A few years ago while traveling in Hungary I sampled an authentic Chicken Paprikash recipe at a little restaurant on a side street in Budapest and after testing I finally came up with a recipe that recreates that delicious chicken dish.
Chicken Paprikash is made with a whole cut up chicken that is simmered in a rich creamy sauce. This is comfort food Hungarian-style.
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Traditional Chicken Paprikash (paprikás csirke) gets its beautiful color and flavor from sweet Hungarian paprika, but the layers of flavors comes from the aromatics. Chopped onion, red pepper, and fresh garlic create a symphony of flavors in this traditional Hungarian dish.
My easy chicken paprikash recipe is one of my favorite chicken recipes. The tender chicken simmered in the flavorful sauce is not to be missed! YOu can make this delicious dish using a whole cut up chicken or your favorite chicken parts.
Ingredients for Chicken Paprikash Recipe
Let’s start by gathering the ingredients we need to make my Hungarian Chicken Paprikash Recipe (also known as paprika chicken). In Chef Speak, this is called the “Mise en Place,” which translates to “Everything in its Place.”
Not only does setting up your ingredients ahead of time speed up the cooking process, it also helps ensure you have everything you need to make the dish.
Made with Simple Ingredients
- Whole chicken cut up into pieces. Leftover chicken breast can be used up in my chicken parmesan recipe.
- Onion
- Red bell pepper
- Fresh garlic cloves
- Tomato
- Sour cream
- Heavy cream
- Chicken broth
- Hungarian sweet paprika
- All purpose flour
- Unsalted butter
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Table salt
- Black pepper
- Italian Parsley
Can I change up the ingredients in the Chicken Paprikash Recipe?
Typically a whole chicken is used to make this chicken paprikash, but you can use chicken breasts or thighs to make the recipe. I prefer bone-in chicken pieces because both the bone and skin add flavor. But you can use boneless chicken breasts or boneless chicken thighs if you prefer.
The creamy rich sauce is made using sour cream and heavy cream, but you can use Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream and whole milk instead of the heavy cream. It won’t be quite as rich without the heavy cream but it will still be delicious.
Hungarian Parprika is typically the sweet variety unless otherwise stated. You will find hot paprika and also smoked paprika. If you would like to use either the smoked or hot, I would suggest only substituting half or one-third of the paprika with either of those varieties. Otherwise, their flavors may be overbearing and take away from the balance of the dish. Always buy good quality paprika make sure to check the dates on the container for freshness.
How to make Chicken Paprikash
- Add the butter and olive oil to a large skillet (or Dutch oven) over medium-high heat.
- Brown the chicken in a single layer, skin side down for 3-4 minutes, then turn the chicken over and cook the other side for another 3-4 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside until needed.
- Add the onions to the pan with the cooking oil and cook for 6-8 minutes over medium heat until golden brown.
- Add the garlic, red peppers, and tomatoes to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the stove top, then add the paprika, salt, and black pepper.
- Stir the seasonings to combine. Don’t let the paprika burn, it will get bitter.
- Return the chicken to the pan and place it back on the stove top. Add the chicken stock (most of the chicken should be covered) and turn the heat up to medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the mixture on low heat for 45-60 minutes.
- Remove the cooked chicken from the pot and transfer it to a plate. Tent with foil to keep warm.
- Keep the sauce on the stove over simmering over medium heat to reduce and thicken the sauce. Stir the sauce to get all the tasty browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Add the cold sour cream and cold heavy cream to a small bowl and whisk to combine. Then add the flour to the sour cream mixture and whisk to combine.
- Add the sour cream mixture to the sauce, constantly whisking to prevent lumps from forming. Bring the sauce back to a simmer and let it cook for 4 -5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Re-season the creamy paprika sauce with salt and pepper to taste, then return the chicken to the sauce, increasing the heat to medium, and let the chicken reheat for 5 minutes or until it’s at least 165 degrees F.
Serve the chicken paprikash over egg noodles, garnish with chopped Italian parsley and enjoy! I know your whole family is going to love my this classic Hungarian chicken dish.
If you’re a fan of Hungarian cuisine, make sure to try my Hungarian Goulash, its another delicious Hungarian recipe!
Store any leftover Chicken Paprikash refrigerated in an airtight container. It also can be frozen in a well sealed container for up to 3 months. You may need to add a little bit of water to the dish when reheating, as the sauce will continue to thicken.
