Hungarian Chicken Paprikash Recipe (csirkepaprikás)
Published September 30, 2022. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This one-pot Hungarian chicken paprikash dish comes together in 1 hour and is served with a delectable creamy sauce to go over the top. The flavors in this recipe will blow you away.
Weekdays can get extremely busy, and it’s easy to get into a rut. If you love big flavors and comfort food and want to try out some new chicken recipes, try my Chicken Satay or Chicken Adobo.
Chicken Paprikash
Chicken Paprikash or also known as paprikas csirke in Hungarian is a traditional dish consisting of chicken and onions cooked in bacon fat and then braised in liquid with paprika and other vegetables and seasonings. The sauce is thickened with sour cream and flour and commonly served with Nokedli.
This is a one-pot meal that comes together in about 1 hour and is perfect for a weeknight meal but also has enough uniqueness to serve to guests. I also believe the addition of browning the chicken and using chicken stock enhance my recipe above the traditional one. Don’t forget to watch the video below.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Chicken – I like to break down an entire chicken and use the meat. You can use just split chicken breasts, thighs, and drumsticks, or a combination of them.
- Peppers – The classic pepper would be a Hungarian wax pepper, but with limited availability in the US, the best option is the yellow bell pepper.
- Onions – A yellow, white, or sweet onion will work for this.
- Garlic – Some garlic will help enhance the flavor of the chicken paprikash sauce.
- Stock – I prefer good chicken stock, but water or vegetable stock can also be used.
- Fat – Rendered bacon fat would be the most used. However, you can use oil or clarified butter.
- Paprika – A good sweet Hungarian paprika should be used in this, but you can use regular paprika if that is all you have.
- Tomatoes – I like to use Roma tomatoes no matter the year’s season.
- Sour Cream – This will help add fat and thicken up our sauce.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is used to help thicken the Paprikash sauce.
How to Make Chicken Paprikash
If you are using a whole chicken, start by separating it into parts and season them on both sides with salt and pepper.
Heat some rendered bacon fat in a large rondeau pot over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke lightly.
Next, add the chicken skin and cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown.
Remove the chicken and set it aside on a plate.
Add onions to the pan and cook for 15 to 20 minutes over low to medium heat while stirring until they have become caramelized.
Add the peppers and sauté over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
Stir in the garlic and cook it until it’s fragrant, which takes about 30 seconds.
Pour in the tomatoes and cook for 4 to 5 minutes to stew them and break them down.
Stir in the paprika until combined.
Pour in chicken stock and season it well with salt and pepper.
Place the cooked chicken back in, place on a lid, and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the chicken is very tender.
In a bowl, whisk together sour cream and flour until combined.
Pour about a ½ cup of the chicken liquid into the bowl with the sour cream and mix.
Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and whisk in the sour cream mixture and bring to a boil to thicken. It should be thick like alfredo sauce.
Add the chicken back to the pan and heat up for 2 to 3 minutes before serving with additional sour cream and optional chopped chives. Serve with dumplings, also known as nokedli.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make this chicken paprikash up to 1 hour ahead of time; Just keep it in the pan covered over low heat.
How to Store: Cover it and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. This will freeze covered for up to 3 months. Thaw it in the refrigerator for 1 day before reheating.
How to Reheat: Add the desired amount of chicken paprikash to a saucepan and heat over low heat until hot.
Chef Notes + Tips
- If, for some reason, the sauce does not thicken after bringing it to a boil with the sour cream mixture, try to make a slurry of 2 tablespoons of cornstarch mixed with water and add it to the pot once it is boiling.
More Chicken Recipes
Video
Hungarian Chicken Paprikash Recipe (csirkepaprikás)
Ingredients
- 1 whole fryer chicken broken down into parts, breasts, thighs, drums, wings
- 3 tablespoons rendered bacon fat
- ½ peeled small diced large yellow onion
- 1 seeded small diced yellow bell pepper
- 2 finely minced garlic cloves
- 2 roughly chopped Roma tomatoes
- 3 tablespoons sweet paprika
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 3/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- If you are using a whole chicken, start by separating it into separate parts and season them on both sides with salt and pepper.
- Heat the rendered bacon fat in a large rondeau pot over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke lightly.
- Next, add the chicken, skin down, and cook for 3 to 4 minutes per side or until golden brown.
- Remove the chicken and set it aside on a plate.
- Add the onions to the pan and cook for 15 to 20 minutes over low to medium heat while stirring until they have become caramelized.
- Add the peppers and sauté over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Stir in the garlic and cook it until it’s fragrant, which takes about 30 seconds.
- Pour in the tomatoes and cook for 4 to 5 minutes to stew them and break them down.
- Stir in the paprika until combined.
- Pour in the chicken stock and season it well with salt and pepper.
- Place the cooked chicken back in, place on a lid, and cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until the chicken is very tender.
- In a bowl, whisk together the sour cream and flour until combined.
- Pour about a ½ cup of the chicken braising liquid into the bowl with the sour cream and mix.
- Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and whisk in the sour cream mixture and bring to a boil to thicken. It should be thick and creamy like alfredo sauce.
- Add the chicken back to the pan and heat up for 2 to 3 minutes before serving with additional sour cream and optional chopped chives.
This turned out amazing and I served it with buttered egg noodles and sauteed asparagus I wasn’t sure what to actually add as a side dish if you have other ideas I would love to try them out thank you
so good!!
Delicious!! Another hit with my family!
thank you so kindly!!
I love your recipes. You really take your time explaining the recipe. Can’t wait to try this one!
Easy. Easy. Easy. And delicious every time. Family fav.
so good!!
There or four times I made this it was exceptional!! Thank you so much for the recipe.
Amazing!
I’ve made several versions of this recipe and this one is my favorite !
Awesome!
Fantastic chicken! I followed the recipe to the letter and my family loved it. Will be trying more of Billy’s recipes for sure. Thanks, Billy!
thanks for giving it a shot!!
Outstanding recipe! Since I was using up what I had in my kitchen, the Roma tomatoes were just ordinary tomatoes on the vine, peeled, seeded and chopped. I cut the chicken into 4 pieces, rather than 8, because it’s just easier. And I dry-brined my chicken pieces in salt for a few hours (rinse, pat dry before frying). But otherwise I followed the recipe precisely. Served with buttered Bavarian spatzle and roasted carrots/broccoli (because that’s what I had laying around, although they paired well with the dish.) Really, really good!
That’s awesome. Thanks for making it!
This was delicious, flavourful and very easy to make. Yum.
This turned out amazing! Beyond expectations!!! Will definitely do it again. Used rich home-made rchicken stock and a can of organic diced tomatoes as I didn’t have fresh on hand. Organic chicken breasts and thighs. Added a little wine…you know, the normal improv. LOVED IT! Maybe will do the dumplings with it next time. This time, just wild rice under all that wonderful sauce!