This site contains affiliate links. Please see Policies for more information.

Goulash was a dinner staple in my household growing up. I love the simple, clean ingredients and how filling it is. Cooking this as an easy Instant Pot recipe makes it even easier by using only one pot and allowing you to walk away while it cooks it for you!

I love pressure cooking because it helps cut down the time I stand in front of my stove. Using a pressure cooker allows the meal to cook faster, and it is almost always a one pot clean up- my favorite type of kitchen mess.

This Instant Pot Turkey Goulash Recipe is healthy, quick and easy, and turns this classic family recipe into a one pot meal. Plus, you can hide a ton of vegetables in this meal and your picky eaters will never know. 

We realize that not everyone has an Instant Pot at home, so we’ve included stovetop directions for our Instant Pot Turkey Goulash recipe. It’s just as delicious whether you make it in the Instant Pot or on the stove. We have all the details on how to make this delicious Turkey Goulash Recipe in an Instant Pot or on the stovetop.

Where’s the recipe?

I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I receive a lot of questions about recipes.

To better serve all of my readers here at My Crazy Good Life, I’ve made a commitment to put a ton of helpful information in all of my posts. We know that we have readers of all levels of expertise when it comes to cooking.

If you’d like to skip over the parts about nutrition, swapping ingredients, and healthy eating plan point information, please simply scroll to the bottom of the page, where you will find the printable Instant Pot Turkey Goulash recipe.

Ingredients in Instant Pot Turkey Goulash Recipe:

  • Ground Turkey: Ground turkey is a leaner option than ground beef, but ground beef is delicious in this recipe as well. 
  • Garlic: To save time you can buy your garlic already minced, just make sure to check your ingredients. Sometimes they sneak in fillers. We prefer fresh minced garlic over garlic powder any day.
  • Italian Seasoning: This seasoning blend is a must for every spice cabinet. Italian seasoning is a blend of marjoram, thyme, rosemary, sage, oregano and basil.
  • Onions: I like to keep already minced onions in the freezer for recipes like this that only use a small amount. You can freeze your own, or buy them already cut and frozen from the store. 
  • Bay Leaves: Bay leaves are an aromatic leaf commonly used in cooking. They add great depth of flavor to soups, stews, and pasta dishes. Be sure to remove them after cooking and before eating!
  • Zucchini: This low-calorie summer squash is loaded with many nutrients such as vitamin C, manganese, potassium, magnesium, and vitamin K. 
  • Bell Peppers: Also known as sweet peppers, bell peppers belong to the nightshade family, which can be eaten cooked or raw, and are loaded with vitamins. Green bell pepper is delicious in this dish!
  • Crushed Tomatoes: Crushed tomatoes tend to be the most flavorful. We love using fire roasted tomatoes too! If you cant find these, you could substitute a jar of no added sugar tomato sauce in place of the crushed tomatoes, if you prefer. If you do this, also skip the seasonings in this recipe.
  • Noodles: Whole wheat pasta is lower in calories, but higher in fiber, and other micronutrients than its more refined counterparts. The slow burning whole grains will keep you full for longer, too. I prefer elbow macaroni pasta for this recipe. You can also substitute gluten free pasta if needed.
ingredients needed to make Instant Pot Turkey Goulash Recipe

How to Make Instant Pot Turkey Goulash Recipe in the Instant Pot

  1. Lightly spray the inside of the Instant Pot liner with oil and set to sauté.
  2. Add your turkey to the pot. Use a spatula to break apart any large chunks of turkey. Cook until meat is browned and crumbled.
  3. Add garlic, Italian seasoning, onions, and bay leaves to the pot. Mix well to evenly coat your turkey.
  4. Add chopped zucchini, bell peppers, crushed tomatoes and 14 oz of water to the pot.
  5. Add whole wheat noodles. Stir together, making sure all of the pasta is covered.
  6. Close and lock the lid and turn the valve to sealing. Select Pressure cook and set time for 3 minutes.
  7. When the cook time is up, quick release the pressure and remove the lid. To quick release, move your sealing valve from Sealing to Venting. Steam will shoot out of the valve, so be careful to not get your hands in the way.
  8. Give everything one final stir, and serve topped with shredded cheese if you’d like.
collage of images showing steps to make Weight Watchers Goulash Recipe

How to Make Instant Pot Turkey Goulash Recipe on the Stovetop

  1. Sauté the ground turkey.
  2. Cook pasta noodles to package instructions in a large pot.
  3. Combine the spices, and crushed tomatoes. Or you can substitute this step with jarred pasta sauce. 
  4. Add cut veggies, meat, and pasta sauce (homemade or store bought) to the cooked pasta and simmer for 10 minutes. 
  5. Top with shredded parmesan cheese, if desired, and serve warm.
goulash with shredded cheese on top

