie recipes? How about this delicious recipe for a low-calorie chicken stir-fry?
And if you are interested in other stroganoff recipes, here’s the ultimate diet mushroom stroganoff recipe, and this one is the classic beef stroganoff recipe my mother taught me how to make.
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