🍢 SNACK
Lángos
A plate-sized disc of deep-fried dough rubbed with garlic and heaped with sour cream and cheese, Hungary's market-day treat.
Hungarian · medium · serves 4
prep 90 min · cook 15 min
~766 cal · 23g protein · 79g carbs · 38g fat · 3g fiber · 5g sugars · 24g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Lángos is the great fried-dough street food of Hungary, sold from stalls at markets, fairs, and above all the beaches of Lake Balaton. The name comes from láng, flame, for the dough once baked at the mouth of a wood oven; today it is deep-fried until puffed and golden.
The classic topping could not be simpler or more addictive: the hot dough is rubbed with a cut clove of raw garlic, brushed with its oil, then smothered in sour cream and a blizzard of grated cheese. Eaten with the hands, folded over and dripping, it is glorious market-day indulgence.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 1 cup warm milk or water
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 1/2 cups grated cheese
- oil, for frying
Instructions
- 1Mix the flour, yeast, salt, and warm liquid into a soft dough and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- 2Pull off pieces and stretch each into a thin plate-sized round.✎ Chef’s noteStretch the dough thin in the middle and leave a slightly thicker rim, so it puffs and blisters rather than staying doughy.
- 3Fry in hot oil until puffed and golden on both sides, then drain briefly.
- 4Rub each hot lángos with a cut garlic clove, then top with sour cream and cheese.
Hungarian market tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Great Hungarian Plain. The pot is as important as the paprika. A bogracs, a cauldron with a bail handle, hangs over an open fire and everything is built in it in one direction, onions first and softened slowly, and the paprika is stirred in off the heat so it does not turn bitter. Herdsmen cooked this way because they had no kitchen, not because it was picturesque.
🗺️
Hungary. Hungarian cooking is defined by paprika, which colors and deepens its signature gulyás (goulash) and countless braises. Rich, warming, and pork- and sour-cream-forward, it reflects a Magyar heritage and a love of hearty, well-seasoned comfort food.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Hungary
LecsóHungary’s summer pepper stew: sweet peppers and tomatoes melted down with golden onions and a generous spoon of sweet paprika.
Gulyás (Herdsman’s Goulash)The original goulash: a paprika-red beef and vegetable soup-stew born over open fires on the Hungarian plain.
BundáskenyérHungarian "fur-coat bread", slices dipped in seasoned egg and milk and fried golden.
Browse all Hungary recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best the day it is made. Wrap well and refresh in a warm oven, or freeze and reheat straight from frozen.
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Lángos?
A plate-sized disc of deep-fried dough rubbed with garlic and heaped with sour cream and cheese, Hungary's market-day treat.
Where does Lángos come from?
Lángos is a Hungarian dish from Great Hungarian Plain, Hungary.
Can Lángos be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Lángos recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Lángos safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Lángos take to make?
About 105 minutes total (90 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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