My Best Friend’s Mom’s Paprikash
There’s one meal that everyone in my household loves, and it’s not mac and cheese. It’s not even my own recipe! It’s my best friend’s mom’s mushroom paprikash.
I got hooked on this meal back in my twenties, when I started making it with my best friend, Chrissy, who learned it from her mom, Monika, who learned how to make it as a child in Slovakia. “Traditionally, paprikash is made with chicken,” Monika told me. “But in the old days, behind the Iron Curtain, we didn’t have meat most days, so people used what was available. In summertime, if it was a nice day, all us kids would go out into the woods and gather mushrooms. That’s how the mushroom paprikash came about. And it was wonderful!”
It still is. Which is why I follow Monika’s version to the letter. I still have her instructions saved in a decade-old text message, which I can now recite from memory (though I’ve copied it into my Notes app JUST IN CASE). It’s our family’s favorite winter meal, by far, but I’ll just as easily whip it out in July. Monika’s paprikash has a 100% success rate, even with my preschooler — even when she’s sick and I have to beg her to consider a popsicle. She will willingly dehydrate before my eyes, but if she sees me slicing mushrooms, she’ll throw her hands up and shout, “PAPRIKASHHH!” And then her dad comes in and goes, “Paprikash?” And then I nod and we all chant the word “paprikash” because it’s also fun to say. The meal puts everyone in a good mood — until someone eats the last portion without asking, and then we’re all grumpy and some of us cry. All this to say: do yourself a favor and double the recipe.
Monika’s Mushroom Paprikash
serves 3-4
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced or grated
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1-2+ tbsp sweet paprika (Monika recommends a Hungarian paprika, like this one)*
16 oz mushrooms (baby bella/cremini/brown button), sliced thin
Salt, to taste
1+ cups sour cream
Egg noodles or spaetzle**, for serving
Add olive oil to a large pan or Dutch oven (enough to coat the bottom well), and turn the heat on medium-low. Add the onion, and sauté just until it begins to turn translucent and golden. Next, add the paprika (see below!) and turn the heat low. Monika suggests adding a tiny splash of water here, to ensure the paprika doesn’t burn. This is the #1 rule: Do not let the paprika burn! Keep the heat low from here on out, and keep an eye on the pan to make sure the paprika doesn’t start to darken.
Add the mushrooms and quickly stir them into the onion mixture so they’re well coated, and sauté, stirring frequently. You can inch the heat up a little once the mushrooms have released their liquid, but be careful not to let it boil off entirely (again: no burning the paprika!).
Once the mushrooms are nice and soft, take the pan off the heat and give it a quick taste. “I sometimes add a little salt here, if it needs it, but only after everything’s cooked,” Monika says. FYI, this is another key to the recipe. I’ve accidentally added the salt too early before, and noticed that the mushrooms don’t release as much liquid — a major flavor element.
Stir in the sour cream, adding more as needed. You want it a bit thicker than a sauce — more like the consistency of whole-milk yogurt. Boil up your egg noodles or spaetzle, and serve beneath a good scoop of paprikash. (Make sure to leave some for seconds.)
*As for how much paprika to add to the pan, it’s not an exact science. I usually start with a heaping tablespoon — which seems like a lot, but then I inevitably add another (and sometimes more). In my experience, it’s pretty hard to add too much. When in doubt, Monika says: “You want enough to make it red.”
**Paprikash is traditionally served on spaetzle — which I have never made, though it looks delicious. Monika says it’s fine to be flexible here. “Egg noodles or any similar short pasta will do!”
Big thanks to Moni for sharing this treasured family recipe with me! Any great recipes you’ve nabbed from someone else’s mom?
P.S. The #1 thing we’d tell new parents about family dinner, and what are five recipes in your arsenal?
