American Goulash (One-Pot Macaroni and Beef)
The school-cafeteria favorite made at home in one pot: ground beef, peppers and onion in a tomato sauce with a little paprika, uncooked elbow macaroni simmered right in it, and cheddar melted over the top. Forty minutes.
Edited by JP Lambiase
Change the estimate
Swaps change the price only: cook any meat to its own safe temperature. Where these numbers come from
American goulash is named after Hungary's gulyás (our Hungarian Gulyás recipe) and, as Taste of Home puts it, has very little in common with it: macaroni, ground beef and tomato instead of a slow-cooked stew of beef chunks (May 2024:). Kenji López-Alt says the only connection is paprika. Wikipedia says North American goulash has been in cookbooks since at least 1914, citing a cookbook from the Woman's Educational Club of Toledo, Ohio; it was first seasoned beef and now usually means elbow macaroni, beef and tomatoes. Tasting Table credits the dish's spread to Hungarian immigrants arriving from 1870 and to the hard Depression and Dust Bowl years, when the Midwest needed a cheap, filling pot (Neala Broderick, May 27, 2025:). It answers to many names. In New England it is American chop suey; elsewhere American goulash or Johnny Marzetti (Wikipedia:). J. Kenji López-Alt traces the chop suey name to a 1916 *Manual for Army Cooks* recipe, says the rice was swapped for pasta by mid-century, and places "goulash" in the Mid-Atlantic states and Johnny Marzetti in the Midwest (Serious Eats, September 23, 2014:).
🇺🇸 This one is American
The school-cafeteria favorite made at home in one pot: ground beef, peppers and onion in a tomato sauce with a little paprika, uncooked elbow macaroni simmered right in it, and cheddar melted over the top. Forty minutes.
🇭🇺 The original
Hungary's gulyás is a paprika beef and potato soup, no pasta and no ground beef. See the Hungarian Gulyás (Goulash Soup) recipe.
Why it works the kitchen science
Pasta cooked in the sauce
The macaroni drinks in the tomato and beef liquid instead of plain water, and its starch thickens the sauce, so there is no colander and no second pot.
Covered, low and stirred
A covered simmer at medium-low keeps the liquid from boiling away before the pasta is cooked, and stirring every few minutes stops the macaroni from gluing to the bottom.
🧰 You'll need 3 items
Everything the steps call for. Tick off what you have before you start.
Pans and pots
Tools
Step by step
- Step 1
Heat the oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and green pepper and cook, stirring, 5 minutes, until softened.
- Step 2
Add the beef and cook, breaking it into crumbles, 5 to 7 minutes, until no pink remains (160°F). Spoon off all but about 2 tbsp of the fat.
- Step 3
Stir in the garlic, paprika and Italian seasoning and cook 1 minute.
- Step 4
Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, Worcestershire, salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat, about 4 minutes.
- Step 5
Stir in the macaroni, cover, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer 12 to 15 minutes, stirring every 3 to 4 minutes so nothing sticks, until the pasta is tender. Add broth or water 1/2 cup at a time if it gets thick before the pasta is done.
- Step 6
Turn off the heat, scatter the cheddar over the top, cover and let stand 5 minutes, until melted. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
American Goulash (One-Pot Macaroni and Beef)
Serves 6 · about 11 cups · 40 min total
Sauce
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 large onion, chopped (200 g)
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped (150 g)
- 1 lb ground beef, 80/20 (454 g)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes, with their juice
- 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
- 2 1/2 cups beef broth, plus more as needed
- 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 tsp black pepper, plus more to taste
Pasta and topping
- 12 oz elbow macaroni (about 3 cups, 340 g)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar (4 oz, 113 g)
- Chopped parsley (optional)
Equipment: 6-quart Dutch oven, Chef's knife and cutting board, Measuring cups and spoons
Method
- Heat the oil in a 6-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion and green pepper and cook, stirring, 5 minutes, until softened.
- Add the beef and cook, breaking it into crumbles, 5 to 7 minutes, until no pink remains (160°F). Spoon off all but about 2 tbsp of the fat.
- Stir in the garlic, paprika and Italian seasoning and cook 1 minute.
- Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, Worcestershire, salt and pepper and bring to a boil over high heat, about 4 minutes.
- Stir in the macaroni, cover, lower the heat to medium-low and simmer 12 to 15 minutes, stirring every 3 to 4 minutes so nothing sticks, until the pasta is tender. Add broth or water 1/2 cup at a time if it gets thick before the pasta is done.
- Turn off the heat, scatter the cheddar over the top, cover and let stand 5 minutes, until melted. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.
Adapted from Suzanne Podhaizer, "American Goulash," Taste of Home (May 2024; serves 4, one pot, uncooked macaroni simmered in the sauce). We scale it for 6 with more pasta per pound of beef (12 oz macaroni to 1 lb beef instead of 4 oz), add a green pepper (as in Kenji López-Alt's version) and take Taste of Home's own tip to add sweet paprika for a nod to Hungary. The liquid for 12 oz of macaroni follows the ratio in Cooking Classy's one-pot "Goulash" (April 2020; 1 2/3 cups macaroni to one 15 oz can tomato sauce, one 14.5 oz can tomatoes and 1 1/4 cups broth). Estimated cost: about $16.90 for the pot, about $2.82 a serving. Taste of Home. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
Tips
- Estimated cost: about $2.82 a serving, about $16.90 for the pot; water plus a bouillon cube instead of broth brings it to about $2.55.
- Ground beef must reach 160°F (FSIS); no pink is the visual sign, a thermometer is the sure one.
- The pasta keeps drinking sauce as it sits; loosen leftovers with a splash of water when reheating to 165°F.
- Chili mac cousin: add 1 tbsp chili powder and 1 tsp cumin with the paprika.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- American goulash is a Midwest dish. Disputed: Tasting Table calls it a Midwestern staple, and Wikipedia's earliest cookbook is from Toledo, Ohio (1914); Kenji López-Alt places "goulash" in the Mid-Atlantic and gives the Midwest Johnny Marzetti instead.
- It came from Hungarian immigrants. Disputed: Tasting Table says so; Kenji López-Alt traces the chop suey branch of the family to a 1916 U.S. Army cooks' manual and says the only link to the Hungarian stew is paprika.
- The first American recipe was printed between 1909 and 1914. Disputed in detail: Tasting Table gives that range without a source; Wikipedia cites a 1914 Toledo cookbook as "at least 1914."
- Hungarian gulyás has no macaroni. Documented: George Lang's rule allows no garnish but diced potatoes or galuska, small dumplings (Taste Hungary; our Hungarian Gulyás recipe). In America, macaroni is the dish.
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