American Goulash

Busy weeknights require quick-fix meals that satisfy—luckily American Goulash is one of those meals! Made with pantry and refrigerator staples and ready in 30 minutes, it’s a meal that you’ll want to add to your weekly recipe rotation. One pot is all you’ll need to whip up a delicious meal that provides a nourishing balance of whole grains, vegetables and lean protein. This budget-friendly meal is versatile too—find out how to adapt the recipe to fit almost any taste or dietary preference so the whole family can enjoy it.

How to Make American Goulash

1. Use a Large Dutch Oven

Almost any pot would be great for making this dish, but a large Dutch oven makes the job easy. It ensures there’s enough space for all the ingredients, and you won’t struggle when combining it together at the end. If you don’t have one, use a large, deep-sided skillet or stockpot, preferably 4 quarts or larger.

2. Prep Ingredients in Advance

In an ideal world, we’d all have prep chefs that gather our ingredients and cut and chop them for us. Luckily, prep isn’t that time-consuming, especially for this recipe, and will help with efficiency while cooking. Keep items organized on a sheet pan, and add garlic and spices to one small bowl since they’re all added at the same time in the recipe.

3. Cook Aromatics and Spices First

Believe it or not, there’s a method to the madness when it comes to cooking, including the order in which foods are cooked. To maximize flavor, the onion and beef are cooked first. Cooking the onions not only softens them, but sweetens them. This step gets them ready for flavoring during the rest of the stages of cooking. Cooking the spices before adding any liquids toasts them, boosting flavor even more. This method helps build layers of flavor at every point in the recipe.

The Best Toppings for American Goulash

The great thing about American Goulash is your ability to customize it. That includes changing up the toppings and making twists to accommodate your diners! American Goulash can be served with Parmesan cheese as directed in the recipe, but we have a few additional ideas.

• Try fresh herbs: Fresh thinly sliced scallions or chives are a delicious garnish, but chopped parsley and even basil can be tasty too. 
• Try a different cheese: Shredded Gouda adds a smoky vibe to the dish, but consider sharp Cheddar or spicy pepper Jack. Just keep the amount small to limit saturated fat.

Variations to Try

• Make it vegetarian. This recipe can easily transition into a vegetarian or vegan meal. Substitute any of your favorite crumbled meat alternatives for the ground beef and swap in vegetable broth for the beef or chicken broth. If you’re following a vegetarian eating pattern and avoid cheese made with rennet, look for vegetarian Parmesan cheese. These changes will alter the nutrition, so keep that in mind when making the switch.
• Add more vegetables. Don’t limit the vegetables in this dish to just onions and canned tomatoes! Feel free to experiment and add a variety of fresh, canned and even frozen vegetables. For example, stir in a bag of fresh or (thawed) frozen greens or spinach. If you have leftover vegetables from the night before, add those too. Cooked vegetables can be added with about 10 minutes left of cooking time. This should provide ample time for reheating to 165°F as recommended by the USDA.

Tips from the EatingWell Test Kitchen

These are the key tips we learned while developing and testing this recipe in our Test Kitchen to make sure it works, tastes great and is good for you too!

• We use whole-wheat elbow macaroni for the recipe, but feel free to use ditalini, small shells, orecchiette or any other short pasta. Adjust the cooking time as needed for other types of pasta. You may need to cook with the lid on to ensure the pasta gets tender.
• Make American Goulash up to two days in advance. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator and reheat on the stovetop or microwave before serving.

Nutrition Notes

• Tomatoes are nutrition powerhouses, especially when it comes to lycopene and vitamin C. Lycopene, a type of antioxidant known as a carotenoid, has the potential to reduce heart disease risk and protect against certain types of cancer, according to some studies. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that can provide benefits for skin health and protects against infection.
• Lean ground beef is a lower-fat choice that packs as much protein as its higher-fat counterparts. We recommend using 90%-lean for many of our recipes. The numbers on the packaging represent the percentage of lean meat versus fat in the ground beef. So “90% lean ground meat” means 90% of the ground meat is lean meat and 10% is fat. A lower percentage of fat means less saturated fat, which is a good thing since Americans often consume more than the recommended 10% daily calorie limit as set by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. 
• Whole-grain elbow macaroni provides fiber, which promotes a healthy digestive system, and B vitamins, which play a pivotal role in metabolism.