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?