Creamy Sauerkraut Stew (Slovak Segedinsky Gulash)
Sometimes it’s easy to get enthusiastic about fermenting, and then not know what to do with the work of your hands.
“Yes! Probiotics are healthy! Let’s make super easy sauerkraut! Oh, wait…how am I going to eat all this?”
Fortunately vegetable ferments stay good for a long time. In the fridge, sauerkraut can keep for years even, although it will continue to sour.
I’ll have a post with more recipes for eating sauerkraut soon, right now I have a Slovak stew that uses sauerkraut. Sauerkraut in soups or stews was totally new to me when I came to Slovakia, but they quickly became some of my favourites.
Segedinsky gulash (stew from Szegedin) is apparently originally Hungarian, but the Hungarian segedinsky gulash is a different stew, with peppers and no cream. This, then, is the Slovak version of segedinsky gulash.
Some of you may be wondering about the probiotics. Yes, if you cook sauerkraut it will loose it’s beneficial bacterial activity BUT this is a great way to introduce sauerkraut as a new taste to a somewhat unwilling audience.
This recipe is very adaptable. If you want it sweeter, cook more onions. If you like stews meat heavy, throw in more meat. Some recipes showed twice the amount of cream. So play with it as you will!
Normally the stew is thickened with flour and served over steamed bread (knedle). I decided to serve it over boiled potatoes, mashing the potatoes with a fork helps thicken the sauce. Sweet potatoes, orange or white, would also work well (for Paleos), or it could be eaten as a normal soup.
Segedinsky gulash also normally uses normal heavy cream (or sometimes sour cream) but I used coconut cream here to make sure it worked. It does work, although if I could choose I would take the dairy.
It is said that soup is better the next day; this is definitely true with this stew. The sauerkraut mellows much more by the next day and the flavours meld together.
- 2 large onions
- 50 ml/3 generous tbsp lard (or other cooking fat)
- 600g / 1.3 lb beef or pork stew meat
- 5 ml/ 1 tsp ground caraway
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 kg/2.2 lb sauerkraut
- 1 l/ 4 cups bone broth or water
- 30 ml/2 tbsp paprika
- 250 g/1 cup heavy cream or coconut cream
- salt and pepper to taste
- Chop onions. Melt lard or other oil in pot, cook onions over a slow heat until softened.
- Chop meat into cubes and add to onion, as well as caraway and bay leaf.
- Brown meat, then add paprika and quickly pour water over (paprika burns quickly), cover with the lid, and let simmer, 1 hr for pork, 3-4 hrs for beef.
- Coarsely chop sauerkraut so you don't have long strings and add to simmering pot, until the sauerkraut is soft, about 20 min.
- Just before serving add the cream or coconut cream.
- See above for serving suggestions.
Have you ever had sauerkraut in a soup or stew?
You’ll like these other sauerkraut recipes:
Strapacky: baked potatoes, bacon, and sauerkraut
Slovak Christmas Sauerkraut Soup (vegetarian version)
Shared at Savoring Saturdays, Fat Tuesday, Gluten Free Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Pennywise Platter Thursday
Nov 06, 2014 @ 18:23:58
Is there potatoes too? It looks like there is from the photo so wanted to ask. This looks so yummy!
Nov 06, 2014 @ 19:18:48
There aren’t potatoes in the stew, but I served it over potatoes in the last photo.
Aug 15, 2015 @ 04:36:31
Hi we tried this goulash last week with my homemade sauerkraut and short ribs. It was amazing thank you so much for sharing this treat.
Love from New Zealand.
Peter.
Aug 17, 2015 @ 21:31:24
So glad you liked it, Peter!
Nov 08, 2014 @ 05:54:31
Hi Naomi,
Looks hearty. I was wondering what cut of meat you use, or doesn’t it matter?
Nov 08, 2014 @ 15:04:48
Whatever you would use for stew. For pork, it could be shoulder or side, for beef, anything for soup. I wouldn’t use an expensive cut, the tougher cuts are perfect.
Nov 08, 2014 @ 14:39:50
You could probably add large diced potatoes to the pot at the same time you add the sauerkraut.
I’m making it tomorrow and will let you know how it turns out. Cooking for the week ahead so it will definitely have plenty of time to blend the flavors. 🙂
Nov 08, 2014 @ 15:05:24
Hope it turns out well!
