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★ Why You’ll Love this Recipe ★
Old-Fashioned Ground Beef Goulash is one of those nostalgic recipes your family may have grown up eating or maybe you've heard how beloved it is and want to give it a try.
Serve this American Goulash with a 5-ingredient cranberry-apple salad, homemade dinner rolls and try baking a Twinkie bundt cake for dessert!
A Classic American Recipe
This recipe seems to bring back fond memories for so many. "Goulash" is a timeless American dinner dish that has withstood the test of time. To this day, it's still a great little dinner to feed your family, especially if you have a larger family and you're on a budget.
Layers of Flavor
This particular Goulash recipe is flavorful featuring ground beef, bell peppers, onions, Worcestershire sauce and spices. I often hear that it tastes like the goulash they remember from their childhood.
One-pot Recipe
The cooking process is very simple and uses just one pot for easy clean up! Hooray for less dishes!
All the food groups in one dish!
I love a meal where you get the filling factor of carbs, hearty and flavorful meat, plus veggies all in one dish. It makes cooking and clean up super simple and I'm happy as mom because everyone gets some veggies with each scoop.
Budget-friendly
American goulash is a cheap and easy family dinner.
One of the reasons this recipe became so popular back in the day is that it's really affordable to make a big batch of this filling dish.
American Goulash is a great dinner option for feeding big families, house guests, growing children and teens, or for making extras to have lunch to take to work for the week.
Kid-friendly
Made with ground beef, it's hearty yet affordable and is typically well-liked even among picky eaters.
★ Ingredients You'll Need ★
Traditionally, and with this recipes, here's what you'll find in American Goulash:
- Elbow macaroni. This classic pasta shape works well with this dish because the sauce and bits of meat get trapped inside the noodles in the best way making for perfect bites! However, if you want to use a different shape of pasta, by all means, you can.
- Ground beef. This is a great "Hamburger Helper" style recipe that's almost as easy as just adding some beef to a box. We are just incorporating some more freshness and texture vs. the boxed dinner with onion, mixed vegetables and tomatoes.
- Bell peppers. To me, the peppers are what really makes goulash goulash. Bell peppers add a subtle sweetness and depth of flavor that sets this dish apart from the more familiar spaghetti dinner.
- Onion and garlic. This tasty duo layers flavor into the sauce and compliments the ground beef nicely.
- Tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. You get lots of sauce but also a little but of a chunky texture when you combine these two to form the base for the sauce.
- Worcestershire sauce. This is almost like a secret weapon for literally beefing up the flavor of this dish. It's subtle but if you've been making Goulash without Worcestershire sauce and feel like it's been missing something, this just might be what's missing!
- A tablespoon of sugar. Because that's what grandma did and that's because it perfectly balances out the acidic tomatoes and peppers. Another subtle but secret weapon!
- Olive oil. I like to add a splash of olive oil to enrich the sauce. It seems insignificant but it really makes a difference in adding flavor and a silky smooth texture to the finished dish.
Did you know,scientifically speaking, adding a small amount of fat to a dish makes things taste much more flavorful because the fat actually helps the flavor stick to your tongue longer. How fun is that?
Optional Ingredients
- Black olives are an excellent topping for this dish, adding some saltiness and texture to each bite. Add as a topping to your finished dish or stir them in at the end of the cooking process if you want to heat them up a little.
- You could also add chopped artichokes, fresh or dried Italian herbs and/or Parmesan cheese. Add these as toppings when serving.
- Ideally, you'll want to let the olives and artichokes get to room temperature before adding as toppings.
- Bay leaves also add a layer of extra flavor. Add 2-3 bay leaves when you saute the meat and veggies. You can leave them in the sauce as it cooks. They are edible but you don't want to actually eat them as they are tough. So when serving, just pull them out if you accidentally scoop them onto your plate.
- Extra beefy flavor: add a teaspoon of beef bullion to your meat when cooking to boost the beef flavor.
