Authentic Hungarian Goulash is a wonderful example of Old World cuisine! Tender chunks of beef slowly stewed in a smoky paprika wine sauce, perfect for drenching German Bread Dumplings aka Semmelknoedel. Sometimes seemingly antiquated dishes are still worth cooking in the 21st century and this one is a keeper!
Sweet, spicy, and smoky are the paprika flavors I’ve seen. I stumbled upon a really smoky Hungarian paprika from a place called Pat’s Bulk Food. If you find more than one kind of paprika, mix and match in this dish until you find the combination that tastes the best to you.
Some day I hope to have a cool cauldron just like this one and try my recipe in it. I have a feeling it’ll be a lot of work, but I bet very much worth it. 😃
Authentic Hungarian Goulash
- 1-2 lbs. chuck or arm roast, cut into 1″ cubes (for a shortcut, buy prepackaged stew meat)
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 stick butter
- 1 tbsp. smoky Hungarian paprika
- 1 cup of your favorite red wine
- 2-4 cups of Water
- 1 small can of tomato paste
- 2 heaping tsp. jarred minced garlic (or 3 cloves crushed)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Optional: Cornstarch slurry
Melt the butter on medium-high heat in a Dutch oven or stew pot then brown the meat in batches. Transfer meat to a dish and set aside.
Saute diced onion in the same pot until it begins to caramelize.
Stir in paprika and cook for a minute or two.
Add wine and meat. Cook, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid is gone.
Add water just to cover meat. Stir in tomato paste, garlic, salt, and pepper.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, and let simmer over very low heat for 90 minutes.
For a thicker gravy: Corn starch slurry = 2 heaping tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup cold water. Stir into boiling sauce at the very end of cooking. Turn down to simmer and cook for an additional 5 minutes until sauce is slightly thickened.
Serve over semmelknoedel (German bread dumplings), egg noodles such as Reames, salzkartoffeln (boiled potatoes), or spaetzle.
Happy eating! 😊
Culinary Craftiness 
[…] decorate cakes and cupcakes. I found some beautiful egg noodles, natural cocoa, Hungarian paprika (wonderful goulash recipe here), a highly recommended fish batter mix, and so many other goods I can’t remember what we both […]
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Girl, this is some good stuff! I’m fixing it for Sunday dinner and let it refrigerate until tomorrow. I know our family wll enjoy it when we all gather after church!
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I’m so glad you like this dish, too! Those bread dumplings are unlike anything I’ve ever tasted. Delish! I hope your Sunday gathering was full of love and laughter! God’s blessings to you and yours! 💗
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Your recipe is NOT authentic Hungarian gulyas, it is an adulteration (and a poor one at that) of porkolt! You should be ashamed of yourself for not knowing the difference before publishing this on the internet. You have only served to further muddle what is authentic Hungarian cuisine!
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Please enlighten us, Istvan! Tell me where I’ve gone wrong. Why should I be ashamed of making a dish I adapted from an authentic Hungarian website with an almost identical recipe? It’s delicious and that’s really all that matters in the world of cooking. I’m sure not every Hungarian has used the same exact recipe over the centuries. 🙂
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