John Myers
Familiar, hearty and cooked according to the best family recipe? That can only be a perfect goulash! Whether exotic or traditional – it depends on the side dish with the goulash! Here you can find out which vegetables and salads go particularly well, what is the most popular side dish made from potatoes and the like, and how to choose the right counterpart for the meat!
Suitable side dishes for goulash
Thanks to traditional cuisine, ingenious family recipes and common goulash classics, the popular meat dish can be prepared in a wide variety of ways. The preferences for the meat itself also vary, which is why recipes such as venison goulash, turkey goulash or goulash soup have emerged. At least as diverse are the possible side dishes that are served with it. From the classic potato dumplings like at grandma’s Sunday dinner to hearty red cabbage or a quick cucumber salad: Pleasure knows no bounds here!
So that the next time you eat goulash, the (choice) choice does not become a torture, we show you the 23 best side dishes for goulash here.
Top 5 potato products
Potato products are the favorites among the goulash side dishes! No wonder, because everything great from the tuber goes perfectly as a filling side dish with goulash. Not least because potatoes and co. soak up the goulash sauce wonderfully. These 5 are particularly popular:
- Salt potatoes
- dumplings or dumplings
- Classic mashed potatoes
- potato gratin
- croquettes
Dumplings and dumplings are often served with goulash. And rightly so, because almost everyone associates them with a feast. You should not miss our Erzgebirge green dumplings and our homemade potato dumplings with semolina!
Top 6 Pasta
Pasta such as noodles and spaetzle are not only very popular with little sweet tooths, but also a great side dish when things have to be done quickly. The cooking time of pasta is easy to calculate, and usually no further preparation is required than a pot of boiling water. With these 6 side dishes for goulash you will make happy faces at the table:
- Bread dumplings or homemade serviette dumplings
- spaetzle
- Creamy polenta
- pasta
- rice
- Fresh bread or baguette
Freshly baked bread goes particularly well with a classic goulash soup. Our quick rye bread with sourdough cuts a great figure!
Tip: You can also easily make pasta yourself! Nothing can go wrong with our recipe for pasta made from durum wheat semolina.
6 types of vegetables as a goulash side dish
Even with a substantial portion of meat, the vitamins must not be neglected! Luckily, goulash goes well with many healthy vegetables. Cabbage in particular has a lot to offer with its countless varieties. You will find the best side dishes for goulash from the plant-based corner in these 6 varieties:
- Red cabbage
- traditional sauerkraut
- Cauliflower
- beans
- Mushrooms
- root vegetable
Here you can easily choose your favorite vegetable. But be careful: It is better to avoid particularly soft vegetables such as spinach or braised cucumbers, they often lose their intensity in addition to the strong goulash note and are lost in the consistency.
Tip: Mushrooms are a tasty accompaniment to goulash, especially with game.
6 salads as a goulash side dish
Even with such a hearty meal, freshness should not be missing! A salad is a great addition, isn’t it? You can’t go wrong with a crisp lettuce! It can also be a little more unusual:
- Raw beetroot salad
- Grandma’s style green bean salad
- Grandma’s style coleslaw
- Fruity red cabbage salad with apple
- Colorful lettuce
- Quick cucumber salad
Combine side dishes cleverly
Now you’re probably asking yourself: Which side dish goes best with my goulash? A simple rule of thumb helps here: For light meat, choose a fruity side dish and rice with goulash. For dark, strong meat, prefer potato variations, pasta and hearty types of cabbage! Goulash soup is best served with fresh bread or rolls and a crisp salad. But the same applies here: everything is possible, nothing is mandatory! Of course, you can also simply choose the side dish as you wish!
You know exactly which side dish you will like best, but are still looking for the perfect goulash recipe? Then take a look at our hearty beer goulash with dark beer or grandma’s classic goulash soup.
