Name: Easy American Hamburger Goulash
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: As much spaghetti / pasta as you like; As much grated cheese of your choice for sprinkling on the top, optional to use cheese; 1 Lb or 500 g ground meat of your choice, or thinly sliced chicken or pork fillet, or for vegetarians, ground soya meat; 1 large chopped onion; 3 Cloves garlic crushed / chopped; 1/2 lb or 300 g mushrooms chopped; 1 Zucchini / courgette cubed.; As much sweetcorn, or any fresh vegetables your family enjoys. The choice is yours!; 1 Bell Pepper, cubed. You can choose which colour!; 1 cups Stock cube plus 1 1/2 or 350 ml hot water, boullion, you can use broth with the equivalent liquid measure; 2 Teaspoons Worcester Sauce; Salt & Pepper. Please note, you can also add any other of your favourite spices or herbs.; 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil; Leaves A Handful of fresh Basil; 3 Fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped. (Please try and use fresh tomatoes).

Easy American Hamburger Goulash is an easy recipe for how to make cheesy hamburger goulash, using pasta, ground meat, melted cheese, and vegetables, all cooked on the stovetop in one pan. Pure comfort food, made from scratch and using fresh ingredients.

Easy American Hamburger Goulash. This is an easy recipe for how to make cheesy hamburger goulash, using pasta, ground meat,melted cheese and vegetables, cooked on the stove top. Pure comfort food using fresh ingredients.

Table of Contents 📋 hide

1) What's the difference between Hungarian goulash and American goulash?

2) What ingredients can I use to make American Goulash?

3) Ingredients

4) Instructions

5) Recipe Card

6) Easy American Hamburger Goulash

7) Delicious Recipes Using Ground Meat

What's the difference between Hungarian goulash and American goulash?

A traditional Hungarian Goulash is a soup or stew dish, often slow-cooked for a long time, using chunks of stewing beef, and cooked in a tomato, paprika-based stock. Sometimes there will be potatoes added to bulk the stew out. On the other hand, American goulash (a.k.a American chop suey) is generally made up of pasta, ground meat, and tomatoes, and cooked on the stovetop very quickly. Both are delicious, and the hamburger goulash is cheaper to make as it uses a cheaper cut of meat.

What ingredients can I use to make American Goulash?

This recipe is made in our house usually around the end of the week. You know, when you're running out of fresh ingredients and so you go in the refrigerator and see whatever vegetables you might have, grab some pasta from your pantry and some ground beef from your freezer, and put it all together!

You can use a combination of zucchini, sweetcorn, mushrooms, bell peppers, and combine them with ground beef, or ground lamb. Feel free to add the ingredients your family enjoys. The photo below shows one I made using zucchini, frozen sweetcorn, and mushrooms. I had half a zucchini leftover, a handful of mushrooms and I wanted to use them rather than go to waste. The recipe really is very flexible so don't be afraid to add what you like eating.

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Easy Hamburger Goulash with mushrooms and zucchini — American goulash with zucchini and mushrooms added

I made this recipe to give you some extra ideas on how to make a good meal, quickly, easily, and with minimum fuss. I have used fresh ingredients, as the flavors are much better as well as the nutrients you will get. This recipe is a lovely twist on the traditional American Hamburger Goulash, and I hope will become a family favorite with you too!

Ingredients

As much spaghetti/pasta as you like
As much grated cheese of your choice for sprinkling on the top (optional to use cheese)
1 Lb or 500 g ground meat of your choice, or thinly sliced chicken or pork fillet, or for vegetarians, ground soya meat
1 large chopped onion
3 Cloves garlic crushed/chopped
½ lb or 300 g mushrooms chopped
1 Zucchini/courgette cubed.
As much sweetcorn, or any fresh vegetables your family enjoys. The choice is yours!
1 Bell Pepper, cubed. You can choose which colour!
1 Stock cube (boullion) plus 1 ½ cups or 350 ml hot water (you can use broth with the equivalent liquid measure)
2 Teaspoons Worcester Sauce
Salt & Pepper. Please note, you can also add any other of your favourite spices or herbs.
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
A Handful of fresh Basil Leaves
3 Fresh tomatoes, peeled and chopped. (Please try and use fresh tomatoes. There is a HUGE difference in flavour!)

To remove the tomato skins, sink the tomatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes and the skin will peel away easy.

Instructions

1. Peel and chop onion, garlic, and other vegetables, then add to a pan with 1 tablespoon olive oil. With the fresh tomatoes, skin them & remove the bit where the stem was & chop.

2. Lightly fry until the onions are soft and translucent (not brown as this will make them taste bitter)

3. Add your ground meat and cook, stirring in the pan with the other ingredients.

4. Add the remaining ingredients (includes RAW pasta) EXCEPT the basil leaves. When you add the liquid / stock, the amount should be enough to cover the surface. If it isn't, just add some hot water to top up.

5. Stir it all together and leave to simmer on a low heat until the pasta is cooked. Should take 10 minutes or so.

6. If you need more liquid / hot water, add a little until it is the consistency you like.

7. Warm your dinner plates/bowls up and get ready to plate up.

8. Turn off the heat and tear the basil leaves into the sauce and give it a little stir. Have a taste to see if you need more salt & pepper.
Place in a bowl, and then sprinkle the cheese on top and watch it melt! Delicious.

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our recipe. Did you make any changes or add some other ingredients? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Recipe Card