This simple but exciting Hungarian street food is made of yeasted fried bread covered in cheese, garlic, and sour cream. Langos is the perfect way to taste Hungary!
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During my college backpacking trip, I made an attempt to eat as much street food as possible in each of the 15 countries that I visited. And while I sure did eat a lot of good options, Langos from Hungary truly was one of my favorite street food recipes!
Hungarian food, in my opinion, is so simple but so tasty. There are often not a lot of ingredients, but that doesn’t stop the food from being flavorful!
This Langos Recipe (pronounced Langosh) is the perfect example. While bread, sour cream, and cheese might not sound too exciting, combined they make one of the most popular street foods in all of Hungary.
If you’re not familiar with this dish, you might know this Chicken Paprikash recipe, a famous Hungarian dish. Both are worth making!
Recipe Origins
Langos has been a common treat in Hungary for a long time. Village bakers used to bake bread in their ovens, but they would often reserve a bit of dough to make a delicious breakfast snack in the morning.
The name Langos comes from the word láng, meaning flame, naming the snack after where it used to be cooked.
Nowadays, Langos are fried instead of baked. They are often served out of food trucks, and are arguably the most common street food in the country.
Why Make this Recipe
- Delicious Street Food: I love exploring the world through street food, and Langos is some of the best street food I’ve ever had in my travels!
- “Visit” Hungary: If you want to taste what the people are snacking on in Hungary, this is a great way to do so. You can taste Hungary right from your home!
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.
- Flour: All purpose flour
- Milk: Whole milk or 2%
- Yeast: Instant yeast. You can also use Active Dry Yeast, see instructions in Recipe FAQs
- Cheese: I am using white cheddar cheese. You can also use orange cheddar. Just make sure you are choosing a sharp cheddar! Freshly shredded cheese is better than buying pre-shredded cheese.
- Oil for Frying: I use vegetable oil. Use enough to make about 1-2” of oil covering the bottom of your pot/pan.
Tools
- Stand Mixer + Dough Hook: You can still make this recipe without a stand mixer, but you will need to knead it by hand. The dough in this recipe is very sticky, and it could get messy to knead by hand.
- Large Bowl: Ceramic or stainless steel. Use this to rise your dough.
- Pan: Large enough for frying. A cast iron skillet or pot with high sides is great.
- Tongs
- Pastry Brush
How to Make this Recipe
Step 1: Make the Dough
In the bowl of a stand mixer combine 2 cups flour, salt, and sugar. Use a spoon to mix. Add the instant yeast and mix to combine again.
Heat the milk up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (or the temperature listed on your package instructions). Then add the milk into the flour bowl. Stir with a spoon again to combine.
Add the dough hook onto the stand mixer and knead the dough on a low speed for about 2 minutes. Once the dough starts to stick to the side of the bowl, add the vegetable oil. Knead for another minute or so.
Add 1 tbsp of flour and continue kneading until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Once the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, turn off the mixer.
The entire kneading process should take about 5 minutes. The dough should have a lot of elasticity but will still stick to your fingers a bit.
Step 2: Rise the Dough
Use nonstick spray to grease a large mixing bowl.
Add the dough into the bowl.
Cover it with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest in a warm, dark place for about an hour or until it doubles in size.
Step 3: Make the Garlic-Infused Olive Oil
While the dough is rising, add the olive oil and garlic cloves together into an airtight container. Set aside.
Step 4: Form the Langos
Once risen, remove the dough from the bowl and turn it out onto a floured surface. Use a knife to cut the dough into 4 equal pieces, rolling each quarter into a ball.
Use your hands to press the dough into a circle shape, leaving the edges a little thicker than the center.
Cut a slit into the center of each langos.
Step 5: Fry the Langos
Heat some oil in a pot/pan to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Add the langos one at a time, frying until browned on each side (about 1-2 minutes each).
Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
Step 6: Add Toppings
Use a pastry brush to brush each langos with garlic-infused olive oil.
Then spread sour cream onto each langos, and top with shredded cheese.
Serve warm. Enjoy!
Other Ways to Top Langos
While this recipe is a common way to serve Hungarian Langos, there are many other topping variations! Some other ideas include:
- Liptauer
- Ham
- Sausage
- Cabbage
- Garlic butter
- Fresh Herbs (like dill or green onions)
- Other cheeses (like feta)
- Or even eating it plain!
Expert Tips
- Some recipes call for adding mashed potatoes into the dough. There is debate amongst Hungarians (depending on region) whether the potatoes in the dough are necessary. This recipe does not have potatoes, but some do!
- Make sure to keep an eye on the temperature of your liquids when making the dough. Too hot, and it will kill the yeast!
- The dough will be sticky and will stick to your hands. While the dough should be sticky, it shouldn’t be wet. If it is very wet, you can add in 2 tbsp of flour (instead of the 1 tbsp) while kneading.
- Sprinkle garlic salt on the langos if you want a stronger garlic taste!
- Don’t worry if the circle shape isn’t perfect. They usually aren’t.
Recipe FAQs
Yes you can use Active Dry Yeast instead of Instant Yeast! If you do this, make sure to heat up some of the already-included liquid in the recipe and activate the yeast in the liquid.
This is a step that is not required for Instant Yeast but must be done with Active Dry Yeast. For liquid temperature requirements, follow the instructions on your yeast package.
Most recipes don’t call for cutting the slit in the dough before frying, but I found that it gives the best results.
