This slow-cooked beef paprika recipe is so easy to make in one pot and irresistibly comforting. It's made with tender beef in a thickened sweet paprika sauce similar to the Hungarian beef goulash recipe but slightly different.
Contents
⭐ Why this recipe works
Beef paprika is a savory dish similar to Hungarian beef goulash that is slow-cooked for 2 hours to tenderize the meat in the delicious sweet tomatoey sauce. It's a simple recipe that the whole family will love and that any home cook can make in 5 easy steps.
The secret ingredient that makes beef paprika stand out from all the other beef stews is the authentic hungarian paprika. This type of paprika has a robust sweetness that works well with tomato-flavored dishes and stew-like this beef paprika recipe.
The whole dish is put together in a dutch oven or slow cooker, making clean-up a breeze, and apart from some good stewing beef, the rest of the ingredients is garlic, onion, and spices mostly found in your pantry.
It's the perfect family meal that's rich and flavorful to enjoy with noodles. The sauce is perfectly spiced with the sweetness of the brown sugar and ketchup combined with the mustard and cayenne pepper heat.
🍽 Key Ingredients
Beef paprika is a delicious tender beef stew that's made in a dutch oven using authentic Hungarian paprika and some good stewing beef.
Beef - Ask your butcher for some good cubed stewing beef. It doesn't have to be the expensive stuff as it's gonna be really tender and delicious after 2 hours slowly cooked.
Paprika - Try to get your hands on some Hungarian paprika. It makes a big difference to the overall flavor compared to regular paprika.
Aromatics - Garlic and onion to cook with the beef.
Other sauces and spices - To give the sauce its sweet, rich flavor, you're gonna need some ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, dry mustard, and cayenne pepper.
Substitutions
Paprika
Hungarian paprika is not always readily available at grocery stores, and if this is the case, you could substitute it for Spanish smoked paprika. Sometimes called pimenton.
🔪 How to make
Beef paprika is such an easy recipe to make for your family, and you can learn how to make it with my foolproof cooking instructions and walkthrough video. It's as simple as throwing the ingredients into the dutch oven and letting the machine do the cooking.
You could use a crock pot or instant pot and use the slow cook setting if you have one.
Preparations
- Dice the onion and garlic, and trim the stew meat.
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
Melt the butter over medium heat in a dutch oven and cook the meat.
Step 2
Add onion and garlic to the pot. Cook and stir until the meat is brown and the onion is tender.
Step 3
Stir in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, paprika, mustard, cayenne, and 1½ cups water.
Step 4
Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 2 to 2½ hours.
Step 5
Blend corn starch with ¼ cup water and stir gradually into the meat mixture. Bring the heat to boiling, stirring constantly.
Step 6
Once the sauce has thickened, the beef paprika is ready to serve.
Step 7
Serve over noodles with a dollop of sour cream and chopped parsley.
💭 Cooking tips
Thickener
Add the corn starch gradually to the sauce to bring it to your desired thickness. It will thicken immediately upon pouring the corn starch into the boiling sauce.
📖 Recipe Variations
Beef paprika is a delicious beef stew that everyone will absolutely love and a recipe that tastes great with other ingredients added like garden vegetables.
Veggies - To make this beef stew more filling, you could cut 1 large potato and add it to the stew to simmer for 2 hours, as well as a can of green garden peas, mushrooms, and 1 chopped carrot.
Bacon - One of my go-to additions to give beef stew recipes smokiness is pancetta or smokey bacon. Buy the block form and cut it into small cubes. Cook it on high heat until crispy before adding the stew meat.
🥗 What to serve with
Beef paprika is pure comfort food served over long egg noodles, pasta, rice, or alongside potatoes.
Potatoes
Potatoes are a frequent side dish in my house, and these roast potatoes pair nicely with rich stews like this one. They're crispy with a touch of garlic and rosemary for flavor.
Rice
A simple side dish of jasmine white rice is perfect for soaking up the delicious thick gravy and tender beef.
