American Goulash {One Pot Comfort!} Gonna Want Seconds (2025)

This classic American Goulash is easy, home-style, comfort food! Made in one pot. Perfect for feeding a crowd or hungry family. Loaded with beef, pasta, and lotsa flavor!

Old Fashioned American Goulash

This recipe has been in my family for 4 generations! Goulash has variations in many cultures, but they all center around bringing families together. My grandmother’s sacred recipe ticks all the must-have boxes for“hug-in-a-bowl”pasta recipes: thick tomato sauce, zesty garlic, rich herbs, and as much cheese as I can stand.

For a quicker version try my instant pot goulash. Want a chunkier style, you’ll love my beef goulash. Or, for an Eastern European version, German goulash and Hungarian goulash are both authentically, delish!

What is American Goulash

An original American dish of ground beef, pasta cooked in a rich tomato sauce all in one pot. This has been served on American family dinner tables for 5-6 generations. This is wholesome, hearty, dish is American food at it’s best!!

American Goulash vs Hungarian Goulash:

These two dishes are entirely different! Hungarian goulash is an eastern European version of goulash that’s more like a thick, rich stew with chunks of meat and a tomato broth seasoned with paprika. American goulash is generally made with ground beef, elbow pasta, and doesn’t have much, if any, paprika.

Difference between American Goulash and American Chop Suey?

They’re the same dish with different names. When I got married, I was given my husband’s delicious family recipe for American chop suey. In our house now both are in our regular dinner rotation.

American Goulash Ingredients

• ground beef
• onion
• garlic
• canned tomato sauce
• canned diced tomatoes
• soy sauce
• dried oregano
• dried basil
• bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• macaroni
• cheddar

American Goulash Recipe Notes

• Herbs (Oregano, Basil, Bay Leaves) – Don’t let dried herbs scare you off. If you want your dish to have a bright burst of flavor, you use fresh herbs; but if you want a mellow, warm-and-cozy build of flavor, you use dried herbs. What makes this dish stand out from others are the Mediterranean-inspired spices — the bay leaves, oregano, and basil. If you don’t have all of those, you can swap in 1-2 tablespoons of good ol’, reliable Italian seasoning.
• Seasoned Salt – My grandma was a master of balancing flavors, and one trick she loved was using seasoned salt. Seasoned salt is a great multi-purpose flavor enhancer, and its versatility is endless! Sprinkle it on French fries, zest up roasted veggies, add a shake or two into sandwiches — it adds spices like paprika, turmeric, onion, and garlic, and even a sweet twist of sugar.
• Cheddar Cheese – Shredded versus block cheese.I am a bit of a cheese purist. Those bags of pre-shredded cheese available at the grocery store may look tempting and may save time, but there’s something so much creamier about freshly shredded cheese.
  • Obviously, there is NO judgment if you choose to use the pre-shredded cheese for convenience’s sake! To take this goulash pasta recipe over the top,I generally buy a block of cheddar cheese and hand shred it. American goulash with cheese is totally irresistible!

Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead

• How Long Can You Keep This In The Fridge? An airtight container in the fridge is the way to go if you’re planning to finish off this pasta recipe inone to two days— but if you’re wanting to store it longer, you’ll want to transfer it to the freezer.
• Can You Freeze This? Yes! Well, sort of. Pasta is notoriously fickle in the freezer (say that five times fast), as the water content in the noodles can do funky things to the quality. And if you store the sauce on top of the pasta, the noodles will continue to absorb the liquid, making them softer and softer over time.
  • After freezing and thawing, this American goulash recipe will be a bit mushy, but that’s one of the beautiful things about comfort food — a little mushiness doesn’t stop it from tasting delicious! But if you only enjoy firm al dente pasta, it’s best to only freeze the sauce, and make the pasta fresh when you’re planning to indulge again.
  • As for the American goulash sauce, you can freeze that for up to four months
• Make-Ahead Tips: Thankfully, this recipe is very “make-ahead” friendly. Generally what I do is follow the recipe through step #3. Then I let the mixture cool to room temperature, place in an airtight container and refrigerate.
  • When it’s time to serve, I bring the tomato-beef mixture to a simmer and continue with the recipe in step #4 below.

Serving Recommendations

Serve this one pot American beef goulash with something fresh and crunchy like KFC coleslaw, broccoli salad, strawberry spinach salad, or carrot salad.

Of course, in my family there always needs to be a side of bread like authentic southern cornbread, or sweet Bisquick cornbread, my favorite crescent rolls, butter swim biscuits, cat head biscuits, or my quick and easy Bisquick biscuits.

Variations, Substitutes, + Additions

• Add Vegetables: this is great with a can of drained corn stirred in when you add the pasta.
• Add Beans: A can of drained and rinsed kidney beans or black or pinto makes this an even hardier dish and stretches the recipe to feed more people.
• Keto-Friendly: You can substitute the pasta for angel hair shredded cabbage like in the recipe low carb goulashby Lindsey at The Little Pine. I’ve tried her recipe and it’s actually, really delicious!

Can I Make This In Crockpot?

If you’d like to make this in the crockpot, check out my crockpot goulash. Basically, the difference in this recipe and my crockpot version is the means of cooking and the amount of liquid used.

Commonly Asked Questions

• Can you make it with other meats? Yes! This is wonderfully made with ground turkey. For an Italian spin, try Italian sausage!
• Can the noodles be cooked separately? Yes, but when they’re cooked directly in the beefy tomato sauce they absorb a lot more flavor. Some people like to cook the noodles separately and store them separately so they don’t get too soft.
• What is another name for American goulash? This dish goes by many names often depending on what region of the country you come from. Slumgullion, in a casserole version, try my Johnny Marzetti casserole, which is essentially a casserole version of this recipe, of just plain goulash are among some of the names.

How To Make American Goulash

1. Brown the meat breaking up as it cooks into small pieces. Continue to cook until the meat is cooked through and there’s no longer any pink.

2. Stir in the onions and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally until the onions are translucent.

3. Stir in water, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soy sauce, oregano, basil, bay leaves, seasoned salt, and black pepper. Boil, cover, and simmer.

4. Stir in the pasta, cover, and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally until the pasta is tender about 25 minutes. Remove from heat, and discard bay leaves.

5. To serve, ladle into individual bowls and top with cheddar.

*****See full instructions below.

More Comforting Goulash And Stew

• Goulash Soup
• Meatball Stew
• Classic Beef Stew
• Cowboy Stew
• Slow Cooker Beef Stew
• Pork Stew
• Chicken Stew
• Hamburger Stew
• Guinness Beef Stew
• Brunswick Stew

Tried This Recipe?

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