Hungarian Noodle Casserole

I posted this recipe many years ago, and while I would not say it took the nation by storm, I've received friendly emails from people who have been kind enough to let me know it's a family favorite at their house. I love taking credit of course, but Hungarian Noodle Casserole is really from the Junior League of Palo Alto, and I thank them for this dish. It's super flavorful and incredibly versatile. We eat it as a side dish, but you can bump up the protein in different ways and serve it as a main dish.

The Junior League version is double this and made to serve a crowd, so if you're feeding a lot of people you can make the dish in two 9x13 inch pans. I have never made the batch as large as the original version and I put my usual size in the recipe card. I've also included a lot of notes on changes I've made.

Hungarian Noodle Casserole

8 ounces of broad egg noodles (or fine) plus salt for water
½ chop chopped onions
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
2 cups low fat or full fat cottage cheese
2 cups sour cream
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
2 dashes of hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco)
1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds OR Nigella seeds
Paprika for dusting top
Shredded parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook noodles al-dente in salted water using directions on bag. Drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rub a 13x9 inch glass casserole dish with butter or spray with cooking spray. If halving the recipe, use an 8 inch square dish.

In a big bowl, stir together the onions, garlic, cottage cheese, sour cream Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper and hot pepper sauce.

Stir the noodles in and toss to evenly coat. Stir in the poppy seeds.

Pour the mixture into the casserole. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Before serving, sprinkle top with paprika. If you like, sprinkle on some good Parmesan (I skipped this).

Makes 6 to 8 servings

Things I've Done to Hungarian Noodle Casserole

This dish is good as written, but I've had to improvise a time or two or three and here are some things that have worked.

• I've left out the onions. They're a good addition, but the noodles are still great without them.
• Have also left out the garlic and instead, tossed the noodles in a little garlic flavored oil. This is a good trick for people sensitive to garlic because garlic oil isn't high in fodmaps like regular garlic.
• Low fat cottage cheese works just fine, or at least when partnered with regular sour cream. I haven't tried using low fat everything with this, but it can be lightened "a little" for sure. I've used as low as 1%.
• I never use the Parmesan cheese.
• My family is weirdly into different types of hot paprika so I've used this as a base for testing out different brands and levels of spiciness. I made the last batch with the hottest level of Tres Hermanas which still wasn't very spicy. Husband likes it with the extra spicy Hungarian paprika.
• You can bake this in one dish or divide it in smaller casserole dishes so that everyone gets their own individual serving, just shave about 5 minute off the bake time.
• I always use Nigella seens in place of poppyseeds because they are so much more flavorful.

Recipe

Hungarian Noodle Casserole

Baked noodle dish from The Junior League of Palo Alto.

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Prep Time 18 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 48 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Hungarian

Servings 8

Ingredients

 

• 8 ounces of broad or fine egg noodles
• ½ cup chopped onions
• 2 cloves finely chopped garlic
• 2 cups low fat or full fat cottage cheese
• 2 cups sour cream
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
• 2 dashes of hot pepper sauce e.g. Tabasco
• 1 ½ tablespoons poppy seeds or Nigella seeds
• Paprika for dusting top
• Shredded parmesan cheese optional

Instructions

 

• Cook noodles al-dente in salted water using directions on bag. Drain.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Rub a 13x9 inch glass casserole dish with butter or spray with cooking spray. If halving the recipe, use an 8 inch square dish.
• In a big bowl, stir together the onions, garlic, cottage cheese, sour cream Worcestershire sauce, salt & pepper and hot pepper sauce.
• Stir the noodles in and toss to evenly coat. Stir in the poppy seeds.
• Pour the mixture into the casserole. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Before serving, sprinkle top with paprika. If you like, sprinkle on some good Parmesan (I skipped this).

Keyword Casserole, Noodles, Sour Cream

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