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
Andrea Bodo
I am Hungarian. This is a far cry from Hungarian gulyas………….but I grew up in Vt, and heard them refer to it as that. Authentic gulyas is absolutely delicious. This recipe is more Italian with italian seasoning and dry macaroni than Hungarian.
Hungarian Chef.
Calling this goulash is an insult to goulash.
Pasta?
Italian herbs?
Cheddar cheese?
Ground beef instead of diced beef?
No paprika?
Seriously, this is some sort of italian beef pasta stew that you made up, not even related to goulash.
It might be tasty, it might be easy to make, but goulash it definiately is not…not even close.
Shawn
This is an American Goulash. NOT a Hungarian Goulash. Sorry for the confusion.
Sick Of Jerks
Wow “Hungarian Chef”, you sound like a real prick. Enjoy being miserable and blowing your a$$ upset over something so small!
Thomas Parrish
This is exactly the goulash I grew up eating check your spelling. Nobody said anything about Hungarian. If you know so much about it then why are you looking up recipes for it? Haven’t you ever heard the saying if you don’t have anything nice to say then shut the f****** up!
Cindi Nelson
Do you include the juice from the canned tomatoes?
Shawn
Yes! Just toss it all in there!
Susan Garcia
Goulash is indeed a comfort food and you definitely have a five-star winner here! I wanted something different than the goulash that I normally make so I used red green yellow orange peppers. And red and white onions I’m going to add corn in the end. Also I only had tomato juice and tomato paste so I made the necessary adjustments. Lastly because I have always put just a little bit of sugar or brown sugar in my goulash recipe (not making it very sweet at all),I adjusted for that. I have to say I’ve already fixed myself two small, little bowls of this. Thank you for the wonderful heart hug recipe!!! Most sincerely Susan
Savannah Jo Boehmler
Hello. Is there anyway I could somehow use ground pork for this? Apparently my ground beef got used for something else lol. But I would stil like it to taste like this, is that possible? Or should l just wait and make when I get more ground beef? Please and thanks
Kelly
I’ve made it w ground pork but used more seasoning for more flavorful taste. Truly is just as good.
BETTYE
it looked so good i had to try it. but the noodles turned to mush. I’ll try it again, next time i’ll know not to cook it for 20 minutes.
Shawn
Sorry your noodles didn’t turn out right for you. Make sure you are adding uncooked noodles. The noodles should be cooked in the goulash and should come out perfect. 🙂
Kathy M
My mouth was watering just reading this recipe and it did not disappoint! I will definitely be making again! Great dish to take to work when we all pot-luck!
Nicole
Hi, there! What is the serving size? I am going to prep this for a team dinner, and would like to know how large the serving size is for your number of servings calculation in order to adjust, if needed, for a group. IE, is it 10 1-cup servings, or 1.50 cups, etc. Thank you!
Shawn
I would say it’s about 1.5 cup servings.
Elizabeth Dillman
I just made the whole recipe EXACTLY as it shows and it is wonderful! My boys love it, everyone had second helpings and we are going to love the leftovers.
I love this recipe because it is so simple, i had everything already and didnt have to shop and it was done in under an hour.
I wouldnt change a thing!
Thank you for sharing this with us✌️
Angel Jordan
A new fav in our household, we are only 2 people and finished the whole pot in a day!
Shawn
Woohoo!! So glad you enjoyed the goulash!
Suzanne
My husband asked me to make him some goulash for him. I followed the advice in the article associated with this goulash recipe and added sour cream. My husband said his mother made it for him often, but this was the best he ever had. Now THAT is a complement!
Shawn
What a great compliment! Thank you for sharing that Suzanne. I’m so glad you all enjoyed it!
Ruthie
I made this Goulash recipe exactly as it said and it was delicious!! Everyone cleaned their plate it’s soon good!!! Easy to make and I pretty much had all the ingredients on hand. Very few dishes to do afterwards, I love that too!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe!!! I will be making this again!!!
