Lecsó is sort of the Hungarian version of the French ratatouille. It is a super easy tomato and pepper stew you can stir up in one pot within 30 minutes. If you would like to eat Lecsó EXACTLY how Hungarians eat it, you should try this recipe.
You may not know but we are in fact Hungarians. You can see a glimpse of Hungarian cuisine in some recipes like Hungarian goulash, cabbage soup, red lentil soup, carrot pasta sauce which is actually a vegetarian take on the popular Hunter’s stew (“vadas”). We love eating a variety of dishes from different cuisines, but from time to time we get back to our roots. More Hungarian family recipes to come for sure.
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What is lecsó?
Lecsó is a Hungarian traditional comfort food that we eat quite often, especially during summer and early fall. However, there are regional variations not just within Hungary, but within Central Eastern Europe, as there are also Czech, Slovak, Serbian, Croatian, German, and Russian versions called “leczo”, “lecho” or “letscho”.
What they all have in common is that lecsó is a tomato and pepper stew traditionally cooked in a cauldron on an open fire. It was a cheap dish to make so people may refer to it as peasant food.
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Back then people used the ingredients they had on hand, which were usually lard or bacon, onion, tomato, yellow peppers, and of course sweet Hungarian paprika. In poorer times, when meat was scarce, this dish was still available and much loved by the Hungarians. Nothing beats the smoky flavors that cooking in a cauldron adds to this stew.
If you’d like some comparable dishes to imagine how lecsó tastes like, you can think of
- French Ratatouille (this is by far the closest), or
- Italian Eggplant Caponata, or
- Middle Eastern Shakshouka or
- Spanish Piperade.
Ingredients
It doesn’t matter which regional or personal variations you find or want to make, you absolutely need the below FIVE ingredients for any and all versions:
- onion
- garlic
- tomatoes
- peppers
- sweet Hungarian paprika* or other sweet smoked paprika powder
- liquid smoke – optional (to replicate cooking in a cauldron on an open fire)
Top tips to choose the best ingredients
Okay, so you might think it is redundant to highlight how to choose a tomato or a pepper. However, this recipe has only a couple of ingredients, so choosing the right ones is essential. If you would like to make an authentic lecsó, here is what you need to know.
- Tomato: You need the large, juicy tomatoes like Beefsteak and Heirloom Tomatoes. The most important vegetable as there is no sauce or veggie broth, the juiciness of your dish depends on your choice of tomatoes. Cherry tomato or cocktail tomato is definitely not ideal to use as they are more skin than flesh.
- Pepper: The authentic dish is made of Hungarian wax pepper or banana peppers (the sweet kind) or in combination with some hot peppers. If you can’t find those in stores, you can substitute it for bell peppers. You just need to cook the stew longer as they tend to be thicker than a wax pepper. With the same cooking time, the bell pepper may remain uncooked and too crunchy. Red, yellow, green bell peppers are all good choices.
- Onion: It is not the dish to substitute it with leeks, or shallots, or spring onion. Red or yellow onion is what you should use. Full stop.
How to make a lecsó?
We love meals that are easy, simple, and quick. Cooking this sweet pepper and tomato stew is no exception. For us, the veggies are perfect when they are crunchy a bit and you can distinguish all kinds. Let us show you how to make the perfect Hungarian Lecsó for 2 in approx. 30 minutes!
Prepare the ingredients
- Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Wash and cut tomatoes first into wedges, then cut it half or third. You need to end up with pieces in a size of 1 inch (1-1,5 cm) cubes.
- Wash and slice peppers. First cut them half, remove the seeds and the stem. Lay it on the cutting board and slice vertical stripes. Now, cut the stripes in half horizontally so you have 2-3 inch long (3-4 cm) stripes. If you use the original wax or banana pepper you can slice them as rings. (As you can see it in the picture collage below.)
Cooking lecsó
- Heat your stockpot or Dutch oven to medium heat and add vegetable oil or coconut oil (in place of lard).
- Add chopped onion (photo #1), stir, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add chopped garlic (photo #2), stir, and cook for a minute.
- Add sliced wax peppers, salt, and black pepper (photo #3). Stir until combined.
- Add chopped tomatoes and Hungarian paprika* or other sweet paprika powder (photo #4). Stir until combined.
- Cover it with a lid and cook it on medium heat until it is boiling (photo #5).
- Remove lid, stir and cook for 6-8 minutes until the tomatoes are mushy and there are juices. (photo #6). Ready to be served!
A quick tip: My mother-in-law likes to simmer the pepper stew until the tomatoes and the peppers almost disintegrate and turn into a very-very thick stew. You can almost spread it on toast. So yummy like that too!
Top tips to make it perfectly
- Juicy tomatoes -> As I mentioned above you need to pick juicy, soft, mature tomatoes. They are the ones that are so ripe that they fall apart quickly and form the base of the stew easily. If you have hard, unripe veggies or cocktail tomatoes (that are more skin than flesh), then it will take longer to cook them or even then you will not be able to produce the juices needed to make the stew.
- Fresh tomatoes vs canned chopped tomatoes -> The traditional way is to use fresh, juicy, ripe tomatoes, but we do understand that it is not always possible to get hold of. You can use chopped canned tomatoes (not tomato sauce or tomato paste) so you have a bit of chunky texture.
- Use the lid -> Covering your pot with a lid ensures that the juices are kept in the stew as well as it maintains a hot temperature to cook the chopped vegetables faster.
- How spicy should it be? – Depending on how hot and spicy you prefer your soup, you can add chili powder or sriracha or freshly chopped raw chili peppers beside the sweet paprika powder. In Hungary, we use Eros Pista* which is a roughly pureed hot paprika and nothing else.
