Slow Cooker Hungarian Goulash

Why You'll Love This Recipe:

• It is a budget-friendly recipe that uses inexpensive cuts of meat that require long slow cooking.
• It is an easy one-pot meal that is packed with plenty of healthy vegetables. 
• It can also be eaten on its own or served with rice, mashed potatoes, pasta, or bread.
• This Hungarian Goulash can be made gluten-free - just leave out the flour.
• You can even make this during a workweek because you can prepare the ingredients the night before, store it in the fridge overnight, then dump everything into the slow cooker just before you leave for work.
• It is great for meal prepping and can be portioned for healthy freezer meals.

Ingredients In This Recipe

The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.

Please read the ingredients list for this Slow Cooker Hungarian goulash recipe! It’s got some great slow cooking tips in it.

Oil – Use a light flavored oil, extra virgin olive oil, or vegetable oil. Avoid using strong flavored oil as this can affect the taste of the finished dish.

Beef – Use a budget cut of stewing steak like gravy beef or beef chuck roast. These meats are tough and when cooked for a long time become soft, tender, and full of flavor. If the meat is very fatty, remove some of the fat before cutting into 5 cm cubes.

Bacon – We prefer to use lean bacon to keep the fat content down. The bacon not only adds to the flavor but, also acts as a seasoning, by adding a little salt to the dish.

Flour – This is optional and can be left out if you need the recipe to be gluten-free. It is used to coat the meat before frying and helps to thicken the sauce during cooking.

Onion and Carrot – Use a brown onion for this. Roughly dice the onion and you can do the same for the carrot, or just cut the carrot into ½ cm slices.

Garlic – If you have it, use fresh garlic or you could use 2 teaspoons of bottled garlic.

Potatoes – These can be peeled or left with the skin on. If you are leaving the skin on, give them a good scrub before using.

Cut the potatoes small (about 3 cm cubes) this will ensure that the potatoes are fully cooked.

If you want larger pieces of potatoes you can but, these should be half cooked before adding to the slow cooker. If you don’t do this the potatoes won’t be fully cooked at the end.

Capsicum (bell peppers) – This adds another flavor level to the dish and also makes the dish look nice by adding color.

Caraway Seeds – These have an aniseed flavor, if you don’t like aniseed leave them out. The seeds can be added whole to the recipe or if preferred you can grind them to a powder.

Paprika, Dried Oregano, and Dried Bay Leaf – These are aromatic and add more flavor to the dish. The bay leaf should be removed after cooking. For a traditional Hungarian goulash use Hungarian sweet paprika.

Stock – Use beef or chicken stock. We cook more with chicken stock than we do with beef broth, so we usually end up using chicken stock.

Diced Canned Tomatoes – Adds flavor and moisture, it also adds body to the sauce.

Tomato Paste – Helps enhance the tomato flavor and helps balance out the flavors.

Wine – this not only adds moisture and flavor to the dish it also helps tenderize the meat. You don’t need an expensive wine because most cheap wines today are of good quality and can be used.

Salt and Pepper – Should be used to season the dish to taste at the end of cooking.

Sour Cream – Add this as a garnish just before serving.

Step By Step Instructions

There is some pre-cooking to do for this Hungarian Goulash.

Why? Because browned meat and cooked vegetables make the dish taste better.

Partially cooking some of the ingredients helps to bring out flavors. These flavors you won’t get if you just threw everything raw into the slow cooker. 

It’s well worth the effort!

Step 1 – Fry the bacon until crisp, remove it from the pan and drain on a paper towel to remove the excess fat. When cool, cut or crumble the bacon into small pieces.

In the same pan, fry the capsicum until it softens. Remove from the pan allow to cool and place it in the fridge for use later.

Step 2 – Trim away excess fat from the beef and cut it into 5 cm (2 inches) pieces. Season well with salt.

Optional step: If using the flour light coat the meat in it. Shaking off any excess before frying.

Step 3 – Fry the meat in small batches until it becomes brown. You don’t want to overcrowd the pan, because the meat will stew in its juices.

Step 4 – Once the meat has browned, place it straight into the bowl of the slow cooker.

Step 5 – Next, in the same frying pan, fry the onions and carrot together for 5 minutes over medium/high heat or until the onions start to turn brown.

Add the garlic and fry for 1 more minute.

Stir in the paprika, tomato paste, caraway seeds, oregano, stock, diced tomatoes, and bay leaf. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes.

Turn off the heat, taste for seasoning, and add a little salt if necessary.

Step 6 – Carefully pour the sauce over the meat in the slow cooker.

Step 7 – Add the potatoes and bay leaf.

Step 8 – Mix well, pushing the potatoes under the liquid. Put the lid on and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8-9 hours or until the meat is tender and the potatoes cooked.

Then mix in the bacon and capsicum and cook for another 30 minutes on high.

Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

Serve hot garnished with sour cream.

Variations

Make It Gluten Free - The flour is optional, and it’s okay to leave it out if you want to make the dish gluten-free.

The flour helps to make the sauce a little thicker and without it, the sauce is a little thin (but I do like it this way).

Check the consistency of the sauce just before you add the bacon, if you feel it needs thickening, make a slurry with 1 tablespoon cornflour and mix it in when you add the bacon.

Meal Prepping

How To Prepare This Recipe The Night Before

Prepare everything as outlined above and cook the meat until it is no longer pink inside.

However, instead of placing it in the slow cooker, place everything into a large bowl or pot. Allow the mixture to cool, then store in the fridge overnight.

In the morning pour everything into the slow cooker, put the lid on and set it to low and leave for 8 hours.

When you get home add the bacon and capsicum and cook on high for 30 minutes.

Serving Size

This recipe make six generous servings.

Calories Per Serve

Each serving is about 634 calories.

Serving Suggestions

This dish is quite filling by itself. However, if you are serving this for a dinner party or to feed a small crowd, or just want more food on the table, you can extend the dish by serving it with a few simple side dishes.

You could serve it with any of these on the side old-fashioned mashed potatoes, homemade dinner rolls, rice, egg noodles, and a leafy green salad or steamed vegetables.

Storage

This beef stew keeps very well when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It can be kept refrigerated for up to five days.

For longer storage place the goulash in freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to three months.

Reheating

This beef stew keeps very well when stored in an airtight container in the fridge. It can be kept refrigerated for up to five days.

For longer storage place the goulash in freezer-safe containers and freeze for up to three months.

Frequently Asked Questions

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