Hungarian beef goulash is a spicy beef stew with onions and plenty of paprika. Here’s an easy recipe for this classic dish where everything cooks in a single pot.
I had a delicious and very spicy Hungarian beef goulash at a German restaurant earlier this year. It was a thick beef stew with paprika, egg noodles, onions, and generous amounts of sauce. It was relatively simple in terms of ingredients, but full of flavor with tender beef chunks. It was also extremely spicy, which was a nice surprise. I’m always game for a delicious spicy stew, and I finally got the chance to recreate this comforting dish last weekend. It was perfect for the rainy weather here in Boston.
Hungarian goulash is made without any thickeners like flour, and instead it relies on other ingredients like onions, paprika, and tomato to help thicken the stew. In my recipe, I used a lot of onions and paprika; in fact, 3 whole onions and 1/4 cup of paprika for 3 pounds of beef. These ingredients allow for a nice thick stew where everything is simmered for hours on the stove until the beef is tender. For the paprika, you can use Hungarian sweet paprika to be authentic, but really, any kind of paprika will work nicely here.
Only one pot is needed for this recipe, and it’s fairly straightforward without requiring much attention once everything is added to the pot. I used a dutch oven (as pictured above) and I recommend using a pot that can hold at least 5 quarts and comes with a lid. I was able to cook up a large quantity of goulash using my pot, so I’ll be enjoying those leftovers over the next few days.
Hungarian beef goulash
Hungarian beef goulash is a spicy beef stew with onions and plenty of paprika.
Ingredients
- 3 pounds beef stew meat cut into 1-2 inch chunks
- 3 yellow onions about 2 pounds, chopped
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 6 ounce can tomato paste
- 10 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/4 cup paprika
- 2 teaspoons cayenne
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
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Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. I used a 6 quart dutch oven.
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Add onions, garlic, salt, and pepper to the pot. Cook until the onions soften, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
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Coat the beef chunks in a mixture of paprika and cayenne, and add to the pot. Cook until the beef browns, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
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Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add stock and tomato paste to the pot, and stir. Cover with a lid and let simmer until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
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Serve and garnish with parsley.
Nutrition Info
This recipe yields 13 g net carbs per serving. Nutrition information does not include noodles.
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 590 | |
| Total Fat 30g | 47% |
| Saturated Fat 9g | 45% |
| Trans Fat 1.4g | |
| Cholesterol 193mg | 64% |
| Sodium 910mg | 38% |
| Potassium 1320mg | 38% |
| Total Carb 17g | 6% |
| Dietary Fiber 4g | 15% |
| Sugars 7g | |
| Protein 63g |
This is the best Hungarian goulash recipe I’ve found! I’ve made it at least 5 times and it is always delicious 😋
Hungarian paprika has a sweet paprika has well as a spicy paprika. Do you think that maybe the heat in dish came from spicy hungarian paprika?
Just wondering is 2 cups of fluid is enough for this recipe?
Hi Bob, yes it is enough for this recipe. Hope you get a chance to try it out!
I’m making hungarian goulash 4 the second time in the dutch oven, last experience was just wonderful, so flavorful, served with egg noodles, such an easy supper 2 prepare, what I like about this dish over a regular stew, it is very light, not heavy, no potatoes or other vegis, just onions and meat.
Was 2 cups of broth enough for this recipe?
Yes, Bob it is…as the meat renders, the juice from the beef adds to the liquid level.
We visited Hungary last year and loved it! Trying this recipe just because the goulash there was so awesome!
I want to make this but I will be using a Crock-Pot. I will saute onions and brown beef first though…my wuestion is how long do I set the Crock-Pot for. Preferably on low….
Why does this recipe have so many Net carbs? I am on a Keto diet.
Onions and tomato paste have a decent amount of net carbs, followed by the garlic. If you’d like to reduce carbs, omit or reduce them.
Sounds great how long would you cook it for in a slow cooker after browning meat and onions definitely carrots and mushrooms would be great!
I Grew up in a town that had a large Hungarian population so so this is very close to what I remember most folks made in my parts. I was wondering if you could make it in a pressure cooker to save myself some time at the stove? the only thing I would think you might want to do is to cut back on the liquid? I was considering throwing in some carrots too? What do you think?
I think it would work well in a pressure cooker: brown the beef and onions on the saute mode, then use the meat/stew mode to pressure cook for 35 minutes followed by a 10 minute natural release. I think carrots sound like a great addition, possibly mushrooms if you like them. Note that these vegetables will add liquid content as they cook. I would start anywhere from 1 to 1 1/2 cups broth. If it ends up being too watery, you can use the saute mode at the end to simmer off some of the liquid.
My beef stew chunks were very lean & smallish so I set the IP for 25 mins at stew/meat instead & 15 mins of natural pressure release.
I did make this, I too will omit the tomato paste next time. Or use just half of the can. The 2 teaspoons of cayanne was just right, spicy, but not too spicy. I enjoyed it! Thank you for receipe! Will make again!
You’re very welcome, great to hear that you enjoyed it and thanks for the feedback!
Hi Julia: I’m 80 yrs. old and do all of the cooking at our house. For a Christmas lunch, I printed out the Hungarian Goulash recipe and have already purchased all of the ingredients to prepare this meal for our bunch of folks. As an after-thought, I think my folks would like to have some potato’s included in the recipe. For the 3lbs. of beef, how many Irish potato’s would you add to make the goulash more like a stew? I’m wondering something else, hope you don’t mind: We accidentally left our dutch oven when we last moved and I… Read more »
Hi William! For 3 pounds of beef, I would suggest adding 1 to 2 pounds of potatoes, which should help thicken the stew. You can cut the potatoes into 1 inch chunks and add them to the pot in the last hour (for fall-apart potatoes) or in the last 30 minutes (for tender potatoes). You mentioned that you’ll be using a crock pot, which is a type of slow cooker appliance. This recipe is designed for a pot to be used on the stovetop, so if you use a slow cooker instead, the cooking times will vary and you won’t… Read more »
Was 2 cups of broth enough for this recipe?
Great recipe, though I omit tomato paste as it’s not necessary and not traditional. Otherwise I followed the recipe aside from subbing beef broth for vegetable broth. Served over Reames egg noodles, but would be amazing over spaetzle. Delicious!
Glad you liked it and thanks for your feedback, Jarrett 🙂
I love hungarian goulash. I’m looking for a great recipe. I hope this is it. P.S I like it spicy
One of my favorite dinners Hungarian goulash or used more onions yet they say 1 pound of onion per pound of meat I come from Austria and we also serve serve it with bread dumplings Not everyone likes those you have to get used to them and will have to make some soon
is it spicy? 2 tsps of cayenne…yeesh!
Yes, it is spicy. Might sound like a lot of cayenne but keep in mind this makes 6 servings. You can omit or use less.
Great recipe. Make sure you use Hungarian paprika if you want the right flavoring.
Am I reading that right? 1/4 CUP of paprika? Just making sure.
Yes, you read that right! 🙂
Hungarian beef goulash is one of my favorite dishes. It taste amazing. My mom would make them with steamed “bread” or dumplings. I make it with pasta or rice 🙂
Haha I’m happy to hear that you like hungarian goulash, too! I would love to try your mom’s steamed “bread” and dumplings with the goulash 🙂
Julia – I grew up eating my Mom’s Hungarian Goulash. Your photograph is very confusing, because I can’t tell if the photo shows Noodles, but the recipe does not indicate Noodles. So help me out here. My Mom always made it with Egg Noodles as we grew up in Pennsylvania.