Home Cooking Chicken Paprikash (Paprikás Csirke) (Budapest, Hungary)

Chicken paprikash isn’t a chicken dish flavored with paprika and onions; it’s a paprika and onion dish in which there is chicken. During our visit to Budapest, Hungary, we learned that in addition to a generous amount of onion—sautéed until sweet and softened to create a flavor base—there are a couple other keys to achieving fullness and complexity in the iconic dish. Multiple forms of capsicums, or peppers, are essential for depth and range of flavor: The best versions we tried used sweet and hot dried paprika, of course, but also chopped fresh banana peppers (also called wax peppers) and a sweet-tangy purée made from roasted red peppers. As for the chicken, bone-in skin-on thighs or boneless skinless breasts were the most common cuts we saw.

Paprikash traditionally is served with homemade egg dumplings called nokedli to soak up the lush, velvety sauce. A creamy, tangy cucumber salad called uborka saláta brings brightness and texture and is a common accompaniment to rich meat dishes.