The ultimate comfort food: Traditional Hungarian-style braised chicken thighs in a rich paprika & sour cream sauce served over egg noodles or dumplings.
Paprikash is the chicken cousin of Hungarian Goulash. It’s super-easy to make with ingredients you probably already have on hand (chicken, onion, flour, tomato paste, paprika, stock/broth, and sour cream). Those simple ingredients come together here to make a warming meal that is the ultimate comfort food.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
What Is Chicken Paprikash?
Chicken Paprikash (or Paprikás Csirke) is a staple of Hungarian cuisine. It takes juicy, chicken thighs (bone-in or boneless, see info below) and braises them in a sauce made out of chicken stock, some tomato paste, plenty of paprika, and sour cream. Sometimes sweet bell peppers are included in recipes too. It’s incredibly rich and silky when it’s finished.
I like to serve everything over a bed of perfectly cooked egg noodles, but you could also serve with dumplings or rice. It’s great on a cold day when you are wanting something cozy and satisfying.
What Kind Of Paprika?
If you can get Hungarian paprika or even paprika paste, that is wonderful for this recipe. The recipe is designed for sweet paprika, but if you want it hot, go for it! The standard paprika from the grocery store will work fine too. Note that when paprika is labelled with just the word ‘paprika’, it is the sweet kind. If it is the spicier one, it will say ‘hot paprika’ on the container. I don’t suggest using a smoked paprika here, though I do love that flavor in other dishes.
How To Make Chicken Paprikash
First, you’re going to want to sear the chicken thighs in oil and butter, to lock in moisture and encourage even cooking. The oil helps to get a crisp on the thighs and the butter adds flavor.
Once the chicken has been seared, you remove it from the pot while you sauté onions, and then add the thickness for the sauce with flour and tomato paste.
Then, you’ll add the chicken broth or stock, paprika, salt, and pepper. The sour cream is stirred in, and then when everything comes to a simmer, the chicken thighs get added back to the pot.
The chicken cooks in the sauce while you make the noodles and when the chicken is cooked through, you top the noodles with the chicken and spoon on the luscious sauce.
Type Of Chicken To Use
Chicken paprikash is traditionally made with bone-in chicken pieces, like bone-in chicken thighs. However, these days, a lot of people prefer boneless thighs. The good news is that either type will work here, and you don’t even need to change the recipe at all!
Technically, boneless chicken thighs will finish cooking more quickly than their bone-in counterparts. But, chicken thigh meat is very forgiving so it’s not going to end up overcooked. And in fact, letting it simmer in the sauce for the full time called for in the recipe is going to let it soak up more of the sauce flavor, while also giving the sauce the chicken flavor. And that bit of time cooking with the lid off at the end helps to thicken the sauce also.
As to chicken thighs with the skin on, I don’t recommend you use those here. The chicken is simmered in sauce and that is going to make the skin rubbery. It’s best to either buy skinless chicken thighs or to remove the skin before cooking, which is easy to do. Just pull it off.
Can you use chicken breasts? Yes, boneless skinless chicken breasts will work in this recipe. However, you want to be sure to not overcook the chicken since breast meat can get dry when overcooked. I therefore recommend that after you add the chicken back into the sauce, only cook it with the lid on for 7 minutes. Then, remove the lid and cook until the chicken is only just cooked through to 165°F.
More Chicken Thigh Recipes
You can browse our full collection of chicken recipes or try one of the favorite chicken thigh recipes below.
Podcast Episode: Making Chicken Paprikash
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
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Chicken Paprikash Recipe
This is the classic Chicken Paprikash recipe! It’s a delicious Hungarian dish of braised chicken thighs in a rich paprika sauce that’s traditionally served over egg noodles or dumplings.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Hungarian
Ingredients
- 2 and 1/2 lbs. bone-in or boneless chicken thighs
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil
- 1 yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
- 1 Tbsp. paprika
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 1 and 1/2 cups low or no sodium chicken stock
- 3/4 cup sour cream*
Instructions
- If the chicken thighs have skin, remove it.
- Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or stockpot over medium-high heat until hot.
- Add the chicken thighs and sear until browned on all sides, 3-4 minutes per side (if your pot isn’t large enough for there to be space around the thighs as they cook, cook them in two batches).
- Remove the chicken thighs and place on a plate. Set aside.
- Turn the heat down to medium. Discard all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pot.
- Add the onion and sauté until soft and just starting to brown lightly at the edges, about 4 minutes.
- Add the flour, tomato paste, paprika, salt, and pepper and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the chicken stock and sour cream and stir until everything is well combined.
- Bring the mixture to a simmer. Add the chicken thighs back to the pot. Cover and turn the heat down to low.
- Simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on. Then take the lid off and simmer until the chicken is cooked through to 165°F as read on an instant read thermometer, about another 15 minutes.
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Notes
*For this recipe, it’s important that you use full-fat sour cream, not a reduced fat version, and not any substitute like Greek yogurt. The reason is that the sour cream is simmered in that sauce along with tomato paste, for quite a while. That can make dairy curdle, especially if it has a lower fat content. If your sauce does curdle, it’s still safe to eat, it just looks weird. Now, if you really want to use4 a lower-fat version, you can, but you will make this differently. What you’ll do is to cook the whole dish without the sour cream, right until the very end. Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the sauce and then take the sauce off of the heat. Wait 5 minutes, allowing the sauce to cool a bit. Then, stir in your lower-fat dairy. Spoon the sauce over the chicken and serve.
I’ve had this in a restaurant before, but you made it easy fo rme to make myself for the first time! So yummy. Thank you.
I’m glad you enjoyed, AJ!