Beef and Smoked Sausage Goulash (Instant Pot)

This flavorful beef and smoked sausage goulash is made in an Instant Pot, first up is the wonderfully rich meaty tomato sauce and then the (uncooked!) pasta is added. No fuss, no trouble, very delicious!

Growing up, goulash was one of my favorite meals.  Just a simple Bolognese sauce made with ground beef, mixed up with elbow macaroni. Kind of like Hamburger Helper but cooked from scratch. It was the perfect one-bowl kid food.

I’m not sure how this dish, so different from traditional Hungarian goulash got called by the same name, but speculation online is that they have beef and paprika in common and this version is properly called American goulash. I honestly don’t remember paprika in my mom’s dish though. All I know is that I loved it.

During our kitchen renovation a couple of months back, I was prepping and cooking in the laundry room on top of the dryer and washing machine, with a single hot plate, a slow cooker, an Instant Pot and a rice cooker. Meals got very creative in that small space!

From an appliance that I barely touched for the first four years that I owned it, my Instant Pot became my new best friend.

Beef and Smoked Sausage Goulash Instant Pot

If your family members don’t eat spicy foods, by all means substitute canned, diced tomatoes for the Ro-Tel, which comes in mild, original and hot. In any case, you can also use the store-brand equivalent. What I actually used this time, one of each:

Ingredients
For the sauce:
14 oz or 397g smoked sausage (Our favorite is Holmes Smokehouse with jalapeño)
1 medium onion, chopped finely
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 1/2 lbs or 1134g ground beef
2 cans (10 oz or 238g each) Ro-Tel diced tomatoes or store brand equivalent
1 can (6 oz or 170g) tomato paste
3 tablespoons dried Italian herbs
2 bay leaves
8 oz or 225g mushrooms

For adding the pasta:
1 beef stock cube
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 lb or 450g mini penne or elbow noodles

Optional for serving:
Parmesan cheese, grated
Crushed red pepper
Fresh parsley

Method
Cut your smoked sausage into half moon slices. Peel and chop your onion finely and mince the cloves of garlic.

Set your Instant Pot on sauté and add the olive oil to the pot along with the sausage. Cook the sausage, stirring frequently so it doesn’t stick, until it’s well browned.

Add in the chopped onion and minced garlic and give the whole thing a good stir.

Sauté for a few minutes or until the onion and garlic are soft and translucent. Use a slotted spoon to remove them to a bowl and set aside.

Add the ground beef to the Instant Pot.

Sauté until the meat is cooked through and well browned, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks. Ideally, it will even be crunchy in places. Drain the cooked beef and discard the grease created as the beef and sausage cooked.

Trim any hard ends off of the mushroom stems and slice the rest. Add them to the Instant Pot along with the sausage, onions and garlic, Ro-Tel, tomato paste, Italian herbs and bay leaves.

Use the Ro-Tel can to measure and add 1 1/2 cans of water to the pot. Give it all a good stir.

Put the lid on the Instant Pot and set it for 30 minutes on normal. When it finishes cooking, safely release the steam by putting a folded dish towel over it and releasing slowly.

Crumble in the beef stock cube and add 2 cups or 480ml water to the pot. Stir well until the stock cube is dissolved. Add in the salt and baking soda. Finally, add the pasta to the pot and stir very well, making sure the pasta is well covered by the liquid.

Put the lid back on and set the Instant Pot for 4 minutes. Once it’s done, put your dishcloth over the vent again and do a quick release. Stir well and remove the bay leaves before serving.

Top with grated Parmesan and parsley, if desired. We also love a sprinkle of crushed red pepper.

Enjoy!

It's MultiCooker Monday so I'm joining my fellow bloggers in sharing recipes made with our favorite small appliances like Instant Pots, air fryers, pressure cookers, slow cookers and even toaster ovens! Many thanks to our organizer and host, Sue of Palatable Pastime.

