Chicken paprikash

Several terms redirect here. It is not to be confused with Paprika, Pörkölt or Goulash.

Chicken paprikash (Hungarian: paprikás csirke or csirkepaprikás) or paprika chicken is a popular Hungarian cuisine dish of Austrian and Hungarian origin and one of the most famous variations on the paprikás preparations common to Hungarian tables. The name is derived from paprika, a spice commonly used in the country’s cuisine.^[1][2] The meat is typically simmered for an extended period in a sauce that begins with a roux infused with paprika.^[3]

Chicken paprikas with nokedli (Paprikás csirke nokedlivel)

Chicken paprikash with less common buckwheat side dish (not to be confused with tarhonya)

Preparation

The dish can be prepared using édes nemes (sweet) or csípős nemes (spicy) paprika; either adds a rosy color as well as flavor.^[1][4] Sometimes olive oil, sweet red or yellow peppers,^[5] and a small amount of tomato paste are used.^[6] The dish bears a "family resemblance" to goulash, another paprika dish.^[7]

The dish is traditionally served with "dumpling-like boiled egg noodles" (nokedli), a broad noodle similar to the German spätzle.^[2][5] Other common side dishes include tagliatelle,^[7] rice, or millet.^[8]

Variations

Food columnist Iles Brody's recipe called for chicken, onions, butter or lard, sweet paprika, green peppers, tomatoes, clove garlic, flour, and sour cream.^[9][10] Other recipes are similar.^[7] While quartered chicken parts are more traditional, modern interpretations of the recipe may call for boneless, skinless chicken thighs.^[5][9]

A version of paprikash (паприкаш) exists in Bulgarian cuisine; however, it includes smaller amounts of paprika being added to the sautéed onion at the beginning of the cooking and then adding cubed, usually green, sweet peppers. The dish is centered on the latter.

Chicken paprikash was adopted as a Sabbath dish by the Jews of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and remains popular today amongst Ashkenazim. Tomatoes are often included, and in Romania the dish was traditionally served with mămăligă.^[11][12] When cooked by Jews, chicken paprikash typically does not include any dairy products,^[13] due to the Jewish prohibition against mixing meat and dairy.

Chicken paprikasch is also a dish commonly eaten by Danube Swabians.^[14]

In popular culture

Chicken paprikash was a favorite meal among the crew of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald during the 1973 and 1974 shipping seasons.^[15]

See also

• Food portal

• List of chicken dishes