Recipe FAQ’s
Traditional chicken paprikash is made from simple ingredients, chicken, onions, bell pepper, tomatoes, garlic, chicken stock, paprika, flour, sour cream, and cream. Some recipes use tomato paste for a deeper tomato flavor while other won’t include tomato products. The original recipe did not include tomatoes but over the years it’s been adapted many times and I like the flavor that fresh tomato adds to the sauce.
Paprikash refers to a stew like Hungarian dish resembling goulash (another Hungarian paprika-based stew) Some variations include veal or pork, but the original recipe is made with chicken.
Unless it says Hungarian paprika on the label, it’s more than likely Spanish paprika aka regular paprika.
Spanish paprika is typically a sweeter variety of paprika and is made from Spanish chiles. Hungarian paprika can be either hot or sweet and is made using ground Hungarian paprika chile peppers. Hungarian paprika is generally considered to be better quality and more desirable than Spanish paprika.
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Authentic Chicken Paprikash Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp extra vigin olive oil
- 2.5 pounds whole chicken -cut into pieces (bone-in, skin on 2 breasts, 2 thighs, 2 legs, 2 wings)
- 2 cups sweet onion small dice
- 1 cup red bell pepper small dice – or green pepper
- 1 cup Roma tomatoes chopped – or regular tomato
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 3 tablespoon Hungarian sweet paprika you can substitute 1 tablespoon of the sweet paprika with hot or smoked paprika
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 ½ teaspoon table salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon black pepper to taste
- 3 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup sour cream (full fat) at room temperature
- ¼ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon Italian parsley finely chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Add the butter and olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown the chicken for 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside until needed.
- Add the onions to the pan with the cooking oil and cook for 6- 8 minutes over medium heat until golden brown.
- Add the garlic, diced bell peppers, and tomatoes to the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the heat and add the paprika, salt, and black pepper. Stir the seasonings in to combine.Don't let the paprika burn, it will get bitter.
- Return the chicken to the pan and place it back on the stovetop.
- Add the chicken broth (most of the chicken should be covered) and turn the heat up to medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Simmer the mixture for 45-60 minutes.
- Remove the chicken from the pot and transfer it to a plate. Tent with foil to keep warm.
- Keep the sauce on the stove over simmering over medium heat to reduce and thicken the sauce. Stir the sauce to get all the tasty browned bits off the bottom of the pan.
- Add the sour cream and heavy cream to a small bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour to the sour cream mixture and whisk to combine.
- Add the sour cream mixture to the pot, constantly whisking to prevent lumps from forming. Bring the sauce back to a simmer and let it cook for 4 -5 minutes until the sauce has thickened.
- Re-season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste. Return the chicken to the sauce, increasing the heat to medium, and let the chicken reheat for 5 minutes or until it's at least 165 degrees F.
- Serve the chicken over egg noodles and garnish with chopped Italian parsley.
Jack R. says
Dear Chef Dennis: I’m using ‘Dear’ because your recipe has saved me more countless hours of searching for an authentic chicken paprikash recipe. I’ve searched, literally for years, until now. I first ate this chicken dish I never heard of in a little hole-in-the wall Hungarian restaurant in lower Manhattan some 25 years ago. I never forgot that exquisite taste and I wanted to find something similar. You, Chef Dennis, made my culinary taste buds come to life and brought back some warm memories. You nailed this recipe. If anyone is searching for that small, back alley, NYC Hungarian restaurant that served Chicken Paprikash, your search is over. Easy to make and stick to the recipe with no tweaking, trust me.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thank you for such a wonderful comment and rating Jack. It warms my heart to think that I’ve helped you remember that special time in your life at that restaurant in Manhattan. I hope you find more delicious recipes on my website to try and enjoy!
Dianne Spakowski says
Thanks for the recipe, in time I will make this. It sounds delicious.
David says
Good flavour, thank you. Please add the parsley to ingredients list (as I, for one, didn’t take time to read recipe through thoroughly prior to purchasing everything which is my fault but would protect idiots like me). Cooking down the sauce took longer and cooked the onions more than 4 minutes.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for letting me know I hadn’t included it, I just added it.
David says
Thank you. I should have added that we really enjoyed this. I might try it with green pepper next time to see what difference that makes (as I like them in Hungarian cuisine) but a really well explained and fantastic tasting dish.
Christina Kadlec says
This is a great recipe! Both of my parents were from Hungary, and I was raised on hungarian cuisine, including Chicken paprikash. There are alot more ingredients in this than my mother and both grandmother’s used because for them it was a “quick meal”, but this version has even more flavor and is amazing! I made it with traditional hungarian dumplings and it was amazing!
Chef Dennis Littley says
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed my paprikash recipe! I know its a bit more involved than the simpler version but its well worth it.