Bowl of Hungarian goulash soup with beef, potatoes and carrots — Gulyás, the soup Hungarians mean by goulash.Photo: Hu Totya, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped)

3 min read Planning Guide

Hungarian Goulash, the Hungarian Way

Short answer

Cook plenty of finely chopped onions slowly in lard, take the pot off the heat and stir in sweet Hungarian paprika, then add cubed beef and a little water and simmer for 1½–2 hours. Add more liquid plus potatoes and carrots for the soup version.

Quick guide

Hungarian goulash

2 h 25 min Easy 4 servings

Style

Servings

Cook in

You need

1 kg beef shin or chuck, cut in 3 cm (1¼ in) cubes
3 onions, finely chopped, and 2 tbsp lard or oil
3 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika and 1 tsp crushed caraway seeds
3 garlic cloves, 1 green pepper and 1 tomato, chopped
300 ml water or stock

Soften the onions
Cook the onions slowly in the lard until soft and golden, 10–15 minutes. This is the base of the sauce, so don't rush it.
Paprika off the heat
Take the pot off the heat and stir in the paprika, caraway and garlic. Paprika burns and turns bitter quickly.
Beef in
Add the beef and a good pinch of salt and stir to coat. Back on the heat, add the pepper, tomato and just enough water to come a third of the way up.
Simmer low and slow
Lid on, lowest heat, about 2 h, stirring now and then, until the beef is tender. Add splashes of water if it starts to catch.
Serve
Taste for salt. Serve with nokedli (small egg dumplings), noodles or bread.

In Hungary, gulyás is a soup; the thick stew most of the world calls goulash is pörkölt.

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Ask a Hungarian for goulash and you get a soup, gulyás, named after the cattle herders who cooked it over open fires. The thick paprika stew most of the world calls goulash is pörkölt. The card makes either one.

Gulyás or Pörkölt?

Gulyás is a hearty soup of beef, paprika, potatoes and carrots. Pörkölt is a thick stew of beef, onions and paprika with just enough sauce to coat the meat, served with nokedli (small egg dumplings). Outside Hungary, "goulash" usually means pörkölt.

Onions Make the Sauce

There's no flour in goulash. The sauce thickens from a large amount of onion, chopped finely and cooked slowly in lard until it melts. Don't rush this step.

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Paprika Off the Heat

Paprika burns in seconds and turns bitter. Always take the pot off the heat before stirring it in. Use sweet Hungarian paprika (édesnemes) for colour and flavour, and add a little hot paprika if you like heat.

Plan Your Stew

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4

Equipment

Desired Doneness

Frequently Asked Questions

Is goulash a soup or a stew?

In Hungary, gulyás is a soup. The thick stew known as goulash elsewhere is pörkölt. Both use beef, onions and sweet paprika.

What paprika is used in goulash?

Sweet Hungarian paprika (édesnemes), with a little hot paprika if you like heat. It should be fresh and bright red.

What cut of beef is best for goulash?

Beef shin (shank) or chuck: cuts with connective tissue that turn tender in a 1½–2 hour simmer.

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