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American goulash is an easy, old-fashioned, and comforting meal that is insanely delicious and perfect for the cold winter months. Everything cooks in one pot, even the pasta!
Everyone needs a hearty recipe that they can go to on those chilly days where you want to be warmed up from the inside out! Try this chicken stew, this fantastic beef stroganoff, or this yummy BEST EVER Beef Bourguignon!
What is American Goulash?
Goulash is a hearty dish of stewed beef and tomatoes that was first developed as a Hungarian dish. It typically doesn’t even have pasta, but this American version does and cooks right in the sauce. This makes it an easy and complete meal. It tastes similar to lasagna but without ricotta cheese. I love it because it’s a 1:1 ratio of meaty red sauce with noodles. The more beefy sauce, the better!
This time of year is all about the hearty meals that keep us warm and leave us feeling full and satisfied. American goulash will do precisely that! Plus, it’s easy to make. Get ready for this… You make it all in ONE POT. It only takes about 10 minutes to prepare, and then the rest of the time, it’s just cooking on the stove. This recipe makes a lot, so it’s perfect for feeding a big family, sharing with others, or eating the leftovers for lunch the rest of the week. Enjoy!
Ingredients in One-Pot Goulash
This delicious one-pot meal is perfect when you need an easy recipe for those busy, on-the-go nights. The ingredients are simple, and you probably have most of them already at home and ready to go! See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact measurements.
- Ground Beef: I like to use lean ground beef in this recipe.
- Onion: Dice up your onion into small, similar sized pieces.
- Garlic Cloves: If you don’t have fresh garlic cloves on hand then you can use minced garlic. 1/2 teaspoon equals about 1 clove of garlic.
- Water: The water is used as a base to cook the pasta noodles in.
- Beef Base (or bouillon): The beef boullion just ups the beef flavor and adds to the overall taste.
- Tomato Sauce: The tomato sauce will mix everything together.
- Diced Tomatoes: Canned diced tomatoes are easy and work perfect for this sauce.
- Bay Leaves: These add in that classic, deep flavoring to the overall dish.
- Soy Sauce: My favorite one to use is this soy sauce.
- Seasoned Salt: This adds to and enhances the flavors in the goulash.
- Italian Seasoning: You can use store bought or you can make this homemade Italian Seasoning and always have some on hand!
- Paprika: This sweet spices adds in a lot of flavor.
- Black Pepper: The pepper will only add in some seasoning, there isn’t enough for any heat.
- Elbow Macaroni Noodles: The best part about these is that you pour them in uncooked! No worrying about getting these ready beforehand.
- Cheddar Cheese: Freshly shredded cheddar from a block will melt in the sauce better.
- Fresh Parsley: This is used as a garnish for the finished recipe!
Let’s Make Some Dinner!
This American goulash is packed to the brim with beef, noodles, and cheese. The flavors are incredible, and my mouth waters just thinking about it!
- Brown the Meat: Brown ground beef in a large stock pot. Remove from pan and drain. Leave about 1-2 tablespoons grease in pan. Add the diced onion and then cook for about 5 minutes over medium heat until tender. Add the garlic and cook another minute.
- Simmer: Return ground beef to pot along with the water, beef base, cans of tomatoes and sauce, soy sauce, bay leaves, seasoned salt, Italian seasoning, paprika, and black pepper. Then, stir together, bring to a boil, cover, reduce to low and let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Add (uncooked) Noodles: Stir in the noodles then cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes or until al dente. Stir occasionally to prevent noodles from sticking to the bottom.
- Mix in Cheese: Just before serving, stir in the cheese. Serve garnished with fresh parsley.
What’s the Difference Between Hungarian Goulash and American Goulash?
Hungarian goulash is a thick stew filled with meat and vegetables. It sometimes has dumplings or potatoes in it rather than pasta. The classic sample ingredient in traditional Hungarian goulash is paprika. American goulash doesn’t have any extra vegetables (aside from the tomato-based sauce), and it has macaroni noodles and cheese. American goulash also goes by the name “American chop suey.”
