X-ray diffraction method was applied to measure residual stresses in deformed and annealed polycrystalline austenitic steel. An elastoplastic deformation model was used in analysis of experimental data. As the result, the orientation distribution function of grain stresses, created during elastoplastic deformation was determined and presented in the Euler space. An important decrease of the first and the second order residual stresses was observed during recovery process. It was found that the magnitude of the stresses decreases, while their distribution between different grain orientations remains almost unchanged.