Recipe for a vegan Goulash with smoked tofu & potatoes. Perfect fall/winter food – very comforting and delicious. It practically cooks itself!
The temperatures have been dropping significantly lately… this means… fall is coming. And while I really enjoyed this crazy-hot summer, I’m looking forward to all the delicious fall and winter veggies and dishes. Soups, stews, goulashes… here I come!
Goulash is one of these dishes that practically cook themselves – they don’t need constant monitoring which makes them great meals, when you don’t have a lot of time to spend on cooking. Also… I think Goulash gets better with every time it’s reheated like chili!
We’ve got a zero-waste supermarket in Linz now, called Holis, and I’m so happy to collaborate with them. They offer recipe boxes, meaning people can choose a recipe they like and they can get all the ingredients needed for the recipe ready to go in a neat looking tote bag. This should help people who have problems with leftovers (because they only buy the ingredients in the amounts they need for a recipe) and motivate people who don’t know what to cook usually. I’m so happy that this vegan Goulash was among the first recipes, people could choose! I love it when vegan recipes are easily accessible. That’s why I started the blog all along and I really appreciate having the opportunity to provide vegan recipes for this new supermarket.
This is a recipe for a vegan Goulash with smoked tofu and potatoes. Somehow I always thought that I don’t like smoked tofu – well, I tried it again and now I love it! I even snack it plain and uncooked sometimes. Yumm. Smoked Tofu is perfect for dishes like this goulash because the tofu is firm, has a strong taste and goes well with saucy kinds of meals.
The amount of paprika powder in this recipe may seem excessive.. but they are really meant to be 5 tablespoons of paprika powder in there. Goulash is one of the national dishes of Hungary and is traditionally a stew of meat and vegetables, which are seasoned with paprika and other spices. The smoked tofu takes in this dish the role of the meat. So there is no strict recipe for the traditional “goulash” but there are many varieties and also many possibilities (why not add in some broccoli or mushrooms next time?).
- 2 1/2 cups diced potatoes (about 6 medium-sized potatoes)
- 1 onion
- 5 garlic cloves
- 5 tablespoons paprika powder , mild
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon canola oil
- 8 oz smoked tofu
- 2 1/2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- Dice the onion and mince the garlic cloves. Wash, peel if necessary, and cut potatoes in small cubes. Dice the smoked tofu.
- Heat the canola oil in a big pot.
- Put the diced onion & minced garlic in the pot.
- When the onion and garlic are starting to brown, add the potato cubes, smoked tofu and paprika powder and give it a good mix.
- Let it roast for about 2-3 minutes, then add 2 1/2 cups (500ml) of water.
- Let it cook without the lid on for about 30-45 minutes on medium-high heat, the water will reduce itself. If the goulash is getting too thick, you can add more water again until the potatoes are soft & the goulash has reached the preferred consistency.
- Add the salt, dried marjoram & tomato paste and stir until the tomato paste dissolves.
- Add more salt to taste & enjoy for example with some homemade bread.
If you like it spicy, you can also add Sriracha or cayenne powder.
If you make this this vegan Goulash with smoked tofu and potatoes, I’d be so happy if you’d leave me a comment. Should you post a photo of it on instagram, please use the hashtag #elephantasticvegan and tag me via @elephantasticvegan. I loooove to see all your lovely creations! Thanks <3
I’ve never really known what goulash was, but it looks wonderfully savory and easy! And there are potatoes involved, so I’m convinced :) A no-waste supermarket is amazing, I wish all supermarkets would follow suit! And so cool that you got to partner up with them, way to go girl!
Thanks, Natalie! Potatoes are THE best! Goulash is basically a stew with a lot of paprika (I hope I don’t get hit for saying this :D). It’s a real comfort food for me and there are so many variations. I like goulash with veggie sausages too :) But I think the word “goulash” sounds really gross. I don’t know why. Even in german it doesn’t sound any better. gulasch. hahaha. Yes, it’s so cool to have this new supermarket in Linz! I wish all supermarkets would follow their concept too. I’m glad I can cooperate with them, maybe a few people will get motivated to opt for a vegan meal instead of a normal one! :D Small steps…small steps. :)
Dear Natalie! Actually Goulash came from Hungary. It is a stew with meat without veggies.
…and therefore she uploaded this vegan version. What’s wrong with that?
Thank you for your support, Carmen! I love providing vegan alternatives for usually meat-loaded dishes. :)
Well it looks like chili! I love leftovers more than the original with most things most of the time, hahaha!
