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
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Spicy Italian Pinwheels Recipe
Rose Vernon
I may have missed it. But what size is the serving. Other recipes say 1 cup is a serving. I work in a kitchen on a very tight budget so I need this information. Thank You Rose
Bonnie
I made this goulash for my family, and it was a “Home Run!” I had enough leftovers for the next night’s meal, plus a lunch for myself. I used a large red sweet pepper instead of a green pepper. It tasted great with it. I think the next time I make it I will add kidney beans to it.
The elbow macaroni that I used cooked a little too fast, and they were too soft. I’ll be more careful the next time!
Shawn
I’m so glad you enjoyed the goulash!
Miranda
Hoeveel ml is een kopje?
TheBrain
Oh my God, this has nothing to do with a Goulash! 🙂
Vi
Perhaps your Goulash and other Goulashes differ. Love this recipe. It is exactly how my mom made it in the 1970’s and beyond. I make it the same way unless I’m out of one vegetable or another, so then I substitute. Thank you for posting this!
Robin D.
This is exactly AMERICAN goulash. The way every mom in the 70’s made it. It’s delicious!
Renae Patterson
I made this with cooked pasta instead of elbow pasta I used rotini 2 1/2 cups and only 2 cups of beef broth and it turned out great… absolutely delicious my family loved it. Thanks for sharing this recipe
Jade perkins
Very soupy? Did I do something wrong
Shawn
Did you add in dry noodles or already cooked noodles? The noodles should be dried when adding so they absorb a lot of the liquid in the goulash.
Dolsen
You never add oil when cooking hamburger! Hamburger has enough of it’s own fat. Even the 90% 10%. Don’t add cooking oil period!
Cody
If I don’t have beef broth, what could I use in place of it? Looking forward to trying this.
Shawn
You could use chicken broth in it’s place, but the flavor will be slightly different in the finished product.
Karleen K Donato
I am going to try your recipe tonight! I make a very simple goulash. I brown 1 lb of hamburg. To that I add 2 cans of tomato soup with 2 cans of water. Then I throw in one full box of elbows . I stir it really good . I let it simmer on low ….stirring it frequently till the pasta is done. Presto! Thats it! My grandmother and mom cut up an onion and added cooked it with the hamburg. I HATE onions so I don’t add them! Also my grandmother called this ” pasta vozoo”
Paula
Use 1 bouillon cube per cup of liquid. Just watch the salt content. Don’t salt without tasting
Mark Rizzuto
Beef cubes or chicken cubes or better than bullion. Its unlikely you would taste it anyway more for hydration of the noodles.
Lyndsey Miller
This was an instant hit with my family and they are picky! They loved it so much they went back for seconds! I’ve made it a few times now and I always make double batch! Made exactly as recipe is written and I wouldn’t recommend to change a thing! Great meal for a cold or chilly day!
Alex
My parents divorced when I was young so I was on my own most of the time when it came to meals. By 12 I was running a whole household. I cooked, I cleaned, and I took care of my brother and myself. I went to school then came home and did everything typical parents should be doing. This is a meal I’d make alot of the time because it was just throwing some very basic ingredients in a pot and it was so versatile. I just didn’t know what to call it. I didn’t realize back then it was actually a thing, but now I can definitely see how this became such a significant cultural meal for poorer people in Eastern Europe. We had a big garden as well that my brother and I were responsible for. If we had a bunch of okra it’d go in the goulash pot. Sometimes corn or peas or even diced potatoes. You can’t really mess this stuff up and it goes great with a slice of white bread. I still remember making it and my mother coming in and asking who taught me how. I just looked at her like she’d sprouted an extra head bc obviously, I’d taught myself. It sure wasn’t her or my father. It’s just a comforting meal and very instinctual, if that makes sense. I guess bc of the way goulash became a part of my life I’ve since stopped making it. It wasn’t the best of times and I don’t really like reminiscing about it, but now I have a life I would’ve never dreamed of having back then. I’ve had a great nursing career. I’m married to the absolute best person I’ve ever known. We have a home and two daughters where we all work together as a family. While I still make sure to teach my daughters all about basic skills of taking care of oneself and their home; like cooking, cleaning, laundry, home maintenance, car maintenance etc, I still do all of it for them bc I’m their mother and I couldn’t live with myself if I put them in the same position my mother did me. I’ve never made them goulash though, but I’ve decided I would today. We have all the ingredients on hand and don’t need to make a trip to the store. I could’ve made a long story short but this recipe is sentimental to me. I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who enjoys it.
Dawn
That was so sweet, I just had to say that Im proud of you for your tenacity. Maybe this meal will be a tradition you start by showing them how to make it! Then you can rid the negative side of it away and introduce them to Mom’s goulash! I hope they enjoy it!
Helem
Made this with low sod broth and tomato sauce. Also used 1 lb beef and 1 lb ground turkey. Was good and healthier
Sabrina
1st time making this as gluten-free version. Fingers crossed!
Gary O
I just made it for my wife and I at the cottage on a cold day. The recipe was simple and the experience was fantastic for a 30-40 minute meal. I was a little skeptical adding the uncooked macaroni in the pot but it turned out fine. If you like tomato based meals you will enjoy this one. I can see this dish becoming a great fall/winter/early spring go to monthly meal. I wish I would have had this in my arsenal when the kids were small it would have been perfect for those get home from work, rush to eat supper, then run the kids to their sporting event days!
JOHN EMERSON
“Marvelous Wonderful Recipe LOVE= AMEN!”
Bridget
Delicious! My whole family enjoyed this, even my 6 year old. The one thing we added was grilled Anaheim peppers which added some additional flavor to it. We’ll be adding this to our dinner rotation!
Jackie MacDonald
Great meal, real tasty and easy to make. I added herb & garlic cream cheese at the end before adding pasta and cheese. A definite recipe to add to your collection. With fresh bread and butter. Yum!
Jessica
I made this for dinner last night after googling easy ground beef dinner, took very little time, had all ingredients on hand (nothing fancy needed) and it was GREAT! My family loved it *(even the super picky one!!)
David B.
This was vary hardy stick to your bones hardy my family loved it thank you for making my dinner amazing
Sandra
Adults and kids loved this . Made couple of change I cooked pasta separately. Also I’m on low sodium diet so no salt added put in small amount of Carole seasoning.Sandra
Samantha
Did you not put in the beef broth then since you cooked the pasta before hand?