Stormi
I didn’t have bay leaves. However, I followed this recipe EXACTLY and it turned out soooo good! Made it tonight and my picky eater ate 3 bowls!!!
Chloe Lane
I add potatoes to mine, delicious.
Jillian
I plan to make it this week, but I had a question. If I need to remove the diced tomatoes (there’s an allergy to fresh tomato and they don’t normally cook down enough in this kind of quick recipe to make the eater feel safe eating them, it’s not a picky eater scenario) do I need to add more sauce or another liquid to make up for this loss so the pasta cooks correctly and it comes out the right consistency? Looks great and like what I grew in with my family making so I can’t wait to try it!
Dawn
I add V8 juice to mine
Bill
I like my flavors well blended. Thus I simmer all but pasta for several hours the day before and let stand overnight. Bring back to a boil and add elbow pasta.
Mike Meyer
I used Cento crushed tomatoes and the flavor was amazing
Heather
I just added another can of tomato sauce instead of the diced tomatoes and it turned out sooo good! Definitely a winner with my family.
Shawn
So glad you enjoyed it Heather!
Cherie
I tweaked this recipe a bit, didn’t add noodles but served over white rice. Delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
Shawn
I bet that was tasty! Thanks for sharing!
Doyle Cain
I gave it a bit of a twist. I added 1 whole chopped jalapeno and a bottle of medium Pace picante sauce. It was the best. Thanks for a great recipe.
Shawn
That sounds awesome! A little Mexican flare! YUM!
Monica Martin
I don’t know why it never occurred to me to boil my pasta in everything. Time saver! I didn’t realize I was out of a few things til I started to make it so I had to improvise. Ha. Bell pepper, Worcester sauce, diced tomatoes, elbow macaroni, seasoned salt, bay leaves, and cheese. Lol I know! Sooo I used 1 can of tomato sauce and a can of crushed tomatoes and used mini lasagna noodles but I increased it to 3 cups because they were small. Glad I did. This turned out perfectly. I also added a little chili powder because I like the bite. Great recipe and similar to my Mom’s. Thank you!
DF Kelly
I usually make goulash without a recipe but decided to use this one. Very good .
Jaimi
Absolutely delicious!
Kim Cason
Made tonight for dinner! Done just in time for Yellowstone, lol. Yummy
NotACook
I feel like maybe there is a type-o on the amount of Italian seasoning? I think 2 tsp would have been better. Otherwise, this was great!
Shawn
You could definitely use 2 tsp in place of 2 tbsp. With it making such a large amount, I feel like the 2 tbsp is a good amount.
Lisa
I agree with you in was just saying that to my husband that something in the spices was missing or maybe needs more onion and peppers. I added a bag of frozen frozen peas and carrots
Susan
Easy and super tasty! I accidently used soy sauce instead of Worcestershire sauce. A little salty, but still very good. Will definitely make again, of course using the right ingredients! 🙂
Ernie Swollocks
Ground beef, pasta and cheddar cheese? Wtf? NO paprika?
Calling this Goulash is an insult to every Hungarian who has ever lived, is currently living and even those who have yet to be born.
Shawn
This isn’t Hungarian Goulash, it’s American Goulash. Sorry to disappoint you.
Linda Pelletier
Why would you assume that it was Hungarian goulash? It clearly states American goulash . Very good recipe. I’m assuming you could add paprika if you wanted too. We all start with a basic recipe and improvise to our own tastes…
Monica Martin
Dude don’t be a jerk. Read the recipe before making it. It’s not Hungarian goulash but American which it states. I’m tired of people whining about goulash. This is America and it’s going to be different. I’d see your point if it was Hungarian but it’s not.
Mike
I agree with you Monica. Someone does something nice. Gives you an easy recipe to make something delicious, and instead of thanking them. He has to show what a jack ass he is.
