Serves 6
Prep 20 min
Cook 2.5 hrs
Total ~3 hours
Level Easy
Goulash is a Hungarian dish that has spread across Eastern Europe to the point where almost every country in the region claims some version of it. Romania included — I grew up eating a version of this that my family called tocăniță, thicker, with more onion, served over mashed potato or egg noodles. The Hungarian original is more of a soup; the Central European versions tend toward a thicker stew. This is the stew version, which is what most people mean when they say goulash.
The defining flavour is sweet paprika — a lot of it, cooked in fat to bloom it before any liquid is added. The paprika is not a background note here; it is the entire dish. Use the best quality sweet Hungarian paprika you can find, and do not be shy with the quantity. This is not the place for restraint.
Ingredients
1 kg beef chuck, cut into 4cm cubes
4 large white onions, thinly sliced
4 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
½ tsp hot paprika or cayenne (optional)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 bay leaves
1 tsp caraway seeds
400 g tin chopped tomatoes
500 ml beef stock
3 medium potatoes, cubed (optional)
3 tbsp lard or vegetable oil
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste
On the paprika: This recipe uses 4 tablespoons. That is not a typo. Paprika is the backbone of goulash and it must be present in this quantity to taste like anything other than beef stew with a red tint. Buy the best quality sweet Hungarian paprika you can — it should smell intensely of red pepper, slightly sweet, with no bitterness. Old paprika that has sat in the cupboard too long will ruin this dish.
Instructions
Brown the beef in batches. Pat the beef cubes dry and season generously. Heat the lard or oil in a large heavy casserole over high heat until very hot. Brown the beef in batches — never crowding the pan, or it steams rather than browns. Each batch takes about 4 minutes to develop a deep crust. Remove and set aside.
Cook the onions down — thoroughly. In the same pot over medium heat, add the sliced onions with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20–25 minutes until deeply golden and sweet. This is not optional — the onions form the body and sweetness of the sauce. Do not rush them.
Add garlic and caraway. Add the garlic and caraway seeds to the onions and cook for 2 minutes until fragrant.
Bloom the paprika. Remove the pot from heat. Add all the paprika. Stir it through the onions for 30 seconds — the residual heat is enough. Do this off the heat because paprika burns instantly and becomes bitter. The onions will turn a deep red and smell extraordinary.
Build the braise. Return to the heat. Add the browned beef, tomatoes, stock, vinegar, and bay leaves. Stir everything together, bring to a gentle simmer, then cover and cook on the lowest heat for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, until the beef is completely tender and falling apart when pressed.
Add potatoes if using. If you want a one-pot meal, add the cubed potatoes in the last 30 minutes. They absorb the paprika sauce as they cook and become deeply flavoured. Without potatoes, serve the goulash over egg noodles, mashed potato, or bread dumplings.
Taste, adjust, and rest. Check seasoning — goulash often needs more salt than you expect. A splash more vinegar brightens it if it feels heavy. Remove the bay leaves. If you can, let it rest 20 minutes off the heat before serving, or refrigerate overnight and reheat the next day. It improves dramatically.
🥄Serve with smetana or crème fraîche. A spoonful of sour cream or crème fraîche stirred through each bowl at the table is the traditional finish. The acidity cuts the richness of the meat and the cooling dairy balances the paprika heat. It also looks beautiful.
❄️Freezes perfectly. Goulash without potatoes freezes extremely well for up to 3 months. Make a double batch and freeze half in portions — it reheats as a complete dinner in 15 minutes.
Never add the paprika to hot fat directly. It burns in seconds and goes bitter. Always take the pot off the heat, add the paprika, stir into the onions, then return to heat. This one rule is the difference between a goulash that tastes sweet and deep and one that tastes acrid and muddy.
A familiar stranger
If you grew up in Romania or anywhere in Central or Eastern Europe, you have eaten a version of this. The exact proportions differ by family, by region, by grandmother. This is my version — heavier on paprika than some, with vinegar for balance, and firmly in the stew rather than soup camp. Make it once and adjust it to how you remember it tasting. That’s the point of these dishes.
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