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!
Video
Nutrition
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I wanted a little more of a nod to the more traditional recipe so I left out the seasoned salt and added 3tbsp of sweet Hungarian paprika instead, also added 3 tbsp of balsamic vinegar. I used 2 qts home canned tomatoes instead of the commercial stuff as well. Simmered the meat sauce about 15 minutes before adding the macaroni, and my Mac only took 10 minutes to cook to al dente.
It came out so delicious that everyone wished I’d made a larger batch, including me!
I cut this recipe in half (except the cheese) and it was fantastic! I was a little heavy on the W sauce, so I added a touch of sugar and worked perfect. Served with some fresh bread.
Love this recipe! I’ve made it several times & it always a hit.
Goulash is one of the few memories that I actually remember. Came across your recipe and am anxious to try it. Though could you substitute mozzarella cheese in place of cheddar cheese???
I have signed up to be an email subscriber cant wait to see some drop in my inbox thank you
I think either would be delish
This recipe was great! I used a pound of 90% ground beef sirloin & a pound of 85% ground turkey for ours. Added no salt or bay leaves. I went with salt free options for tomatoes & broth. I used 28oz. cans of tomatoes & 32oz. carton of broth. I also used a frozen blend of red & green bell peppers & onion mix. We are big on flavor, so while the meat & onion/pepper mix was cooking together, I also added some worcestershire sauce, black pepper, onion powder & garlic powder to it. This recipe was easy & fun to incorporate into something we enjoy, so don’t be scared to add or remove items that your family enjoys. I’ve been casually looking for a new goulash recipe & found it, thank-you!! My crew told me that they absolutely loved it & want more in the near future 🙂
P.S. I forgot to add this to my post! We also added 2 of the 11oz. cans of Steam Crisp Mexicorn to our recipe! Use the brand that has the giant green man on the can, it taste the best!
How much onion powder and garlic powder did you use? TIA
I made this before and it was delicious. I am making it again but only have the large elbow macaroni. Would that be ok? If so should I do 3 cups of pasta?
I used 2 cups of jumbo elbow macaroni in ours. Next time I’ll do about a half cup more. We love the larger noodles in most our recipes, especially goulash. We love leftovers & how the flavor sets in recipes like this, unfortunately the noodles soak up a lot of the juice overnight. So play with the balance of noodle size/quantity & juices, especially if you plan on leftovers for the next day.
Flavor was good. But this recipe is too soupy, noodles too mushy for that cook time. It needed tomato paste or something to make it thicker.
I would leave out the broth or just lessen how much you put in. I have never made it with broth before. I do love the idea of Worcestershire sauce though!!
Ive made it several times I just cook everything except the noodles first and let it simmer to cook the tomatoes a bit more and blend the flavors. Noodles and cheese come later . It’s a very good recipe for having leftovers.
A friend gave me this recipe and it was a complete hit!!!
great flavor and texture, as well as easy to make. It’s a keeper.
I used Fire Roasted tomatoes with green chilies that gave the goulash a little spice! I try to keep carbs lower because of Diabetes, so I used Banza macaroni made from chickpeas with high protein and fiber to make it healthier for me. Today being Election Day I needed some comfort food! I will make this again!!
Two pounds (32 ounces) of ground beef for just 8 ounces of elbow noodles? That seems really meat-heavy.
2 cups is 16 ounces. But I measured out the cups as instructed in the recipe.
2 cups is 16 oz. 🙂
2 cups is approx 8 Oz of macaroni pasta. 2 cups liquid is 16 Oz. I have made this with a full pound and it is great it’s just not as as saucy.
Instead of hamburger, I used jalapeño/cheese stuffed sausages cut bite size. It was great and the rest of this recipe was perfect for goulash noodles.
That sounds delicious
I know that it is 388 calories per serving but what is one serving of this? 1 cup? 3oz? How can I reasonably weigh or measure this out without dividing the entire pot up since I know this has 10 servings?
Agreed!! Every recipe I find doesn’t tell you what a serving size IS! Isn’t it frustrating?!!
I agree trying to figure out the same thing!
Very good I used rotini noodles and turned out amazing
I think it had too much Italian seasoning. other than that it was delicious!!!!
Absolutely delicious!! A new family favorite, just in time for Fall ☺️
The recipe wasn’t bad just had to tweak it a bit. I usually boil my noodles separately so this definitely made me nervous… so I stirred every 2 minutes while testing the firmness of the pasta. I only boiled it for 14 minutes. Instead of the 20 minutes suggested. Came out great. I added sautéed mushrooms at the end along with garlic salt and chili powder. It’s a good 1 pot meal.
Tastes like home!! Easy recipe made from basics out of the kitchen! I prefer banana peppers to bell peppers, but both are delish!! Find some garlic bread and you’ve got a meal!!
This was really good and easy. Definitely faster than boiling the noodles separately and the flavor was good. I did tweak to my personal tastes like omitted peppers. I was definitely nervous that it was too much liquid including the 2 cans of sauce but I trusted the process. Cooking as long as I have I’ve had to learn to do that hahaha. Turned out fine. If people are having mushy noodles you cooked it too long. If your noodles aren’t cooked enough obviously the opposite or not enough liquid. If you don’t like a tomatoey flavor you might not like this. Next time I will only use 1 can of tomato sauce. 2 is too much for my taste but it was still really good. Using only 1 won’t change the consistency enough to cause a liquid issue. If it does you can always add a little more broth but I don’t foresee a problem.
Maybe it’s me, but the pasta is too mushy. If I were to do everything again, I would cook the pasta in the beef broth and add it in afterwards. The flavor is good though!
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?
Measurements are in the recipe card at the end. You’ll find it when you scroll through to the bottom.
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.
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.
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.
It freezes amazingly well
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
I wouldn’t advise cooking it in the slow cooker due to the pasta. It could turn mushy.
Yes!!! I’ve done it in the slow cooker a million times. It’s how I prefer, unlike tonight when I’m home late and rushing to throw a dinner together. Which is going to be this recipe, not slow cooker style lol
Let me add to this, pasta should be thrown in last 2 hrs of cooking. Otherwise, it will be a mushy globby mess
Pretty good but entirely too much Italian seasoning. Will make it again with half the amount listed. I replaced one of the diced tomato’s with Rotel which added a nice little kick.
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.
Overall, it was tasty, but a little too much tomato sauce for me. I’ll leave out the tomato sauce next time.
My family loves this recipe. Never any left overs
Can I use routine instead of macaroni ??
Do I need to add more liquid ??
*rotini
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…
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 .
Made this many times. I use my garden tomato homemade sauce and turns out great everytime!
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.
Easy, quick to make and has a whole lot of flavor! My family loved it. This is a keeper.
Thanks for the Recipe.
My daughter found and makes this recipe every couple of months for our family, we all love it. Its what’s for dinner tonight!
Deliciousness! Thank you! Served it with garlic bread.
It’s good, but didn’t care for the seasonings. Too overpowering.
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!
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!!
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!
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.
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!!