Crockpot Paprika Chicken

This is a crockpot take on classic Hungarian chicken paprikash, the deeply paprika-scented chicken stew traditionally simmered for hours on a stove. The slow cooker does the long simmering for you while you go about your day, and the result is fall-off-the-bone tender chicken in a creamy, sweet-pepper-spiked sauce.

Two full tablespoons of paprika is what gives this dish its signature deep red-orange color and warm, slightly smoky backbone. Use Hungarian sweet paprika if you can find it, the flavor is rounder and more complex than generic supermarket paprika.

The finishing sour cream stir is the technique that turns this from a humble stew into the silky, restaurant-style paprikash. The sour cream goes in only after the heat is reduced. Boiling sour cream curdles into grainy bits and ruins the silky finish, which is why the directions specifically warn “heat through, but do not boil."

The flour-and-cool-juices slurry is the smart way to thicken without lumps. Mixing flour with a quarter cup of cooled cooking liquid first lets it dissolve completely before going back into the hot pot, where it thickens evenly into gravy.

Pro Tips

• Skim the fat off the cooking liquid before adding flour. Chicken releases significant fat over a 9 to 10 hour cook, and excess fat throws off the sauce balance and makes the sour cream curdle more easily.
• Use bone-in, skin-on chicken pieces for the deepest flavor. The bones release gelatin during the long cook, which gives the gravy its luxurious body.
• Bring the sour cream to room temperature before stirring in. Cold sour cream shocks the warm sauce and curdles instantly.
• Serve over wide egg noodles as the directions suggest. The wide noodles catch every drop of the creamy paprika gravy.

Variations

• Use a mix of sweet and hot paprika for a spicier paprikash with more heat.
• Add a chopped roasted red pepper to the pot for deeper, sweeter pepper flavor.
• Stir in a splash of dry white wine or chicken broth at the end for a thinner, more pourable sauce.