This super easy Goulash Recipe is a comfort food classic! It’s filled with hearty ground beef and tender pasta in a rich tomato-based sauce and comes together in about 30 minutes!
I’m always looking for new and exciting ways to turn ground beef into dinner, but sometimes I just love the good old classics that bring me right back to my childhood. This Goulash Recipe is just that. It’s super affordable, quick to make and tastes like a warm hug on a cool evening.
Classic Goulash Recipe
Are you familiar with Goulash? If not, let me introduce you to this old fashioned recipe! This recipe is an American Goulash that’s great for busy weeknights, but I love to take this recipe to potlucks and parties because it makes a ton and is super affordable. It’s also great for picky eaters, I haven’t met one kid who doesn’t love this dish!
Goulash is filled with ground beef, onion and bell peppers along with macaroni noodles in a tomato-based sauce. I like to stir in some sharp cheddar cheese at the end to give it a creamy texture. My family loves it!
Goulash Ingredients:
- Onion – I like to use either a white or yellow onion
- Green Bell Pepper – you can use other colors of peppers if desired
- Ground Beef
- Garlic
- Tomato Sauce
- Diced Tomatoes – I love using the petite diced tomatoes here
- Beef Broth
- Worcestershire Sauce
- Seasoned Salt
- Italian Seasoning
- Bay Leaves
- Dry Macaroni Noodles – other small pastas would work too
- Cheddar Cheese
How To Make Goulash
- Start by browning the ground beef along with the onion and bell pepper. Drain any fat and then toss in garlic until fragrant.
- Pour in tomato sauce and diced tomatoes along with beef broth and Worcestershire sauce for some added depth of flavor.
- Add in the seasonings as well as dried macaroni noodles and let simmer until the noodles are cooked through.
- Finally stir in the cheddar cheese and dig in!
Tips and Variations:
- Make sure you use a big pot, as this recipe does make a lot!
- You can swap out the macaroni noodles for any other small pasta you have on hand.
- To make this an even leaner meal, you can use ground turkey in place of ground beef.
- Try adding in extra veggies like: corn, peas, diced carrots, green beans or even stirring in baby spinach at the end!
- Stir in a cup of sour cream at the end to give this recipe an even creamier base!
- The goulash is not quite soup consistency, but if you would like to add extra beef broth to make it more soupy you can definitely do that!
More Comfort Food Dinners
- Chicken Noodle Casserole
- Cabbage Soup Recipe
- Instant Pot Beef Stew
- Ground Beef Cheesesteak Pasta Skillet
Helpful Products To Make This Recipe
Here are some of my favorite tools to make this American Goulash Recipe:
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven (6 quarts)
- Wooden Spoon Set
- Cheese Grater
Easy Goulash Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 2 lbs. ground beef, lean
- 3 tsp garlic, minced
- 2 15 oz cans tomato sauce
- 2 15 oz cans petite diced tomatoes
- 3 cups beef broth
- 3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
- 2 tsp seasoned salt
- 2 tbsp Italian Seasoning
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 cups macaroni noodles, uncooked
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Add olive oil to large pot over medium-high heat. Add in the onion, bell pepper and ground beef then cook until beef is no longer pink. Drain any excess fat and return pot to stove top. Add in garlic and stir until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
- Pour in the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, beef broth, Worcestershire sauce, seasoned salt, Italian seasoning, bay leaves and dried macaroni noodles. Stir and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to a light boil and stir occasionally until the pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaves and stir in the cheddar cheese just before serving. Enjoy!
Nutrition
PIN THIS IMAGE TO SAVE THE RECIPE:
Spicy Italian Pinwheels Recipe
Xander
Lack of measurements made it hard to get right, and mine came out super globby, even after two cans of tomato sauce. Dry noodles refused to cook in my large pot, so was I supposed to boil them ahead of time or not at all?
