Easy Hungarian fried bread made from just a few basic pantry ingredients. It can be topped with savory options like sour cream, cream cheese, any yellow cheese, vegetables, beans, or beef – or enjoyed sweet with honey or Nutella.
Today I’m gonna show you how to make the famous Hungarian frybread, called lángos – proper national staple, you could say, from the country along the Danube. It’s easy, simple and pretty satisfying.
Behind the Bites
Lángos has its roots in Hungary’s rural cooking traditions, dating back several centuries. The name comes from the Hungarian word láng, meaning “flame,” because it was originally baked in the front of wood-fired ovens while they were still heating up.
In the past, it was a simple bread dough made from flour, water, and yeast, cooked quickly for farm workers as a filling, affordable meal. Over time-especially during the 20th century – it evolved from a baked flatbread into the deep-fried version that’s now most popular.
Today, lángos is a beloved street food across Hungary, commonly sold at markets, fairs, and lakeside spots like Lake Balaton. While the classic topping is garlic, sour cream, and cheese, modern variations include everything from savory meats to sweet spreads.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Flour – all purpose unbleached white flour
- Milk – lukewarm
- Eggs
- Instant dry yeast
- Pinch of sugar – for the yeast
- Frying fat – such as vegetable oil, or lard
How to make Langos?
1st: Combine lukewarm milk, sugar and yeast. Let yeast dissolve in the milk. Add in the rest of ingredients.
2nd: Knead a soft dough, let it rise in a plastic bag or a bowl.
3rd: Divide into 10 equal parts. Roll out each into a round shape and let sit on the counter. Fry in oil until golden on both sides.
Easy Hungarian Fry Bread (Lángos)
Ingredients
- 410 g flour, all purpose
- 135 g milk, approx. 150 ml
- 1 tbsp instant dry yeast
- 2 medium eggs
- pinch of (brown) sugar
- vegetable oil or lard, for frying
Instructions
- First, in a large mixing bowl combine lukewarm milk, brown sugar and yeast. Let yeast dissolve in the milk for about 5 minutes.
- Then, add in the eggs and beat to incorporate. Pour over the flour and knead a soft, slightly sticky dough. Grease the dough well with oil on all sides and shape a ball.
- Next, add the dough into a greased bag (or a bowl) and cover with a cloth. Let dough rise on room temperature.
- When dough has doubled/tripled in size, divide into 10 euqlly sized pieces. Roll each into a round thin langos. Set aside and cover with a damp cloth.
- Then, preheat oil/lard (enough to cover the bottom of your pan) on the stove top.
- Fry each langos into the hot oil on both sides. Flip when the bottom gets golden and the flatbread gets bubbly on top.
- Place onto a kitchen towel (paper) to drain any excess oil. Then top with cream cheese and yellow cheese and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
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I remember eating Langos as a kid. My grandfather loved it.
Such a lovely memory! Thank you for sharing.