This recipe is one of the most famous recipes to come out of Hungary. Chicken stewed in Hungarian paprika and sour cream makes for an easy and delicious meal!
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I had Chicken Paprikash during a trip to Hungary and have been thinking about it since! It is a simple but delightful, crowd-pleasing meal.
Recipe Origins
Chicken Paprikash is a delicious dinner popular in Hungary! It is made by cooking chicken pieces in a sauce made of paprika (a popular Hungarian spice) and sour cream.
The chicken is stewed in water, onions, and paprika and then the sauce is thickened after the chicken is finished cooking.
Why Make this Recipe
- “Travel” to Hungary: If you want to taste the flavors of Hungary, this Chicken Paprikash Recipe is a great way to do so!
- Minimal Ingredients: For how flavorful this recipe is, you’ll be surprised at how little ingredients there are. Chicken, paprika, onions, sour cream and garlic make for one delicious dish.
- Customizable: There are so many iterations of Chicken Paprikash, including other vegetables, spices, etc. This recipe is a base recipe with pretty standard ingredients and instructions. Feel free to add more flavorings as you desire!
What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?
Ingredients
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Lard: If you can find it, cook your onions in lard. If not, you can also use vegetable shortening, vegetable oil, or butter.
- Paprika: Use sweet paprika (as opposed to spicy paprika). I imported mine from Hungary to make sure it had the best flavor. This isn’t necessary but I would certainly recommend it! It makes a huge difference. Using a high quality paprika is important because it is the only seasoning in the dish.
- Chicken: Use bone in, skin on chicken pieces. I used legs and thighs.
- All Purpose Flour: Optional, for thickening the sauce if desired.
Tools
- Dutch Oven + Lid: Can also use a pot if necessary
- Utensils: Wooden spoon, tongs
- Meat Thermometer: Chicken must come to 165 degrees Fahrenheit
- Immersion Blender: Can also use a food processor or regular blender
- Small Bowls
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Cook the Onions
Season the chicken with salt. Set aside.
In a dutch oven add the lard and heat it up. Once it’s melted, add the onion. Saute the onion until translucent.
Once the onion is translucent, add the garlic and stir for another minute. Remove the dutch oven from the heat. Add the paprika and stir to coat the onions completely.
Step 2: Cook the Chicken
Add the chicken and stir to coat the chicken in the paprika. Put the pot back on the heat.
Add the lid onto the pot for 5 minutes. Check the chicken. If it is releasing liquid (enough to come up the sides of the chicken), you do not need to add more water. If the pot still looks dry, add about 1 cup of water into the dutch oven, or enough to cover the chicken about halfway.
Add the lid back onto the pot and let it cook for 20 minutes. Then open the lid, flip the chicken, put the lid back on and cook for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
Use tongs to remove the chicken from the dutch oven and set aside.
Step 3: Finish the Sauce
Put the sour cream in a small bowl and spoon in a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the pot. Mix it up in the bowl to make it smooth.Add the sour cream mixture into the dutch oven and mix to combine.
Then, use a food processor or immersion blender to blend the sauce until it is completely smooth.
If your sauce is very thin: Add 1 tbsp of flour into a small bowl with a few spoonfuls of sauce from the dutch oven. Mix until smooth, then pour into the pureed sauce, allowing it to cook for a few minutes over medium heat. This will thicken the sauce.
Add the chicken back into the sauce. Serve with noodles, dumplings, or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Other Flavors
There are so many Chicken Paprikash Recipes on the internet and each family has their own iteration and flavors they add. In my research I have found recipes that include each of the following. Feel free to try them out if you’d like!
Vegetables + Meat
- Carrots
- Tomatoes
- Hungarian peppers
- Celery
- Bacon
Spices
- Garlic powder
- Maggi
- Cumin
- Caraway Seeds
- Garlic Salt
Expert Tips
- If you want crispier chicken skin, you can brown the chicken in the Dutch oven before cooking the onions. However, most recipes I watched of Hungarians making a Chicken Paprikash Recipe did not do this.
- Use fresh paprika! Ground spices lose their flavoring over time, so it’s best to use a fresh bottle, especially because the paprika flavoring is so important in this Chicken Paprikash Recipe.
- Remove the dutch oven from the heat when adding the paprika. This ensures that the paprika doesn’t burn.
- If you are adding flour to your sauce to thicken it: Add some of the sauce into the flour bowl and mix to combine until completely smooth. Then add the flour into the sauce. If you skip this step, you will end up with flour lumps in your sauce.
Recipe FAQs
Adding the sauce into the sour cream is an important step in this recipe. Adding the warm sauce into the cold sour cream warms the temperature of the cream, bringing it closer to the temperature of the sauce. That way, it will be incorporated smoothly into the sauce.
If you skip this step, the cold sour cream will lump up when added into the warm sauce.
You do not need to puree the sauce if you do not want to. Some recipes do not do this, but others do.
