Chicken Paprikash (Hungarian Paprika Chicken Stew with Sour Cream)
Quick answer
- Total time
- 55 min
- Level
- Medium
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Ingredients
- 8
About this dish
Chicken paprikash is a Hungarian stew that starts by browning chicken thighs in a hot pan to develop color and fond, then builds a sauce around slowly cooked onion, sweet paprika, and tomato before finishing with sour cream.
Read more
The onion is cooked low and slow until completely soft and sweet, and only then is the paprika added over reduced heat to bloom its color and release its earthy, lightly smoky aroma without any risk of scorching. Paprika forms the entire foundation of the sauce's flavor and its characteristic deep red hue, while tomato contributes the acid needed to balance the richness of dark meat through a 25-minute gentle simmer. The chicken stays submerged in the sauce throughout cooking, absorbing the paprika-infused liquid and becoming very tender. Sour cream must be added at the very end with the heat turned low; stirring it in while the pot is still at a boil causes it to curdle, whereas adding it gently over low heat integrates it into a smooth, creamy sauce with a mild tang. The traditional presentation ladles the sauce over wide egg noodles or spaetzle, whose tender chew is well suited to catching and holding the rich, paprika-scented sauce.
Ingredients
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Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Finish
Pat 700 g chicken thighs dry, then season them evenly with 1 tsp salt.
Heat the pan over medium-high heat and brown only the outside until golden, leaving the center to finish later in the sauce.
- 2Finish
Transfer the chicken to a plate and melt 20 g butter in the same pot.
Add 180 g onion and cook over medium-low heat for about 8 minutes, stirring up the browned bits as it softens.
- 3Control
When the onion looks translucent and sweet, reduce the heat to low.
Stir in 2 tbsp sweet paprika for only about 30 seconds, coating the onion so the spice blooms without turning dark or bitter.
- 4Control
Add 150 g tomato and 300 ml water, scraping the bottom so the paprika mixture dissolves into the liquid.
Return the chicken and nestle the pieces into the sauce so they stay mostly covered.
- 5Control
Set the lid slightly ajar and simmer gently over low heat.
Turn the chicken once halfway through, and if the sauce reduces before the meat is tender, lower the heat and close the lid more fully.
- 6Season
Turn the heat very low, then stir in 120 g sour cream a little at a time.
Warm for only 3 minutes, stopping when the sauce is creamy and thick enough to coat noodles or spaetzle.
Practical Cooking Checks
The cues that matter most while cooking.
- Key technique
- Onion cooks low and slow before sweet paprika blooms in the fat, the sauce finished with sour cream off heat.
- Finish cue
- Turn the chicken once halfway through, and if the sauce reduces before the meat is tender, lower the heat and close the lid more fully.
- Avoid this
- Paprika burns quickly, so bloom it over low heat.
Cooking decision evidence
Calculated Charim data and applicable official cooking and food safety guidance.
This recipe
55min, 8 ingredients
Category median
40min, 8 ingredients
Based on 168 recipes
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