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Chicken in Paprika sauce
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Chicken in paprika sauce

Delicious chicken in a creamy, paprika sauce.
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time40 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Course: Main dish
Cuisine: Czech
Diet: Gluten Free
Keyword: Chicken, Creamy, Instant Pot
Servings: 4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 onion
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 4-6 chicken thighs can be frozen
  • salt to taste
  • pepper to taste
  • 2 tbsp sweet paprika
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 cup half and half
  • 2 tbsp Gluten-Free flour
  • 2 tbsp butter

Instructions

  • First prep meat of your choice. Trim unwanted fat and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
    Salt and pepper meat and sear from all sides. Heat the butter or oil in a heavy pot and brown the chicken on all sides if you wish for more crispy chicken; brown chicken in batches to make sure not to overawed chicken in a pot. If you are using skin-on chicken, brown the skin side first. When your chicken is browned on all sides, transfer to a plate and set aside.
  • Use the same pot from chicken. The small bits of meat will make it tasty. Add oil to a pot and diced onion. Fry onion till it is starting to turn a golden color. If the bottom of the pot is getting burnt pieces from previous meat, add 1 tbsp of water. That will help loos the stuck pieces, while water will evaporate and onion can continue to fry.
    The onion needs to be crunchy in some pieces. That’s how you achieve great flavor in this sauce, among more tips below.
  • Lower heat t from medium to low heat. Add paprika and roast for a minute while stirring. Watch your paprika closely, as you do not want to BURN paprika. It can happen very quickly. Burnt paprika becomes bitter if scorched.
    After paprika gets a nice aroma, add chicken with all the juice from a plate. Coat with onion and paprika base.
  •  I highly recommend using stock to make your base for Paprika sauce. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Be careful with salt. If you use sodium Stock, it is Ok to salt your source. Remember, the chicken already got some salt on it. You can always add more salt at the end, but you cannot reverse a salty meal.
    Add your stock and meat to a pot.
    Turn your heat back to medium, stir well together to mix all flavors. Put the lid on a pot and let simmer for 30+ minutes. Internal meat temperature should reach 170 F in poultry.
  • If you are using an Instant pot, cook for 20 minutes and use natural release and let it sit for 20 min.
  • How to make a roux
    While the sauce is simmering, get ready roux for later use.
    Add 3 Tbsp of fresh butter to the pan. Heat the butter in the pan on medium heat until it melts and starts to bubble up.
    Slowly whisk in 2 Tbsp of Gluten-Free flour. Stir until smooth. Continue to stir, allowing the flour mixture to cook, several minutes. Do not burn your roux. The roux is finished when highly brown, not burnt.
  • Once the meat is cook, I pull it out from a sauce and set it aside on a plate. Time to finish my Paprika sauce!
    Finishing this sauce is super fast and easy. I add roux to the source next and stir. This sauce Should be as smooth as possible. I use my immersion blender for this step, and my sauce always comes out smooth and silky. 
  • The last step is to add cream or half&half. Lower the heat to low heat again, as high heat would make a cream mess up the sauce. When the cream is cooked on high, the fats tend to separate and cause sauces to curdle; low and slow is the safest option. It would be best if you never let a dairy-based sauce boil.
    If you think you need to season sauce more, feel free to add more salt. This is why I said at the begging, not to oversalt this dish and add more later if needed.
  • Add meat back to a sauce with the delicious juice and let simmer for a minute or two on low heat to warm up the meat.
  • Chicken in Paprika Sauce is traditionally served with Bread dumplings in the Czech Republic. I love to substitute bread dumplings for bacon dumplings as they are much easier to make and faster. Did I say how delicious as well?
    A good side dish is also any Gluten-Free pasta or rice.

Notes

  • Sometimes I add a little bit of cream to make the sauce even more creamy.
  • Serve over pasta or rice
  • Bacon dumplings are delicious if you feel like cooking more.
  •  prefer to use dark meat. Chicken tights are flavorful and juicy. You are welcome to use bone-in and with skin-on. I personally use skinless and boneless as I’m not particularly eager to pick bones during eating. You can also use chicken breast, but note that meat might be a bit dry after cooking.
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