Hungarian Goulash Soup

Family recipes: Hungarian Goulash Soup

I’m Hungarian. For me the Goulash (Hungarian: “gulyás”) is a soup. Generally we cook the Goulash from beef, but I like better the Goulash with pork, caraway and bay leaves.

Fun fact: Every Hungarian family has a traditional, authentic Goulash’s recipe but no two recipes are the same. This is my recipe.

I don’t care what Goulash is the real. I like this soup anytime but it is a very good comfort food in a cold winter day.

Print

Family recipes: Hungarian Goulash Soup

Goulash is a famous Hungarian dish, but the Hungarian Goulash is not a stew. It’s a delicious soup.
Course Soup
Cuisine Hungarian
Keyword cheap, easy, family recipe, feast, goulash
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 4 people
Author Myreille

Ingredients

  • 400 grams pork ham (or beef shank) (chopped into bite sized pieces)
  • 1 onion (diced)
  • 300 grams carrot (sliced into bite sized rounds)
  • 1 parsnips (sliced into bite sized rounds)
  • 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika powder (sweet)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon carraway powder
  • 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
  • 3 potatoes (diced)
  • 1 tomato (diced)
  • 1 Hungarian yellow wax pepper or red bell pepper (diced)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • sunflower (or canola) oil

Instructions

  • Heat the oil (or lard) in a large pot (or a Dutch oven) and add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook slowly until the onions are clear and glassy.
  • Add the meat to the onion and cook over high heat, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink (about 5-10 minutes).
  • Remove from the heat and add the paprika powder, stirring, add 3 liter of water and back to the heat. (Note! If the paprika powder is burn, the soup will be bitter.)
  • Add the carrots, the parsnips, the bell pepper, the tomato, the bay leaves, the cloves of garlic, the caraway powder and the salt.
  • Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the meat is almost cooked.
  • Add the potatos to the soup and cook for about 20 more minutes.

Notes

I like the Goulash with crushed chili (hot red pepper flakes) or fresh jalapeno.