Nick W.
If you use seasoned salt like the recipe calls for, it has paprika in it. At least Lawrys does.
Sally Davis
I agree with you…Somewhere around WW11 Goulash was a popular dish, because it was made with hamburger and mac, and could feed a lot for less. I have been to Hungary and have had REAL goulash, and this isn’t even close..But for some reason, it got the name.
D. M.
Rude. Just don’t eat it or comment and move on dude. Sheesh.
KAT
My thoughts exactly. Never understood why people call this goulash.
MAT
I call shoes sneakers, runners, kicks and footwear. And in some places those mean different things.
Do you need any more english lessons KAT?
Amber
Great recipe! I made it vegetarian with Gardein crumbles and vegetable stock, and diced my own tomatoes, but everything else was the same. My meat eating husband liked it and wanted more. Best of all: just one pot and a cutting board to clean! Thanks 🙂
Samantha
Do I have to hve bay leaves when making this ? I have everything but those so I’m hoping I can still make without them lol!!!
Shawn
You could skip the bay leaves if you don’t have them. Should still be good.
Colleen Dunlop
I have made this now 4 times. Here’s the changes I made:
4 tablespoons Worcestershire
3 tablespoons of Paprika
1 pound of ground spicy Italian sausage.
3 cups beef and red wine broth. Even my picky 11 year old finishes 3 bowls. Thank you so much for this recipe I will be using it in the future.
Dawn
So you basically made your own recipe for Goulash
Chad
I agree with on the point you made and see it so many times 🙁 I want to hear reviews on “this recipe” and not how you changed it. It makes reviewing the recipe pointless.
Katie
I used Veggie broth and impossible meat to make this vegetarian and it was very good! Thank you!
Shawn
Fantastic! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe Katie!
Grace Holland
I made this the other night and loved it! Great recipe that was easy to follow. I will be making another batch today and freezing half of the batch. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Carolyn w
Easy and DELICIOUS! I used whole wheat penne for pasta and home canned stewed tomatos and sauce. Never cooked pasta from start to finish in sauce before. Always parboiled first so made me nervous.. but it is EXCELLENT! My new favorite goulash recipe! Thank you for taking the time to put it online. 🙂 ohhh.. and love the name of your website. In our home, I wash and my husband dries and puts away.
Shawn
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe and I bet those home canned tomatoes were a fantastic addition!
Dianne
I love this recipe. I made it almost exactly as written. The only thing I changed was adding a little less season salt and about half the Italian seasoning. Too much oregano tends to repeat on me. It was excellent. Thanks for sharing!
Shawn
So glad you enjoyed it Dianne!
Terry
This was absolutely amazing, will be making for now on. Thanks for the recipe!
Helen Balmer
This recipe is perfect in every way! That’s all! I didnt grow up eating american goulash so I was unsure of what my finished product should be. I followed this recipe to a T (which is rare for me) and I’m so glad that I did!
I tend to cook with a lot of spice. My boyfriend usually raves over my cooking skills, but lately he’s been missing the way his mother used to cook for him. (She passed away when he was 18).
I hit a homerun with your goulash recipe tonight! You made our Christmas Eve! 🙂 Kudos!
Shawn
So happy to hear it Helen! Thank you for your comment.
Ashley K
Made for my very picky and doesn’t like pasta of any kind husband and he was humming as he spooned a second helping out of the pot! Didn’t have bay leaves (darn) or Italian spices and also used chicken broth instead and it was very warm and filling. Recipe makes a ton!!!! Will be making again w a little less L&P.
Shawn
Oh that’s so awesome to hear! Glad he enjoyed it Ashley!
Katie
This was delicious! Exactly what I was looking for.I thought it was excellent and so did my family.Only thing we changed was we used fresh grated parmesan cheese on top of each of our bowls instead of using cheddar.Thank you for sharing this!
Shawn
I’m so thrilled to hear it Katie!