• Beef and Smoked Sausage Goulash from Food Lust People Love
• Instant Pot Ground Beef and Pasta from Making Miracles
• Black Eyed Pea Hummus from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Sweet Potato Fries using the Breville Smart Oven (air fryer) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Crockpot Veggie Fajitas from Veggies First Then Dessert
• Spinach & Masoor Dal - Pressure Cooker from Sneha's Recipe
• Saucy Taco Chicken Wings from Palatable Pastime
• Toaster Oven No-Knead Rolls from Sid's Sea Palm Cooking

Multicooker Monday is a blogger group created by Sue of Palatable Pastime for all of us who need encouragement to make better use of our small appliances like slow cookers, Instant Pots, Air Fryers, rice cookers and sous vide machines. We get together every third Monday of the month to share our recipes. If you are a food blogger who would like to post with us, please request to join our Facebook group.

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Irish Lamb Stew

Lamb shoulder is one of the tougher cuts so it is perfect for stewing, becoming melt-in-your-mouth tender as it simmers, creating its own rich gravy flavored by thyme, onion and garlic. Add in some Irish whiskey and lemon juice to brighten the whole pot. 

This week my Sunday Supper group is throwing a Spring Fling to celebrate spring recipes and my thoughts went immediately to lamb. It is the meat of choice in many cultures and countries for spring, as the weather starts to warm and the lambing begins.

We eat a lot of lamb at our house, whatever the season. It’s funny because in my growing up home, we never ate lamb. My grandmother thought it was too strong in flavor and she passed that prejudice on to my mother. It wasn’t until I started dating my British husband, that I discovered the delight of lamb and embraced the baaaah, as we used bleat when discussing lamb. Mom also didn’t like goat cheese for the longest time because she said she could taste the goat. My mother is a most adventurous eater, as I’ve written about here, so I am pleased to say that she got past her own childhood embargoes and will now eat both goat cheese and lamb chops. I am still working on her for leg of lamb or shoulder.

This stew starts with browning the lamb shoulder then adding onions, garlic and celery, along with Irish whiskey and lemon juice to the sticky pan. Then a long slow simmer makes sure that the meat is falling off the bones. When the nights are cold, as they still are in the frozen north of the US - never mind that we have passed the first official day of spring and it’s still SNOWING as I type this in Providence, Rhode Island - this dish will fill the kitchen with fragrant aromas and warm you, body and soul.

Ingredients
2.25 kg or almost 3 1/2 lb lamb shoulder, cut in thick slices
Flakey sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 large onion
2-3 stalks celery
3 cloves garlic
Handful sprigs fresh thyme plus more for garnishing before serving, if desired
1/4 cup or 60ml Irish whiskey
2 tablespoons or 30ml fresh lemon juice
3 medium sized potatoes or more to stretch your lamb to feed more people
1-2 medium sized carrots or more to stretch your lamb to feed more people

Method
Season your lamb shoulder on both sides with a good sprinkling of salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Dice your onion, celery and garlic.

Pan-fry the lamb in a little olive oil, just a few pieces at a time, so you don’t crowd the pan and they can brown well.

Remove them to a plate and continuing pan-frying until all the lamb is well browned on both sides.

Add the onions, celery and garlic to the pan and give it a good stir.

Cook for a few minutes over a medium flame and then add in the whiskey and the lemon juice. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to make sure all the sticky bits on the pan are loosened.

Add the lamb back to the pan, along with any meat juices that have accumulated on the plate.

Toss in a few sprigs of thyme and cover the pot with a tight fitting lid.

Simmer, covered for at least an hour, but, really, you could leave it for two, checking the liquid level occasionally and adding in a little water if it looks like the stew is going dry.

Meanwhile, peel your potatoes and carrots and cut them into chunks. Keep them in a bowl of cool water until you are ready to add them to the pan.

