This vegetarian goulash is a comforting, nutritious dish featuring vegetables and beans cooked in a rich and delicious paprika-flavoured gravy. Unlike meat goulash recipes which take a long time to cook this dish comes together in under 40 minutes!
See also Polish-style root vegetable stew.
This vegetarian goulash is made using vegetables, beans instead of traditional meat, and paprika. It is a Hungarian-style dish with a Polish twist – I used prunes, which work surprisingly well with the rest of the ingredients in this savoury dish. (However, this recipe does not have much in common with traditional Polish goulash, which consists of pork, onion and mushrooms cooked in a creamy sauce).
This vegetable goulash comes together in a few simple steps. It involves cooking the vegetables until softened then adding browned mushrooms and finishing the dish with a little tomato puree and soy sauce for more depth of flavour.
The final step is thickening your vegetarian goulash broth. You can serve this dish either as a hearty soup or stew (see my tips below).
Vegetarian goulash ingredients and substitutions
- Vegetables: onion, bell peppers, garlic, mushrooms, carrots and tomato.
- Beans: Use the entire can: beans plus water. For me large beans (such as butter beans, also sometimes called lima beans) work best in this recipe, but you can use any white bean variety including cannellini beans.
- Prunes: add depth of flavour and sweetness (I strongly recommend using this ingredient!).
- Soy sauce: adds depth of flavour and is equally as important to this recipe as the prunes.
- Tomato puree: adds a hint of acidity.
- Paprika: I recommend using Hungarian paprika. You can just use sweet paprika or a combination of sweet and hot paprikas (I used 2 tsp sweet and 1 tsp hot).
- Bay leaf and allspice berries.
- Vegetable stock.
- Flour: thickens the goulash.
- Oil and butter: to enjoy this goulash vegan use plant-based spread instead of regular butter.
Step-by-step recipe instructions
1.Cook onion: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and butter until the butter has melted then add the onion, bay leaf and allspice berries and cook gently for about 4 minutes until softened stirring often.
2. Add vegetables: Add the carrots, peppers and garlic.
3. Add beans: Add the beans as well as bean water, tomato, paprika, prunes and stock. Stir then cover and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
- TIP: There won’t be too much liquid in the pot at this point, but the vegetables will release lots of water as they cook.
4. Brown mushrooms: In the meantime, prepare the mushrooms. In a large non-stick pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil, add the mushrooms and cook over a fairly high heat for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned and the moisture has evaporated. Set aside.
- TIP: Do not stir the mushrooms too much as they cook (they will brown better).
5. Add mushrooms: To the goulash pot add the mushrooms, cover and continue cooking for 10 more minutes. Towards the end of cooking add the tomato puree and soy sauce.
6. Thicken goulash: In a small bowl dissolve the flour with 1.5 tablespoons of cold water and stir until smooth. Add a couple of tablespoons of the goulash mixture then pour the slurry into the pot and stir until evenly distributed. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat, adjust the seasoning as needed and serve with fresh parsley.
How to serve vegetable goulash
This goulash with vegetables can either be served as a hearty goulash soup with crusty bread, or stew poured over boiled potatoes, potato kluski dumplings, noodles or rice as a vegetarian/vegan main.
In Poland goulash type stews are often served with buckwheat or barley, which would also work well with this dish.
You can also serve it as a non-vegetarian meal with leftover chicken or turkey as well as Polish kiełbasa (as in this letcho recipe).
How to adjust the consistency
This vegetarian goulash contains quite a lot of gravy (or broth), which can have varying degrees of thickness, depending on individual preference.
For a thicker consistency either add a little less stock (which will produce less broth) or add a little more flour at the end (approx. ½ tablespoon).
Top tips
- Try not to cook your vegetable goulash for too long so the vegetables do not end up being too soft.
- It tastes even better the next day, which is why I recommend making it in advance and reheating the next day.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
More vegetarian stews to try next
See also these other easy, delicious vegetarian dishes!
Recipe
Hungarian-Style Vegetarian Goulash
Ingredients
- 1 large onion finely sliced
- 2 medium carrots peeled, cut into rounds
- 1 red bell pepper deseeded, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper deseeded, chopped
- 1 large tomato chopped
- ⅔ pound (300 g) mushrooms roughly chopped
- 14.11 ounces (400 g) butter beans 1 can, including bean water
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 10-12 prunes pitted, chopped
- 3 teaspoons paprika combination of sweet and hot
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 allspice berries
- 1 tablespoon tomato puree
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon flour +1½ tbsp cold water
- 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable stock
Instructions
- Cook onion: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil and butter until the butter has melted then add the onion, bay leaf and allspice berries and cook gently for about 4 minutes until softened stirring often.
- Add vegetables: Add the carrots, peppers, tomato and garlic.
- Add beans: Add the beans as well as bean water, paprika, prunes and stock. Stir then cover and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.TIP: There won’t be too much liquid in the pot at this point, but the vegetables will release lots of water as they cook.
- Brown mushrooms: In the meantime, prepare the mushrooms. In a large non-stick pan heat 1 tablespoon of oil, add the mushrooms and cook over a fairly high heat for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned and the moisture has evaporated. Set aside.TIP: Do not stir the mushrooms too much as they cook (they will brown better).
- Add mushrooms: To the goulash pot add the mushrooms, cover and continue cooking for 10 more minutes. Towards the end of cooking add the tomato puree and soy sauce.
- Thicken goulash: In a small bowl dissolve the flour with 1.5 tablespoons of cold water and stir until smooth. Add a couple of tablespoons of the goulash mixture then pour the slurry into the pot and stir until evenly distributed. Cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat, adjust the seasoning as needed and serve with fresh parsley.
Notes
- Try not to cook your vegetable goulash for too long so the vegetables do not end up being too soft.
- It tastes even better the next day, which is why I recommend making it in advance and reheating the next day.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.
- Freeze for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
*Nutritional information is automatically generated and should be considered as an estimate.
**A note about baking: If using a fan-assisted oven refer to your appliance's instructions and adjust the temperature accordingly.
Keep in touch!
If you make this vegetarian goulash with beans I’d love to know how it turned out for you. How did you serve it? Let me know in the comments below, thanks:)
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