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This chicken paprikash is a real comfort food meal. Strips of chicken in a creamy paprika sauce served with homemade tagliatelle. It's a great spicy pasta dish especially if you love creamy sauces!

A couple of years ago I made chicken paprikash for the first time. I was a total convert. What's not to love about chicken and peppers in a rich creamy paprika sauce?

It's easy to make, comforting and delicious. I knew straightaway that I wanted to make it again. It's perfect as a comfort food pasta recipe that's ideal for midweek. You can use any kind of shop bought pasta, not just tagliatelle. It's a great creamy pasta recipe for an easy dinner.

However, if you want a more challenging weekend project with homemade pasta then this is it too!

Yes, I've made my own pasta! And it's definitely the best pasta I've ever made. homemade pasta makes this into a much more special dinner, although it will of course take more time and it not something I'd do every week.

Anyway, whether you make your own pasta or use dried pasta, this dish will be super tasty. If you want a challenge I've included the instructions for how to make the homemade tagliatelle yourself. If not, just look at the instructions for how to make the creamy paprika sauce.

What ingredients do you need for chicken paprikash?

For the chicken paprikash you'll need:

Chicken breasts
Spices - paprika and cayenne pepper
Vegetables - yellow and red peppers and onion
Garlic clove - I prefer fresh garlic but you can use garlic powder or pureed garlic.
Chicken stock - homemade, bought or just mixed up from a stock cube.
Cream - I usually use double cream
Cornflour - this is for thickening the sauce.
Seasoning - a little salt and black pepper

What ingredients do you need for homemade pasta?

You only need 3 ingredients for homemade pasta:

'00' white flour - Use strong white bread flour if you can't get this.
Eggs - I use large eggs
Salt

How do you make homemade pasta?

You need to mix the eggs into the flour and salt to form a dough. You can do this in a bowl by hand or use a food mixer with a dough hook.

I use a food mixer on a low speed to form the dough and then I increase the speed so it can knead the dough. If the dough seems dry and is not coming together well, add a tablespoon of water. Once the dough has formed, let the mixer knead the dough for about 5 minutes.

If you are making the dough by hand it will take longer to knead. Once you've brought the flour and eggs together to form a dough you will need to knead it for at least 10 minutes. When the dough is ready it will be smooth and stretches rather than breaks.

At this stage, whether you've used a food mixer or a made the pasta dough by hand, wrap it in cling film (plastic wrap) and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

At this stage the dough can be kept in the fridge for up to three days before being made into pasta. Alternatively you can freeze the dough for up to 3 months.

Rolling out the pasta dough

When you are ready to make the pasta you can roll it out by hand or use a pasta machine. If you use a pasta machine, check the instructions for your machine first.

Set up the machine with the largest setting. Flatten the dough slightly and then feed it into the machine, turning the handle.

Then put the machine on the next setting, lightly flour the dough and roll it through the machine again. Keep repeating this process until the dough is long and thin.

To make the tagliatelle for this recipe, I then passed the finished dough through the tagliatelle cutter attachment. If you don't have one of these, you could use a knife to cut the dough into strips.

If you are lucky enough to have a pasta drying rack, hang the tagliatelle over it to dry. Unfortunately I don't yet and so I just lay the strips of pasta onto baking trays on top of a sprinkling of flour so they don't stick. This works just as well.

Can you make the dough without a pasta machine?

Of course! If you don't have a pasta machine, just roll the dough as thinly as you can on a well floured surface. Then cut it into strips.

Although this works, it is hard to get the thinness you can get by using a pasta machine. This means the pasta may be a bit thicker and more rustic. Don't let that stop you though, it's still a satisfying challenge to make it completely by hand.

pan and plate of homemade chicken paprikash

Why get a pasta machine?

As I said, a pasta machine really helps you to get thin pasta dough. The pasta machine I use also has different attachements so after rolling it I can cut it in different ways. It means I can make spaghetti, fettucine, tagliatelle etc.

I find pasta very easy to make using a pasta machine and it's almost therapeutic passing it repeatedly through the rollers.

It really is something that's fun and great for experimenting with. I would say it's the kind of gadget that is worth getting if you think you'll use it a lot. Of course, it does take up extra kitchen space, and you can easily live without it.

How to cook fresh homemade pasta

Homemade pasta cooks very quickly. First bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add little oil to prevent the pasta from sticking. Then put the pasta into the pan. Stir a little to make sure none of it is clumping together.

It should cook in about 3-4 minutes.

When it's ready, drain it and add it to the pan with the chicken and paprika sauce.

How to make the creamy chicken paprikash sauce

The creamy paprika sauce is very easy to make. Just stir fry the chicken and vegetables. Add the spices and then stock. Simmer for a short time until the chicken and vegetables are cooked through. Stir in some cream.

Finally just add a little cornflour dissolved in water to thicken the sauce a little.

Stir the pasta into the pan with the sauce so it is well coated in the sauce and then serve. I like to top with a little fresh parsley.

Can you adapt this recipe?

Yes of course. You can use bought pasta in any shape you want, or spaetzle or gnocchi type dumplings too.

You can also tweak the ingredients in the paprikash. Why not make it hotter by adding a chilli pepper?

You can also adapt the vegetables too. Why not add some courgette (zucchini) or a little sweetcorn?

Storing, freezing and reheating

After you've made this you can store it in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days.

I usually reheat it in the microwave until it's piping hot. You can also reheat it in the oven.

It is safe to freeze it for a couple of months but the cream can separate so it really is one of those meals that is best eaten up when freshly made.

What kind of flour to use for homemade pasta?

If you can get your hands on some proper Italian tipo '00' flour then do use it. If not, just use strong white flour. Strong flour has more gluten in than plain flour and that will help the pasta dough to hold together.

More pasta recipes

I love cooking with pasta and if you want homemade pasta when why not check out one of these recipes:

Or if you just want an easy pasta recipe for dinner then try one of these:

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