Lecsó Recipe - Hungarian Pepper Stew

A quick look at lecsó

I started making this dish years ago when my neighbor handed me a huge bag of sweet peppers from his garden. In Hungary and across Central Europe, families cook lecsó whenever peppers and tomatoes hit their peak in late summer. Czechs call it lečo, Poles call it leczo, and Ukrainians write it as лечо, but it comes down to soft peppers cooked down in fat or oil until everything thickens together into a warm pot.

You do not need fancy kitchen gear here - just patience while onions soften and extra water steams away from the vegetables.

A little history behind lecsó

Although lecsó feels like an old countryside recipe, the name itself appeared in print surprisingly late. The earliest known written record dates to 1914, when the Hungarian journal Magyar Nyelv included the simple dialect definition:

lëcső, lëcsó = zöldpaprika paradicsommal.
(Lëcső (lecsó): green peppers with tomatoes.)

That short description already captures the heart of the dish. It was simply peppers and tomatoes cooked together, long before countless family variations with sausage, bacon, eggs, rice, or zucchini became common.

One of the earliest widely recognized cookbook recipes followed about twenty years later. Károly Gundel's Kis magyar szakácskönyv (1934) included a recipe for lecsó, helping establish it as a classic of Hungarian home cooking. Gundel's version cooked peppers, tomatoes, onions, paprika, and bacon together, while also suggesting additions such as sausage or beaten eggs for a more filling meal-variations that remain popular throughout Hungary today.

Choosing your ingredients

Try to get thick-walled yellow or green peppers if available. Red bell peppers work fine too, though they make the sauce noticeably sweeter. Tomatoes should be soft and ripe so they break apart quickly in the hot pan. If your tomatoes look pale and feel hard, stir in a small spoonful of tomato paste to boost flavor.

Some people add sliced Hungarian smoked sausage (kolbász), bacon bits, or diced zucchini. I usually throw in sausage when making a heavy main meal, but keeping it vegetarian with basic vegetables and red pepper powder is standard for warm days.

How I usually cook it

Start by frying sliced onions over low heat. You want them clear and soft rather than brown. Pull the pot off the burner for a short moment when stirring in the ground paprika powder so it does not scorch in hot oil. Toss in pepper strips next, let them shrink down, and finish with chopped tomatoes so the whole mixture simmers into a rich red broth.