I’m Never Making Goulash Any Other Way AGAIN

This one-pot American Goulash Recipe simmers ground beef, bacon, and sauteed vegetables in a rich tomato sauce with macaroni noodles. It’s the kind of rich comfort food that warms you up and sticks to your ribs on a cold day. We always turn to this recipe when we want to curl up with something meaty and cheesy during the long winter days.

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→ Ingredients:
• 6 bacon strips, julienne
• 2 pounds 85/15 ground beef
• 1 peeled, small-diced yellow onion
• 2 peeled, finely minced, medium-sized carrots- can be processed in a food processor
• 1 finely minced rib of celery- can be processed in a food processor
• 3 finely minced cloves of garlic
• 1 seeded, medium-diced green bell pepper
• 1 seeded, medium-diced red bell pepper
• 2 teaspoons dry oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 cups beef stock
• 2 cups medium-diced fresh tomatoes
• 28 ounce can hand-crushed San Marzano tomatoes
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 pound cooked and chilled macaroni pasta
• coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

Watch more recipe videos:
Hungarian Goulash: https://youtu.be/VT2VBV74VTI
Vegetable Beef Stew: https://youtu.be/TtcWCnw3rmo

Classical culinary expertise meets home cooking!

I’m Billy Parisi, a classically trained culinary school graduate from Scottsdale Culinary Institute with over 15 years in the restaurant industry and over 25 years of cooking experience.