In an effort to replicate the recipe I ate in Hungary, I chose to puree my sauce.
Some Chicken Paprikash Recipes call for thickening the sauce with flour but not all of them. In trying to imitate the recipe I ate in Hungary, I decided my chicken needed a thicker sauce.
If you like a thinner sauce, you do not need to follow this step.
Usually this dish is served with egg noodles or dumplings. I also really like it with mashed potatoes.
You can easily store leftovers! Put them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
I wouldn’t recommend freezing your Chicken Paprikash Recipe. The sour cream in the sauce leads to a strange texture when thawing.
If you’d like to freeze the recipe, do so before adding the sour cream into the sauce. You can then add the sour cream after you have thawed the chicken.
To reheat this recipe, I find it easiest to heat it up in the microwave.
Chicken Paprikash comes from Hungary.
Did you enjoy this Chicken Paprikash Recipe? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
If you make this recipe at home, leave a review/comment on this post letting us know what you thought!
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Chicken Paprikash Recipe
Equipment
- Dutch Oven + Lid
- Wooden spoon, tongs
- Meat Thermometer
- Immersion Blender
- Small Bowls
Ingredients
- Table Salt, for seasoning
- ¼ cup lard, or vegetable oil/butter
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp sweet paprika
- 6 chicken bone-in, skin on chicken pieces (I used thigh and leg)
- 6 tbsp sour cream
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour, optional
Instructions
- Season the chicken with salt. Set aside.
- In a dutch oven add the ¼ cup lard and heat it up. Once it's melted, add the 2 diced onions. Saute the onion until translucent.
- Once the onion is translucent, add the 2 cloves of garlic and stir for another minute. Remove the dutch oven from the heat. Add the 2 tbsp sweet paprika and stir to coat the onions completely.
- Add the 6 pieces of bone-in chicken and stir to coat the chicken in the paprika. Put the pot back on the heat.
- Add the lid onto the pot for 5 minutes. Check the chicken. If it is releasing liquid (enough to come up the sides of the chicken), you do not need to add more water. If the pot still looks dry, add about 1 cup of water into the dutch oven, or enough to cover the chicken about halfway.
- Add the lid back onto the pot and let it cook for 20 minutes. Then open the lid, flip the chicken, put the lid back on and cook for another 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Use tongs to remove the chicken from the dutch oven and set aside.
- Put the 6 tbsp sour cream in a small bowl and spoon in a few spoonfuls of the sauce from the pot. Mix it up in the bowl to make it smooth.
- Add the sour cream mixture into the dutch oven and mix to combine. Then, use a food processor or immersion blender to blend the sauce until it is completely smooth.
- If your sauce is very thin: Add 1 tbsp of flour into a small bowl with a few spoonfuls of sauce from the dutch oven. Mix until smooth, then pour into the pureed sauce, allowing it to cook for a few minutes over medium heat. This will thicken the sauce.
- Add the chicken back into the sauce. Serve with noodles, dumplings, or mashed potatoes. Enjoy!
Notes
- Lard: If you can find it, cook your onions in lard. If not, you can also use vegetable shortening, vegetable oil, or butter.
- Paprika: Use sweet paprika (as opposed to spicy paprika). I imported mine from Hungary to make sure it had the best flavor. This isn’t necessary but I would certainly recommend it! It makes a huge difference. Using a high quality paprika is important because it is the only seasoning in the dish.
- Chicken: Use bone in, skin on chicken pieces. I used legs and thighs.
- All Purpose Flour: Optional, for thickening the sauce if desired.
- Why add the sauce to the sour cream?
- I’ve seen some recipes call for adding carrots, tomatoes, hungarian peppers, bacon, or celery to this too. You can do this if you wish.
- Other recipes add garlic powder, maggi, cumin, caraway seeds or other spices.
- You can brown the chicken before cooking the onions, but the recipes I watched of Hungarians making this recipe did not do that.
Joanne says
There was no chicken broth or water added (except for that 1 cup). Was that missing from the recipe? I added about 1-1/2 C chicken broth…otherwise the recipe was delish! And I will make it again
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Joanne, I’m not sure I understand your question. The water step that is written out in the recipe is the only time water should be added. If you added the liquid, you did it right!
Susan says
I’m glad you added recommendations for other vegetables like carrot and pepper. So many variations depending on the area of Hungary. Your recipe is right on. I was taught early. We added green pepper, chopped with the onion. We didn’t use garlic. I strain the broth into a plastic pitcher then whisk in the flour and sour cream and strain back into the pot. No need to remove the chicken. I buy my paprika from Hungary through Amazon. Olyan nagyon jó!
The Foreign Fork says
Thanks for the input Susie, I love hearing your experience! I will need to try it with green pepper next time 🙂
Carol says
Can you provide a link to the paprika you use and imported from Hungary? The recipe looks delicious.
The Foreign Fork says
Yes! This is the one I bought 🙂 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08CZLTCP8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details