This easy American goulash recipe comes together quickly with pantry staples you likely have on hand. Just simmer ground beef and elbow macaroni in a rich tomato sauce for a cozy one-pot dinner.
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What is Goulash?
This American goulash is a quick, tomato-based one-pot meal with ground beef and macaroni, while Hungarian goulash is a beef stew seasoned heavily with paprika, and usually includes potatoes.
- Flavor: Rich and savory flavors from the tomato sauce and seasonings make it a nostalgic family favorite, just like Grandma’s.
- Skill Level: This recipe is perfect for first-time cooks looking for a no-fuss comfort food meal.
- Swaps: Use ground chicken or turkey instead of beef, or try different pasta shapes.
Ingredients for Grandma’s Goulash
- Ground Beef: Use lean ground beef; it’s okay if you use a little more or less than what is called for. It can be replaced with Italian sausage, ground chicken, or ground turkey.
- Pasta: Use any small pasta; my preference is elbow macaroni. Try small shells, bowties, or ditalini.
- Tomato Sauce: Use jarred tomato sauce (or homemade marinara sauce). I like to add canned diced tomatoes for texture and to stretch the meal further.
- Seasoning: Onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, and a bay leaf flavor the sauce. Use minced garlic from the jar and dehydrated or frozen diced onions to save time.
How to Make Goulash
This recipe is a simple one-pot dinner.
- Cook the ground beef. Drain fat.
- Add the remaining ingredients and cook until the pasta is tender.
- Top with optional cheese and serve.
Pro Tips for Thick, Saucy Goulash
- Stir every couple of minutes after adding pasta to prevent sticking.
- If it looks thick before the pasta is tender, add broth or water in small splashes to loosen the sauce, taking care to simmer gently.
- Let it rest 5 minutes before serving to allow the sauce to thicken.
Storage, Freezing, and Reheating
Fridge: Leftover goulash can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Reheat: Warm it up on the stovetop or in the microwave, with a splash of broth and a little extra marinara, if needed.
Freezer: Freeze chilled portions in zippered bags for up to 4 months. Thaw in the refrigerator before reheating on the stovetop or in the microwave.
Elbow macaroni is the classic since it cooks evenly and holds onto the sauce. Small shells, ditalini, rotini, or cavatappi also work well, just watch the cook time and add a splash more liquid if needed.
Keep it at a gentle simmer (not a hard boil), and be sure to stir a few times so the pasta doesn’t stick together.
Stir in beef broth or water a little at a time until it’s saucy again, then warm through.
Use a marinara or tomato-based pasta sauce you like the taste of, with a thicker texture for the sauciest result.
You can freeze goulash, but the pasta will soften a bit after thawing and reheating. For the best texture, cool completely, freeze in portions, and reheat gently with a splash of broth. If you’re making it specifically to freeze, cook the pasta just to barely tender so it doesn’t get too soft later.
What to Serve with Goulash
Did you enjoy this Goulash recipe? Leave a rating and comment below.
Equipment
- Dutch Oven or large skillet with lid
Ingredients
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 large yellow onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 cups marinara sauce or tomato based pasta sauce
- 2 cups beef broth or water, more as needed
- 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes with juices
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 green bell pepper diced, optional
- 1½ teaspoons Italian seasoning
- 1 bay leaf 2 if they are small
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 8 ounces elbow macaroni uncooked
- ½ cup shredded cheddar cheese or mozzarella cheese, optional
Instructions
- In a Dutch oven or a large skillet with a lid, cook the ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until no pink remains. Drain any fat.
- Add the marinara sauce, broth, diced tomatoes with juices, tomato paste, bell pepper (if using), Italian seasoning, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Add the elbow macaroni, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Uncover and simmer for an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until the pasta is tender.
- Remove & discard the bay leaf. Top with cheese if using, and replace the lid. Let rest for about 5 minutes or until the pasta has thickened and the cheese is melted.
Video
Notes
- Use 8 ounces of uncooked elbow macaroni noodles, approx 1½ cups.
- This recipe can easily be doubled to feed a crowd (serving sizes can be adjusted in the print screen).
- For heartier appetites, the meal can be stretched with additional pasta (and water/broth), canned beans, or chopped vegetables. (diced zucchini, sliced mushrooms, corn, or additional bell peppers). Any kind of ground meat can be substituted for beef.
- Start with the amount of broth/water as listed and add extra if needed (depending on pasta shape). The goulash will thicken as it cools and rests. Depending on the size and shape of your pan, you may need to add a little bit more liquid. Keep an eye on the dish as it cooks, and add more liquid as needed. The mixture will thicken slightly as it cools.
- Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Beef, Dinner, Main Course, Pasta
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Can you cook the pasta separately? And if so, does this change how much liquid I add to the recipe?
You wouldn’t need the water and yes, you’ll need to reduce the cook time so the noodles don’t get mushy. I would just thicken the sauce on its own for about 15-20 minutes and then give the pasta just a few minutes to heat up and soak in a little bit of the sauce.
I want to make this for dinner. I have everything except for the tomato paste.. will it still turn out OK without that?
Yes it will, the paste just adds a bit of zest and a richer tomato flavor but it’s great without too.
My husband loved it! I used beef consume instead of water and did use the optical green pepper. I didn’t have macaroni but used rigatoni. Worked fine.
