🇭🇺 Hungarian Cuisine

Csirke Paprikas

Chicken Paprikash

Prep Time 45 min
Servings 4
Difficulty Easy
Calories 452 kcal

Chicken pieces braised in a creamy paprika sauce with sour cream, served over egg noodles. Hungarian home cooking at its finest.

Ingredients

  • 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 1.2kg)
  • 2 large onions, finely diced
  • 3 tbsp sweet Hungarian paprika
  • 1 tsp hot Hungarian paprika (optional)
  • 200ml full-fat sour cream
  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
  • 1 medium tomato, diced
  • 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil or butter
  • 250ml chicken broth or water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Nokedli (Hungarian egg dumplings) or egg noodles for serving

Instructions

  1. 1 Heat the oil or oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, add the finely diced onions, and cook slowly for ten to twelve minutes, stirring often, until they are completely soft and translucent but not browned.
  2. 2 Remove the pot from heat and immediately add both the sweet and hot paprika, stirring vigorously for thirty seconds to coat the onions. Adding paprika off heat prevents it from burning, which would make the sauce bitter.
  3. 3 Return the pot to medium heat, nestle the chicken thighs skin-side down into the paprika-coated onions, and cook for four minutes on each side to lightly brown and seal the meat while building the sauce base.
  4. 4 Add the diced green pepper, diced tomato, and chicken broth or water, stirring gently around the chicken to combine. Bring to a gentle simmer, then reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for thirty minutes.
  5. 5 Check the chicken after thirty minutes: it should be fully cooked through with juices running clear when pierced. Remove the chicken to a warm plate and keep covered while you finish the sauce.
  6. 6 In a small bowl, whisk the sour cream and flour together until completely smooth with no lumps, then gradually ladle in half a cup of the hot cooking liquid while whisking to temper the sour cream and prevent curdling.
  7. 7 Pour the tempered sour cream mixture back into the pot, stirring constantly, and simmer over low heat for five minutes until the sauce thickens to a creamy, paprika-red consistency that coats the back of a spoon.
  8. 8 Return the chicken pieces to the sauce, spooning the creamy paprika sauce over each piece, and heat through for two minutes. Serve immediately over freshly made nokedli dumplings or buttered egg noodles.

Did You Know?

The quality of Hungarian paprika determines the dish — always use sweet Hungarian paprika, never generic.

From The Culinary Codex — http://theculinarycodex.com/dish/hungarian/chicken-paprikash/