Nov 17, 2014 @ 20:37:56
It turned out great! I did add the potatoes with the sauerkraut and they came out perfect. The kids loved it even though they don’t eat sauerkraut – I didn’t tell them.
Looking forward to more leftovers.
Nov 18, 2014 @ 02:18:04
Yay! Doing a little happy dance, so glad the non-sauerkraut eating kids liked it! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Nov 13, 2014 @ 02:26:33
mmmm, looks good. I want to try all the serving options (and what is steamed bread?!). Definitely getting into soup weather around here.
Nov 13, 2014 @ 11:08:10
Steamed or boiled bread. My mother in law makes a bread dough, makes a form free loaf shape, and then boils it for 20 min. It comes out very soft. Here’s one recipe (in Slovak, but it has pictures so you can see the process) http://varecha.pravda.sk/recepty/domaca-parena-kysnuta-knedla-fotorecept/49922-recept.html
Nov 13, 2014 @ 03:11:52
I make a stew like this but I use thinly sliced raw cabbage not sauerkraut. The raw cabbage needs time to cook down and soften but I’m thinking the end result would be similar to using sauerkraut.
Nov 13, 2014 @ 11:05:24
It’s similar, but raw cabbage is much sweeter, the sauerkraut makes it more tart. It’s similar in the way the tastes of raw cabbage and sauerkraut are similar 🙂
Nov 19, 2014 @ 19:44:03
Whenever I cook Slovak food, I can’t get enough of it and way overeat (it’s so comforting!). I need to make this for my husband (he’s American). He loved all the Slovak dishes I ever made (especially the potato dumplings with “bryndza”/feta). I highly recommend making the steamed bread (knedlik) to serve it with! It’s the perfect combination – soft bread-y pillow & yummy sauce 🙂 Thank you for the recipe!!
Nov 20, 2014 @ 01:28:26
Slovak food is very comforting! Especially if it’s the food of your childhood. Knedla is perfect for sopping up sauce. Hope you and your husband enjoy!
Nov 23, 2014 @ 20:01:05
Oh Naomi, bless your heart….the picture brought me my childhood back…..I made Gulash last night with potatoes and carrots but now I think I will ‘fish’ some meat and broth for me and throw some sauerkraut in it for me (my family won’t touch it)
Nov 24, 2014 @ 10:10:13
Aw, you’re welcome, food from childhood can be so dear. Relish your sauerkraut and make them all jealous that they aren’t having something so delicious! 🙂
Nov 25, 2014 @ 23:22:33
I first had sauerkraut when I moved to Vienna. I have found the taste overwhelming no matter how much I try. The gulash, though, looks yummy.
Nov 27, 2014 @ 01:22:16
Sauerkraut can definitely be overwhelming! Are there traditional fermented Zambian foods?
Dec 04, 2014 @ 18:36:23
This sounds like the perfect thing for a chilly evening! Thanks for sharing it at Savoring Saturdays, Naomi! I’m going to feature it at this weekend’s party. 🙂 Hope to see you there!
Dec 06, 2014 @ 03:36:51
So glad you liked it! 🙂
Dec 07, 2014 @ 10:33:47
What a nourishing looking stew. Can’t wait to try it. Pinned!
Jan 07, 2015 @ 17:50:21
Sharing and pinning, SO yummy!!! 🙂
Jan 08, 2015 @ 01:00:50
Thank you! 🙂
Jan 08, 2015 @ 18:45:26
Is there nutritional reason to use sauerkraut if pro-biotics boil away? I’m about to make sauerkraut for my Crohn’s boy. I’m trying to figure out how to get it into him since he doesn’t eat cold food nor warm soup but does like stew. His likes are usually belly related so I no longer argue but merely adapt. Suggestions?
Jan 09, 2015 @ 01:09:29
Even with the probiotics and enzymes cooked out, the sauerkraut is still cabbage and should be somewhat broken down, making nutrients more available, by the fermentation process. I’ve heard that pressure cooking and retain vitamin C better, even though heat destroys some of it, and sauerkraut is a great source of vit. C. I think the best part of cooking it is toning down the acidity in order to accustom the taste buds to it. Another way you could try it is with my strapacky recipe – bake chopped sauerkraut with potatoes or sweet potatoes and it’s hardly even noticeable. You could mix the sauerkraut at the end of baking so that it is warm but the probiotics are still intact. Hope that something is helpful! Good luck!