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American goulash is one of the most underrated comfort foods out there. We’re talking caramelized onions, roasted peppers, spices, seared beef, and a rich tomato sauce. Using simple ingredients and classic techniques to make something truly unforgettable. Then we’ll serve it with macaroni topped with a cheddar. Perfect for a laid-back family meal. Let’s kick things off with one key ingredient. Sound good? Let’s cook. I’ve got eight strips of smoked bacon that weighs right around 4 oz. And I’m just going to thinly slice it into small pieces. And believe it or not, some of the earliest iterations that we have of this recipe uses bacon. Now, I don’t know why this went away in some of our more recent recipes, but for me, what makes a recipe better? Bacon, of course. The bacon is going to the side on a plate. And just going to give the cutting board a quick soap and water bath. And then let’s take that bacon over to the cook top. I’m going to be cooking everything in a rondo, which is probably my all-time favorite pot. It’s big enough for soups and has tons of surface area for that perfect sear. All right, the heat is going to low mediumish. And after a minute or so of heating it up, let’s add in the bacon. And what I like to do is spread it around to start browning it up and rendering out all that fat. This should only take about 6 to 7 minutes max. And we’ll need all that goodness. and I’ll show you why. But for now, while we wait, let’s break out the main hero of the dish, of course, the ground beef. And I’ve got 2 lbs of 8515 lean to fat. Of course, you could use 80/20 or any ratio that you’d like. Let’s take the ground beef back over and have a look at the bacon. And it is perfect. Nice golden brown, crispy lardens, and a good amount of that leftover fat in the pan. And I’m just going to swap to a slotted spoon and drain off as much of that lard as possible and set the bacon to the side in a bowl. Now it’s almost ready for the beef. But first, I’ve probably got about a/4 cup of that rendered fat left over. So, this is perfect. Let’s crank the heat up to medium mediumighish until it begins to smoke. And then I’m going to add that ground beef right in there. And then using a wooden spoon, just flatten it out as best you can to spread it out and cover as much surface area as possible because we’re going to try to build up a niceard crust on it as best we can. So, let this sit seriously untouched for 3 to 4 minutes. Don’t touch it. Let it get brown. Then, after that amount of time, I’m going to come back and I’m going to break it up and instead of my classic wooden spoon, sorry to my Italian grandmother. My wife swears by this beet chopper kitchen tool thing. And while I am a traditionalist at heart, I have to admit this thing works extremely well. I’m just a little sheepish about it. Don’t you dare tell my restaurant friends I’m using this. While the beef finishes up, I’m going to quickly prep up one large yellow onion and then just medium dice it. Now, next up, I’m going to smash and finally mince three whole garlic cloves. Now, let’s head back over to see how the beef is doing. And everything is seriously looking and smelling great. And I’ve got some browning going on. And it’s already finished cooking, which is exactly what I want. But for now is when I’m going to season it up with coarse salt. And just like the bacon, let’s use a slotted spoon and leave as much of that combo rendered beef and bacon fat in that pan while setting the ground beef to the side. Now, it’s honestly these little details, my friends, but I promise you, you can do this. Now, in that pan, add in the onions and give it a gentle season of coarse salt. This will help draw up moisture so that they brown more quickly, which is a double bonus because that moisture also actually helps to glaze that pan. So, scrape up as much of that fond on the bottom as possible when doing this. We’re just going to sauté these onions over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Then, we’ll turn the heat down to low and occasionally stir it for 10 more minutes to further caramelize them. Now to add a few more classic ingredients that aren’t used as much anymore. Let’s peel two medium-sized carrots and then quickly slice them along with two ribs of celery. Now you can finely mince these, but for me, eh, I’m going to go to the food processor and I’m going to pulse until they get that fine mince consistency. These look great. Now, let’s bring them over to the cook top and have a look at our onions. And yes, my goodness, the smell of these. In fact, you should even try a little. How else do you get better at cooking? Plus, it helps make the process more enjoyable. Try these. You won’t regret it. Okay, let’s add the celery and carrots to the pot. Give it a gentle season of salt. And we’re going to just sweat these over low to lowmedium heat for 10 minutes while occasionally stirring. Now, we’re not looking for any browning, just more of incorporating those simple flavors in. And in the meantime, just a few more things to prep up. seed one red and one green bell pepper and then thinly slice them and then medium dice. That’s it. Next, I’ve got four Roma tomatoes, which should get us to two cups medium diced. But of course, feel free to use canned tomatoes. Just be sure to strain them. Now, once the mers are cut, bring them back over to the cook top along with the peppers. And let’s go check out everything in it. Seriously, I can’t even say this enough. It smells awesome in here. I mean, how could it not? roasted onions with celery and carrots and rendered bacon and beef fat. Yeah, it’s good. Things are looking great. So, at this stage, let’s add in the bell peppers. Give them a gentle season of coarse salt and turn the heat up to medium. Now, I try to hold off on adding the peppers because if they do cook too long, they can tend to make things a little bitter. So, I’m just going to give them a quick sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Maybe they’ll just be a tad brown on the edges. That’s it. And seriously, this is like a roasted safrio but in a caramelized stages. It’s going to be good and I can’t wait till you get a chance to make this. Next up, let’s stir in the garlic and let’s cook it just until fragrant, which really only takes 30 to 45 seconds. Then we’re adding in the tomatoes. Let’s give them another little season of coarse salt. And we want to stew