Incredibly hearty and cozy beef goulash is the perfect hands-off dinner for busy weeknights! Made in only one pot with a handful of basic pantry ingredients for an ideal last-minute dinner.
An unglamourous-sounding dinner, I know. But this freakin’ easy beef goulash is EXACTLY what the doctor ordered for Monday.
We’re talking 10-12 basic pantry ingredients I would bet you have on hand as we speak.
One big ol’ pot to hold all the goodness. One hour-ish of your time, MOST of which is inactive.
Sometimes you just need some dang comfort food and this glorious pot WILL deliver just that. Plus like, literally so much food your leftover game for this week bout to be strong as heck.
Most typical goulash recipes you find out there are made with ground beef, but today we’re making a little bit of a different version.
We’re using a chuck steak cut into cubes and slowly braised with veggies in a paprika-spiced sauce for about an hour.
I’ve tried both versions of both standard ground beef in goulash and chuck steak and I personally think the fall-apart tender braised cubes of meat in this goulash wins HANDS down.
NO worries though if you only have ground beef on hand and can’t get to the store for a chuck steak! I’ll be giving full instructions below on how to adapt this recipe to use ground beef.
First off, let’s get into the beef goulash steps >>
- Cube the beef and brown it until its golden on all sides.*
- Remove the beef from the pan and now its the veggies turn. Carrots, onions, and sweet peppers.
- A little garlic + paprika goes in the pan and then we’re throwing the beef back in as well. Whole tomatoes and beef broth for the liquid and now we’re braising this bad boy at med-low heat for about an hour until the beef is very tender.
Last but not least, we’re tossing uncooked elbow noodles straight in the pot and letting these cook until tender and most of the liquid is evaporated. BOOM, entire meal in one!
*If you would like to use ground beef in place of the chuck steak here’s how you will do it:
- Brown the beef as you ordinarily would until no longer pink
- Remove from the pan and cook the veggies as directed.
- Complete step 3 above, only we’re axing braising for an hour. Instead you will want to bring everything to a low simmer then cook the pasta as directed. That’s it!!
The COZY flavors in this goulash are literally everything you could ask from a one-pot meal.
It can be our little secret you actually did little to no work whipping up this comfort food. ♥
I recommend adding some crusty bread and a green salad alongside a big bowl of this and call your dinner life golden.
Need more weeknight savers? Put these winners up to the task!
One-Pot Beef Goulash
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 lbs beef chuck roast or stew meat, cut into 1-in cubes
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 medium carrots, cut into 1-in cubes
- 1 medium sweet pepper, cut int 1-in cubes
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes, undrained
- 2 cups beef broth
- 8 oz dried elbow pasta
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a dutch oven or large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat until shimmery. Add beef stew meat and brown all sides until golden. Remove from pan and set aside.
- In same pan, add onion, carrots, and sweet pepper and saute several minutes in beef drippings until vegetables are just softened. Add beef back to pan, garlic, and paprika and saute 1 minute until fragrant.
- Add whole tomatoes and beef broth to pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, smashing tomatoes with a wooden spoon, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer 1 hour until beef and vegetables are very tender.
- Pour pasta into pot and cook an additional 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until pasta is tender.
- Stir sour cream and parsley into goulash. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve goulash warm and enjoy!
Scott Spiegel says
That is so NOT Hungarian Goulash. If you tried serving that to a real Hungarian they would flip the table over sending the pot of that monstrosity into the air and all over the floor & walls. That thing you call Hungarian Goulash is actually the basterdized American version. No Hungarian is going to use freaking elbow macaroni in the dish. What you made is closer to Hamburger Helper Beef & Macaroni with some paprika in it. It might tase good but don’t you DARE call it Hungarian Goulash. It hurts my heart to see that dish associated with any of the trueHungarian version.
Sarah says
Hi Scott. I appreciate your insight and I apologize for offending and dishonoring the culture by changing the classic Hungarian recipe.
Please keep in mind that there is no need to be cruel and hateful on the internet. At the end of the day I’m only human and I make mistakes just like everyone else.
I will make the appropriate changes to this recipe to ensure that it accurately reflects the correct culture. Thanks!
-Sarah