You could make this simple supper in about 30 minutes.
Key Points
- Goldie Hawn’s American chop suey is a nostalgic, quick and budget-friendly family dinner idea.
- The dish, also called American goulash, features ground beef, macaroni, veggies and simple spices.
- Wyatt Russell loves this childhood favorite so much, he now makes it for his own son.
When actors Kurt and Wyatt Russell appeared on the Table Manners podcast, the pair bonded over a sweet point of discussion. No, it wasn’t their roles on Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsterswhere they play the same character at different ages. It was something a little more delicious (and nostalgic) that really got the father-son duo talking.
“Goldie,” Kurt Russell shared, “you gotta understand, Goldie is a hell of a cook.”
According to the Overboard star, his long-time partner, actor Goldie Hawn, can cook just about everything, and she’s especially gifted with culinary talents like knowing instinctively which spices pair well together and preparing wild game like elk and pheasant. In fact, Russell and Hawn’s son, Wyatt Russell, gushed about his favorite mom-cooked meals, from shepherd’s pie to beef stew.
But there was one Goldie Hawn recipe her 39-year-old son couldn’t stop talking about—a dish so simple, we’re adding it to our weeknight dinner rotation ASAP.
“The other one… is American chop,” said Russell. “So basically, it’s like a homemade Hamburger Helper, you do ground beef and noodles. This is like a fast bolognese where you cut up carrots and cut up celery—and peas and tomatoes, it all goes together and it’s quick, with macaroni noodles.”
“We don’t use Hamburger Helper but it tastes like Hamburger Helper,” he added. “Garlic powder, paprika, maybe some nutmeg in there—it’s not a lot of spices, it’s very basic. The whole point is that it’s basic, basic.”
It’s a dish that makes Wyatt Russell so nostalgic for his childhood that he recently made it for his 5-year-old son. “I had never made it for Buddy, and Buddy was hungry a week ago and we made it,” Russell recalled. “Our neighbor’s daughter had it as well, and they were loving the American chop.”
Kurt Russell clarifies that the dish is called American chop suey, a one-pot or -skillet dish that—you guessed it—borrows its name from the Chinese-American dish chop suey. The dish is also known as American goulash, though it’s a bit different from the Hungarian stew of the same name.
It’s a popular dish for families looking for fast and economical meal ideas. In fact, we even have a few goulash recipes that could help you make this cozy skillet at home. Many simple American Goulash recipes will include ground beef, onions, canned tomatoes, canned tomato sauce, beef broth, elbow macaroni and a few spices. You could easily tweak any of those recipes by adding some diced carrot and celery to the mix, then stirring in some frozen peas toward the end of the cooking process—we’ll call it goulash Goldie-style.
Whether you know it as American chop or goulash, this delicious, fast dish is perfect for a quick-and-easy dinner and, according to Wyatt Russell, it’s even kid-approved. If those aren’t good arguments for dishing up some of Hawn’s famous American chop in your own kitchen, we don’t know what is.
Can’t wait to get started? Lean on one of these goulash- or Hamburger Helper-inspired recipes.
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