Comments
127 commentsThe German side of my family has a recipe called “Hungarian goulash” that my Hungarian friend informed me is in fact paprikash. We use beef but I’d like to try it with mushrooms now. Goulash (paprikash) with spaetzle is my favorite meal. Yummmmmmmm We also have a pie crust recipe from a Finnish family friend. It’s like sugar cookie, which is much better than the flaky kind, in my opinion. Much easier to make too – no cutting in butter! So many memories attached to both of these. And now I’m hungry…
Best Friend’s Mom made Turkey Tetrazzini after Thanksgiving every year… and now I do too! I text my friend and thank her for the recipe and the years of love that her family shared with me and mine. My kids and now their families all have the recipe too.
Oh I LOVE paprikash – thank you for the reminder to whip some up! It snowed over a foot in Colorado where I live last week, so even though it’s warming up today, we still have enough snow on the ground to justify a cozy, warming winter dish. I’ve made a similar version of this many times with chickpeas – even more pantry friendly if anyone finds themselves in need and can’t get the mushrooms for whatever reason! https://munchmealsbyjanet.com/2022/08/26/chickpea-paprikash/#recipe
I made this tonight and it was very tasty! I agree with other commenters suggesting garlic, that would be great! Didn’t have time to make spaetzle, but I will try that next time! It was great with egg noodles. 🙌✨ Thanks for sharing!!
Made this last night and am adding it to the rotation!! I added chicken thighs and used greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Delish!!
Back in the 90’s, my best friend’s mother used to make the best chocolate chips cookies. She brought the recipe back from the US (we live in Belgium). They were very special to us / me as my mother was (and still is) a terrible cook and American cooking was not as popular when we grew up. She was very secretive about the recipe and did not want to share it. When I was 25 (and finally a decent cook), I finally earned the right to receive the recipe WITH a strict interdiction to share it further. I’ve made them at least 100 times ever since. BUT the best is yet to come. Flashforward to a few years ago. I’m watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S for the millionth time (the favorite show I share with the aforementioned best friend), season 7 / episode 3: The One With Phoebe’s Cookies in which Phoebe tries to identify the secret recipe of her grandmother’s secret cookies. They end up realizing that these are the Nestle Tollhouse cookies… I check the recipe out of curiosity and … this is 100% the same as to one my best friend’s mother kept secret, THE Nestle Tollhouse cookies…
Notice to the public – when a recipe tells you to grate the raw onion, do not make my mistake and BLEND the raw onion in a nutribullet because you are lazy (I know, I know, stop looking at me like that). I learned today that blending a raw onion does something to it that makes it incredibly, irretrievably bitter. I had to throw the dish out, it could not be saved, it was so bad. Next time I won’t be lazy, paprikash!
This is a very useful comment! Thank you, Anon! I would likely have been tempted to take the lazy route too, but I shall heed your warning and not disrespect the paprikash by cutting corners. My mom, whose best friend was Hungarian and who loved the dish possibly because she found “paprikash” fun to say, would have enjoyed this post.
This was so great! I stirred in a can of tuna at the end (before the sour cream) – just perfect.
It’s the middle of summer where I live (South Africa) and I can’t imagine eating anything hot BUT I, too, want a dish that this toddler wants! Never heard such a glowing recommendation for a dish. Will cook immediately the weather cools off.
ug this is perfect for Johannesburg right now though
Can we get a post of all the family/friend recipes mentioned in the comments? I love hand me down recipes.
Drooling Hungarian over here. I do my mom’s go-to recipe, prepared similarly: a paprikas(h) chicken, using with a boatload of sliced bell peppers in place of mushrooms. Now which to make this weekend …
Wow! I’m from the Czech Republic (formerly Czechoslovakia) and we call it paprika chicken and it’s everyone’s favorite also! I have never heard of making it with mushroom before! How fun!
Looks delish, and I will certainly try that. My family loves Goulash (recipe from my German mom), which is basically the stew meat and bell pepper version of this. For those of you who don’t like sour cream, you might try Creme Fraiche, which has a less “sour” flavor than sour cream.