Shanna Brown
I made this tonight and it was delicious. The only thing I did differently is used about a half tsp of cilantro. I always add cilantro anytime I am cooking with ground beef. It brightens up the taste so it isn’t as heavy. Soooo gooood!!!
Lisa Dee
Was just wondering can you cook the macaroni separate cause sometimes the macaroni gets mushy? I’m making this later today and does the macaroni come out mushy???
Michael
Great question and timely. We eat strictly GF (I have Celiac Disease) and GF pasta tends to get a bit mushy. Anyone else out there tried adapting this delicious-sounding recipe with GF pasta?
Katie
If you cook it in the goulash it won’t get as mushy. And will also soak up a lot of the flavor and help thinker the soup.
Shawn
The macaroni does not get mushy in this recipe, but you could cook it separately. Keep in mind I’ve made this recipe with the amount of liquid needed to properly cook the noodles and still end up with the right consistency at the end. By cooking your noodles separately, you’ll end up with a much more soupy version.
True
I used vegetable broth because it’s what I had on hand, and omitted the green peppers (they trigger headaches for me, like onions, it’s really not fair) spiced it up with a touch of crushed red pepper. Super yummy! I also snuck in the lightest bit of cream at the end to just give it that smoothness. This was yummy! Plenty there should be leftovers, but it was that good! I think I may have snuck enough away to send with my man for lunch, but only barely!
nickol
Oh my gosh, so amazing wow. Only used seasoned salt to taste I think it would have been too salty with the full amount, but otherwise wowwwww. Tastes like grandma’s.
Shawn
That’s great! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe Nickol!
Viki
I made this tonight exactly as written only cut the recipe in half since there are only 2 of us. I added cheese but forgot about the sour cream. I thought it was delicious. I wish I had made the full recipe so we had enough leftovers for tomorrow night. Next time, and there will be a next time, I will try the sour cream but I can’t imagine it could taste any better. Thank you.
Shawn
You’ll have to make the full recipe next time! 😉 We love this recipe and never seem to have any leftovers when we make it! 🙂
JD
So I was looking into goulash for some reason….
Then I came across this recipe
Now. I was like this seems like a lot for a simple meal… IDK why but it did not sound really good but sounded like a good food blend… so I was like hey I have everything Lets try it, if not dog food for a week.
I did added the cheddar cheese and the sour cream [under tips (I only did about ¼ cup or S.C. as that was all I had left)] to thicken the sauce…
I boiled the noodles separate while cooking the meat/onion/peppers in another pan then added all together (after draining) and let it simmer for 20 mins on Med Heat till It was looking like a good thick soup like in the picture (fyi @ 20 mins it was NOT watery so if you go longer you need to stir/eye ball it more)
Ok – the results….
Bite 1 – I was like ok this is a eat and feed the rest to dogs not a great meal – the beef broth and Worcestershire seems a little overpowering….
Bite 2-4 I was like ok I think I can eat this maybe a ½ for me and ½ dogs…. The other flavors were coming into play like the meat and tomatoes
Bite 5-7 I was shoveling it in my mouth as fast as I could… I finished the entire large bowl full…. Tummy was full and wanted more but I was about to pop I was so full.
I finished this like 2 hours ago – and the flavor is still making my mouth water.
It has amazing flavors it is different and take a bit to register all of it on your taste buds but WOW REALLY Good.
Maybe a 25-30 min cook time will equal out the beef broth and Worcestershire sauce more but only a suggestion.
FYI the Dogs are NOT getting any of this – ALL MINE!!!
Elaine
Will you please stop calling this goulash. This is nothing like goulash. You are discrediting Hungarians everywhere. I know what you did make is delicious- I’ve made it too. My mouth was watering reading the ingredients. It’s called meat sauce with macaroni.
