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Chicken Paprikash With Buttered Egg Noodles

4.5

(68)

Chicken paprikash served with egg noodles in a red sauce.
Photo by Chelsie Craig

Hungarian chicken paprikash delivers on all the winter staple fronts: It’s hearty, it’s warming, and if you add egg noodles, mashed potatoes, spaetzle (mini German dumplings), or spaetzle's Hungarian cousin, nokedli, it’s a complete meal. The process for making it is simple, but there are a few things to keep in mind. Before you do anything else, take the sour cream out of the refrigerator—letting it come to room temperature will help it blend seamlessly into the hot tomato sauce later. Second: Use an oven-safe skillet (or Dutch oven) large enough to hold everything once combined. And third, sear the chicken thighs in batches so that they have plenty of room to develop the color and flavor required to make the dish truly outstanding.

Using bone-in chicken instead of boneless allows you to skip the store-bought chicken broth, which means you can nestle the thighs back into the tomatoey braise while keeping the skin exposed for maximum crispiness. Depending on your local market, you’ll have a range of paprikas to choose from. It’d be wise to make this Hungarian dish with any bottle labeled “Hungarian paprika.” But even then, you have the choice of hot paprika or sweet. If you’re not familiar with the brand, best to start with sweet paprika before going full tilt with any others. Spanish smoked paprika, or pimentón, would bring a completely different profile, but that’s not a bad thing if you’d care to experiment. Whatever you use, be sure it’s fresh, and sauté it briefly to revive the flavor.

Once the pieces of chicken are cooked, it’s time for the sour cream—mix a small amount of sauce into a bowl with the sour cream to temper it, then add it to the skillet. Put the chicken back in the pan so it gets a coating in the creamy sauce, garnish with parsley, and serve.

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What you’ll need

Recipe information

  • Total Time

    1 hour 10 minutes

  • Yield

    4 servings

Ingredients

½

cup sour cream

2½

pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (about 6 large or 8 small)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1

large yellow onion

4

garlic cloves

3

tablespoons unsalted butter, divided

3

tablespoons paprika

¼

teaspoon cayenne pepper

1

15-ounce can crushed tomatoes

12

ounces egg noodles

½

cup parsley leaves with tender stems

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 300°. Take sour cream out of fridge—it needs to come to room temperature. Place 2½ pounds chicken thighs on a plate and pat dry with paper towels. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

    Step 2

    Set chicken aside for a few minutes and bang out your other prep. Peel and dice 1 onion. Smash 4 garlic cloves with the flat side of your knife and peel. Open 15-oz. can tomatoes.

    Step 3

    Place a large ovenproof skillet on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add 1 Tbsp. butter and swirl to melt. Using tongs, add chicken skin side down and cook, lifting up thighs once or twice to let rendered hot fat run underneath, until skin is golden brown and crisp, 8–10 minutes. Transfer chicken skin side up to a plate.

    Step 4

    Pour off fat from skillet into a small heatproof bowl, leaving a thin layer coating the bottom (reserve fat for another use). Reduce heat to low. Add onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often to dissolve browned bits on bottom of skillet, until onions are translucent, 6–8 minutes.

    Step 5

    Add 3 Tbsp. paprika and ¼ tsp. cayenne. Cook, stirring constantly, just until onions are evenly coated and spices are fragrant, about 30 seconds (the spices burn very easily, turning them bitter and chalky, so make sure to keep them moving in skillet and have can of tomatoes close at hand).

    Step 6

    Add tomatoes to skillet. Fill can two-thirds with water and swirl, then add to skillet. Stir until incorporated, season with several pinches of salt, and bring to a simmer.

    Step 7

    Using tongs, arrange thighs skin side up back in skillet (along with any accumulated juices), nestling into liquid but not submerging (you want the skin to be exposed so it stays crispy).

    Step 8

    Transfer skillet to oven and roast until chicken is fully cooked and tender enough to release from the bone when prodded with a fork, 35–40 minutes.

    Step 9

    About halfway through chicken cook time in the oven, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add 12 oz. egg noodles and cook according to package instructions, stirring occasionally with tongs. Drain noodles in a colander. Transfer to a large bowl, add remaining 2 Tbsp. butter, and toss to coat until butter is melted and noodles are coated. Season with salt and pepper.

    Step 10

    Finely chop ½ cup parsley and add half to noodles; toss to coat.

    Step 11

    Carefully remove skillet from oven (handle will be hot!). Using tongs, transfer chicken skin side up to a clean plate. Taste sauce and season with more salt and pepper, if needed. Spoon about ¼ cup sauce into a small bowl and stir in sour cream until smooth (this slowly brings up the temperature of the sour cream so it doesn’t split when it hits the hot skillet). Pour back into skillet and stir to combine.

    Step 12

    Arrange chicken thighs and juices back in skillet and top with remaining chopped parsley. Serve over noodles.



    Editor’s note: This recipe was first published in January 2018. Head this way for more of our comfort food favorites →

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Reviews (68)

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  • What kind of paprika?

    • orig_co

    • Canada

    • 1/4/2018

  • I made this tonight and it was so good! Would 100% make again. Thanks for an excellent, simple upgrade on my old recipe.

    • Anonymous

    • Ottawa, Canada

    • 1/7/2018

  • please describe the type of paprika!!!!!! how long does it take y'all to answer queries????

    • Anonymous

    • ny state

    • 1/7/2018

  • It's usually Hungarian paprika but you can use any kind as long as it's fresh.

    • tgeeca

    • California

    • 1/7/2018

  • My grandmother, mother and now I have enjoyed this delicious and easy to make dinner but the recipe would be much better without the tomatoes. Alternative to egg noodles consider making spatzel instead for a more authentic dining experience.

    • kckopsco

    • Newtown, CT

    • 1/8/2018

  • @kckopsko what would you suggest in place of tomatoes? What would constitute the “sauce”? Just curious because this sounds great and I want to make this week.

    • Anonymous

    • Michigan

    • 1/8/2018

  • In response to the question for substituting tomatoes I add a dry white wine instead to enhance the sour cream flavor. My family prefers skinless chicken breast chunks in addition to thighs that I add near the end and I do not recommend skin-on chicken either - too oily. It is critical to NOT over cook the chicken and cook everything over a low heat.

    • kckopsco

    • 1/8/2018