Picked up all the ingredients last night and can’t wait to make it today!
In all my years of watching When Harry Met Sally, I never knew what paprikash really was. Thanks for the education and recipe CoJ.
I came to the comments to see who else was thinking about Harry and Sally! 😂
….but I’d be proud to partake in your pecan pie
I made this last night subbing Greek yogurt for the sour cream. Delicious!
Perfect timing! we were out of pasta sauce last night so I made a version of this with onion, sausage, and orzo – it was a hit!
Kelsey! Hope this isn’t weird but I think I spotted you at Urban Outfitters in Manhattan a few months ago. Wanted to say hi but I chickened out! Anyway, love your work and so excited to make this!!
Made this last night. Such a comforting recipe for this cold and dark February. Simple and delicious. Will definitely add garlic into the mix next time, because what isn’t better with garlic?
My friend gets me the most delicious & gorgeous paprika from Peter Szabo in Hungary (his story: https://www.instagram.com/p/CU-T6a-I73v/?igsh=NDh6a241andqaGl5 ) Luckily, Burlap and Barrel carries it: https://www.burlapandbarrel.com/products/noble-sweet-paprika
I’m Hungarian and we actually make this dish with peas as well (instead of mushrooms), and imho it’s even better :) with frozen peas such a super fast dish to make. worth a try if you love peas! + tips: 1. use heavy cream instead of sour cream, makes it even more creamy and rich 2. a clove of garlic deepens the flavor a bit
Yum! I will try both versions, though I think I’ll use heavy cream as you suggested.
I tried this last night! The garlic definitely deepened the flavor! I chopped garlic and added garlic powder towards the end to intensify the flavor. Its such a buildable, forgiving dish. I used the heavy cream and it worked soo well!
My favorite!
Back in the 1990’s I was in college and my then boyfriend’s mom sent us both care packages of cookies. These peanut butter chocolate chip cookies were the most delicious I had ever eaten and I REALLY wanted the recipe. Unfortunately, I did not want the boy. So what’s a girl to do? Date him for another 6 months, of course, until I was finally invited to meet his mom in person and ask for the recipe. Worth it.
That is commitment! I once stayed with a guy longer than I should bc he was in a bowling league where he would be given a bowling ball at the end and he already had a fancy custom one so he was going to give me the new one. Alas, he turned out to have a mean streak so I broke up with him before the end of the season. You gotta share the recipe please!
Girl you gotta share the recipe
Also chiming in to say I’d like to have access to this recipe, possibly without having to date someone for six months that I don’t want to be dating, please? This is a great story, but…these gotta be good cookies!
Was her name Nestle Tollhouse – spoken with a French accent of course!
Happy to share the recipe. Joanna…should I just post it here in the comments?
yes that would be great. thank you, Sara!
Here’s the recipe! And in case you were wondering…yes, I am staring at his mom’s handwriting from the original recipe card she gave me. ;) Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 1cup butter (softened) 1cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs (beaten) 3 cups flour 1 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup chunky peanut butter (I use Skippy) 12 ounces chocolate chips Cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl mix together flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir together. Add in peanut butter and chocolate chips and stir together. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop with rounded tablespoons and use a fork dipped in sugar to gently push down and criss cross the tops. Bake at 400 for about 8-10 min. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Thank you, Sara!!!
This looks delicious and a really comforting winter meal (it’s very much still winter in the UK). I’ll add the ingredients to my shopping list! I’ve got a recipe for a ginger cake that gets renamed every time someone passes it on. I call it my “aunty Anne’s ginger cake”, but she calls it “Jean’s ginger cake” and so it goes on back down the line. I hope that when I pass the recipe on, someone will call it “Susie’s ginger cake”!
I would love to call it Susie’s ginger cake if you’d like to share the recipe!
Me too! I want to make Susie’s Ginger Cake if you want to share the recipe.
