4 Person
20 Min
70 Min
90 Min
Goulash is a Hungarian simple soup or stew made from meat and vegetables. The dish is generously seasoned with paprika. Goulash can be dated back to medieval Hungary when shepherds cooked thick stews from dried meats and fresh vegetables. Today, the dish is considered the country’s national dish.
Other dishes are chicken paprikash, foie gras made of goose liver, pörkölt stew, vadas, (game stew with vegetable gravy and dumplings), trout with almonds and salty and sweet dumplings, like túrós csusza, (dumplings with fresh quark cheese and thick sour cream). Desserts include the iconic Dobos Cake, strudels (rétes), filled with apple, cherry, poppy seed or cheese, Gundel pancake, plum dumplings (szilvás gombóc), somlói dumplings, dessert soups like chilled sour cherry soup and sweet chestnut puree, gesztenyepüré (cooked chestnuts mashed with sugar and rum and split into crumbs, topped with whipped cream).
Goulash is the national dish of Hungary and one of the most historically significant stews in European cuisine. Its origins date back to medieval Hungary, where cattle herders known as gulyás prepared hearty meat stews over open fires while tending livestock on the plains. The word goulash itself comes from gulyás, meaning “herdsman.”
Early versions of goulash were made with dried meat and onions, designed to be portable and long-lasting. Paprika, now the defining ingredient of goulash, was introduced much later, after chili peppers arrived in Hungary via Ottoman and Balkan trade routes in the 16th and 17th centuries. Once paprika became widely cultivated in Hungary, it transformed goulash into the rich, red, aromatic dish known today.
Unlike many thick stews, traditional Hungarian goulash is closer to a soup-stew hybrid, with a flavorful broth rather than a heavy gravy. It reflects Hungarian culinary values of simplicity, balance, and bold seasoning without complexity. Over time, regional variations emerged, but paprika, onions, beef, and slow simmering remain essential.
