German Goulash Recipe Instant Pot

German Goulash is a unique soup with chunky beef, and with the Instant Pot it’s ready way faster than Oma used to make!

I’m so excited to show you how easy it is to make hearty, flavorful German goulash in the Instant Pot.

Most Americans think of goulash as being made with ground meat, but German goulash actually uses chunks of beef.

Think more of a beef stew, but with a thin soup like broth that has so many layers of flavor, your kids will literally slurp up every last drop.

The best part, is that instead of cooking German goulash for 3 hours on the stove, we’re going to have it ready in about an hour thanks to the Instant Pot. 

How to make German Goulash in the Instant Pot

You’re going to start with 2 lbs of lean beef roast cut into chunks. You can use stew meat, or cut it up yourself, but then you need to toss it with a teaspoon of salt, and let it set while you prep your other ingredients. 

You can dice your onions by hand, like I do in the video, but if you have a food processor, this will save you SO much time, because you need to chop up 3 large onions.

You also need to peel two large carrots, slice them into sticks, and chop into ½ inch pieces.

At this point you can also mince 3 large cloves of garlic, but I used a couple teaspoons from a jar, because this German goulash is one of those recipes where it isn’t that noticeable.

Heat 2 tablespoons of avocado oil or olive oil in the Instant Pot on the Saute setting. Then add half of the beef at a time, and cook for a few minutes to get some nice brown bits which are called caramelization and add that first layer of flavor to the German goulash.

Pull your beef from the pot and set it aside, then add a little more oil if your beef was super lean like mine and there isn’t much oil or rendered fat left.

Next you’re going to dump in those onions and stir them up, scraping those brown bits off the bottom of the pot.

Cook the onions for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they’re soft and starting to darken a little.

Then sprinkle in 1 ½ tablespoons of sweet Hungarian paprika, dump in that minced garlic, stir it up, and let it cook another minute. 

Next we’re adding in a cup of red wine, a cup of beef broth, and a bottle of German lager or Pilsner beer.

Now add two tablespoons of tomato paste, and one tablespoon of Beef Better than Bouillion. Just trust me on this one, my German friends swear by it.

Sprinkle in a teaspoon of dried caraway, (this is an essential ingredient to the German goulash so don’t skip it!) a half a teaspoon of dried thyme, and drop in three dried bay leaves.

Then we’re going to add the zest of 1 lemon. See how many flavors are going in here? It’s crazy! German goulash is so good!

We’re also going to add three sprigs of fresh oregano, and a tablespoon of red wine vinegar.

Then come those chopped carrots, and that beautiful browned beef.

Stir it up, then put that lid, set the steam valve to sealing, hit cancel, then meat stew, and let it cook for 35 minutes.

While the pot does need to get up to pressure, since everything inside is already hot, it doesn’t take very long.

When the timer goes off, hit cancel and at this point I suggest at least 10 minutes of natural release for the steam, but you can do a quick release if your family is hangry.

Make sure to pull out the bay leaves and oregano stems before serving your German goulash. You can eat the goulash as is, or pour it over cooked potatoes or noodles. My kids prefer macaroni noodles because the broth fills in each noodle.

I also like topping the goulash with a bit of fresh parsley for some color and that final layer of flavor.

Why you will LOVE German goulash

My family greatly prefers German goulash to any other type of beef stew, and I’m sure your family will agree.

There is so much sweetness from the onions and carrots, brightness from the lemon zest, acidity from the red wine vinegar, the unique flavor of caraway along with all the wonderful herbs.

There’s just nothing else like it.

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions, or if you’ve given this recipe a try!

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More Instant Pot Soup REcipes

The Instant Pot has seriously saved my bacon SO many times for last minute dinners. We have a lot of Instant Pot favorites, and you can find them here in my list of Instant Pot Soup Recipes.

Two of my personal favorites are Instant Pot Lentil Soup with Sausage, and Instant Pot Taco Soup. And if you are looking for something other then soup, give this Instant Pot Madras Lentils recipe a try!