I am Hungarian and we cook paprikás csirke (chicken paprikash) and I can confirm that using the paprika spice from Szeged (the one that’s linked in) is the way to get the authentic flavor. It’s a wondeful dish. Make sure you don’t burn the spice as then it turns bitter!
I made this tonight and it was wonderful!
Chicken paprikash with mushrooms reminds me of my mother. She would make this for me in childhood. My great grandmother was from Nova Lesna, Slovakia.
I’m not Hungarian and have no ties to paprikash and likely won’t make this dish BUT I IMMEDIATELY had a core memory of a dish my best friend’s mom used to make when I was a kid – grilled cheese with lots of butter and pickles inside. I wonder how many of us have similar core memories of not something our moms made but something our best friend’s mom made.
My best friend’s mum was American, and I am British. I loved going to theirs after Halloween or Thanksgiving and getting Jodi’s spiced pumpkin seeds! And she made the best vanilla cake with chocolate icing. Add that to Marie’s chicken schnitzel and you have an excellent best friends’ moms’ meal :)
Robyn that sounds fantastic!!!
As a long time reader from Slovakia, I feel touched to see here the meal that we eat so often in our home <3
Me too ❤️
I can’t wait to make Monika’s treasured recipe. Recipes passed down to friends and family are so special. We have a cherished recipe from a Slovak friend of my parents, named Nick. Chicken Soup 1 chicken cut up Water to cover 4 celery stalks with leaves 1 onion, cut into large chunks 1 can tomato paste Salt to taste Dried oregano ~1 1/2-2 tsp Sliced celery (lots) Large pasta shells, cooked Salt & pepper to taste In a large soup pot, combine all ingredients except sliced celery & shell noodles. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low & simmer, covered, until chicken is done, about 1 hour. Remove celery & skim if desired. Season with salt & pepper, then add sliced celery, & cook, until crisp-tender, about 15 minutes. Ladle soup into bowls over cooked pasta shells. I’ve been making this for nearly 43 years, and my mom, forever.
Hi Caroline. Thanks for sharing!question: Could you pls explain the 1 chicken cut up? Exactly how do you approach that? Do you remove meat from bones and cut it up or do you leave bones in and boil it in big pieces (legs, thighs….). Very curious. Thank you!
Anon, I cut up a whole chicken into 2 thighs, 2 lens, 2 wings, & 2 breasts. I usually cut each breast in half again. You want bone-in pieces. Save the other pieces + wings to make stock at another time. I often use my favorite bone-in pieces (I really hate cutting up a chicken these days). Lately, it’s been 4-6 bone-in chicken thighs. You want to serve it with the whole pieces of chicken. (Some chicken will fall apart in soup pot.) The meat will easily fall off the bones while you eat it. Obviously, if you have young ones eating this, take their serving off the bone. Does this help?
Love this utterly! My Italian grandmother tried very hard to be the best Hungarian wife for my Hungarian grandfather – she made his mother’s paprikas and I make my own version(s) now, with chicken and/or mushrooms. My fam makes nokedli, which are super easy, deeply comforting egg noodles. Mix 2 eggs with a cup of flour – and that’s it! unless you want to get fancy and lighten em up a bit with a splash of sparkling water. Either way, set a pot of salted water to boil and, using a butter knife, cut lil pieces of the batter into the boiling water. Aim for noodles a little bigger than the tip of your pinkie. They’re done when they rise to the top of the pot. When I make them, I’m generally cutting in a few noodles, skimming a few out and dropping them into the paprikas, cutting in some more, skimming a few, etc. Paprikas is delicious with store noodles, rice, potatoes, or whatever, but it tastes most like family to me when it’s served with homemade nokedli.
