Lángos (Hungarian Fried Bread): the best recipe to make it at home

This recipe is for Langos, a classic Hungarian street food. It’s a yeasted fried bread, eaten as is, or topped with cheese, sausages, and sour cream. Sometimes mashed potatoes are added, in which case it’s then called krumplis lángos. These breads are easy to make with almost no kneading involved. It’s delicious when eaten on its own, dipped into soups or stews, or topped with whatever ingredients you have on hand.

Tips

Turn the Langos into a full breakfast by topping sour cream, onions, sausage, bacon or ham, eggs, and cheese.

The small amount of kneading can easily be done with an electric mixer, using the dough hook attachment.

The slits ensure even cooking, making sure that the center is cooked well once the breads are golden brown. Don’t skip this step!

To absorb excess oil, place the fried Langos on a kitchen towel to drain for a few minutes before serving.

Wait for the oil to warm up sufficiently before cooking the Langos. If the oil is too cold it will absorb too much oil and become greasy.

How to Store and Freeze Langos

Lángos are best served while they’re still warm. Leftover langos can be frozen for up to 6 months.

What To Serve With Langos

For breakfast: top with scrambled eggs, ham, sausage or bacon, and fried onions.

For dinner: serve the Langos as a side to a warming soup or stew.

For dessert: skip the savory toppings and dust the fried bread with powdered sugar instead.

Notes

Some recipes for Langos call for mashed potato. There seems to be somewhat of a debate on whether or not traditional Hungarian Langos should have potatoes or not. The answer is not definitive, as certain regions do not include mashed potatoes. For this recipe, we decided to make it without the potato!

Instructions

In a large bowl, whisk flour with salt, sugar, and dry yeast.

Pour water and vegetable oil into the flour and mix the dough using a mixer with a dough hook on.

After around 10 minutes it should be smooth and elastic.

Form the dough into a ball and put it into an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic, and let it rise for 1 hour.

Punch the dough down after it has risen to double the volume.

Transfer the dough onto a floured cutting board, dust it with more flour, and cut it into 6 portions.

Roll each portion into a ball, and set aside for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes flatten each ball of dough with your hand and make a small slit in the center.

Fry langos for 4-5 minutes or until golden and crunchy on both sides. Serve as is or top with sour cream and cheese.

Serve and enojy!