Recipe Tips:

  • If you would like to hide your vegetables in our Instant Pot goulash recipe, you can add them all to your food processor and pulverize them. They will be hidden and your family will still get the benefits of eating the vegetables.   
  • If you’d like to use frozen ground turkey or frozen ground beef please read these posts for more tips and information.
  • If you are using gluten free noodles reduce your cooking time to 2 minutes – try to find gluten free elbow macaroni, if possible. 
  • If your noodles are undercooked, turn your Instant Pot to sauté for an additional minute or two until your noodles reach desired doneness. Be sure not to cook the pasta for longer than recommended, you don’t want mushy pasta in your instant pot goulash.
  • Diced tomatoes would work if you can’t find crushed tomatoes. You could also manually crush whole peeled tomatoes with your hands or using a potato masher.
  • This recipe is easy to customize for your family’s tastes.  You can omit the zucchini and double up on the bell peppers, add fresh chopped onions, riced cauliflower, the options are endless. 
  • You may also use lean ground beef or other ground meat for this instant pot goulash recipe. We prefer lean ground turkey.
  • This recipe is also called American Goulash or American Chop Suey.
close up of goulash in instant pot

Healthy Eating Plans

More Instant Pot Recipes that are both Healthy and Delicious

white bowl with goulash
4.54 from 50 ratings
click the stars to rate!

Instant Pot Turkey Goulash Recipe

Created by: Becca Ludlum
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes
Approximate Serving Size: 1 1/4 cup
Servings 6
This healthy goulash recipe an easy one pot meal! Instant Pot Goulash is a fast dinner that the whole family will love!

Equipment

  • Instant Pot 6 qt
  • Food processor
  • Sealing Rings

Ingredients 

  • 1 lb ground turkey
  • 1 cup zucchini chopped
  • 1 cup bell peppers chopped
  • 1/2 cup onions chopped
  • 1 cup whole wheat pasta
  • 14 oz water

Optional: you can substitute the following with 1 jar of pasta sauce, or you can make your own with the ingredients below.

  • 1 tbsp garlic minced
  • 2 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 14 oz crushed tomatoes

Instructions

  • Turn Instant Pot to sauté and brown the ground turkey. 1 lb ground turkey
  • (Note: If you're using jarred pasta sauce, omit the seasonings and tomatoes.) Add garlic, Italian seasoning, minced onions, and 2 bay leaves. Toss in chopped zucchini and bell peppers. 1 tbsp garlic, 2 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning, 1/2 cup onions, 2 bay leaves, 1 cup zucchini, 1 cup bell peppers
  • Mix so that the seasonings and veggies are distributed.
  • Pour 8 ounces of dry whole wheat pasta, 1 can of crushed tomatoes, and 14 oz of water over the vegetables. 1 cup whole wheat pasta, 14 oz crushed tomatoes , 14 oz water
  • Stir until the pasta is fully mixed with the sauce. Lock the lid into place and turn the pressure valve to sealing. Cook on high pressure using the manual function for 3 minutes. Use the quick release method to release the pressure. Give it a final stir to mix everything together and let the goulash cool for a few minutes.
  • Top with cheese if desired and serve warm.

Video

Notes

Makes six equal servings of 1 1/4C each.
21 Day Fix Container Count, per serving: 2/3 red container, 1/2 green container, 1 yellow container. For the entire 21 Day Fix Goulash Recipe: 4 Red Containers, 4 Green Containers, and 4 Yellow Containers.
2B Mindset: This is a complete 2B Mindset lunch recipe
For the Weight Watchers version and counts, click here
Recipe Tips 
  • This is a great recipe for meal prep. Goulash freezes nicely and reheats easily for on the go lunches and dinners. 
  • If you would like to hide your vegetables from picky eaters you can add them all to your food processor and pulverize them.      
  • If you are using gluten free noodles reduce your cooking time to 2 minutes. 
  • If your noodles are undercooked, turn your Instant Pot to sauté and boil and addition minute or two until your noodles reach desired doneness. 
  • This recipe is easy to customize for your family’s tastes.  You can omit the zucchini and double up on the bell peppers, add fresh chopped onions, riced cauliflower, the options are endless.
Stovetop directions:
  1. Sauté ground turkey.
  2. Boil noodles per packaging instructions in a large pot.
  3. Combine the spices and crushed tomatoes. Or you can substitute this step with jarred pasta sauce. 
  4. Add cut veggies, meat, pasta sauce (homemade or store bought) to the cooked noodles and simmer for 10 minutes. 
  5. Top with parmesan cheese, if desired, and serve warm.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 160kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 42mg | Sodium: 133mg | Potassium: 571mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1015IU | Vitamin C: 42mg | Calcium: 71mg | Iron: 3mg

Make This Recipe?