My husband’s family is Hungarian, his grandmother was Czech (those moving boundaries) so to say we eat this (chicken version) all the time is an understatement. Just yesterday my husband finished the left overs and said “I just eat this for the mushroom”. But he said a purely mushroom version wasn’t the right flavour, so I am going to take this challenge and give it a whirl. We also serve it with rice…Anyway in Hungarian they call Spätzle, Nokedli – and it is actually the easiest thing in the world to make. Have a go, I promise you won’t look back. I am so glad you shared this recipe. There is something special about recipes that travel with people who move across nations. My husband’s grandfather apparently said “If it wasn’t for the wars I would have never eaten a vegetable you know. Because of the wars we ate a lot of cabbage”. – I am allergic to meat so my husband keeps saying there’s no way we can visit Hungary.
Highly recommend cooking spaetzle! I just took a cooking class in San Francisco & we made spaetzle, as part of it. It’s SO easy, but you just need the “colander / strainer” looking thing to push the dough through, to boil. It takes <5 minutes. It would be delish with mushroom paprikash!
Agree! It’s so easy. I did buy a spaetzle grater which makes it even less on the hands. Boil them til they float and then sautee in whatever butter or oil you like to really jazz up the nuttiness.
@Amanda I just found a grater on Sur La Table for $23! I didn’t even know this existed. Thank you!
My husband’s grandmother cooked in a Hungarian kitchen and she just flicked the flour bits into the water with the back of a knife. (lates 1950s in Australia, so I guess they made do).
This feels like a silly questions to ask, but for those who have eaten this dish before – does it taste like sour cream? We’re big fans of mushrooms and paprika in our house, but not fans of sour cream. But it looks so tempting!!!
For me it tastes mostly like mushrooms and paprika but there is a tang that comes from the sour cream-you could sub in heavy cream instead and let it simmer a bit and thicken, it just won’t have that same consistency.
I’ve made chicken paprikash before and I think you could probably reduce the sour cream to 1/2 cup or sub a similar amount of cream or marscapone/ creme fraiche (which I know are not the most accessible of ingredients).
I grew up having this with sour cream, but switched plain unsweetened yogurt as an adult. It works well! Greek is a bit too thick; we aim for a thinner yogurt and then gently cook until the consistency is right.
You can also try out cream if you prefer! You van even do a chicken-mushroom version like our family does in Hungary ;-)
I mean oat cream :-)))
My favorite! We make it with mushrooms too and on tiny difference: a sprinkling of fresh dill. Mmmmm
I always add dill as well, it’s really not complete without it! You can also make it with different kinds of veggies, I grew up having chicken, but now that I’m vegetarian I’m experimenting with different options. Cream cheese will also work instead of sour cream, just wait for it to cool and blend it in some broth before adding it back in.
So delicious and so homey. Can’t wait to put it in next week’s rotation!
I loooove this dish. I add a dash of dijon mustard to the sour cream, it gives it a nice zip, and I use a combo of smoked and sweet paprika. The leftovers are even better.
Oh wow! Love a new vegetarian meal idea. Could she share the brand name of the recommended Hungarian Paprika? The link takes me to Mercato but my zip didn’t yield any paprika results. I imagine a good paprika really enhances the recipe. On the topic of paprika, I only discovered smoked paprika in my late 30s and WOW! Makes my sloppy joe lentils so, so good. Spices are fab.
Looks like the recommended brand is Pride of Szeged.
It’s Szeged paprika!
Penzeys has wonderful paprika (and everything else lol) and is a company with a solid moral stance that I’m happy to support! They are vocally resistant to racism and discrimination of all kinds.
I’m curious: if my family doesn’t like sour cream, is greek yogurt (or another kind of plain yogurt) a suitable option?
I always sub Greek yogurt for sour cream but if you heat it too much it’ll break.
Charlotte, I absolutely loath sour cream…. except in this dish! You don’t need to add much, I usually do less than a teaspoon in my bowl (we add it individually at the end because like you, we’re not huge fans of it but it does work in this – give it a try).
You can also skip it entirely. Normally, you don’t need to add sour cream to paprikas, instead, you mix up a corn starch slurry that you add to the water (after you’ve sauted your protein). This gives the base thickness, to which people add dolops of sour cream to their own servings. I’ve also had luck with a soy-based creamer, and am planning on trying to whip up my own by blitzing soy milk and oil. Good luck!
