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Who grew up with Goulash? I did! It was a meal we had often. I adapted this classic one-pot dish so the next generation can enjoy it, too! Instant Pot American Goulash is a pressure cooker goulash that is a one-pot meal. You can make this on a weeknight in under an hour, and have the gang all fed with a big bowl of comfort food!
Instant Pot American Goulash
Mom made the best goulash, and I wish I had written down her recipe. Over the years I have just winged it, but when a lady from our church shared her recipe with me, I knew this was very close to my mom’s recipe!
I recently decided to try it in my Instant Pot. I like the one-pot simplicity, and not having to cook the macaroni in a separate pot! So now I make Instant Pot American Goulash more often than I made the traditional. It’s so much easier!
This is a pretty versatile goulash. If you want, you can throw in frozen mixed veggies in place of the corn. You can use a can of beans, and can serve it with or without cheese added. We rarely had good cheese, so I’m used to having it without. It’s optional!
Some people grew up with the soy sauce version, while others, like me, had the Worcestershire sauce version. A friend of mine told me the soy sauce version was called American Chop Suey in their house. Pretty much the same thing.
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Instant Pot American Goulash
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Olive Oil (only if using ground turkey)
- 1 lb Ground Beef or Ground Turkey (93% lean)
- 1 Onion, diced
- ½ cup Celery, diced
- 2 Bay Leaves
- ¼ tsp Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
- 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
- ½ tsp Pepper
- 1 tsp Salt (or more to taste)
- 5 cloves Garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 ½ Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce ( or Soy Sauce)
- 1 Green Bell Pepper, chopped
- 4 cups Chicken Broth, low sodium
- 2 cups (9 oz) Small Elbow Macaroni (If you use penne, you will need 3 cups. Weigh your pasta if you can)
- 1 Tbsp Paprika
- (1) 14 oz can Diced Tomatoes (with juice)
- (1) 14 oz can Tomato Sauce (or Marinara Sauce, 2 cups)
To Finish
- 1 ½ cups Corn, frozen or canned
- ¼ cup Fresh Parsley, chopped
Optional
- 1-2 cups Cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Turn on the pressure cooker's Sauté setting. When the pot is hot add oil (if using ground turkey) or add the ground beef. Also add onion, celery, bay leaves. Cook until onion starts to turn translucent.
- Add the red pepper flakes, Italian seasoning, pepper, salt, garlic, Worcestershire (or soy sauce), and green bell pepper. Stir, and sauté for a couple of minutes.
- Pour in the broth and stir. Put a glass lid on the pot and let the broth heat up to barely a simmer. Then add the macaroni and paprika. Stir.
- Add the diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce, but do not stir.
- Put the lid on the pot and lock in place. Set the steam release knob to the Sealing position.
- Cancel the Sauté setting and press the Pressure Cook/Manual button (or dial), Then use the + or - button (or dial) to choose 4 minutes (choose 3 if you like more al dente firm pasta).
- When the cooking cycle is finished, do a controlled Quick Release of the steam/pressure by turning the knob towards the Venting position in bursts, until you feel confident that no sauce will come out of the steam vent with the steam. Then turn the knob all the way to the Venting position to continue venting all of the steam.
- When the pin in the lid drops down, open the lid facing away from you. Then give the goulash a stir. Taste and adjust salt, if desired.
- Add the corn and the parsley. Stir in the cheese, if you are using it.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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This was a family hit! It didn’t need cheese or anything extra! The best new recipe I’ve made in a long time! This is definitely one recipe going into my regular rotation! Thanks so much!! 😊P.S. our only leftovers was what I packed for work the next day!
this is amazing!!! was wondering if you could double the recipe?
With pasta you don’t want to put too much in there as pasta foams up. However you may be able to increase it by half the amount. Use a controlled release.
I used 2 pounds of hamburger, do I add more liquid & double the ingredients?
Nope, it will just be a little meatier/heartier, You can add a little more liquid if you like, but I think you will be fine.
I have made this several times and it always comes out perfect. I get a lot of raves. Can you freeze this dish?
Hi Sandy
I’ve only had the Instant pot since Friday and I am in love with it already
, I’m going to make this tomorrow evening but I was wondering if I could use slightly less broth so for it to be not soupy as others have mentioned?
I’m worried about doing this in case I get the dreaded Burn notice,
I haven’t had it yet, but have seen comments from other recipes using tomato sauces so I am weary.
I liked ready your blurb and see you have a pug called Gizmo, (cool name) I have a pug too called Miyah Hug the Pug, they are just the best dogs in the world. She loves watching me cook, eyeballs everything I’m doing, you know how much Pugs love their food lol
Allergy question for you. There is a strong chance I’m allergic to Paprika (my aunt is, and last time I had a dish with paprika my stomach hurt for hours, but I don’t want to test that again). Is there a good substitute for Paprika or does it work to simply leave it out of recipes?
I would just leave it out.
Have made this several times. I use a tad less than 3 cups of the broth and other than that follow the ingredients to a tee. I cook for 3 minutes as I found 4 minutes far too mushy. I still feel that I would like better a little more al dent. Since I can’t do for 2 and a alf minutes will 2 minutes work?
Yes, you can reduce to 2 minutes, and you can even try Low pressure.
I just finished this recipe. I used venison instead of beef, and i used about 3 cups of elbows. I gotta say, it is incredible!! This is a very versatile recipe and the flavors are wonderful!! Thank you for this recipe!!!
Ooooh, venison sounds wonderful!
My daughter and I work the next 3 days and both like to take a hot dish in our lunches, so I made this after supper for us! I can’t wait to have some tomorrow. It tasted good. I threw in some green beans. I still need to get some corn. I forgot to buy some.
I would like to make this recipe but I need to reduce the pasta buy half (BF is diabetic). How much should I decrease the chicken broth if I only use 1 cup of elbow pasta? I will probably add some zucchini too.
If you cut the pasta in half, also cut the broth in half. If you want it soupier, cut broth by 1/4 or 1/3. I would make the zucchini chunks good size so it doesn’t get too mushy.