American Chop Suey

Yesterday, I just couldn’t figure out what to make, so out of fatigue I decided on American Chop Suey. Despite that it was still in the 80’s, I just wanted a pile of hot food and a salad. I had all the ingredients and didn’t want to think. When we all got our plates and started eating my oldest daughter said, “You know, other families eat pot roast or meatloaf but American Chop Suey is our comfort food”. Amused, I was all set to laugh at her, but I stopped to think. Watching everyone eat their dinner happily, with no complaints and with gusto, I changed my mind. In fact, she was right. American Chop Suey, is my family’s comfort food.

What is American Chop Suey? When I met my Texas  born husband and his Texas and Oklahoma family they had never heard of it. However, they did have the same dish although they called it goulash. I think the name is a New England thing. It has nothing to do with chop suey which in turn has very little to do with real Chinese food. I’m not sure how it got the name but American Chop Suey is mostly just macaroni, ground beef, and tomato sauce. I add a few other ingredients but most of all it is a warm, satisfying and easy meal.

One of the things that gives me the most difficulty right now is cooking pasta. Out of the blue, when I was shopping online a month or so ago I saw a microwave pasta cooker. I decided to order one. Only having used it twice so far, I’m going to say it works. I need to practice and to get the serving size, water and time amounts correct. This time, it made making the American Chop Suey a whole lot easier. Macaroni for this dish doesn’t need to be perfectly cooked since it is going in the pan with the other ingredients after the initial cook.

I would like to point out that I basically use my mother’s recipe from the 1970’s. One of the things that makes this recipe even more comforting is that it was passed around the neighborhood from family to family. I make the dish and have memories of running through the neighbors yards and playing with kids from all these families.

Print Recipe

American Chop Suey

A warm hearty comfort food of ground beef and pasta

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: American

Keyword: American, Chop Suey

Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 12 oz. Elbow Macaroni precooked
• 2 Tablespoons Butter or other Neutral Oil
• 3/4-1 cup Onion chopped
• 1.5 lbs Ground Beef
• 16 oz. Can of Tomato Sauce
• 1 Red Bell Pepper cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/3 cup Water

• *The original recipe calls for a green bell pepper but I think green pepper takes over the taste in most recipes. I switched it to red, but yellow or orange would work well too.

Instructions

• Cook 12 oz. of elbow macaroni. Drain and reserve macaroni.
• Using a large saute pan, heat butter or oil until hot. Add chopped onion. Saute until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
  
• Add the ground beef to the onion and brown the ground beef.
  
• Add the macaroni, tomato sauce, red bell pepper. Mix the Worcestershire sauce in with the water and add to the pan. Stir and cover.
  
• Simmer on very low heat for 15-20 minutes. (If necessary add a few more tablespoons of water during cooking)
  

Modifications

I used my food processor for the onion and cut the red bell pepper by hand . I believe the food processor would work for the bell pepper as well. It really doesn’t have to be all that uniform.

The water doesn’t need to be exact. I often put about 1/3 of a can of water into the tomato sauce cans and then measure the Worcestershire sauce into it with a coffee measure (2 Tablespoons).

I bought a special tool that makes browning the ground beef easier. It did help break it up more easily and evenly. I think the tool could use a little more weight to it so I wouldn’t have to push down as hard, but it seems like it is helpful so I’ll keep it.

The hardest part of this recipe for me is cooking the pasta. The microwave pasta cooker I bought saved the day. It did boil over in the microwave so I added a little more hot water part way through the cooking. I probably overfilled it with pasta. I need to use it a little more to get the hang of it. In the end, it did its job and I didn’t have to think of a way to get a large pot of hot water and pasta from the stove to the sink. I can’t really manage a pasta pot with an insert so this gadget is working for me right now.