This colorful vegetable goulash is a fantastic dish with Hungarian inspiration. Made with a medley of vegetables, butter beans and a paprika flavored sauce, it’s a hearty and filling meal with incredible textures.
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I’m such a big fan of stews, and the more flavorful, the better. My take on the traditional Hungarian goulash includes plenty of hearty vegetables, bold flavors, and just the right amount of paprika and garlic.
If you love healthy stew recipes, you might also want to check out my vegetable stew with dumplings, Spanish chicken stew or butter bean and chorizo stew.
Ingredients
Paprika: Goulash is traditionally made with sweet paprika, which you can find in the international food aisle or Eastern European supermarkets (or on Amazon!). Regular paprika powder can be used as a substitution. As this is the key ingredient in the goulash, I don’t recommend omitting it.
Garlic: We use a large amount of garlic to add plenty of flavor to the dish. Trust me, it’s delicious!
Onions, peppers, carrots, potatoes: The main vegetables in the dish.
Bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper: These add some seasoning and more flavor to the dish.
Canned diced tomatoes, vegetable broth and tomato paste: Form the base of the sauce.
Canned butter beans: Adds some protein and texture to the dish.
Enjoy this Hungarian paprika based dish? Check out my chicken paprikash – a chicken dish with a creamy paprika based sauce.
Instructions
Prepare your ingredients first. Chop the onion, and grate the garlic with a grater or chop it very finely. Dice the potatoes, carrots and peppers into bite sized pieces.
Start by warming some oil in a pot on medium to high heat. Add the onions, and sauté until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and sauté for another minute. Finally, add the paprika and sauté for another 30 seconds while stirring.
Add the potatoes and carrots, and stir to coat the vegetables with the paprika. Then, add canned diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, thyme, Maldon salt, pepper, a bay leaf and tomato paste.
Cover the pot with a lid, and leave it to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are almost cooked through.
Add the peppers and butter beans to the goulash, and leave the stew to simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables and potatoes have cooked through completely. Optionally, add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.
Top tips
Here are my best tips to succeed with this recipe:
- Make sure to leave enough time to sauté the onions thoroughly. It honestly makes such a difference to the overall flavor!
- The stew is considered done when the vegetables and potatoes have cooked through. Test it by piercing a large potato chunk with a fork. The exact cooking time can vary depending on the size of the vegetables pieces as well as the cooking temperature used, so this is the best method for getting it right.
- Use authentic sweet paprika for a genuine goulash flavor.
Serving suggestions
- Serve the dish with noodles, rice, bread or dumplings for a more filling meal.
- Although vegetable goulash is typically served as a main, you can also serve this as a side dish with slow cooker lemon chicken or air fryer chicken breast.
- If you want to add a light side dish, try a simple salad such as tomato and cucumber salad.
- Add even more vegetables to the meal by serving it with roasted carrots and green beans, air fryer carrots or sauteed spinach with garlic.
Variations
Here are some popular alternative versions of the vegetable goulash:
Protein rich: Add extra butter beans, other legumes or meat for some extra protein.
Low carb: Replace the carrots and potatoes with broccoli, green beans and more peppers.
Allergy friendly: The dish is already dairy free, vegan, gluten free and nut free, so it should suit most dietary requirements.
With meat: Not a fan of vegetarian goulash? Add some diced chicken, sausage or beef.
Leftovers
Any leftover vegetable goulash can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 6 months.
Defrost and reheat the dish before serving.
I love to make a big batch of goulash using seasonal vegetables at the end of summer. Then we have homemade vegetable stew in the freezer ready for the quick and easy dinners through the winter.
Frequently asked questions
Goulash is often made or served with tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes, carrots, zucchini and broccoli.
Mashed potatoes, noodles, dumplings, rice or bread are all excellent side dishes to serve with goulash.
Goulash is a thick soup or stew of meat and vegetables, commonly seasoned with a large amount of sweet paprika and other spices. It’s the national dish of Hungary, and there are many varieties of the stew.
The American chili and Hungarian goulash have a lot of ingredients in common. The main difference is that goulash uses sweet paprika and herbs, whereas chili uses more spices, giving the sauce a completely different flavor.
If you make this recipe, make sure to post a photo to Instagram with #hintofhealthy! Follow Hint of Healthy on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest for more healthy recipes.
Recipe
Vegetable Goulash
Ingredients
- 2 onions
- 7 garlic cloves
- 3 peppers (a combination of red and green)
- 2 carrots (about 12 oz / 350 g)
- 4 potatoes (500 g / 1 lb)
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 1 ½ cup vegetable stock
- 6 tablespoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon Maldon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 can butter beans (drained and rinsed)
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients first. Chop the onion, and grate the garlic with a microplane or chop it very finely. Dice the potatoes, carrots and peppers into bite sized pieces.
- Start by warming some oil in a pot on medium to high heat. Add the onions, and sautee until they are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add the garlic, and sautee for another minute.
- Finally, add the paprika and sautee for another 30 seconds while stirring.
- Add the potatoes and carrots, and stir to coat the vegetables with the paprika.
- Then, add canned diced tomatoes, vegetable stock, thyme, Maldon salt, pepper, a bay leaf and tomato paste.
- Cover the pot with a lid, and leave it to simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the vegetables are almost cooked through.
- Add the peppers and butter beans to the goulash, and leave the stew to simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until the vegetables and potatoes have cooked through completely.
- Optionally, add salt and pepper to taste, then serve.
Video
Notes
- Make sure to leave enough time to sautee the onions thoroughly. It honestly makes such a difference to the overall flavor!
- The stew is considered done when the vegetables and potatoes have cooked through. Test it by piercing a large potato chunk with a fork. The exact cooking time can vary depending on the size of the vegetables pieces as well as the cooking temperature used, so this is the best method for getting it right.
- Use authentic sweet paprika for a genuine goulash flavor.
- Any leftover vegetable goulash can be stored in a refrigerator for up to 5 days, or frozen for up to 6 months.
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