My husband is from Hungary and grew up eating paprikash made by his mom. When we were first married, we lived in Arkansas and subsisted on Kraft and ramen to get by. One night, I pulled out a Hungarian cookbook and made paprikash for the first time to surprise him. He was so touched, even though it wasn’t great. When he took the first bite, he closed his eyes and said, “It tastes like home.” Years later, we now have kids and a life and visit Hungary every year to see his family. I read somewhere that eating food from your culture is like learning your identity one taste at a time. Now when we make Hungarian food here in the U.S., we tell our kids, “You’re remembering home tonight!” We have a big mason jar of Hungarian paprika in our spice cabinet, and my daughter calls it the “home jar.”
This is so beautiful Ashley!
The home jar omggggg this is so sweet. Do you have a favorite Hungarian cookbook? I’m trying to learn more Hungarian and Polish cooking, as these are my husband’s roots, too!
making this tonight!!!
My go-to is Hungarian chicken paprikas with nokedli from the famous Gundel’s restaurant recipe! The cookbook was gifted to me by our family’s Hungarian friend and she helped me make the dish so I got a feel for how it’s authentically done. We love it!
Nokedli! the best!
I had to stop reading immediately to say please write it down on paper, Just In Case!
What would be a good non dairy replacement for the sour cream, or is that just not even worth asking????
Hi Kristy, I know there’s a few recipes to make your own to be found online, otherwise I’ve had good luck with Forager and Violife store bought brands!
Sorry! Kirsty, not Kristy!
Vegan sour cream should work great, or you could make cashew cream.
I like using Forager Foods plain Cashewgurt or Trader Joe’s plain cashew yogurt (they’re the same product) as a sour cream sub. There are also a number of vegan sour creams available.
Culina makes a killer plain coconut milk yogurt that would probably work pretty well. Or if lactose is the issue, Green Valley makes a lactose free sour cream.
We do sesame seeds, water, oil, lemon juice and some Philadelphia dairy-free cream cheese blended in the vitamix. We literally used it last week when we made mushroom paprikash, but we use it as a base for many sauces. Do not toast the sesame seeds or it will taste more like tahini (which is often a good thing, but it doesn’t mimic the dairy taste). You could probably also just use a smaller proportion of the Philadelphia dairy-free cream cheese. We have tried all the non-cashew options (cashew allergy in the house) and it is hands-down the best.
We avoid dairy and (almost all) nuts and I’ve recently started using Cocojune coconut yogurt as a substitute in many recipes. Kite Hill (almond based) is often a good substitute for us too. I plan to try with one of these!
Thanks for the meal idea! Going on the list for next week! Love, love mushroom dishes.
Anyone else hear Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan’s silly voices in their head? “Waiter, there is too much pepper on my paprikash.”
Ha, yes!
Yes! I came to the comments just to see who else immediately thought of When Harry Met Sally.
“but I would be pleased to partake of your pecan pie…”
The way I ran to the comments to make sure someone else thought this lol!
YES. All I could think about reading this. I (very embarrassingly) didn’t know paprikash was a real dish before this post.
YES! I’m so happy to read this comment. I never knew what Harry was saying (and for some reason never really wondered?) until just this moment while reading this post!! I’m definitely making paprikash (this mushroom version) over the weekend and watching that movie when my kids go to bed and maybe finding a piece of pecan pie!
Yes! That was my first thought!
YES!!! I was hoping someone else thought this.
Love a mushroom-forward recipe. Adding this to next week’s menu! And I can finally use the paprika a friend brought back from Hungary a few months ago.
As soon as I saw the pic and the byline I said “H*** yeah”. Everything I’ve made featured by Kelsey has been a winner. Chef’s kiss to you, Kelsey Miller, for your delicious humor and food!