Can You Freeze American Goulash?
YES! This is a fantastic meal to make ahead of time! Here is how you can freeze it after it’s been cooked and reheat it later!
- Freeze: Once your goulash has cooled then you can place it in a casserole dish and cover it with a double layer of foil. Or, you can put it in a ziplock bag and lay it flat in your freezer. Make sure to label your container with the date! American goulash can stay frozen for up to 3 months.
- Reheat: When you are ready to eat your goulash, take it out of your freezer and thaw it in your fridge overnight. Heat it up on the stove on medium heat until it is warm throughout! Enjoy!
How to Store Leftovers
This goulash recipe makes a lot so it’s likely that you will have leftovers! This makes a fantastic lunch or dinner the next day!
- In the Fridge: Place your cooled goulash in an airtight container and put it in your fridge. Leftover goulash can last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
- Reheat: You can heat this back up on the stove on medium heat until it’s warmed through. Or, you can warm it up in the microwave. Cook it for 1-2 minutes on high and stir. Continue this until its warmed up!
What to Serve with Goulash
Goulash is a hearty dish that lends itself to just about every side out there! It’s easy to add things to this meal that your entire family will love! I like to add in some rolls or breadsticks, and a couple of veggies and maybe even a salad. I’ve gathered a few recipes that I have served with this before!
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American Goulash
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground beef
- 1 large onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 3 cups water
- 1 tablespoon beef base or bouillon
- 2 (15 ounce cans) tomato sauce
- 2 (15 ounce cans) ddiced tomatoes (one petite diced)
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Seasoned salt
- 2 tablespoons Italian Seasoning
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 cups elbow macaroni noodles uncooked
- 1 cup cheddar cheese shredded
- Fresh Italian parsley chopped
Instructions
- Return ground beef to pot along with the water, beef base, cans of tomatoes and sauce, soy sauce, bay leaves, seasoned salt, Italian seasoning, paprika, and black pepper. Stir together, bring to a boil, cover, reduce to low, and let simmer for 20 minutes.
- Stir in the noodles, cover, and simmer 15-20 minutes or until al dente. Stir occasionally to prevent noodles from sticking to the bottom.
- Just before serving, stir in the cheese. Serve garnished with fresh parsley.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
It was awesome noodles got a little mushy. Should have taken it off @ 20 minutes. Flavor was great.
i brown onions along with the haburg and green and red peppers than i use couple jars of spaghetti sauce but i boil the acaroni buy itself
I have made this dish multiple times for my picky toddlers. They love it. Generally, I halve the recipe. It works just the same. Its really good with cheddar cheese sprinkled on top!!!
My husband usually makes goulash so I was a little panicky when I had to make it. This recipe was so good! My husband loved it and said it was better than his and trust me that is a compliment. He doesn’t usually like to change up his tried and true favorites. Looks like I’ll be making the goulash now! (Hmm what have I done lol!)
I used to Love my Dunkirk (NY) High School Cafeteria when “Goulash Americana” was on the menu, back in the 1965-’68 era…When “Goulash Americana” was on the lunch roster…I made sure i was IN School, that day,…..food makes fond memories…and the “Goulash Americana” sure made fond High School memories for me….I really wish i had that recipe..
Great….My tweeks….1. Drained the diced tomatoes. 2: used beef broth vs water and bullion 3. added a touch of hot sauce. I didn’t think the cheese really added to it. but it tasted like chili – next time I’ll skip the pasta – add beans – and make the ground beef a little chunkier. Oh and for you KETO folks – skip the pasta and at the end put it over zoodles (zoodles taste much better uncooked – and are more like pasta in consistancy)
That all sounds great! Thank you for sharing! I am so glad that you could make it your own! Thank you for sharing! XOXO
IS IT A SIN TO POUR THE GOULASH OVER RICE INSTEAD OF ADDING PASTA?
haha, the pasta is in the goulash. I haven’t tried it with rice yet. Let me know how it turns out.