Jan 10, 2015 @ 08:53:43
My husband is Czech and they make this with dumplings also known as Knedlicky. They don’t use potato in it however this looks good. I will have to get my hubby’s mom’s recipe she grew up with. His parent’s are both Czech. His dad says it’s named after a town Szeged is the fourth largest city of Hungary. As for the boiled bread above that is the Knedlicky. I have a recipe on my blog for it. This is made with Wondra flour not traditional flour. Slovak/Hungarian? Czech food is wonderful and can easily be made healthy.
Jan 11, 2015 @ 20:07:44
Slovaks don’t use potatoes either, I just used it in one bowl as an example of how people who don’t have access to or can’t eat knedla could thicken the stew. If you want, feel free to leave a link to your knedla recipe. What is Wondra flour? Yes, Slovak/Czech/Hungarian is the perfect comfort food!
Jan 15, 2015 @ 03:10:39
Thank you so much for posting the recipe. I’ve craved this delicious meal for a long time now. It is one of my favorite hometown foods(grew up in Northern Moravia and Slovakian meals were pretty common there) I’m gonna be making Segedin soon!
Jan 15, 2015 @ 09:36:40
Nothing so comforting as food from childhood! Enjoy 🙂
Feb 05, 2015 @ 18:26:54
Dear Naomi,
your cooking blog almostbananas.net is really lovely! Thank you to for sharing and explaining the recipes and ingredients also.
But please, let me explain, how was created the first “segedin”. In 1846 hungarian poet Petőfi and his frend Mr. Székely came late to Komló-garden (lets call it restaurant) for a dinner. The owner hasn´t any food to serve, so Mr. Székely ask him to mix some leftovers – sauerkraut, goulash. The restaurant´s owner served this mix with fresh bread, cream and spicy pepper cream. It was really tasty, so when Petőfi went there again he asked the owner to cook “Székely káposzta” (it means Székely´s cabbage, in fact Székely means originally transylvanian). And how it became “segedin” in Slovakia or Czech? Probably because a before the WWI the housewifes mostly used the very famous “Szegedi paprika” (pepper from Segedin/Szeged).
(and sorry I´m such a smartass)
Feb 05, 2015 @ 19:52:24
I love that there is an actual story to how Segedinsky/Szekely started! I thought it was just named after a city. Thanks for the history, I would never have found out otherwise!
May 17, 2016 @ 18:25:30
Tunde…thank you sooo much for the time to explain !
Aug 14, 2015 @ 07:00:19
Love your blog! I’m making it a point to incorporate foods from different cultures into my family meals. This stew sounded so good as I could use my new batch of sauerkraut in it! It was so good…thank you for this recipe! Looking forward to trying others, too.
Aug 14, 2015 @ 23:14:52
Thank you Ros! Glad you liked it. I like to incorporate foods from different cultures as well.
Dec 06, 2015 @ 20:55:13
I have this gently bubbling away here in the south of England. Made it word for word, am going to add the Saurkraut then chill it down for tomorrows evening meal with some lightly squashed boiled potatoes and topped with soured cream. Wish me luck 🙂
Dec 06, 2015 @ 22:51:30
Sounds delicious and perfect for a winter’s day. Hope you like it!
May 17, 2016 @ 18:21:34
INJOY!!!!!!
May 17, 2016 @ 18:19:59
At 66 I still remember my mother making this for me in London in the 50s-60s……can still taste it now…I loved it sooo much…GOOD HOME COOKING……..
PS Segedinsky gulash.never knew how to spell it!
May 18, 2016 @ 08:34:19
Nostalgia food is the best! Hope you enjoy it.
Mar 03, 2017 @ 05:34:29
Have made Goulash many many times and am familiar with all those recipes also the one with Sauerkraut. Love it!
One time a son of mine here in Hawaii, after I had made a great Gulasch, added shredded cheese in the end which melted into it. Wow…. delicious, since then I add cheese! (funny)
I use a lot of Paprika when I cook the Gulasch and let it brown with the meat for just a slight moment (not too long or it gets bitter!) and only then add the liquid. Majoran of course is a must too.
Mar 03, 2017 @ 22:00:01
Cheese in gulas…always something new! Yes, classic gulas is as you describe and this is a bit of a different variation. Yay for sauerkraut!