Thanks, Kelsey and Monika. My vegetarian family members will love Mushroom Paprikash. And I don’t have a recipe from a friend’s mother, but I do have one — found in a magazine in 2011 — from Linda Evans, a retired actress who was in a very popular ’80s show called “Dynasty.” It’s for corn pudding and I make it every year on Thanksgiving. Delicious but rich.
That’s so funny – I have the same corn pudding recipe from Linda Evans as well! Soo good
I can almost smell the chicken paprikash cooking in my grandma’s kitchen now. It’s the most comforting of all time and I love to see a mushroom version here! So cheap and so good as leftovers. I would definitely use better instead of olive oil, and this dish is definitely not fitting into any calorie deficit situations.
Love that this is vegetarian!
The recipe for my dad’s pancakes has been passed on to many friends of my sister, my brothers and me. He got the recipe from the mom of a friend of his in the 70’s so we called them Mrs. Tait’s pancakes. It only took one generation for them to become Watty’s pancakes and for the recipe to keep spreading its joy and love on sleepy mornings.
A very long time ago, my husband came across a recipe called “Grandma Barb’s Apple Bread.” A recipe sharing site? A community cookbook? I can’t even remember. Well, it was delicious and became a mainstay. We always call it “Grandma Barb’s Apple Bread,” even though we have no idea who Grandma Barb is!
This sounds wonderful and thank you for featuring a vegetarian dish! Love the story about foraging in the woods.
In Poland we have a dish called Paprykarz, the ingredients are quite different even though the name sounds almost the same. Cheers to our southern neighbours in Slovakia :)!
Waiterrrrrr, there is too much pepper on my paprikash.
But I would be proud to partake of your pecan pieeeeeee.
Ha. This is all I can think of too!
Yessssss there is no way a paprikash recipe was going to go up on CoJ without us saying this!
Also Slovak! I have amazing memories of driving in the Carpathian mountains and seeing a guy with his trunk open and FILLED with these huge, meaty mushrooms that he had just foraged. My relatives in Jaklovce gave me a spaetzle maker!
Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! My 100% Slovak mom made this all the time with dumplings and we loved it! She never used a recipe and she’s gone now so this post will help me create some of her magic for my family, too.
I know what I’m making this weekend!
My husband’s family adores this dish, although they use bone in chicken. Passed down from his Hungarian great grandmother!
I married into a Hungarian family too – the last time my father in law visited Hungary he brought us back some paprika, it was amazing! like off the charts – but at $19 for a small packet, we will have to wait for his next trip.
I love paprikash! I make a chickpea version and my semi-fussy kids LOVE it. As do I. sometimes I add some bonus veggies like carrots or spinach. Such a versatile recipe. Definitely going to try with mushrooms. -11 in Minneapolis today so a hot stew sounds dreamy.
Chickpea version is genius! I love paprikash and make it many ways but never even occurred to me to use chickpeas. I will definitely try this. I make a chickpea butter “chicken” that’s really good too
Yum, Mel! Do you follow basically this set-up, with chickpeas instead of mushrooms, or are there other shifts? Thanks!
Hi SaraK, I loosely follow this recipe: https://munchmealsbyjanet.com/2022/08/26/chickpea-paprikash/ But I say loosely as I never perfectly follow a recipe :) peas are a great addition for another protein hit.
Yes! We eat this often enough that we even make variations: adding red bell pepper in with the onions, or a dollop of tomato paste, or a dash of red pepper flakes/Cajun spices, to switch things up
This makes my Slovakian heart sing, Kelsey! Paprikash is life, whether it’s the mushroom version or the classic chicken. Traditionally served with small dumplings, which are similar to Spaetzle, it’s a dish that always satisfies. If you’re making Spaetzle, make sure to double the batch – the next day’s lunch is sorted when you fry them up with an egg and a gherkin.
My mom always served us the leftover dumplings the next morning, warmed and tossed in butter, cinnamon, and sugar
sounds like the base to Beef Stroganoff (my favorite meal, next to pizza) YUM!