Close to mine. I also add some mild diced green chiles, some sliced black olives and some sauteed mushrooms. Thanks for all of your great recipes.
Thank you so much for the American Goulash recipe. It’s only 9:30 am but I was already worrying about what to have for dinner. When I saw that I already had every ingredient needed to make this, I was soooooooo happy. Dinner plan! Done! I’m sure it will be delicious. I use your recipes all the time and I love how uncomplicated they are, but so delicious. Thank you for solving my dinner dilemma today. It isn’t the first time!!!! Love your site.
One of the best meals I have cooked in a long time. Outstanding flavor, easy and quick for an old man to make. I really enjoyed it and now looking forward to leftovers as it made a big skillet full.
This recipe is awesome… With a family of 7 it’s so hard to find easy dinners everyone will actually eat, this does the trick every time!!!
I’ve made it exactly as written… And a bunch of variations simply because I seem to be always missing something for it, lol. So it totally works for family!
Thank you for sharing!!!
Thank you so much for this recipe as it is easy to make and delicious! What made me the happiest was that my very very picky son loves this and ate every bit of it for dinner plus ALL the leftovers the next day. It reminds me of the goulash the nuns used to make us for lunch in the cafeteria at school. Yum yum!
Great easy meal! I used beef broth rather than water, added a couple of small parmesan rinds I had in the fridge and some diced red and green pepper that I had in the freezer and let it simmer for an hour or so before adding the pasta. Once the pasta was cooked, I took it off the heat and let it sit to thicken. It was great! Thanks for posting!
Love your recipes
Love the food easy to make and so good
Instead of using water, try beef broth. It makes it taste better.
Great idea Jody!
Please add the serving size of each serving in addition to the number of servings of each recipe. I need this to know how many calories I consume :)
Thanks for the suggestion Marylee, we will do our best to add serving sizes moving forward. However, for accurate calorie information, we recommend using a nutrition calculating app like MyFitnessPal. Hope that helps!
This is a good basic starter recipe for goulash. If you really want to add flavor and thicken it up, try adding 2 Taco Seasoning packets & at least 6 small cans of kidney beans. This will give you a recipe that you will want to make monthly, sooo delicious!
Those sound like delicious additions Forest! Thanks for sharing :)
Hi it didnt say but how much dies this make? I need to make for a family if 10. If you could let me know please U would appreciate it. Thank you
This makes about 8 servings Trish. Enjoy the recipe!
Delicious! Of course you’d season to preference, buuutttt adding beans and track seasoning DEFINITELY makes something completely different from angering goulash!
. *American goulash, lol!
I’m just saying to the people that say it isn’t tasty, if you cook at all, you know to taste and season any recipe as you’re cooking… Add spices, cheese, but once you start adding cans of corn/ beans it’s no longer the same recipe! I’ve cooked many recipes from this website and besides adjusting spices to my families preferences, we’ve loved every one! Thank you 4 all of the yummy inspiration!
Thank you Rosie! I’m happy to hear that you’re loving the recipes!!
Hey Forest, if you add beans and taco seasoning, it is no longer goulash.
I LOVED this flavorful meal but my picky family did not. I think that is a matter of taste preference, however. Even with beef broth substitute, it had the flavor of red wine, which my family does not enjoy. I subbed rótel (medium) for diced tomatoes and beef broth. Everything else remained the same and it was amazingly flavorful.
Chicken broth is better.
Made this tonight after saving this recipe mos ago. It’s hard to find something that everyone likes but all 3 of my guys loved it! Only modifications I made were cutting the pasta a bit and adding hot sauce, because we like spice. Also I wouldn’t skip the pepper, it really adds to the flavor. So delicious!!!
I love all of your recipes. Easy and delish
Viewing this on the phone and almost didn’t see the recipe. Had to scroll pretty far. Almost thought it was just an article about goulash. Finally found it all the way at the bottom.
You can use the “Jump to Recipe” button at the top of any page on my site and it will take you directly to the recipe if you don’t want to read the tips/suggestions. Hope that helps!
I did a batch and a half. Added roast beef au jus instead of water, added crushed bay leaves, and 3 cups of corn. Also some red pepper flakes to spice it up. Had to use 2 pots. Lol. I also substituted the noodles. Delicious! Great dish for dinner for the week!
I finally made this dish tonight! I used a pound of ground beef and a pound of ground turkey breast, then I added 3 cups of beef broth instead of water for extra flavor. I then added a 16oz box of cavatelli pasta (next time will add less only because I want to see what it tastes like saucier) and last but not least I used Parmesan cheese and fresh mozzarella in small slices! Omg! It was delish! Hubby was skeptical at first but ended enjoying it immensely! 18 yo DS is a picky eater who won’t even try it but then again that is another story! Thank you so very much for this enjoyable recipe!
This is the worst recipe ever! It tastes like macaroni with tomato sause. NOT goulash. The only thing you taste is tomatoes. Save time and money just dump pasta sauce on your beef and onions and add macaroni. At least that has some flavors.
Sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy this recipe as much as we do! It’s a popular American Goulash recipe, which differs from Hungarian Goulash. Perhaps you’d prefer Hungarian Goulash?
WOW! Good looking and a great chef. A perfect world! Great recipe. Do you have this same recipe for a crockpot and for a guickpot?
We do have a Crock Pot goulash recipe! Enjoy Daryl!