Chari
Just made this and it’s SO GOOD! It’s A Hit!! Going to keep making it too! Really Satisfying and Everyone Loved It! Thank You and Next time, I may add more beef broth and some vegetables and try it like a soup. It’s good just like it is too.
Kristi
My family and I absolutely love this recipe! It’s in our weekly rotation and gets finished every single time. I sometimes like to add corn to this otherwise, I make exactly how it’s written.
Stacie
My college son really likes this recipe. Can I make it and freeze? Or should I make the sauce and freeze so he just needs to add noodles to cook? Thank you.
Chris Pearson
It freezes amazingly well
TwinMama
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
Shawn
I wouldn’t advise cooking it in the slow cooker due to the pasta. It could turn mushy.
Barbara
It comes down to texture. I personally did not like the texture of the pasta cooked with the meat and sauce. My husband liked it. Bottom line, it was good, especially the seasoning in the sauce.
Mary Howard
Overall, it was tasty, but a little too much tomato sauce for me. I’ll leave out the tomato sauce next time.
B. Miles
My family loves this recipe. Never any left overs
Jennifer
Can I use routine instead of macaroni ??
Do I need to add more liquid ??
Jennifer
*rotini
Carol Risher
Need to omit Worcestershire sauce…if that flavor is not your go to.
Made it with frozen homemade spaghetti sauce. Adjusted as needed. Added meat after browning the last five to eight minutes. Otherwise…
Linda Rainey
The best, I’ve made this once and gonna make again this weekend. It took me forever to refind it though.. but glad I did, I’m taking screen shots so I dont loose it again. Lol. I did think the some has a pinch of nutmeg but hadnt tried that, have you thank you once again for posting .
Mary
Made this many times. I use my garden tomato homemade sauce and turns out great everytime!
Melissa
i made this for the first time last night. we all really enjoyed it (even though i completely forgot to add the cheese at the end. LOL). this will definitely be added to the rotation for meals to make on a regular basis. i loved that it was a 1 pot meal and easy to make. we all loved the flavor.
Debbie Sutton
Easy, quick to make and has a whole lot of flavor! My family loved it. This is a keeper.
Theresa Spruill
Thanks for the Recipe.
Rhonda
My daughter found and makes this recipe every couple of months for our family, we all love it. Its what’s for dinner tonight!
Angie
Deliciousness! Thank you! Served it with garlic bread.
Louise Walker
It’s good, but didn’t care for the seasonings. Too overpowering.
Susan
This was easy and so good – even better as a leftover . I used diced tomatoes that had basil in them. Definitely on the recipe rotation list! Thank you!
Analisa
I was in a hurry for an easy dinner recipe when I came across this one, but I did half it. I’ve made many goulash recipes in the last 30 yrs and this one is a keeper! I didn’t have tomato sauce so I used one 6 oz can of tomato paste and filled the can with water. For the beef broth, I used about two cups of water and 3 tsp of Better Than Bouillon Roasted Beef Base. I also always use freshly grated sharp cheddar in recipes. I think I probably put in two cups. Loved it!!
Jen
I am not a lover of Goulash. But, I frankly ran out of dinner ideas, saw this recipe and simply gave in to cook something other than our typical go to options. I figured that at least it was a meal and that the family would eat it, but not be overly thrilled about it. Boy was I wrong. This was the best goulash I have ever had and the family loved it and asked for it to be put into dinner rotation. Flavors were great and the pasta was perfectly cooked. I never thought I would say I am a lover of Goulash. But, I am a changed person. I am now an official lover of Goulash. Thank You!
Eileen
Desperate for a quick answer please. I am making this for homeless people tonight and have never made or tasted goulash, but it is what I was told to bring. I am tripling the recipe. Can I put all these ingredients in a huge metal pan covered with foil and cook it in the oven rather than the stovetop? I don’t have a pan big enough to do three batches on the stove.
Jacki Juzysta
Hello , Yes you can do that but make sure you have a backing pan or something under the pot ,when you put it in the oven .. Look it up it will show you different ways to make goulash also .. Have a wonderful day!!