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This traditional Hungarian Pörkölt is a rich and flavorful pork stew simmered in a paprika-infused sauce, served over noodles, potatoes, or dumplings.
You should make Hungarian Stew tonight!
You should make Hungarian Stew tonight!What I love most about this Pörkölt Hungarian Stew recipe is how deeply flavorful it is, despite being made with such simple, humble ingredients. My brother’s time in Hungary introduced our family to so many new dishes, but this one stuck with us. It’s cozy, comforting, and tastes like something you’ve cooked all day, even though it’s incredibly easy to prepare. The sweet Hungarian Paprika gives it such a unique and rich flavor that’s impossible to replicate with anything else. If you have to substitute regular paprika, the flavor will be a little different and you will only need a few teaspoons instead of tablespoons.
This Porkolt recipe often gets mis-titled as Hungarian Goulash. While both are delicious, Hungarian Goulash is more of a soup while Porkolt is thicker, similar to the consistency of beef stroganoff, and served over egg noodles.
What Meat To Buy For Stew:
- Choose Tough Meat! Inexpensive, tough cuts of meat are perfect because the meat simmers for hours, which break down and to soft and fall apart tender.
- Don't Use Pre-Cut: Avoid the packaged “stew meat” that is already cut into pieces because these are the odds and ends of different cuts of beef and they won't cook as evenly.
- The Right Cut of Meat: Check the sale section for cuts of meat that come from the shoulder and rear of the cow. I always look for chuck first: chuck shoulder, chuck roast, or top chuck. If you can't find that, choose a round roast, rump roast, or top round roast.
How to make Pörkölt:
Sear Meat: Season meat with salt and pepper then place in a skillet with hot oil, browning on all sides. Don't crowd the meat, we don't want this meat to steam we want it to sear. Set aside.
Make Sauce: Dump onions in the pan and cook until golden. Add the meat back in to the pot along with tomato sauce, bouillon cubes, water, paprika, and vinegar. Bring to a simmer then reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for 2 hours, or until the meat is fall apart tender. Take the pot off of heat and let it cool for 10 minutes.
Serve: Stir in sour cream and serve over homemade egg noodles or mashed potatoes.
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Pörkölt
Ingredients
- 2 pounds chuck roast, , cut into bite size pieces
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- Fresh cracked Salt and pepper
- 2 onions, , diced
- 8 oz tomato sauce
- 2 teaspoons beef bouillon paste, , or 2 beef bouillon cubes
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 Tablespoons Hungarian Sweet Paprika
- 1 tsp vinegar
- ¼ cup of sour cream
- 1 lb egg noodles
Instructions
- Sear meat: Season beef pieces on all sides with salt and pepper. Add oil to a large cast iron pot over medium heat-high heat. Once hot, add steak, in small batches, and brown on all sides. Don’t crowd the meat in the pan or it will steam instead of sear. Set aside the seared beef onto a plate.2 pounds chuck roast, Fresh cracked Salt and pepper, 2 Tablespoons oil
- Cook sauce ingredients: Add a little more oil to the pan, if needed and reduce heat to medium. Add onions and cook until golden. Return the meat back to the pot, along with tomato sauce, bouillon cubes, water, paprika and vinegar.2 onions, 8 oz tomato sauce, 2 teaspoons beef bouillon paste, ½ cup water, 3 Tablespoons Hungarian Sweet Paprika, 1 tsp vinegar
- Simmer: Cover pot, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours, until meat is fall apart tender. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then stir in the sour cream. Taste and add additional salt and pepper, as needed.¼ cup of sour cream
- Serve: Boil noodles according to package instructions and serve pörkölt over them.1 lb egg noodles
Notes
- Substitute meat– any kind of meat can be used. Substitute chicken, pork, or other game meat.
- Add vegetables– feel free to add any cooked or sautéed vegetables at the end, or add small chopped potatoes or carrots during last 30 minutes of cooking.
- Paprikás – Add additional sour cream and this dish becomes a new hungarian favorite, paprikás!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I originally shared this recipe March 2020. Updated December 2025.
We have ourselves another winner on our books right here. When I had a recipe on back-up to use up some cauliflower in the fridge – the classic karfiolleves (a.k.a. cauliflower soup) – it was high time to pair it with a Hungarian meal. And I needed to venture beyond the classical paprikash.
While there was a mistake firsthand on my part, finding out the defrosted meat was mince instead of steak, it was time to make lemonade from the lemons. The rest of the ingredients combined created something close to a bolognese sauce, albeit with a slightly spicy tinge. That was in part of serving it alongside spaghetti.
For how good it was substituting ground meat on a whim, that is merely a taste of how good it would be with a decent cut of beef. And the paprikash was enough for me to consider Hungarian worthy of a bit more love, and a second-round success will have me seeking the next recipe from Hungary before I know it.
Perfectly delicious! I should not be surprised! I love all your recipes! I ordered the paprika off Amazon and I am glad I did! Served over mashed potatoes. I will definitely make this again.
While this stew looks delicious, it’s goulash (Gulyás in Hungarian) not Pörkölt. They are two different things. Gulyás is made with beef, Pörkölt is made with pork.
No one cares what it’s called.Eat it.
I thought this was absolutely fantastic! It only got better with time, so was perfect for leftovers. I initially hesitated putting the vinegar in, but so glad that I did. It really added something. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Now, THAT is a useful comment! I’ll not second-guess the original recipe.
Can this be made In crockpot
I would sear the meat first and then add it to the crock pot on low until tender!
Yes, cook on low for 5-6 hours or so, until the meat is tender.
So yummy and simple. Just takes a little planning ahead to allow for the slow simmer. Mine ended up needing about 2.5-3 hours for the fall-apart meat.
My mom was Hungarian (immigrated to USA in 1951) and I grew up eating these types of dishes. You nailed it!! Delicious and authentic.
If you make this, don’t change a thing!! ❤️
Made this today and it was magnificent! Thank you for the recipe. It was full of flavor, very easy to make and enjoyed by all.
Hi, I want to congratulate you. We also add a tiny sliced paprika after the onion.
All the Best, Nikolett
from Hungary
Real Hungarian Gulasch doesn’t have vegetables in it, unless you consider onions vegetables.
The seasonings for a real Gulasch are different as well.
You must be thinking of Letscho, it is another beef dish that contains Bell Peppers along side of onions, garlic and tomatoes.
The Letscho doesn’t contain any meat, only bacon cubes, hungarian wax peppers, tomato, onion and paprika powder. The original Goulasch is a soup with meat, carrot, onion, potato, tomato, wax pepper and spices. This recipe looks pretty promising, only in authentic Pörkölt don’t put sour creme and vinegar.
This isn’t a goulash recipe, it is Pörkölt.