Vegetarian Potato Goulash Recipe

This Potato Goulash is completely vegetarian and a common weeknight dinner meal during the cold winter months in Austria.

The one-pot wonder is easy to make and you just need a few ingredients to prepare the soup within 30 minutes.

Jump to:

• 📕 What is this dish?
• 🔪 How to make it?
• 📜 Recipe Origins
• 🌽 Potato Goulash Variations
• 🥘 Other Goulash Varieties
• 🍴 Serving
• 🍱 Storing
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

📕 What is this dish?

The Austrian Goulash soup with potatoes is a dish we all grew up with, in Austria.

The authentic goulash with potato is better known as Erdäpfelgulasch in Austria or Kartoffelgulasch in Germany (Potatoes are known as Erdäpfel in some parts of Austria and some say Kartoffeln).

In a nutshell, Potato goulash is a one-pot vegetarian or vegan goulash recipe.

In other words, it's a meatless goulash recipe which doesn't include any of the Austrian sausage recipes.

It's based on the regular Hungarian goulash and includes the same spices such as Paprika powder and Caraway seeds.

🔪 How to make it?

Here is an overview on how this soup comes together. You can find the detailed recipe with US and metric measurements in the recipe card further below.

Step 1

Sauté onion slices soft.

Stir in bay leaf, garlic and potatoes.

Season with paprika and caraway seeds, mix it all over the heat for a minute.

Step 2

Continue to add the tomato purée, black pepper, salt and broth.

Mix and cook your soft until potatoes are soft.

Step 3

Take out bay leaf.

Serve up and top with sour cream or cream and some fresh parsley.

📜 Recipe Origins

I didn't find a Historical background to the Potato Goulash.

The potato arrived during the Renaissance in Europe, and perhaps that's when the Goulash with potato was created.

The plant-based goulash was most probably based on the meat goulash recipe.

Hungarians have a potato version as well, a sweet goulash with potato.

The humble potato is one of the most inexpensive ingredients, making this vegetarian goulash soup a budget meal.

One could call it "the poor mans" goulash.

I'd rather call it the last minute, awesome, comforting, super easy weeknight goulash dinner meal!

🌽 Potato Goulash Variations

The Non-Vegetarian variation of this goulash is prepared with sausages, such as Wiener Sausages, Frankfurters or even little Vienna sausages.

You can add the following ingredients to this dish.

• Carrots
• Corn
• Beef

There is a whole goulash world out there!

Goulash dishes come in different variations. Goulash can be a main course dish with gravy, a thick stew or a soup.

🥘 Other Goulash Varieties

Classic Austrian Goulash

You might recall that I had posted my Beef Goulash recipe.

There are a bunch of different Austrian goulash versions.

For example Esterházy goulash, Beans goulash, Pörkölt, Farmer's goulash, Emperor's goulash, and Szegediner goulash to just name a few.

Certainly, there are many more goulash variations in Austria which are better known in the local regional villages and valleys.

East European Goulash

Goulash is a very Hungarian meal.

Due to the fact that Austria and Hungarian used to be one empire, along with other East European countries, the dish got a chance to gain in popularity quickly.

In time, the goulash traveled all over central & East Europe, and each region has a favorite of their own.

The Goulash "mutated" in each region in its own way.

Local cooks would always use locally available ingredients to serve with common popular side dishes from the region.

The Hungarian goulash is a classic spiced meat stew and this a very generalized term as is the case with other east European goulash meals.

Just as in Austria, Hungarian goulash have local names and variations exist, such as the Hungarian sausage goulash.

• Czech goulash
• Polish sausage goulash
• sweet potato goulash
• sausage goulash
• hamburger goulash with potato

🍴 Serving

We in Tyrol (western Austrian alps) serve this goulash with dark black bread (It's a bread type, and it's not burned!) or with a light lettuce salad.

A cabbage salad with a simple vinegar dressing and caraway seeds is a great idea too with the soup. I also recommend serving this soup with ground horseradish and a scarlet runner beans salad.

🍱 Storing

Store leftovers in your fridge for up to 5 days. Reheat them over the stove top or in your oven in a baking dish or in the microwave.

You can add this dish to your meal prepping menu!

The soup can also be frozen in batches in freezer-friendly containers. I like to use glass containers with a clip lid that are also oven and microwave-friendly.

📖 Recipe