Tag Archives: goulash

Italian Goulash

Posted on July 1, 2015 by Veronica

I love Mom’s Goulash, and mostly refuse to make any other recipe. But this one reminded me of my early cooking attempts, and I’m glad I decided to try it. Before I knew how to make goulash, I used a jar of pasta sauce with the macaroni, and cooked some onion and green pepper in with the hamburger and stirred it all together. It was good, but not really goulash at all. Maybe it’s the stewed tomatoes, or the consistency (see bottom photo for a truer representation), but this one seems more goulash-y, and also much, much better. The Italian sausage gives it another depth of flavor along with the homemade sauce. Really good stuff. Maybe not better than Mom’s, but still very good.

Italian Goulash

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 (20 oz / 1 ¼ lb) package sweet Italian turkey sausage
1 large onion, diced
1 (14.5 oz) can roasted diced tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can whole stewed tomatoes, cut up or mashed
1 (29 oz) can tomato sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni
Tomato juice for leftovers (optional)

In a large pot/stock pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Brown the meat and onions together until cooked through. Add the diced tomatoes, stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, soy sauce, basil, oregano, and garlic. Stir together and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, covered, 20 minutes. Stir in the uncooked macaroni, recover, and simmer for another 20 minutes. Let stand for 5-10 minutes and serve. The noodles will absorb the sauce over time, so if you have leftovers, it’s best to add a little tomato juice to them before reheating.

Veronica’s note: Your finished goulash will not be swimming in sauce like mine is in the picture. I made it late the night before, and all the pictures looked like this:

So I added tomato juice (Mom’s trick) to some leftovers the next day and photographed them in natural light for a better photo. So just combine the pretty clear & bright picture with the consistency of the above photo and you’ll get an idea of what your finished goulash will look like. :)

Recipe source: adapted from The Avid Appetite

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Posted in Italian, Pasta and tagged cooking, goulash, Italian, Italian sausage, recipe, stovetop. Bookmark the permalink.

Mom’s Goulash

Posted on June 4, 2014 by Veronica

I never learned to make goulash – I just knew it had noodles, ground beef, and tomatoey stuff going on in it, according to my Mom’s memories of what her mother made. But she never made it so I just came up with my own way of making it which was sort of like the same way I made spaghetti with meat sauce, but just with macaroni noodles instead. I have my favorite version of my own version posted here.

I finally had real (real as in the Americanized real, not the Hungarian real) goulash at my in-law’s house. I’d been wanting to get my MIL’s recipe for a long time, because although Dennis never says “this isn’t like Mom used to make,” I’ve always wanted to cook his favorite meals that he grew up eating and goulash topped that list. His Mom’s goulash is really, really good! After enjoying it on Easter, I asked her exactly what she put in it so I could recreate it at home. I’ve never turned out better goulash and Den’s favorite is now one of my absolute favorites as well. We could eat this almost every week!

Mom’s Goulash

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1/2 lb macaroni
1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 large onion, diced
garlic salt, pepper, chili powder, & hot sauce to taste
2 (14.5 oz) cans whole stewed tomatoes, undrained
2 tablespoons ketchup
Tomato juice as needed

Cook the macaroni to al dente according to package directions. While it’s cooking, brown the ground beef and onion together in an extra-large skillet or in a dutch oven. Drain and season with spices to taste. In a large bowl, mash tomatoes with potato masher and add to beef along with the ketchup. Drain macaroni and add to the beef mixture, stirring well. Taste and add additional seasoning as needed. I didn’t need to add any tomato juice to mine, but if you like yours very juicy you can add as much tomato juice as you like. Phyllis adds it to her leftovers, which I would also recommend, because the noodles tend to soak up all the juice with time.

Recipe source: Phyllis Miller

P.S. Happy anniversary to my hubby! These have been the best 14 years of my life.

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Posted in My Favorites, Pasta and tagged American Chop Suey, best, goulash. Bookmark the permalink.

Simple Goulash {aka American Chop Suey}

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Veronica

Growing up, I always made goulash with an Italian flare because I did not understand what goulash was supposed to be. (Obviously I was a self-taught cook–Mom and I did not get along well together in the kitchen so I did things my way!) I equated pasta and tomatoes with Italian, so I added in Italian spices and used spaghetti sauce to coat the noodles. I have finally come to understand that goulash has Hungarian roots and although my latest concoction is more how most Americans make it, I can’t claim that it has any resemblance to the original dish it was named for. All I can say is that it’s fast, it’s delicious, and satisfying!

Simple Goulash

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1 cup whole wheat elbow macaroni
1 1/2 lbs 97% lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 (14.5 oz) cans stewed tomatoes
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 (6 oz) can tomato paste
1 teaspoon paprika (Hungarian if you have it!)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
fresh cracked pepper

Boil macaroni until al dente. Meanwhile, cook hamburger along with onion and green pepper in skillet over medium-high heat until cooked through; drain. Add in remaining ingredients, stirring until the tomato paste is dissolved, and stir in macaroni. Serve hot.

Makes 8 servings: 271 cal; 6.8 g fat; 32.3 carb; 5 g fiber; 23.8 g protein

Recipe source: adapted from my friend, Sandy S.