This easy goulash recipe is the way I have been making goulash for years. Just what is goulash? According to Wikipedia, Goulash is a soup or stew of meat, usually seasoned with paprika and other spices. There are many ways to make goulash and many interpretations. I make what I call goulash way different from many recipes I have come across.
My daughter’s mother-in-law makes goulash completely different from the way I make goulash. And it is my son-in-law’s favorite dish. She makes it every year for him on his birthday.
My grandson just told me that I should add her (his other grandma’s) recipe on here and compare hers to mine. I’m not sure that is a very good idea. Every family has its own tastes and likes. What one family likes, another may not. My daughter likes my version but that is because she grew up eating it made my way. Needless to say, my son-in-law really doesn’t care for my goulash. lol!
Hungarian Goulash
Hungarian Goulash mainly consists of stew meat, paprika (lots of it), potatoes, peppers, carrots, beef broth, and onions. No pasta or noodles. I do not want to confuse the issue. My easy goulash recipe has many of those ingredients missing. So does that make my dish, not goulash? Well, I call it goulash and always have.
Easy Goulash Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 large onion, chopped
- 14.5 ounce can Hunt’s diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano
- 15 ounce can of tomato sauce
- 15 ounce can light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup cooked macaroni elbows
- salt and pepper to taste
- dash of sugar
- Italian seasoning to taste
Directions
Brown the ground beef with the chopped onion until the meat is no longer pink. Drain grease and add the remaining ingredients. Mix well and serve with garlic bread. This is an easy and affordable meal and doesn’t taste too bad either. I bet adding green peppers would add to the taste. The reason I don’t is that my husband doesn’t care for green peppers. The things we do for our significant others! The reason for the sugar is that I add a little sugar to any of my tomato-based recipes to cut the acid.
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My Mom’s Goulash
My mom made a version similar to mine but she omitted the kidney beans and she just used ground beef, onions, tomato sauce, tomato soup, and macaroni noodles. Actually, now that I think about it she made it similar to her spaghetti but used the macaroni noodles instead of the spaghetti noodles and called it goulash. Hmm!
That’s what I love about cooking. Finding a recipe and tweaking it to your own liking and tastes. It may take a few tries to get it the way you like it but when you do, it then becomes a family tradition.
Conclusion
It’s funny how when you start a conversation with someone about how they make a certain dish, I bet nine times out of ten, it will be totally different from the way you make it. Is it the same dish? Yes, it is. It is just the way you make it. There is no wrong or right. If you really think about it, this is the way new recipes come about. Take a “traditional” recipe, tweak it here and there, and you have a new version of that recipe.
There are so many ways to make what many people call goulash. I bet if you asked someone how they made goulash it wouldn’t be like this recipe or even how you make it.
I have found that we are used to the way that our mothers’ cooked. And as adults, we will usually cook like our mothers. The way my mom made things were totally different from the way my husband’s mother did. And of course, my husband was used to his mother’s way of cooking. We had a lot of adapting to do when we were first married. I found that it was just easier to come up with my way of cooking.
In a hurry? This easy goulash is fast and easy. You can have it on the table in 30 minutes.
I hope you give this Easy Goulash recipe a try. Who knows, you just might like it!
How do you make goulash? Leave me a comment below.
Have A Wonderful Day!