Hah, it’s super similar, you’re right! Just a stew with some stuff in it and paprika powder :D yumm, but super comforting :) I think so too. Sometimes leftover ingredients turn in the most amazing meals. But there are many people who don’t know what to do with leftovers, are lacking cooking expertise or imagination and then the stuff often lands in the trash. I hate food waste and I hope I can help reduce it a bit by cooperating with the supermarket :)
Smoked tofu is a so-so food for me, too. Sometimes i like it, sometimes not. This goulash looks way different from my grandma’s or mum’s traditional kind but totally delicious (and it’s vegan so I’d obviously prefer it these days :)).
Congrats on being featured in this supermarket, too. There are a few ‘Unverpackt’ stores around here, too, but I have yet to actually visit one as I don’t live close by.
That’s really cool. I just checked out the unverpackt website and it looks amazing. I think there are a few stores like these popping up in the bigger cities now and I like it! But I hope all supermarkets will introduce these concepts in their stores because only a few people really go to zero-waste stores and the majority doesn’t get reached by these new concepts. Somehow my goulashes (plural?) look different every time I make them. I add in whatever I have at home and sometimes I toss in veggie sausages which is really, really good too.
It sounds like your goulash preparation process is like mine when it comes to chili ;).
By the way: I just thought of something else regarding the zero waste aspect. Do you know the app ‘Zu gut für die Tonne’? It’s based on that idea and you should submit some of your recipes to that! A great concept but they lack vegan ideas which you could easily provide.
what a wonderful idea! I’ve never heard of that app but it sounds like such a great concept. I’ll totally check it out. Thanks for mentioning! :)
That looks sooo delicious, Bianca! I’ve actually been enjoying smoked tofu in the last few weeks for the first time and I’m loving it. And thanks for the note about the 5 tbsp paprika — if you didn’t say anything I would have thought it was a typo… Now I’m super curious what a dish with that much paprika will taste like :)
I always thought I that I never liked smoked tofu until I tried it again. Yes, this dish is super paprika-heavy.. I should have given the amount of paprika in cups haha :D
The no-waste supermarket sounds amazing! I have been hoping we get a no-waste supermarket here too, but I think my town is too small :( and that is so awesome that you collaborated with the supermarket so people could choose a recipe box for this goulash! I wish I lived in Linz, I would definitely go buy one :D
Thank you, Kyra, that’s really sweet of you! Linz is usually soooo behind, so it’s especially cool that we have this new market here :) They actually have changing recipes for the recipe boxes each week (always 3-4 recipes) so it doesn’t get boring for the customers and the staff still can handle packaging the ingredients. I like the idea of the boxes, I hope enough people will buy them so the concept proves to be successful :)
Where does one find smoked tofu?
We have smoked tofu in the stores but you could make an alternative by using extra firm tofu and marinating it in a liquid smoke-water-a bit of soy sauce mixture for a couple of hours or overnight. It’s not the same but it would be a nice alternative :)
Mind if I ask what brand you use? Maybe I can find it. Are you not in the US?
I’m not from the US; I’ve used the “Vegavita” smoked tofu which is an Austrian brand. But we do have a couple of different brands offering smoked tofu like taifun, viana,… I hope you can find some in the US. The differences in food assortments never fail to amaze me :D
Ok, thank you!
That supermarket sounds awesome! This looks so good! Growing up we ate something called goulash, but this looks infinitely better.
Hahaha, thank you so much Casey! And was the goulash you had something like this or completely different – with lots of paprika, and veggies (usually there’s meat in there…beef or something like that, haha)? Too bad the supermarket closed its doors 1 month ago. It seems that not enough people are willing to spend more money for a zero-waste-concept, yet. I really hope regular supermarkets are picking up on having bulk sections or something like that, allowing it to buy more products without plastic packaging. We don’t really have that here.
I do love a goulash and it is certainly getting cold enough for it here!
Um yesss! It has been raining for a couple of days straight here, but at least it’s goulash/curry/stew/soup season again :D
Have you tried making this with “smoked paprika”? I noticed in the supermarket that they had this and thought it might make it super-smokey which would be desirable?
Hi Patricia, I haven’t tried subbing all the paprika powder for smoked paprika.. because I think it would be too intense..too smokey. The recipe calls for 5 tablespoons, which is a lot. I think a good mixture of smoked paprika and mild paprika would be a good idea. But if you’re a super smokey person – totally give it a try, it might be exactly what you want :) The good thing with goulash (and all stew-types meals) is that you can start with less spices and add more to taste.
Omg this was the reincarnation of DELISH!! I can’t stress enough how it embodied comfort food! Incredibly simple to make & super flaverful.
We chose French Baguette & Ciabatta breads to accompany.
I will most definitely come back to this dish for many years to come!
Oh wow! You have no idea how happy that makes me, Silvia! You’re the best! :) Thank you for the amazing review!