- Thin the sauce: Add ½ cup of beef broth to thin the sauce.
★ How to Make this Recipe ★
This American Goulash Recipe is an easy ground beef dinner comes together in just a few steps and with just one pot!
- Boil the elbow macaroni according to package then drain and set aside.
- Cook ground beef, onion, garlic and bell peppers in the same pot.
- Add tomato sauce, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, and salt.
- Return cooked pasta to pot and stir to combine.
Serve and add any optional toppings, as desired!
Quick and easy!
★ Tips & FAQs ★
American Goulash features ground beef and elbow noodles. It's more of a pasta dish. Whereas Hungarian Goulash is more of a soup made with chunks of beef and can incorporate potatoes and other vegetables.
This is a recipe for American Goulash which is quite a bit different than Hungarian goulash. If you're looking for Hungarian Goulash, check out this recipe by Spend with Pennies.
Different parts of the United States started calling this dish Goulash. It's popular where we live in the midwest and northeastern, particularly Pennsylvania and Ohio.
To further confuse things, some call this dish American Chop Suey.
Did you grow up eating American Goulash for dinner? Comment below with where you're from and what you called this dish growing up.
There are two main tweaks that will make this dish a little healthier.
Try substituting some or all of the ground beef with ground turkey which contains less fat. You can also choose a lean ground beef to reduce the fat this dish.
Try a protein or plant-based pasta. This will reduce carbs and add protein and/or vitamins.
I always say, go with what you have. This recipe works well with crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, tomato soup or V8 + tomato paste. A combination of these would also work.
Try different kinds to vary the flavor a bit if you make this often. Experiment and find what you and your family like best. As long as you're working with a tomato-based sauce, you can't go wrong. Tomato paste can be used to thicken any sauce you find too thin.
Yes, this is a one-pot recipe. I do prefer to cook the macaroni noodles separately, drain, then combine the pasta with the meat and sauce. This allows better control over cooking the macaroni just right and you can drain away flavorless water.
However, you can cook the pasta right in the sauce if you add water. You'll end up with a thinner sauce since you'll need to add 1 and ½ cups of water in addition to the tomato sauce. Most of the water will get absorbed by the pasta but if you find your sauce is too watery, then you can add tomato paste to thicken it. If you find it too watery tasting, then try adding some beef bullion powder or Worcestershire sauce until it tastes just right. You may need additional salt as well.
So, up to you how you want to tackle cooking this. Some will argue that traditional goulash is all cooked in one pot and that is what makes it different than spaghetti. To me, the flavor is what sets it apart. Specifically the bell peppers and onions are what give this dish its unique taste, apart from spaghetti. I say, there is no right or wrong here. Go with what works for you!
If you're planning to cook everything in one pot, I'd recommend using a dutch oven. Cook the ground beef, peppers, onions and garlic first, then add the sauce, water and macaroni noodles. Simmer for about 20 minutes or until pasta is fully cooked.
Shop Dutch Ovens on Amazon
Leftover goulash stores well for 3-5 days refrigerated in an air tight container.
Yes. Goulash is freezer-friendly so you can make a bunch and freeze half for later. Or share with friends and family. Goulash makes a great make-ahead meal for new moms, sick friends, and new neighbors.
Store in an air-tight container in the freezer for up to 4-6 months.
To reheat from frozen: Cover with foil and bake at 350˚ for about an hour and 15 minutes or until center is nice and hot. You can also defrost this casserole first and just bake for about 45 mins.
★ More Beef Dinner Recipes ★
Browse all my easy beef dinner recipes.
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This easy recipe for Old Fashioned Ground Beef Goulash was featured on South Your Mouth and Menu Plan Monday.