You would need to omit the water if you don’t use the pasta. As it is, I cook the pasta separately and leave out the water because the pasta tends to get too mushy if you don’t take it off the heat at the exact right time. I also add bell peppers.
This was delicious, but it was SOUP. I followed the recipe exactly. I tried to cook it down to thicken it, but the pasta started to fall apart. Was I supposed to drain the tomatoes? The recipe doesn’t indicate that. Even the melted cheese didn’t help.
This was very good! I mixed in a small can of tomato paste after I sauteed the garlic and onions and let it toast a little bit. I didn’t have beef bouillon, so I used 3 cups chicken stock instead of the water. I also didn’t have seasoned salt, so I used salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and chile flakes. At the end, I put in a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar to brighten it up. Very, very good!
Amazing!! This was one of my favorite dishes as a kid that my grandmother use to make. Unfortunately I was too young to think about getting the recipe. Since then I could never figure out how to make it. Authentic Goulash is a VERY different recipe. I chalked this up to me mis-remembering or her making up a name for her dish. However when I saw your recipe for American Goulash – it hit me! That’s what her dish was – a 50’s translation of an old world dish. Thank you for posting, it really brought me back. And now I am able to share one of my favorite dishes (from when I was young) with my son.
just forgot to rate..
Followed recipe no changes, was delish. Hubby really loved it.
I will make this again with some changes. We enjoyed the recipe but it was pretty salty in my opinion. Are you sure a tablespoon of seasoned salt is correct? I also only used 2 tblsp of soy sauce. I added kidney beans which everyone enjoyed. Besides being salty it was yummy. Thanks for the recipe.
You are welcome to lessen the salt if you feel it is too salty. Hope that helps! XOXO
Just wondering if you do any weight watcher friendly meals as I noticed you had keto recipes. Love your recipes, keep them coming.
To lessen the salt, I used beef stock instead of water and omitted the bullion. Wonderful recipe!
Some Italian seasoning mixes have salt in them, so that might have added to it. I am on a low salt diet so I mix my own seasoning mixes.
Soy Sauce is really salty.
I always use low sodium soy sauce regardless of what a recipe calls for. Easy healthier adjustment.
Best Goulosh EVER!!!
For some reason my other review only left 2 stars and I meant 5!
Loved the American Goulash recipe. I added a couple of T of brown sugar which we thought was a goodimprovement.
Thanks for your posts…I get lots of good recipes and ideas
I used to make Goulash for my family of 12 years ago. i also liked to add red kidney beans in it. Was a favorite of my young ones.
Hi Rose, thats how my ma used to make it too.
I love dark red kidney beans where called for or not.My mom’s gone now, and I sure miss her delicious meals unfortunately I didn’t get her recipes. I tried to replicate her recipes but it’s not the same. Happy cooking, by the way, my ma’s sisters name is Rosella.
Winter will soon be here, I’ll be cooking all the hearty dishes that warm the tummy.
Nice to talk, take care, judy
Glad you mentioned beans! I was just about to suggest them. Can’t really taste them, but they add nutrition.
The real Gulyas is only 5 ingreadients and it is great! Don’t play games!
Agi, what are the ingredients…simple is better for us. I started reading the ingredients and wow ! that’s a lot more stuff than I thought it had ! Sheila
Agi remack, nowhere did this claim to be real gulyas. It clearly says in the recipe that this is American goulash, which is an entirely different dish than the Hungarian one you are talking about.
also call American Chop Suey in some locales….jus saying.Let it be known that it’s just damn good…OOooh I forgot…also Named Slumgullion to some folks so call it what ya may but it’s Damn Good.
Absolutely as a senior we grew up with slumgullion 😂
In America it’s called spaghetti
😛😝😜😂
I absolutely love love goulash 💕❤💕