We all have our favorite dishes from our childhood – one of my personal favorites was my Aunt Eleanor’s Goulash. This dish started out as an attempt to duplicate her goulash, and certainly took a few twists and turns along the way! The finished recipe has been tweaked over the last 4 months, and has now become one of my family’s most requested dishes.
Goulash is a mixture of browned ground beef, onions and celery, mixed with tender pasta in an aromatic tomato sauce, and lastly topped with delicious, gooey, melted cheese. Traditionally this involved browning your meat mixture in a frying pan, boiling your pasta in a large pot, simmering your tomato sauce mixture in a second pot and assembling everything in a casserole dish for baking. This was a monumental task, with a monumental-sized pile of dirty dishes to reward your efforts.
For today’s busy kitchens, I have brought it all together for you in one easy pot. This means that Goulash no longer is exclusively a weekend dish. In fact, at our house, I like to make it early in the week, leaving the leftovers to be taken for weekday lunches.
Plus, this recipe can be easily made anytime, from items you most-likely already have in your fridge, freezer and pantry.
Tip: Purchase your ground beef in bulk to freeze. Section it out into the appropriate portions for your household, bag it and then before you freeze it, flatten it into thin disks. These stack wonderfully in your freezer and are very quick to thaw when needed.
Enjoy!
Yield: 6 servings
Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:
1 tbsp. oil
1 lb ground beef
1 tbsp. dried minced onion (or 1 small onion diced)
1 rib of celery, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 C beef broth
1 28oz. can diced tomatoes
2 C spaghetti sauce of your choice
1 tbsp. Pampered Chef – Rosemary & Herb Seasoning (or Italian seasoning)
1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 1.2 C or 375 g. package of uncooked elbow or shell macaroni
1 ½ C sharp cheddar, grated
Set your Instant Pot to sauté and add the oil. Give it about 2 minutes to heat up and then add in the ground beef. Break up the beef, stirring as it cooks. Continue cooking until the beef is nice and brown (not just grey), as this is where your flavor comes from. It will be sticking to the bottom at this point and that’s okay. Add in your onion, celery and garlic and continue to stir for another 2 minutes. Hit the cancel button.
Add in your beef broth and, with a flat-bottomed spoon, scrape the browned bits from the bottom of your pot. The bottom should feel smooth when this is complete.
Add in your diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, Italian herb seasoning, balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. Mix all together. Turn the sauté feature on again and heat until boiling, stirring occasionally.
Once mixture is boiling, hit Cancel. Add the uncooked macaroni and stir so that the macaroni is well coated with the tomato sauce mixture. Set your Instant Pot to manually pressure cook for 6 minutes. When the timer is up, do a quick release of the pressure. Remove the lid and give it a stir. Spread the grated cheddar cheese evenly over the top and replace the lid on the pot for 2 minutes.
Remove the lid and it’s ready to serve.
To serve add fresh bread and/or a salad and you have a hearty dinner!
