Goulash
€2.65 │ €0.66 per portion │ Serves 4 │ 30-45mins │ Hungary
A delicious and versatile paprika and dill goulash. It's easy to make and goes great with potato, rice, pasta, and all sorts of star ingredients - from classic mushroom to hearty beef.
Explore our flexible base recipe for goulash - inspired by the Reliable Cookbook (our lockdown cookbook on sale for €1.99) - and ideas for different ingredient combinations ready to suit any week's meal plan.
What to serve it with?
Baked or mashed potato; dumplings or egg pasta; macaroni or white rice; Goulash is great with a whole load of sides! Typically, goulash is pretty hearty when served with your choice of carb already. So if you want a side, go for fresh things like a cucumber and dill salad, a simple salad, or pickled cucumbers.
How to use in a meal plan
Good home economics is using ingredients smartly - and that saves money and cuts food waste. A meal plan is a great way to do this.
Goulash is a versatile dish that works with a range of ingredients, which makes it flexible to use in any meal plan. It's also a good way to use up fresh vegetables like pepper or mushrooms before they go off.
Leftovers
Spoonfeed meal plans save you money by using the economy of scale. Making dinner also your leftover lunch avoids spending money and extra time cooking!
Goulash is just as delicious when left over and warms up well in the microwave.
Utensils
- Sauté pot + lid
- Ladle/serving spoon
Ingredients
- 1 large white onion
- 1 red/yellow pepper
- 400ml crushed tomato
- 2 garlic cloves
- 20g dill (fresh/dried)
- 1 tbsp hot/sweet paprika (or a mix of both)
- 1/2 tsp caraway seeds (or cumin)
- 4 tbsp sour cream
- Mushroom: Wipe mushrooms clean with a wet kitchen paper. Slice mushroom 1cm thick (or quarter them) and add to a pan without oil. Sauté and stir on low heat for 3-4mins until they soften. Add salt and pepper. Wait for them to leak and evaporate water. Add oil and sauté for 2mins until browning. Set aside and add back in step 5 +€0.93
- Butter beans: Add with the tomato and pepper in step 4 +€1.00
- Chicken: Fry diced chicken, add back in step 5 +€4.25
- Beef: Fry diced beef, add back in step 4 with the tomato and pepper, adding 100ml water. Cover with a lid and simmer for 15mins. Then add your dill, simmer for another 5mins and serve +€6.15 +15mins
Goulash is great with so many things, which makes it perfect to fit into any meal plan.
- Rice: Boil white rice with two cloves +€0.55
- Macaroni: Simply boil a packet of macaroni pasta +€0.94
- Baked potato: Bake in foil for 45mins until cooked through and skin is crunchy. In a rush? Microwave for 3-4mins on either side, then wrap in foil and bake for 20mins +€1.66
- Mashed potato: Make your favourite way on the hob +€1.75
Looking for something extra? If you can find it or make it, spätzle or Czech bread dumplings (knedlíky) are great, traditional sides!
Method
- Prepare your star ingredients and set them aside, if necessary.
- Dice/thinly slice onion (your choice), mince garlic, and roughly chop pepper.
- Sauté onion with a sprinkle of salt in oil for 1-2 minutes until turning translucent. Add garlic and keep mixing for another 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Add caraway/cumin seeds and quality paprika, stirring well.
- Add tomato and pepper to the mix. Stir and cook on medium heat until thick. If necessary, add water to keep the goulash at the right consistency, but be careful not to dilute the flavour.
- When thickened, add back in your star ingredient with good dill. Mix and cook for another 2mins and serve with sour cream on top and your choice of carb.
- Enjoy!