Today was a lazy day if there ever was one, but I went into it not knowing what I was making for dinner. After talking my husband into putting some rice into my Black & Decker Handy Steamer and thawing some chicken, I was committed. Remembering a lonely can of cream of chicken condensed soup in the pantry and some mushrooms that had seen better days in the fridge, I had my inspiration.

When I got home I pulled open my Campbell’s Quick and Easy Recipes cookbook (as low as 75¢ at Half.com!) and tried to figure out where to go next. I love this cookbook, by the way, even though I never really use the recipes 100% as they are in the book. It’s great inspiration for working with condensed soup as a base, and even if you don’t follow the recipe to the letter (I tend to find it to bland or salty), it’s a great starting point. I decided to modify a recipe for Chicken Paprikash and go from there. This is my version of the recipe, and while it’s hardly traditional and would probably horrify my Hungarian grandmother, but it’s absolutely delicious.

Shorcut Chef Chicken Paprikash

INGREDIENTS:

  • Olive Oil
  • 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1/2 bag of frozen green beans
  • 1 container of mushrooms, chopped (I prefer Baby Bellas)
  • 4–5 chicken breast halves, chunked
  • 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1.5 tablespoons of Penzey’s Hungarian Sweet Paprika (invest in a good paprika)
  • Dash of tabasco sauce
  • 2 cups of white rice, cooked

Sauté garlic, onion, mushrooms and green beans until onion is translucent. Add chicken breasts and season with a dash of the paprika cook on low for about 8–10 minutes. At the same time (if you can manage it) In a separate small saucepan, mix the condensed soup and sour cream with the remaining paprika and stir until combined. Allow to simmer on low until the chicken is almost cooked and there’s a bit of liquid in the other pan and the chicken is mostly cooked through.

Add the sauce to the chicken/onion/etc. mixture and stir to combine. Simmer on low/medium for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve over white rice.