When the lamb is tender, drain the potatoes and carrots and add them to the pan. Give the whole thing a good stir to coat the potatoes and carrot with the pan juices. Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper and add some water to almost cover the meat, if more liquid is needed.

Cover your pot again and simmer another hour or so. Check the salt and pepper and add more if necessary. Garnish with a few more sprigs of thyme, if desired.

I always serve my lamb stew over white rice because I may not have been raised on lamb but rice and gravy was a childhood staple. In this, my grandmother would have been in complete agreement. Nothing better for a still chilly spring Sunday Supper than rice and a rich gravy.

I must confess that I also chose to share this recipe because lamb stew is one of my husband's favorite dishes. It's our 29th wedding anniversary today and although I am in Providence making new memories with our daughters, it is never far from my mind that I owe all of this to him. All of it.

Enjoy!

Are you ready for spring? I’ve got plenty of recipe inspiration for you today, along with our fabulous hosts, Valerie from Lifestyle Food Artistry and D.B. from Crazy Foodie Stunts and the Supper Sunday crew.

Beverages

• Easter Egg Smoothie by Sew You Think You Can Cook
• Home-made Limoncello by Manu's Menu
• Meyer Lemon Rosemary Martini by The Redhead Baker

Appetizers

• Asparagus and Roasted Garlic Hummus by Palatable Pastime
• Baked Lemon and Goat Cheese Dip by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Cauliflower Salad by Wallflour Girl
• Green Asparagus Soup with Seared Scallops by An Appealing Plan
• Panzanella Primavera by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Salmon Berry and Almond Salad with Lemon Honey Dressing by Family Foodie
• Skillet Spinach Artichoke Dip by Life Tastes Good

Sides

• Asparagus Gribiche by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Early Peas with Pearl Onions in Cream by Lifestyle Food Artistry
• Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Mustard Vinaigrette by Food Done Light
• Sauteed Artichokes & Potatoes by Carrie's Experimental Kitchen
• Spring Green Rice by Magnolia Days

Entreés

• Artichoke Pesto Pasta by PancakeWarriors
• Crispy Honey Chicken Spring Salad by Rants From My Crazy Kitchen
• Early Spring Risotto by Cooking Chat
• Honey Lemon Shrimp by Cindy's Recipes and Writings
• Irish Lamb Stew by Food Lust People Love
• Perfect Scrambled Eggs with Asparagus, Goat Cheese and Chives by Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
• Quiche Florentine by Curious Cuisiniere
• Roasted Lamb Chops, Fontina Cheese Polenta with Asparagus and Mushrooms by Crazy Foodie Stunts
• Root Vegetable Risotto by Momma's Meals
• Spring Lemon Pasta by MealDiva
• Spring Pea & Chèvre Souffle by FoodieTots
• Spring Vegetable Risotto by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Salmon and Strawberry Spinach Salad with a Kentucky Maple Vinaigrette by Dandelion Greens
• Tilapia with Classic Pesto by Whole Food | Real Families
• Veal Stew with Spring Greens by The Texan New Yorker

Desserts

• Berry Shortcakes by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Blueberry Coconut Macaroons by Pies and Plots
• Blueberry Rhubarb Muffins by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Carrot Cake Cookies by Noshing With The Nolands
• Carrot Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Icing by Take A Bite Out of Boca
• Gluten Free Healthy Hummingbird Cake by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
• Lemon Cream Pie with Girl Scouts Lemonade Cookie Crust by Our Good Life
• Lemon Meringue Pie by Serena Bakes Simply From Scratch
• Low-Fat Strawberry Muffins by Small Wallet, Big Appetite
• Matcha Strawberry Cake by Brunch with Joy
• Palm Sunday Easter Bread by Love and Confections
• Pretzels, Peanut Butter, and Beer Cake Recipe by Recipe for Perfection
• Sticky Carrot Squares by What Smells So Good?
• Three Berry Coconut Crispies by Simply Healthy Family

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