Pasta
If you don't have egg noodles on hand, you could use any shaped pasta or spaghetti to serve with beef paprika.
🙋 Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hungarian-style paprika?
Authentic Hungarian paprika is made from red peppers that have been roasted and blended into a fine powder. The peppers have a distinctly sweet smokiness that creates a wonderful aroma and flavor in stews.
What cut of beef is best for beef paprika?
A lean beef cut that's inexpensive like chuck, top round, bottom round, or skirt is best for stewing. Buy the beef cut as a roast and cube it yourself, trimming the fat for a delicious rich in flavor stew.
🧊 Storing and ♨️ Reheating
Beef paprika tastes even better the following day as the flavors infuse into the beef, and it's easy to store and reheat.
Fridge - Transfer the cooled leftovers to an airtight container and place them in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Freezer - You can freeze and leftovers in freezer bags or a freezer container for up to 6 months. Thaw overnight for reheating.
Reheating - The quickest way to reheat leftover beef paprika is to microwave the contents in a microwavable bowl on high-power at 1-minute intervals until piping hot.
Or you could reheat leftovers in a saucepan over medium heat for 5 - 8 minutes until hot.
🍳 Related Recipes
If you love my moms beef paprika recipe. Try one of these fantastic dinner recipes for your next meal including my braised beef shank.
👪 Serving Size
This beef paprika recipe will provide you with six generous servings, or you could scale the recipe to cater to more guests. It's perfect for freezing and reheating purposes because it lasts for ages, making this beefy stew ideal for meal prep.
It's easy and finger-licking tasty! I hope you love it as much as I do!
🎥 Watch how to make it
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page.
Try one of my comfort dinner recipes for your next family meal! And if you have any questions, I'm here to help!
📋 Recipe
Mom's Beef Paprika
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 2 pounds stew meat - cubed
- 1 large onion - diced
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- ½ cup ketchup
- 2 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 3 teaspoon hungarian paprika
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard
- a dash cayenne pepper
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 tablespoon corn starch
- ¼ cup cold water
Instructions
- Melt the butter over medium heat in a dutch oven.
- Add the meat, onion, and garlic, and cook and stir until the meat is brown and the onion is tender.
- Stir in the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, paprika, mustard, cayenne, and 1½ cups water.
- Cover and simmer for 2 to 2½ hours.
- Blend cornstarch and ¼ cup water and stir gradually into meat mixture and heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute.
- Serve over noodles.
Jen
What type of noodles are these?. Thank you!
Judit
O.k. So as a true Hungarian by birth, this is not a traditional Hungarian version of this dish. #1. To get the true flavour of Paprika it should be incorporated in and broken down in the hot fat., carefully so as not to burn the paprika. #2, no ketchup or brown sugar ,yuck. Not needed" use a tomato and some green pepper instead. . Also we do not normaly brown the meat first. #3. No worchester sauce is needed and in many cases no extra water needed as the beef should release enough moisture. We would use a pinch of hot hungarian paprika instead of cayane pepper or mustard. Salt and pepper would be the only other seasonings. And no cornstarch, if you must thicken this dish use flour and water mix, or sour cream and flour misture. Then this dish would be beef paprikas.
Nancy McCullough
How would this be in a crock pot?
Tina McFadden
This was a fabulous recipe. Everyone enjoyed it. The only thing I did differently was to add more chili pepper flakes ..... we love hot foods. Tina
Elaine
If I use regular paprika will it taste the same? Can't seem to find Hungarian paprika here.
Beth Taylor
could this be made in an Instapot, or regular pressure cooker?
Sheila
Is there a way to just print the recipe without all the ads? It would be nice to print a recipe card instead of a sales catalogue.
Staci
Omg my whole family loved it. It was absolutely delicious. The sauce. Wow
Angie
Pork is less expensive, so I cut up a small pork roast and use that in place of the beef-still good! Thanks