- Why coconut oil? – The traditional way is to make the base for cooking onion and garlic with lard or bacon (“szalonna”). As we eat plant-based, the closest alternative is coconut oil. Why? It gives a texture similar to lard.
What to serve with it?
We usually eat it as a light lunch or dinner with maybe only a crusty slice of bread on the side. However, if you want to add something and still keep it authentic, we recommend 2 things. Both of them are traditional add-ins and will make this pepper stew even more of a complete main course meal.
- Make scrambled eggs or omelets or fried eggs. (Since we are a vegan blog, we’d like to mention meatless options like tofu scramble, chickpea flour omelet, vegan fried eggs, vegan frittata, savory vegan french toast.)
- Grill or roast sausages (“kolbász” in Hungarian). (Obviously, you can also use vegan sausages.)
As lecsó is very similar to the French ratatouille, you might find even more ideas in our What to serve with ratatouille? post.
This Hungarian Lecso recipe is meat-free, dairy-free, and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegan, vegetarian, nut-free, gluten-free, and soy-free diets. It can also be WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) if you cook the onion and the garlic in water or in veggie broth.
More vegan stew recipes
- Vegan Jackfruit Beef Stew
- French Ratatouille
- Vegan Pot Pie with a light veggie stew
- Vegan Shepherd’s Pie (veggies only)
- Portobello Vegan Pot Roast
More vegetarian Hungarian recipes
If you are interested, here are some of our Hungarian family recipes. Or check out the below list:
- Vegetarian Goulash
- Vegan Cabbage Sausage Soup (aka Frankfurter Soup)
- Red Lentil Soup
- Carrot Pasta Sauce (aka Hunter’s stew (“vadas”))
- Walnut Crescent Cookies (aka Christmas cookies)
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Lecsó (Hungarian Pepper Stew)
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp Coconut oil in place of lard
- 1 Onion (large)
- 2 cloves Garlic
- 4 Tomatoes (large) see Notes for types we recommend
- 3 Pepper see Notes for types we recommend
- 2 tsp Hungarian sweet paprika powder
- ½ tsp Liquid smoke optional – if you want to replicate the taste of cooking in a cauldron
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Preparing the ingredients
- Peel and chop onion and garlic.
- Wash and cut tomatoes first into wedges, then cut it half or third. You need to end up with pieces in the size of 1 inch (1-1,5 cm) cubes.
- Wash and slice peppers. First, cut them in half, and remove the seeds and the stem. Lay it on the cutting board and slice vertical stripes. Now, cut the stripes in half horizontally, so you have 2-3 inch long (3-4 cm) stripes. If you use the original wax or banana pepper, you can slice them as rings.
Cooking lecso
- Heat your stockpot or a Dutch oven to medium heat and add coconut oil.
- Add chopped onion, stir and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add chopped garlic, stir and cook for a minute.
- Add sliced peppers, salt, and black pepper. Stir until combined.
- Add chopped tomatoes and sweet paprika powder. Stir until combined.
- Cover it with a lid and cook it on medium heat until it is boiling.
- Remove lid, stir and cook for 6-8 minutes until the tomatoes are mushy and there are juices. (You can now add the optional liquid smoke if you want). Ready to be served!
Notes
- Tomato: You need large, juicy tomatoes like Beefsteak and Heirloom Tomatoes. The most important vegetable as there is no sauce or veggie broth, the juiciness of your dish depends on your choice of tomatoes. Cherry or cocktail tomatoes are not ideal as they are more skin than flesh. The traditional way is to use fresh, juicy, ripe tomatoes, but we understand that it is not always possible to get hold of them. You can use chopped canned tomatoes (not tomato sauce or tomato paste), so you have a bit of a chunky texture.
- Pepper: The authentic dish is made of Hungarian wax pepper or banana peppers (the sweet kind) or in combination with some hot peppers. However, using bell pepper can give you a similar result. You just need to cook the stew longer, as bell pepper tends to be thicker than wax pepper. With the same cooking time, the bell pepper may remain uncooked and too crunchy. Red, yellow, and green are all game.
- Onion: It is not the dish to substitute it with leeks, shallots, or spring onion. Red or yellow onion full stop.
- How spicy should it be? – Depending on how hot and spicy you prefer your soup, you can add chili powder or sriracha or freshly chopped raw chili peppers beside the sweet paprika powder. In Hungary, we use Eros Pista, a roughly pureed hot paprika and nothing else.
- Why coconut oil? – The traditional way is to make the base for cooking onion and garlic with lard. As we eat vegan, the closest alternative is coconut oil. Why? It gives a texture similar to lard.
Video
Nutrition
UPDATED: This recipe was originally posted in July 2020, but it has been updated with more info and tips in March 2022.
Réka
Coconut oil? if you are going to make this wonderful recipe do not skimp on the bacon it makes all the difference. Cook the bacon first with a little cooking oil, then add the ingredients.
Kin
Um… it’s a plant based recipe. If you want bacon, go ahead – I’ll pass,
Nandor
Lecso is a vegetable stew. Traditionally, Hungarians added many things to lecso like bacon, eggs, or sausages, but they are not must-have ingredients.
Michael
Does this recipe freeze well for later use? I currently have fresh Hungarian wax peppers and plan to make this recipe for a dinner party with friends a week from now. I don’t want my fresh produce to go to waste. I’d like to make this ahead and serve a week later. Please advise if you can. Thank you!
Nandor
Yes, it should freeze well. I have a couple of servings of lecso in my freezer all the time.