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Hungarian Beef Goulash Over Rice

A stew of beef cubes, onion, garlic, paprika, and broth served over rice.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Hungarian Beef Goulash Over Rice

Time45 minutes to 1 hour

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the beef

  1. Heat oil in a 10‑inch skillet over medium heat. Add beef cubes and cook 8 to 10 minutes, turning, until browned on all sides.

  2. Add chopped onion and minced garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes until tender and crisp.

  3. Drain excess fat from the skillet.

Simmer the goulash

  1. Add beef broth, paprika, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil.

  2. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until beef is tender.

  3. Whisk cornstarch with water to make a slurry.

  4. Stir the slurry into the beef mixture and cook 2 to 3 minutes, or until thickened.

Serve

  1. Serve the goulash over hot cooked rice.

  2. Garnish with sliced green onions, if desired.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1084Calories
45 gProtein
30 gFat
152 gCarbs

Counts 8 of 10 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 8 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Beef100g cooked250
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Stewnot in our table0
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Onion + ricetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,433 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef cubes
Provide the main protein, which becomes tender during the long simmer.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic body to the base of the stew.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows during cooking.
Paprika
Gives the dish its characteristic red colour and sweet, earthy flavour.
Cornstarch
Thickens the broth into a glossy, cling-to-the-meat sauce when heated.

The step that matters

Simmering until the beef is tender. Beef cubes from stewing cuts contain connective tissue that needs a long, gentle simmer to break down. Cooking too hard can toughen the meat, and stopping early leaves it chewy.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, clove, garlic, pepper, rice):

  1. Tomatofits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, clove, garlic, pepper, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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