A traditional favorite still impresses: Chicken Paprikash

Genuine Hungarian paprika—and lots of it—drives this popular old world chicken dish. Recipe below.

WHEN I WAS A KID, THERE WAS A HUNGARIAN RESTAURANT IN DETROIT that was one of my favorites. I am not sure of the name (Hungarian Village?); I am not sure where it was (near the river?). I very dimly remember my family driving there, in the dark, riding in the back seat and peering out the window as we rattled across train tracks and past solemn, squat warehouses, their loading docks illuminated by a single low light, and past obscure low factories and empty lots, and after this confusing ride in the dark, finally arriving and bustling into the inviting restaurant.

And I remember the look and feel of the place inside, with long tables and warm light and happy diners and huge murals of peasants bringing in the harvest in festive traditional garb—lots of long full skirts and blousy tunics and babushkas—my father would look at the murals and say, “Ah, yes, building a better Soviet tomorrow.” At the front of the room was a low stage, and while we were there, musicians would come on stage, one or two at a time, and start playing, until after an hour or so, there would be a complete band of actual Rom playing.

And all evening, waitresses raced around the room, dressed in dirndls and puffy-sleeved blouses and tight little vests, carrying vast, vast trays of the most delicious food. Lavish bowls and platters of everything, everything delicious—goulash, porkolt. And for me, especially this: chicken paprikash.

When I realized that we had not shared this recipe here, I was really kind of shocked, because this is one of my lifelong foundational recipes. It’s simple, it’s soothing, it’s absolutely jammed with flavor and, even more so, it is absolutely jammed with fat. Sometimes you just need that. Make this with real Hungarian paprika—not smoked paprika or grocery store generic paprika—and with full-fat sour cream. And with lard. Hungarian cuisine is one of the fattiest in the world. For this, go with it.

Traditionally, this is served with dumplings, which I was too lazy to make; or with wide egg noodles. But really, any carb will do—mashed potatoes, rice. We had it with potato gnocchi because that is what we had in the freezer, and it tasted pretty wonderful if we say so ourselves. Also, the leftovers of this dish taste great the next day—reheat it gently.

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Chicken Paprikash

Genuine Hungarian paprika—and lots of it—drives this popular traditional chicken dish.

Course Main Course, Poultry

Cuisine Hungarian

Servings 6

Ingredients

• 6 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on (see Kitchen Notes)
• salt
• 2 teaspoons – 1 tablespoon lard (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 red or green bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 3 tablespoons sweet Hungarian paprika (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock or water (see Kitchen Notes)
• 1/2 cup white onion, chopped fine

For the finish—bring these parts to room temperature

• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup cream or half & half

Instructions

• Season the chicken with salt. In a large heavy-bottomed skillet that has a tight-fitting lid, melt the lard and butter together over medium-high flame. Brown the chicken well on both sides; then remove it to a plate.
• Reduce heat to low and add the onions and garlic to the skillet and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, until the onion just starts becoming translucent. Add in the tomato paste and paprika; stir well, and sauté on very low heat for another 30 to 45 seconds.
• Pour in the diced tomatoes and chicken stock, raise the heat and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally to make a uniform sauce. Stir in the diced peppers. Taste. You may want to add more paprika—this needs to have a full pungent paprika-y flavor. Some recipes for this call for even more paprika than I use here.
• Then return the chicken pieces to the pan, arranging them evenly, skin side up. Return the sauce to a simmer, cover the pan tightly, reduce the heat and cook gently for about 15 minutes (an instant read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh should say 165ºF.) To preserve the nice golden look of the skin, cook it skin side up the whole time and don’t turn it.
• Once the chicken is cooked through, gently transfer it to a plate. Whisk together the flour, sour cream and cream; then add in a few spoons of the hot cooking liquid and whisk that together, this gradually warms up the cream mixture so it won’t break. Then stir it into the gently simmering sauce and whisk everything together. The sauce will slightly thicken—you don’t want hideous gloppy thickness, just something subtle and spoon-coating. Taste it and adjust seasoning with salt.
• Return the chicken to the pan and heat it through. That’s it. Serve spooned over wide egg noodles or the carb of your choice.

Kitchen Notes

Thighs? Legs? Drumsticks? We prefer chicken thighs for this, but you may also use leg quarters or drumsticks and thighs or just the drumsticks.

Lard, really? Really? Yes, please. Fine, you don’t have to use it—you can use all butter or you can use olive oil or you can use a neutral cooking oil like grapeseed oil. But that small amount of lard really give this an extra lovely boost of mouthfeel and flavor.

The paprika. Okay, there are eight official varieties of Hungarian paprika. This time, we used Hungarian-Style Sweet Paprika from Penzey’s, which is különleges style. Most Hungarian paprika sold in the US is édesnemes style, a sweet variety which is a little more pungent (Pride of Szzeged is a very widely available édesnemes paprika). We strongly recommend that you look for one of these sweeter varieties, and you will find loads of other uses for it, including as a lovely finish for potato salad.

Stock or water? Water is traditional in this recipe, but I prefer the extra deliciousness that chicken stock brings.