these down for about 8 to 10 minutes. So, for all these salt additions, now when I say gentle season, I’m talking about only in between an 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon. That’s it. Now, when things cook down, they concentrate, and in the end, it will be perfectly seasoned. Now, if you didn’t do this, you’d have to come in at the end and dump like 3 to four tablespoons of salt in there. That’s way too much. But this in stages is a better technique, and I promise you, it will taste a lot better without having to add all the additional salt. All righty, the tomatoes are at that perfect stage, and we’re so close to finishing this up. But first, I’m adding in 2 tsp of dry oregano. Next, two bay leaves. And then 2 tsp of sweet paprika. I was able to pick up some Hungarian paprika on Amazon. And it’s seriously become my go-to when a recipe calls for paprika. It’s that good. Okay, stir everything together to get these flavors married up. And then to further increase the umami, let’s just add in two tablespoons of tomato paste. We want to mix this in and cook it until it becomes like a rust color, which is also known as pins. Now, when most folks make recipes like this, they sort of just throw all the veggies in the pot, overcrowding it, steaming it, hoping to pull out flavor. But honestly, when you build each stage and pull out as much flavor as you can from every ingredient, it will be infinitely better. And yes, of course, it does take a little bit more time, but it’s well worth it. After just 3 to 4 minutes, that’s the rust color I was talking about. So, at this point, I’m delazing with two cups of good beeftock. Got a really solid homemade recipe if you want to check that out. And this is okay to cook down for a minute or two because in the meantime, for some more tomatoy flavor, you have some options. A simple tomato puree, or you can go a bit further and use San Morzanos. They’re sweeter and a little less acidic. So, yeah, I’m choosing those. And I’m going to hand crush them. And seriously, with just about any recipe out there, there’s almost always a way to make it better with better techniques and a few more ingredients, especially quality ones. Okay. Oh my gosh, in my brain, I just said better ingredients, better pizza. Papa John. I promise this will actually be really tasty. Better ingredients, better pizza. Papa John. Okay, moving on. Let’s get those crushed tomatoes into the pot and give it a season with coarse salt and fresh cracked pepper and mix all that goodness together. And then of course give it a little try to see where we’re at. Dude, this is going to be ridiculous. At this stage, the beef is going back into the pot. Get every little morsel into there. Then we’re going to add in 3/4 of the crisp cooked bacon. I’ll show you what we’ll do with the remaining in just a minute. But first, let’s mix all this together. And gosh, does it seriously look so good and smells amazing. Now, this is way different than a typical Hungarian guly, which is more like a slowcooked savory stew. This Americanized version is essentially supposed to be quicker with fewer ingredients, although I didn’t do that, and much more of a homemade hamburger helper, if you will. In fact, many people think it’s the same thing. But sorry, this right here is going to blow that away, and it’s not going to be particularly close. Now, while all these flavors cook and marry together, I personally like to cook the macaroni separate. Now, I know classically you add it right to this, but honestly, if this is one of those meals that you’re going to graze on all day while it’s on low heat, you’re going to have mush and it’s going to be gross. Here’s what I do instead. In a large pot of boiling salted water, we’re adding in the macaroni. It’s going to cook for just 5 minutes. Then, what I’m going to do is strain it and rinse it well under cold water just to help bring the temperature down to stop that cooking process. From there, I drain it really well. Then I transfer it over to a container or plastic zip bag, whatever you got, and then hit it with a few tablespoons of olive oil so that things won’t stick together. And then I just move it around to coat every single macaroni pasta. This is how chefs do it in the restaurant world so that every single thing remains perfectly cooked no matter when you eat it. No mush, no gr. And if you can’t tell at this stage, I’m not a 30-inute meal guy. I’m just not, and I probably won’t ever be. But if you do give me a little bit more time, I promise you, you will blow minds by using these fundamental techniques. It will help your cooking immensely. I promise you that. And really good food just takes a little bit more time. And that’s okay cuz I promise you, you can absolutely pull this off. Now, before we start plating this up, we do have one more crucial step. Let me show you what it is. And a pretty classic ingredient in American goulash is cheese. And I’ve got eight sharp white and orange cheddar. I’m going to grate about half of these, which should render me about two cups of shredded. And I almost always do this on parchment cuz it’s easy to clean up and for transporting. I know I’m weird. Now, let’s take half of that right back over to the cook top. And first, let’s have a little look because the smells in here are just glorious. And come on now, I want to drink it, but not yet because we’re going to stir in the cheese until it becomes completely melted in. Now, this is going to make it richer and of course cheesier and well, in my opinion, better. And have a final taste to see where we’re at and see if it needs any other seasonings. Remember, season once, taste twice. Then it’s time to bring all this goodness together. So, when you’re ready to serve it, add the desired amount of cooked macaroni to a bowl. Then, with a few ladles of that goulash, which is hot enough to heat the pasta, and then you mix it until it’s combined. No more mushy mess when serving pasta into soups and stews like this. Next, it’s going in a bowl. And then I garnish with a bit more shredded cheese. And this is why I save the other half because, well, I like more cheese on top. Then don’t forget about that crisp cooked bacon cuz that’s going on there. And then a final garnish of sliced green onions. And another one of our family favorites is my Greek lemon chicken. So much flavor. So good. I’ll see you on that video. [Music] I want like eight bowls of this. That’s ridiculous.