THeart
Elaine, this is AMERICAN GOULASH! It is certainly not macaroni with meat sauce. THEN yours would be called the same. I would never put peppers, beef broth or Worcestershire sauce in my tomato sauce. Gees! You can add chili, cumin, etc. and call it chili con carne. So I guess an American can call Hungarian goulash “beef stew”. And if you doctor it up, it can be called chili con carne as well. Get a grip! No one is discrediting Hungarians. You just discredited Americans.
Luke
Came looking for Hungarian Goulash.. found American goulash.. it does look yummy but you could save people like me a few clicks and some confused moments by putting American in the title… thanks!
Tyler
Take your woke bullshit elsewhere Elaine… go feel offended elsewhere
Sharon
What is Hungarian Goulash just curios
Diane
To my entire family, those still alive and those long dead, this is goulash. It has been that way for over 100 years. I have a cookbook way older than me, 50+ years, that has several recipes in it for goulash that is basically just like this. So should we stop calling cookies cookies and call them biscuits? BTW my goulash is by no means “meat sauce and macaroni”… SMH
Shanna Brown
Hi JD. I mean no offense, but you really shouldn’t feed your dogs onions or garlic. They are very toxic for them.
Meredith
I love your feedback (and am going to try this recipe!). But just want to point out that onions and garlic are toxic for dogs. Just an FYI. Otherwise, yeah, my dog would eat this right up given the chance!
Leon Stone
I did cut down on some things and didn’t add the diced tomatoes. Kids liked it I liked it would do it again but def cut down on the broth
Amanda N
I really wanted to love this recipe. It had all the components that I use, plus some added ingredients. I was excited to try it with the beef broth and Worcestershire. However, I used red bell pepper because it’s sweeter. Tomatoes can be very acidic. I found this recipe to have too many herbs. I feel the meat flavor was lost in all of the ingredients. 3 cups of beef broth made a consistency I wasn’t happy with. It took a while to thicken up to the consistency I’m used to when eating ghoulash. By the time it thickened, the noodles were over done. Even though I turned the heat off. I added a 1/2 tsp of sugar to try to cut down on the acid. Not too much to make it sweet. I would like to mention I did not add cheddar cheese in the end. I’ve never had ghoulash like that before. But I did have to add a little parmesan on the top to be able to eat this. I wound recommend cutting out half of the beef broth and cutting down on the Italian seasoning. Just my opinion. I’m a fan of less is better when it comes to Italian sauces and pastas.
Tiffany Walsh-Paxson
I had the same problem, it was too acidic. I added sugar and then honey to v try and cut the acidity. Though that didn’t bug me as much as the noodles being basically mush. I liked the flavors though. Next time I’ll definitely just do the regular cook time (on the box) for the noodles.
Kimberly DeValentino
How much is each serving approximately?
Toshua
This was the best goulash I have ever mad. I personally used only a 1/4 of the Italian seasoning because I dint like it. Highly recommend this recipe.
David
I tried the recipe and really enjoyed it, another place to find great recipes is at https://learn-it-fast.com/quick-easy-recipes/
Michelle K Drozdibob
This is an oldie but a goodie!! Very tasty and easy one pot meal that you can switch up by using diced tomatoes with chilis, cumin and chili powder and monterey jack for a tex-mex twist or whatever you like. I make this at least once per month!
Janet
My mama made this all my growing up & anxious to try it! I’m used to it being baked. Could I prepare your recipe but when done, pour into rectangular baking dish?
Lamarian Brown
Can u cook this in a slow cooker
Shawn
I haven’t tried this in the slow cooker.
Marjorie
I made it in the crockpot because I had the whole family coming over after pumpkin picking. Once we got home, I transferred it to a pot on the stove before I added the macaroni. Everyone loved it!
adriana
Just a wonderful recipe! So delicious and easy to make. I’ve made it several times…even tastier the next day!!
Thanks for making meal planning easier.
Shawn
Awesome! So glad you enjoyed the recipe Adriana!