American Goulash
Equipment
Ingredients
Pasta
- 8 oz elbow pasta
Beef and Vegetables
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 bell pepper any color, seeded and diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic paste
Sauce
- 15 oz tomato sauce
- 14.5 oz petite diced tomatoes or crushed tomatoes for smoother sauce
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon sugar more or less to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt more or less to taste
Optional Toppings
- grated Parmesan cheese
- red pepper flakes
- Italian spices
- olives
- artichokes
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Instructions
- Cook pasta. In a dutch oven, cook elbow macaroni according to package, drain and set aside.
- Cook beef with vegetables. Set the dutch oven to medium-high heat and add ground beef, diced bell peppers and onion. Cook until ground beef is brown and peppers and onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add garlic paste and cook for an additional minute.
- Make sauce. Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, olive oil, sugar and salt to taste.
- Combine. Add cooked pasta to sauce and stir to combine.
- Add toppings. (Optional) Offer Parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, Italian spices, olives and/or artichokes as optional toppings.
Jordi says
I am from Florida and I grew up eating goulash all the time
James says
Thanks for the recipe.
Kathy says
When I was growing up this was a weekly meal, but my mom didn't add all bell peppers and other stuff. It was just ground beef, onion, diced tomatoes (that was canned from the garden), and sometimes we didn't haven tomato sauce so my mom would put in ketchup. Since these grocery prices are just keep going up, I'm going back to how my mom made it.
Angela G. says
The beauty is you can customize this to what you have on hand.
Rosie says
Like your moms version, I added ketchup. I also used vegetable soup.
Georgiana Knight says
My mom used chopped onion and a can of alphabet soup..👍
Erin says
I am originally from Connecticut. My Grandma and my Dad used to make this for my brother and I back in the 80’s and 90’s. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Donna says
Good old fashioned comfort meal! I used a quart jar of home canned tomatoes..
Pam says
Added seasonings for extra flavor.
Shelly Duston says
My boyfriend has been asking for awhile for me to make goulash. I've never made it before. I've never seemed to have all the ingredients to make any of the recipes I came across and running to the store to get them was not an option. And then I came across Mighty Mrs. Old fashioned beef goulash recipe and got started. This was so easy to make. Huge hit with my boyfriend....thank you!
Shari says
I am making this dish tonight, we grew up eating this as a family of 6. My mother always used to call it Quickie Macaroni. Budget friendly & delish. Similar recipe, but don't remember the Worcestershire added, also my mother always used whole tomatoes. Always a comfort food in our home.
Ray says
In our household mom canned hundreds of quarts of tomatoes in the fall. So a jar or two always made it into her goulash! LOL
Wendy Hajder says
This is exactly how our family makes our goulash here in Minnesota, no German in our ancestry, we are Scandinavian and British/Irish...but then this is an American dish, right? Going to make tomorrow, sounds too good not to! 😊
Deb says
Made this for supper this evening and it brought back so many memories! I added Italian seasoning and just a little bit more salt.
Was delicious!
Thanks so much 🙂
Rustyroses says
Quick and easy to make and is a satisfying meal.
Lauren W says
I grew up on American Goulash. Mom was raised on it and then brought the dish from VT to CA in the late 50's. German/Dutch ancestry here.
Still a favorite comfort food. I use stewed tomatoes and sauce-with no sugar, but a little ketchup to help sweeten and thicken, and onion, salt and pepper. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top. Now, I am craving this. Time to cook up a batch.
Carol Parker-Schutt says
Making this tonight. Super excited to try your version. 🥰
Angela G. says
I hope you enjoy it Carol!
Tami says
I do a goulash recipe similar to your but put in a 9x13 pan. Stir in 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Then cover with a cup or more of the shredded cheddar cheese. Place in oven and cook until it boils and cheese is melted on top. Remove and let it set until cooled a bit and enjoy. This was my husbands favorite meal. Also served with French bread. Yummy in my tummy.
Angela G. says
Sounds yummy! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Colleen says
My mom made this in the 60's. I was a young picky eater so I wasn't a fan back then. Little did I know it was budget friendly. I would eat it now though. At the time we lived in upstate NY and this dish was called goulash. Thanks for the trip down memory lane