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This is a hearty mushroom stew you can make with whatever fresh mushrooms you have available, wild or store-bought. It is essentially a German-style mushroom goulash, and is vegetarian — but you can always add meat.
I got the inspiration for this recipe from the fantastic book Classic German Cooking by Luisa Weiss, which I highly recommend. Traditionally you’d use wild varieties for this mushroom stew, but it’ll work well with any of the store-bought kinds you can find in the supermarket.
I’d recommend brown cremini mushrooms, shiitake, or that “chef’s blend” you can find sometimes. Weiss recommends chanterelles, which I used in the version in the pictures — but I also added lobster and hedgehog mushrooms, too.
Really any mushroom you can saute simply will work. Porcini and morels are excellent options.
I use fresh mushrooms here, but you can rehydrate dried ones and use those, too. In some ways, it’ll make the mushroom stew even better because you’ll use the soaking water — strained of any debris — as the broth in the goulash. Or use both fresh and dried.
This mushroom goulash can be vegan, vegetarian, or you can add meat, Use oil instead of butter for a vegan option (and skip the sour cream), or fry up 1/4 pound of bacon to start the stew, remove the bacon (eat a piece), and use the fat to cook everything. Chop the bacon and add at the end.
If you really want to, add maybe 1 pound of ground or diced meat after you brown the onions. I don’t, because I want the mushrooms to shine.
As for the paprika, use sweet Hungarian paprika or something similar. Spanish smoked paprika works, but will give you a very different effect — I like it, but it’s not traditional.
Adding an herb at the end is a nice touch. I added a 50-50 mix of chopped chives and parsley, but any herb you like will work: dill, marjoram, lovage, savory, cutting celery, rosemary, sage, thyme…
I like to serve mushroom goulash with boiled or roasted potatoes, noodles, or sometimes alongside rice. Serving it with a good loaf of rye bread is an excellent option, too.
Once made, this mushroom stew will keep several days in the fridge, and it freezes well.
Mushroom Stew
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter or oil or bacon fat
- 1 onion, sliced thin
- 2 1/2 pounds mushrooms (see note below)
- Salt
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1 quart broth (vegetable, mushroom, meat)
- 2 cups sauerkraut, drained and rinsed
- 4 tablespoons paprika
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
- Black pepper and sour cream, to taste
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onion and saute until the onions are nicely browned, about 6 minutes. This is a high-heat saute, so brown edges, not a caramelization.
- Chop or tear the mushrooms into pieces you'd want to eat with a spoon, remembering that mushrooms shrink dramatically once cooked. Leave small, pretty ones like tiny chanterelles or morels whole. Add them to the pot, stir well and salt everything. Let this cook, stirring often, until you get some browning on the mushrooms.
- Stir in the garlic, cook another minute or two, then add the cider vinegar and broth. Make sure the mushrooms are covered, but this is a fairly thick stew, not a thin soup, so you don't need a ton of broth. Add water if you need it to cover the mushrooms. Simmer this for 20 minutes.
- Add the sauerkraut and paprika, mix well, and add salt if needed. Cook another 10 minutes. Add the parsley and black pepper and serve with sour cream at the table.
Notes
- For the mushrooms, use a nice mix if you can. Where I live in Minnesota, we often get chanterelles, hedgehogs, lobster mushrooms and chicken of the woods all at the same time. That makes a very pretty mix because of their color. But any edible mushroom works here.
- If you use dried mushrooms, you will want about 3 to 4 ounces or more. Rehydrate them by putting the mushrooms in a bowl and pouring boiling water over them. Let this stand for 20 minutes or more, then remove the mushrooms, squeezing out excess water. Strain any debris out of the water, and use that instead of broth.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Sounds like a recipe for next weekend – and my wife likes the vegetarian option.
So far it has not been a productive year for wild mushrooms in Central North Carolina. My friends in the mountains however have told me the last two weeks has been very rewarding.
Have a great week Hank!
Hi Hank, this sounds interesting. I am from Germany but I never heard nor tasted a mushroom Gulash made with cider vinegar and Sauerkraut.
We, here in the south of Germay, make it like you started with ognions and mushrooms, water and the water of rehydrated mushrooms and we finish it with Sweet or batting cream, parsley and dumplings made of white bread.