Chicken paprikash
Hungary’s coziest dinner: tender chicken in a silky, rosy paprika and sour cream sauce, spooned over buttery egg noodles.
- 55 min total
- 30 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.27 a serving
- 640 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ lb boneless chicken thighs, about 6 thighs
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 yellow onions, finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1½ cups chicken broth
- 8 oz egg noodles
- ¾ cup sour cream
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
From your pantry
- 1½ tsp salt, divided
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 3 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
Each serving has about 640 calories, 46 g protein, 58 g carbs and 25 g fat, and costs about $3.27 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No boneless chicken thighs? Chicken breasts or chicken tenderloins work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No red bell peppers? Yellow bell peppers work.
- No chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No egg noodles? Fettuccine or penne works.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chicken dry and it with 1 teaspoon of salt and the pepper.
Pat dry. Patting dry means pressing paper towels onto food to soak up the moisture on its surface. Wet food steams instead of browning, so this is how you get a good sear and crisp skin.
How you’ll know: The surface feels tacky, not wet, and the last paper towel comes away barely damp.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
the butter in a large deep or over medium-high.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Dutch oven. A Dutch oven is a heavy pot, usually enameled cast iron, with a tight-fitting lid. It holds heat evenly, so it’s great for soups, stews and anything that simmers a long time.
How you’ll know: Any large, heavy pot with a lid does the same job if you don’t have one.
Medium-high heat
the chicken 3 minutes per side, then move it to a plate. It won’t be cooked through yet.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 6 min
Turn the heat to medium, add the onions, bell pepper and ½ teaspoon of salt, and cook 8 minutes, now and then, until soft and .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium heatTimer: 8 min
Turn the heat to low, in the garlic, paprika, tomato paste and flour, and stir for 1 minute.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Low heatTimer: 1 min
Dolly’s tip: Paprika scorches fast and turns bitter, so keep stirring and keep it to a minute.Slowly in the broth, scraping the bottom, then return the chicken and its juices. Cover and on low 20 minutes, until the chicken reads 165°F.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Meanwhile, bring a pot of salted water and cook the noodles about 7 minutes, until tender. .
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
High heatTimer: 7 min
a big spoonful of the hot sauce into the sour cream in a bowl to warm it.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Take the pan off the heat and the sour cream in until the sauce is smooth and rosy.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Dolly’s tip: Off the heat is the key. Sour cream that boils splits into little white flecks.Spoon the chicken and sauce over the noodles and scatter the parsley on top.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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