American Goulash

American Goulash is macaroni cooked in a meaty and tasty tomato sauce, like the old fashioned goulash recipe you’ve been waiting for. It comes together in a breeze and everything is cooked in one pot, from the pasta to the other ingredients and sauce. You can make it at home easily and  budget friendly.

American goulash vs Hungarian goulash

American goulash is not exactly the same goulash recipe that you would expect in other parts of the world.

The main difference is that Hungarian goulash has often potatoes or carrots included and it is seasoned with Hungarian paprika.

American goulash has pasta is a straightforward comfort food like you might know from my recipe for Hamburger Helper or One Pot Chili Mac and Cheese.

Reasons to love this American goulash

Everything comes together in one pot. This comes in handy if you are looking for a budget friendly and delicious, easy meal that practically makes itself.

It is a great beginner meal, because you add everything to your pot and cook, stir a little bit. That is all how complicated it gets.

You can easily make a bigger batch and freeze for later.

I’ll show you everything and you will be really proud of the final result.

What you need for this American goulash recipe

Here are the recipe ingredients:

You will need a bit of olive oil, as well as crushed red pepper for a little bit of kick. Besides that garlic, onions and green and red bell pepper for an amazing flavor and the following:

For a meaty and hearty texture I use vegan ground beef that I like a lot and I use it in different dishes like the Easy Homemade Lasagna or my Zucchini Bake.

Of course every American goulash needs macaroni and this one is no exception. The beauty of this recipe is that cook the macaroni directly in the pot with the other ingredients. Super easy and makes the result so delicious.

Tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and paste. I like to use all 3 for different textures and a shiny and bold tomato flavor.

Vegetable broth is simply great and adds the required liquid for cooking the macaroni to the recipe. It also makes the American Goulash more flavorful. Soy sauce adds a wonderful umami flavor that gives this dish an amazing deep character.

How to make American Goulash

Heat the olive oil in a pot. Add the ground beef and brown it for around 3 minutes. Then, remove it from your pot but leave as much of the oil in as possible.

Next, add in the chopped garlic and onions, bell peppers. Cook for 2 minutes more.

Now add the vegetable broth, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, tomato pasts, soy sauce, crushed red pepper and macaroni. Bring everything to a boil and cook all for around 8 minutes on medium heat. 

Finally add the ground beef back, season with salt and pepper let the American Goulash simmer for around 4 minutes, then serve.

Tips and tricks

According to the package directions, my macaroni take 8 minutes to cook. If yours require a different time to be ready, adjust the time in the step above. 

Leftovers can be used for around 5 days from the fridge. For freezing, use a freezer friendly bag and you can stick in the freezer for around 3 months.

It is really delicious and filling as main meal. You absolutely don’t need anything else with that, but if you want to, you can absolutely do so.

What I love about American Goulash is that I can serve this dish up with many things that I couldn’t even imagine at first. Let me tell you friends I taste them all and everything is great:

Serve with cornbread that is truly delicious, like my Easy Jalapeno Cornbread or with biscuits like my Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

Since this is truly a filling, really flavorful and robust meal I also like to serving this up with light and fruity salads: think of my Apple Salad or the Brussels Sprouts Salad. 

Any remakes of my American Goulash? I gladly see them with a tag on Instagram or Facebook.

Enjoy, Florian.