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Photograph of Goulash Soup

Goulash Soup - Gulaschsuppe

Warming, hearty, deeply flavoured beef stew with potatoes, paprika, caraway seeds and tomatoes.

Course Light meal, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine Central European
Keyword beef, paprika, soup
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours

Ingredients

  • 50g unsalted butter

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 400g braising steak, cut into 1cm cubes

  • 2 large onions, 250g peeled weight, roughly chopped
  • 1 carrot, 100g prepared weight, roughly chopped
  • 4 cloves/16g of peeled garlic
  • snoop3 tablespoons Hungarian goulash spice mix (See Recipe Notes for alternative.)

  • 1 tablespoon plain/all-purpose flour

  • 1 teaspoon salt 

  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon soft brown sugar

  • 1500ml/6 cups beef stock

  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

  • 800g potatoes, peeled weight, cut into 1cm cubes

Serving options: 

  • warm, fresh crusty bread
  • sour cream
  • sprinkle of sweet paprika
  • chopped chives or parsley

Instructions

Equipment

  1. chopping board and knife

  2. food processor

  3. large cast iron casserole dish/Dutch oven

  4. kitchen scales

  5. measuring spoons/cups

  6. measuring jug

Method

  1. Preheat oven to Fan Oven 130°C /150°C/300°F/Gas 2

  2. Prepare and cook the beef: prepare the beef. Cut the meat into small cubes, roughly 1cm square. Heat the half the butter and oil in your cast iron casserole over a medium high heat. Add half the beef and cook until browned on all side. Remove from the pan, set aside and add the remaining beef to the pan and brown on all sides. Take out and add to the other cooked beef. 

  3. Prepare and cook the vegetables: meanwhile peel and roughly chop the onions, wash, trim and roughly chop the carrot, peel the garlic. Put all the vegetables in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. If you do not have a food processor, simply chop everything finely.

  4. Add the remaining butter and oil to your cast iron casserole and lower the heat to medium. Add the vegetables and cook for 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until softened and slightly caramelised. Be sure to scrape up any delicious sticky residue left by cooking the beef in the pan beforehand.

  5. Return the beef to the pan. Stir to mix.

  6. Add the Hungarian Goulash spice mix, flour, salt and sugar. Mix well and cook over a medium heat for 1 minute.

  7. Add the stock: stir well, and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring from time to time. As soon as it is simmering, put on lid and put in the oven for 90 minutes.

  8. Prepare and add the potatoes: towards the end of the 90 minutes cooking time, prepare your potatoes. Simply peel and chop into small cubes, roughly 1cm square. 

  9. After 90 minutes, take the soup out of the oven and add the tomato puree, mix well and add the potatoes. Stir and return to the oven for a further 60 - 90 minutes or until the potatoes are very soft and the soup broth has thickened.

  10. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. 

  11. I serve it with warmed fresh crusty bread, a good grinding of black pepper, a drizzle of sour cream, a sprinkling of sweet paprika and some finely chopped chives or parsley.

Recipe Notes

Goulash Spice Mix:

If you do not have any spice mix made up, you can use the following which will give you 3 tablespoons:

2 teaspoons Hungarian paprika powder, sweet

2 teaspoons Hungarian paprika powder, hot

1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika powder, medium

1 teaspoon Hungarian paprika powder, smoked

2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 teaspoons dried marjoram