The slit keeps the dough from bubbling too much and forming an air pocket. In my testing, the times that the slit wasn’t cut, the air bubble would be so large that some of the dough would not brown. The slit solves this problem.
As with most fried food and bread, Langos is better when eaten fresh. I wouldn’t recommend saving or heating up leftovers.
If you would like to keep leftovers, make sure to store the langos without any toppings. Then pop it in the microwave for a few minutes to heat up, before topping with sour cream and cheese.
If you don’t want to add toppings to the bread, you can also serve it plain instead. It would be great as a side dish to Hungarian Goulash (not to be confused with this American Instant Pot Goulash) or Chicken Paprikash.
Did you enjoy this Hungarian Langos Recipe? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
- Fried Feta Cheese with Phyllo Dough and Honey
- Deep Fried Hard Boiled Eggs from East Timor
- Boolawnee (Fried Leek Pastries) from Afghanistan
- Belgian Frites with Andalouse Sauce
If you make this recipe at home, leave a review/comment on this post letting us know what you thought!
And don’t forget to share a photo of your finished product on Facebook and Instagram and tag @TheForeignFork and hashtag #TheForeignFork.
Hungarian Langos Recipe (Fried Bread with Cheese & Sour Cream)
Equipment
- Stand Mixer + Dough Hook
- Large Bowl
- Pan
- Tongs
- Pastry Brush
Ingredients
Langos Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, + 1 tbsp
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
Assembly Ingredients
- Vegetable Oil, for frying
- ½ cup olive oil
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup sour cream
- 10 oz white cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer combine 2 cups flour, ½ tsp salt, and ½ tsp sugar. Use a spoon to mix. Add the 1 ½ tsp instant yeast and mix to combine again.
- Heat the 1 cup milk up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (or the temperature listed on your package instructions). Then add the milk into the flour bowl. Stir with a spoon again to combine.
- Add the dough hook onto the stand mixer and knead the dough on a low speed for about 2 minutes. Once the dough starts to stick to the side of the bowl, add the 1 tsp vegetable oil. Knead for another minute or so.
- Add 1 tbsp of flour and continue kneading until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Once the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, turn off the mixer. The entire kneading process should take about 5 minutes. The dough should have a lot of elasticity but will still stick to your fingers a bit.
- Use nonstick spray to grease a large mixing bowl. Then add the dough into the bowl. Cover it with a kitchen towel and allow it to rest in a warm, dark place for about an hour or until it doubles in size (see notes below for Instant Pot instructions).
- While the dough is rising, add the ½ cup olive oil and 5 cloves garlic cloves together into an airtight container. Set aside.
- Once risen, remove the dough from the bowl and turn it out onto a floured surface. Use a knife to cut the dough into 4 equal pieces, rolling each quarter into a ball.
- Use your hands to press the dough into a circle shape, leaving the edges a little thicker than the center. Cut a slit into the center of each langos.
- Heat some oil in a pot/pan to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Add the langos one at a time, frying until browned on each side (about 1-2 minutes each). Remove to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Use a pastry brush to brush each langos with garlic-infused olive oil. Then spread sour cream onto each langos, and top with shredded cheese. Serve warm. Enjoy!
Notes
- Oil for Frying: I use vegetable oil. Use enough to make about 1-2” of oil covering the bottom of your pot/pan.
- Flour: All purpose flour
- Milk: Whole milk or 2%
- Yeast: Instant yeast. You can also use Active Dry Yeast, see instructions in Recipe FAQs
- Cheese: I am using white cheddar cheese. You can also use orange cheddar. Just make sure you are choosing a sharp cheddar! Freshly shredded cheese is better than buying pre-shredded cheese.
- Some recipes call for adding mashed potatoes into the dough. There is debate amongst Hungarians (depending on region) whether the potatoes in the dough are necessary. This recipe does not have potatoes, but some do!
- Make sure to keep an eye on the temperature of your liquids when making the dough. Too hot, and it will kill the yeast!
- The dough will be sticky and will stick to your hands. While the dough should be sticky, it shouldn’t be wet. If it is very wet, you can add in 2 tbsp of flour (instead of the 1 tbsp) while kneading.
- Sprinkle garlic salt on the langos if you want a stronger garlic taste!
- Don’t worry if the circle shape isn’t perfect. They usually aren’t.
Rita jobz says
Hello, I came across your recipe from Google News. Although different dressings this is a native american recipe. Called frybread. We make Indian tacos with them. We also dress it with honey or powdered sugar, etc. With all due respect, please address this honest mistake. I’d appreciate it thank you.
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Rita,
This was not a mistake. Though the dishes are similar, Langos is a very real food that is made using this recipe. I will make Fry Bread on my blog one day, at which time it will have it’s own blog post (with a similar recipe) and background and information on the cultural importance of that dish! This post is about Langos from Hungary 🙂
Maria says
There is no mistake to be addressed. This is Hungarian fried breaded, lángos. I’m Hungarian, mother has been making these for year’s, as have her parents and so on. Thank you for the recipe, they were excellent!
Lena says
Very nice and easy, thank you for the instant pot tip it helped me a lot. I’m from Hungary and my family agreed that the taste was perfect.only thing I regretted is to not double the portions, as we finished it fast😊😄
The Foreign Fork says
Hey Lena, it makes me so happy that you loved this recipe! Thank you for the review 🙂