POV: It’s a busy weeknight, everyone’s starving and you need a quick mostly pantry meal. How about a quick, easy, kid-pleasing under-30 skillet dinner? Here’s our family’s old standard recipe, adapted for the stovetop: Skillet Goulash.
Skillet Goulash
Ya know, no matter where you are, what time of the year it is, I think your family will love this. It really is a quick and easy no-brainer meal when you’re too busy to hardly even think about what’s for dinner!
About Skillet Goulash:
Simple, tasty, cheap, and filling, Goulash is familiar to generations of Americans (my Mom made Goulash back in the 1960s) and is comfort food in many families. It’s known also as Johnny Marzetti Casserole, American Chop Suey, Beefaroni, and the even more puzzling Slumgullion.
No matter the name, this classic American Goulash is usually an oven-baked casserole. So I thought what if goulash could be made in one pan on the stovetop like so many of my other skillet meals? Faster, easier, and no need to turn on the oven! Bonus!
So here’s our family version of Goulash, ground beef, noodles, tomatoes, and a few seasonings, and in this case topped with some melty cheddar (or your favorite cheese) all done up as a skillet meal. If you want to, add a simple veggie, maybe corn or broccoli or a side salad, and dinner is served!
Easy Cheesy Chili Mac – Instant Pot or Not. Coming soon!
Variations:
This dish as is, is basically “plain cooking” and is often tinkered with. Feel free to add more spicing (onion, powder, garlic powder, a little cayenne, or the commonly used Italian seasoning.) Feel free to pass your favorite hot sauce.
I’ve often seen this dish with a can (or frozen) corn added right to it. You might know that this dish is the same base as the recipe for Chili Mac, which is heavier on spices and cheese.
Making Skillet Goulash:
This is a basic recipe: cook the ground beef along with the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Drain if needed. Add in the remaining ingredients except for the cheese (that’s the macaroni, the whole tomatoes that have been crushed by hand, the chili powder, salt, and a cup of water.)
Simmer, covered, stirring now and then until the pasta is cooked through. Add the cheese, cover for two or three minutes to melt that cheese, and serve!
About the Canned Whole Tomatoes:
Whole Canned tomatoes take a few minutes to prep. They have to be hand crushed. I use them for several reasons:
- Tradition: That’s what Mom used and how the original recipe came to me.
- They give the goulash (and the macaroni ) just the right amount of moisture without making the goulash overly tomato saucy.
- The resulting tomato sauce is lighter than using a can of tomato sauce; there’s less chance of scorching and therefore less tending the skillet!
- The tomatoes all but melt into the dish and picky eaters seem to find this less offensive than when the Goulash is made with diced tomatoes. Those are treated and remain very firm and distinct.
To prepare the tomatoes, crush them by hand and always remove the hard, almost inedible stem pieces. (I particularly hated them in the goulash, tried to push them around on my plate, and inevitably was forced to eat them!)
Watch yourself when crushing the tomatoes. They can “spurt.” Don’t wear your nice white shirt! I usually just put my clean hands into the can and go for it, smushing them up. Some snip the tomatoes with kitchen shears first while they are still in the can and then break them down which is an extra step but eliminates the spurting.
Storing and Reheating:
Simply store covered in the fridge for four to five days. Reheat in the microwave. The macaroni may absorb the sauce; just add a touch of water if needed.
This freezes well. Microwave from frozen or thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Saving Money on Skillet Goulash:
Most of the ingredients in this dish are simple pantry/freezer items and are items you should never pay full price for.
Macaroni:
- Stock your pantry when pasta is at a low, taking advantage of the many sales throughout the year; there’s usually a great sale at the grocery at least once a quarter.
- Discount stores like Aldi and Lidl have great prices, and so do buyer’s clubs.
- Freeze any item like pasta that contains flour for three days and you’ll avoid any possible future issues with “peskies.”
Ground Beef:
- Ground Beef is on sale often and freezes well – there’s no need to ever pay full price.
- The best prices at your grocery are before the Summer Holidays. Aldi and Lidl have great sales and your buyer’s club is worth checking.
- Each percentage drops to a low about once a quarter; being versatile gives more options for savings. The higher the fat percentage, the cheaper the cost, and the deeper the sales.
- Take advantage of sale-priced family packs – check the price per pound. Divvy up and freeze; most recipes call for one pound; some recipes can get by with a little less.
Canned Whole Tomatoes:
I find the best value for canned tomatoes to be whole in the larger 29-ounce cans. My pantry is stocked with them. Unless the outcome of a recipe is specifically dependent on another tomato product, I substitute with the canned whole tomatoes.
- About once a quarter, there will be a stellar sale at the grocery. Stock up then. Aldi and Lidl both have great pricing. Buyers clubs offer “fancier” options at a decent price.
- Extremely versatile, the whole tomatoes can be used as is, crushed by hand for recipes like this, pulsed in the blender for “crushed” tomatoes, and whirred up to use as a tomato sauce. The quality is usually better than crushed, diced, or sauce you might buy.
- If the larger cans are too much for a recipe, toss the remainder in a Ziploc, label with the amount, and freeze. Try to put items away in the same place in your freezer every time and they’re easier to find and use later.
Skillet Goulash – love the melty cheese on top.
Skillet Goulash
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 to 6 servings 1x
- Category: main dish beef
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground beef
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 green pepper, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes with juice, crush tomatoes by hand
- 1 cup water
- 3/4 cup of dry macaroni, small-sized
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan or Cheddar
Instructions
In a pot or deep skillet (to prevent spatters) add the ground beef, onion and green pepper. Cook, breaking up ground beef, until ground beef is cooked through. Drain.
Clear an area in the center of the pan, add the garlic and chili powder and heat until the mixture is fragrant. Stir into the ground beef mixture along with the salt.
Add tomatoes, water, and macaroni. Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until noodles are al dente, about 15 minutes, stirring now and then.
Turn off the heat, add cheese to the top of the skillet and cover until cheese is melted.
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