Make sure to follow on Pinterest @bludlum and on Instagram @beccaludlum

Similar Posts

Did you love this recipe?

Make sure to comment below so we can chat about it! Or follow on your favorite social network for even more family recipes.

70 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Made this using whole wheat shells tonight. It was sooo good! A nice, easy, healthy dinner that the whole family approved of. Will be making again!

  2. Am I able to use gluten free pasta? What is the adjustment please? I can pre cook the pasta on the stove, if not. Oncd the pasta is cooked, do I add to the instant pot, cooked, omit the water and seal per the rest of the instructions? Thanks!

    1. Yes, you can use gluten free pasta but I don’t cook with it so I’m not sure about the adjustment. If you cook on the stove, I’d add the noodles at the very end and only cook the sauce and veggies for 2 minutes.

  3. We love goulash and I am excited to try it in the IP! Your recipe looks so simple and I am excited to give it a go. Any suggestions for if I want to double the recipe? I like to freeze some for later if there are leftovers. Change time? Amounts of water?
    Thanks! 🙂

    1. I double this recipe all the time and use the same time! Maybe add a little water, but the extra veggies will help with that too!

  4. 5 stars
    I have made this several times and my whole family loves it! My big kids who are picky will eat around the zucchini, but it cooks down enough that they still get some unknowingly 😄 Super easy and delicious!

    1. terrydani says:

      If you double the recipe does it still cook for 3 mins?

      1. It does! Make sure to add extra water to that pasta can cook :)

  5. Anonymous says:

    How many WW points per serving?

  6. 5 stars
    My partner and I had this for dinner last night! Yummy! I hadn’t used my IP in forever because we moved last summer and I just didn’t unpack it. Boy, am I glad I dug it out! I had forgotten how easy it is to use!
    I doubled everything except the pasta and ground beef so we got a double dose of veggies. There was enough left over for our lunches today! Love that!
    Thanks, Becca!! Now to decide which IP recipe we’ll use for dinner this evening… 😀

    1. Oh, by the way, we used whole wheat penne pasta instead of the elbows because that’s what we had. This recipe is so versatile!

    2. Joyce, we had this for dinner last night too! 😂 I’m so glad that you like this–it’s one of our favorites!

  7. Linda Becker says:

    5 stars
    My partner and I are absolutely delighted with this recipe! We are a couple well into our 70’s and are experiencing some of the health problems that come with “maturity”. We’ve always tried to eat in a healthy way. Have had our Instant Pot for two years and have several recipes for it that we’ve enjoyed, but had never tried to use it to cook a one-pot pasta meal. I was skeptical, but much to my delight it was a wonderful success. The pasta (whole wheat) cooked perfectly – and I do mean perfectly….. I’m a little picky about the doneness of my pasta. I appreciated the detail of the step by step directions, as well as the encouragement to increase the zucchini and peppers. In addition, it is so refreshing to find a cooking website that actually recommends whole wheat pasta, which we have been using for years. We will be trying the Instant Pot Tuscan Chicken Pasta very soon. Thanks very much…especially for your attention to detail.

  8. Leigh Myers says:

    I love a lot of your recipes for the Instant pot and am about to embark on a journey with my husband in a semi truck with a 3 Qt instant pot and a lunch box stove as the only means to cook. How well do you recipes cut in half to fit into a 3 qt instant pot? Having leftovers really will not work when you are in a semi truck with a frig that is so small.

    1. Hey Leigh! I don’t often cook in a 3 qt, so I can’t speak directly to that, but when halving recipes in the pot, make sure that you always have enough liquid–especially for pasta dishes. Your 3 qt will require less liquid to come to pressure. I’ve had readers halve my recipes for the 3 qt often with no issues :)

  9. Shanon Matson says:

    I am so excited to “meet” you and start using my IP every day. I love all of the info you give too. I love sharing nutritional info.

  10. Stephanie Rose says:

    If you have frozen ground turkey you said to check the note but I guess I missed it. Any suggestions?

  11. PattiCakes says:

    I made this tonight and WOW!! It’s fantastic and so easy to make! I made the whole meal in my Ninja Foodie first by sautéing the ground turkey till done, adding the veggies, spices, water and noodles then pressure cooking for 3 minutes!!! Love it!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *