Authentic Chicken Paprikash
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One of the most famous and beloved of all Hungarian dishes, this authentic Chicken Paprikash recipe features tender chicken in an unforgettably rich, flavorful and creamy paprika-infused sauce! It’s Hungarian comfort food at its tastiest and is absolute heaven on a plate!
What is Chicken Paprikash?
Chicken Paprikash, also known as Paprikás Csirke in Hungarian, is a traditional Hungarian dish that features tender chicken pieces that are cooked in a rich, flavorful and creamy paprika-based sauce and commonly served with egg noodles or dumplings. It has been enjoyed in Hungary for centuries, likely dating back to the 18th or 19th century. A reflection of the peasant origins or Hungarian cuisine, chicken paprikash was made from simple and available ingredients like chicken, onions, sour cream, and paprika. Older, tougher chicken could be utilized because the low and slow cooking time ensured tender meat and the end result was a dish that was both hearty and delicious. This is Hungarian comfort food at its best, a symbol of Hungarian culinary heritage, and has since become popular throughout the world.
Hungary is a country with beautiful landscapes, cities, villages, cultures, traditions, people and food. I love hearing from our readers about their experiences visiting Hungary and falling in love with the country and its food. That’s what visiting Hungary does to people…they fall in love. I certainly did.
Just taking a tiny glimpse of Hungary – Budapest, the country’s capital, is a city bustling with life, color, beautiful architecture, and the aroma of food wafting from over 1500 restaurants. Below is Zrinyi Utca (street), leading to Saint Stephen’s Basilica, built in 1905 in honor of the first king of Hungary. (Incidentally, his mummified hand is kept as a relic in that basilica as they couldn’t find the rest of his body! Not really a topic for a recipe post though, is it? ;)
My favorite area of Budapest is the Fisherman’s Bastion (Halászbástya). Built in 1895 its neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque architecture is breathtaking. It’s situated on the hill on the Buda bank of the Danube overlooking the city and the atmosphere is so romantic. An evening stroll after dinner is a must – watching the lights of the city dance on the water, gazing at the magnificent Chain Bridge, and resting in the soft shadows of the Bastion walls.
But let’s get back to the FOOD. Specifically, one of Hungary’s most popular and beloved dishes, Chicken Paprikash – a very simple but incredibly flavorful dish.
Chicken Paprikash Ingredients
Each time I’ve been served chicken paprikash it was prepared virtually the same way with the same basic ingredients:
- Chicken
- Onions and garlic
- Water or broth
- Lots of paprika
- Sometimes tomatoes
- Less commonly Hungarian bell peppers (varies by region)
- Salt and pepper
- Heavy cream
- Sour cream
What is the Best Paprika to Use?
The name of this dish, paprikash (paprikás), of course comes from the most important ingredient in the dish: Hungarian paprika. This star ingredient is central to the dish and as such there are two critical factors to the success of an authentic Chicken Paprikash: 1) Use the RIGHT paprika (see below) and 2) Use LOTS of it. For the BEST chicken paprikash, both the quality and quantity of ground paprika must be ensured. Trust me, you will taste the difference!
I recommend this genuine imported Hungarian paprika from the Kalocsa region of Hungary. It has an extraordinarily rich flavor and an exceptionally vibrant red color. Many of our readers have tried it and have reported back that quality Hungarian-imported paprika makes all the difference.
There are relatively few ingredients in this dish and so it is especially important to use the highest quality ingredients you can find. Get quality chicken, quality chicken broth, and quality sour cream. And if you at all possibly can, use lard to fry the chicken. It’s traditional and it adds flavor. You can buy lard online but I strongly recommend rendering your own. It’s super easy, learn how to make lard! Don’t have lard? You can substitute bacon grease (I’m never one to turn that down!).
Water vs. Broth
While using broth is not “traditional” (traditionally just water is used), I highly recommend it for a richer flavor. If you’re using a store-bought broth use a quality one. If you have the time I recommend making your own. You can make large batches and freeze it. See my recipe for homemade Chicken Broth. Equipped with the BEST ingredients you’re now ready to make the BEST Chicken Paprikash!
Chicken Paprikash Recipe
Then let’s get started!
Heat the lard in a heavy pot and brown the chicken on all sides (traditionally the chicken is simmered without browning it but we HIGHLY recommend doing so – it vastly increases the flavor of the final dish). Transfer the chicken to a plate.
In the same oil, add the onions and fry until golden brown. Add the garlic and tomatoes (and pepper if using) and fry another 2-3 minutes.
Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the paprika, salt and pepper (paprika becomes bitter if scorched). Return the chicken to the pot and place it back over the heat.
Pour in the chicken broth. The chicken should be mostly covered. Bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 40 minutes. Remove the chicken and transfer to a plate.
In a small bowl, stir the flour into the sour cream/cream mixture to form a smooth paste. Stir the cream mixture into the sauce, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring it to a simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce is thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. Return the chicken to the sauce and simmer to heat through.
Chicken paprikash is traditionally served with Hungarian nokedli, which are the same thing as Spaetzle only they’re much shorter and stubbier. You can make nokedli using a Spaetzle scraper and here is the Spaetzle recipe which is the same as for nokedli.
Enjoy! Jó étvágyat!
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Authentic Chicken Paprikash (Paprikás Csirke)
Equipment
- Spaetzle scraper , for making Hungarian nokedli (optional)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons pork lard , or butter (lard is traditionally used and we strongly recommend it for the best flavor)
- 3 pounds chicken pieces, bone-in and skin-on (this is traditional and recommended because it creates the most flavor, but alternatively you can use boneless/skinless pieces of chicken)
- 2 medium yellow onions, very finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 Roma tomatoes, seeds removed and very finely diced
- 1 Hungarian bell pepper, diced (optional)
- 3-4 tablespoons quality, genuine imported sweet Hungarian paprika
- 2 cups quality chicken broth (if using store-bought my favorite brand is Aneto)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup full fat sour cream , room temperature (important to avoid lumps; be sure also to use full fat)
- 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- Heat the lard in a large Dutch oven or heavy pot and brown the chicken on all sides. Transfer the chicken to a plate. In the same oil, add the onions and fry until golden brown. Add the garlic and tomatoes (and pepper if using) and fry another 2-3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the paprika, salt and pepper (paprika becomes bitter if scorched).
- Return the chicken to the pot and place it back over the heat. Pour in the chicken broth. The chicken should be mostly covered. Bring it to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 40 minutes. Remove the chicken and transfer to a plate.
- In a small bowl, stir the flour into the sour cream/cream mixture to form a smooth paste. Stir the cream mixture into the sauce, whisking constantly to prevent lumps. Bring it to a simmer for a couple of minutes until the sauce is thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. Return the chicken to the sauce and simmer to heat through.
- Serve the chicken paprikash with Hungarian nokedli, which is like German Spaetzle only they're very short and stubby. You can make nokedli with a spätzle scraper and using this recipe for the dough.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet October 15, 2018
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Made this tonight. I used boneless/skinless chicken breasts. They got way over done but the sauce was great. I may add some mushrooms into the sauce and just serve it over noodles. Part of the issue with chicken breasts in is if they are large one, be the butcher slices them horizontally and puts them out as thin sliced. However, they’re tough.( Good for chicken soup). Anyway, I will try adding fresh mushrooms to the ER sauce. The sauce is great!
The recipe is written for skin on bone-in chick breasts. There is a reason for this- the chick is not tough or dried out. If you want to us skinless boneless breast you would want to slice the in fillets like your butcher does. Overcooking them killed the whole recipe. Sad!
This is the best Chicken Paprikash I’ve ever eaten
anywhere and so easy to make. I would give it a 10 if I could.
That’s wonderful, Patty, thank you so much! :)
Amazing recipe, but I do have a few pointers for those interested. I always use boneless skinless in the same proportion so you don’t need fish the bones out of the sauce. Instead of tomatoes, I add 2 tbsp of tomato paste to the onions and cook it a few minutes to take the raw off before adding the garlic. Finally, towards the end, do NOT add the sour cream and flour mixture directly to the sauce – it WILL clump and you will never be able to whisk out the clumps. Instead, put the sour cream and flour mixture in a large mixing bowl or saucepan and ladle the sauce in, whisking smooth one ladle at a time. After around 1/3 of the sauce has been incorporated you can add it back to the main pot for a perfectly smooth result.
Thanks so much for the feedback, Jeff, I’m happy that you enjoyed this chicken paprikash!
Hello all. I am born and raised Hungarian my mother from Eger my father from Szombathely. My mother was an amazing cook and she learn from the church ladies and friends. I have several of her recipes! This is a good Chicken Paprikas recipe which I made to try something different and I don’t have anything negative to say about it. My critique is about how the recipe is written and the website. It’s very puzzling to me that this entire thing is written out backwards. It’s nice that there’s a background story but I don’t want to read about the background story, if I did want to read about the background story it should be left at the end. Instead I have to scroll through what seems like several dozen advertisements that are crushing my iPad into a staggering slow crawl. And then the cooking instructions are next leaving the ingredients to the end. That’s backwards! I can only assume that this decision was made so that the daring gourmet will have full exposure to the advertisements. I can appreciate the revenue made from all of these advertisements. But because of this I will not be returning. It is way too frustrating. Julius.
Hi Julius, first of all, virtually ALL recipes blogs follow this format. There is a very good reason for that and it isn’t only about the advertisements. It has to do with the requirements that Google imposes on websites to follow a certain format in order to be visible in Google search results.
As for the advertisements, I agree with you: They’re incredibly annoying, nobody likes ads. But something I hope you can appreciate or at the very least understand is that I provide all of my recipes completely FREE OF CHARGE to my readers. And it’s the advertisements that make that possible. Something I don’t expect you to understand (most people don’t – I didn’t until I started blogging) is how much work is involved in running a high traffic blog, but I’ll just summarize it by saying that it is a full-time job. The advertisements on my site are what make it possible for me to continue providing my recipes for free, otherwise I would have to charge a subscription fee to anyone wanting to access these recipes. Some sites have already switched to that option and there is talk in this industry about more sites moving in that direction. I’ve chosen to continue providing my recipes for free.
I understand that not all of my readers are interested in any information beyond the recipe itself and that advertisements are annoying. So in an effort to better serve my readers and address both of those issues, I provide a way to make to make my recipes easily accessible to my readers (so that they don’t have to read through the background info, cultural insights, recipe tips, etc, if they’re not interested) while ALSO providing the option to skip many of the ads. That option is found at the very top of every blog post: It’s a very prominent “Jump to Recipe” button that, with a short click of the button, lets you bypass everything and go straight to the recipe. If clicking that button is too much effort for you in order to get a free recipe then you’re right, this is not a good fit for you and perhaps you’re better off purchasing cookbooks.
That is what the “Jump to Recipe” button is for, right under the name of the dosh.
Can anyone recommend a good wine to serve with this chicken?
So good! I actually used 3 tablespoons of paprika and 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika and no bell peppers. Otherwise followed recipe. So good!
Awesome, thanks so much, Michelle!
Having had a bohemian Czech grandpa, we had a lot of Paprikás in our house as a kid. It depends on how you prepare it, honesty, as there are so many interpretations. Our family recipe didn’t have tomatoes or bell pepper, and leaned more to the pale cream sauce. If so, any dry white would be fine. I think a dry Riesling, snappy Guwurtz, or bright Sauv Blanc would be stellar.
Love this recipe and make it often! Instead of lard I use schmaltz to brown the chicken and saute the veggies. Thanks for posting ❤
Wonderful, Scott, I’m so happy you enjoyed it, thank you!
I don’t care for onions or onion flavor, but was pleasantly surprised that the onions dissolved into a beautiful savory sauce when I followed the ingredients as listed. My only substitute was running out of sour crème and using about 1/3 cup of plain low-fat yogurt mixed in to equal the proper amount. My sauce remained a little runny, but since I was putting it all over plain white rice, it worked perfectly to soak up the flavor. Yum! This recipe is a keeper for sure!
Thank you so much, Stacie, I’m thrilled that you enjoyed it and appreciate the feedback!
My mom use made this using my dad’s Hungarian recipe from the old country. This dish brought back very good memories.
This baby is the real deal. Seriously, don’t make any changes unless you don’t want it authentic.
Thank you so much for the feedback, Simon, I’m thrilled you enjoyed it!
Delicious! I followed the recipe to a tee (including the Hungarian pepper) and it was perfect! Exactly like I remembered my aunt making for me when I was young. I even broke out my spātzle press for the first time in ages. Thanks for sharing this simple, yummy recipe. I’ll be adding it to my favorites!
I’m so thrilled to hear that, Mary, thank you! And well done getting that Spätzle press out! :)
This recipe is easy and delicious! I made it tonight, used canned diced tomatoes (what was on hand) and served over homemade spaetzle. Rich and flavorful, perfect comfort food, we enjoyed every bite. Thank you for posting!
Thanks so much, Sue, I’m happy you enjoyed it!
This is a very flexible recipe. Lots of commenters had slight to heavy alterations, and it turns out delicious every time. The base sauce + chicken is just a winning combination.
My alterations were: no onion (we were out and I don’t care for it), left out heavy cream because I forgot (whoops), a sliced jalapeño in place of a Hungarian wax pepper, served over boiled egg noodles. It’s really delicious! I might use less sour cream next time as I found it quite creamy as is and the plain tomato sauce prior to adding the cream is also delicious. It was also right on the border of being a little salty for me, so I’m glad I tasted before seasoning. I might make a variant later on without garlic/onion/dairy to match my sister’s dietary restrictions.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. My Hungarian fiancé approved of the deliciousness!. It was also easy to make with the step by step photos. Thank you again and he told me to save your page.
Thank you so much, Mas, I’m thrilled it was a hit!
Really good! I made this today. I omitted the tomato and bell pepper to make it similar to the version my mom made years ago. I will definitely save this recipe to make again!
Extra-special good. I happened to have some Aneto chicken broth, so I used that, and 3 heaping tablespoons of Hungarian paprika. Used butter and boneless thighs, and left out the tomatoes and bell pepper because my wife doesn’t like them, but otherwise followed the recipe closely. Amazing flavors, will make this again for sure.
Thank you, Torrey, I’m so glad you both enjoyed it! :)
Super good. I made it without bell peppers. It was a little runny but i thickened with cornstarch. So much flavor. My family loved it!