Traditional Croatian Goulash

Name: Traditional Croatian Goulash
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Croatian
Ingredients: 500g Beef; 2 chopped Onions; 2 chopped Carrots; 2 cloves Garlic; 2 Bay Leaf; 200ml Red Wine; 2 Litres Water; 3 tbs Mustard; 1tbsp Salt; 1/2 tsp Pepper; 1/2 tsp Paprika; 2 tbs Vegetable Oil

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Beef recipe with Croatian flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 57 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 35 min total

500g Beef
2 chopped Onions
2 chopped Carrots
2 cloves Garlic
2 Bay Leaf
200ml Red Wine
2 Litres Water
3 tbs Mustard
1tbsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Paprika
2 tbs Vegetable Oil

Step-by-step instructions

Clean the meat from the veins if there are some and cut it into smaller pieces, 3 × 3 cm. Marinate the meat in the mustard and spices and let it sit in the refrigerator for one hour.
Heat one tablespoon of pork fat or vegetable oil in a pot and fry the meat on all sides until it gets browned. Once the meat is cooked, transfer it to a plate and add another tablespoon of fat to the pot.
Cut the onions very fine, peel the carrots and shred it using a grater. Cook the onions and carrots over low heat for 15 minutes. You can salt the vegetables a little to make them soften faster.
Once the vegetables have browned and become slightly mushy, add the meat and bay leaves and garlic. Pour over with wine and simmer for 10-15 minutes to allow the alcohol to evaporate. Now is the right time to add 2/3 the amount of liquid.
Cover the pot and cook over low heat for an hour, stirring occasionally. After the first hour, pour over the rest of the water or stock and cook for another 30-45 minutes.
Allow the stew to cool slightly and serve it with a sprinkle of chopped parsley and few slices of fresh hot pepper if you like to spice it up a bit.
Slice some fresh bread, season the salad and simply enjoying these wonderful flavors.

Why this works on a weeknight

Traditional Croatian Goulash lands at about 35 minutes total — a little longer than our 30-minute target, but most of that time is hands-off simmering, which is why it earned a spot in our Skillet & One-Pan collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Traditional Croatian Goulash actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥘 Skillet & One-Pan Beef Croatian Soup