Túrós Csusza is Hungary’s answer to mac and cheese: pure, comforting indulgence. Broken pieces of pasta are tossed with creamy cottage cheese and tangy sour cream, then finished with crispy fried bacon — simple, satisfying, and utterly delicious.
Join me on a culinary visit to Hungary (Magyarország) for this month’s Eat the World recipe challenge. Hungary, in the heart of Central Europe, boasts a rich history and vibrant culture: elegant onion-domed churches, grand castles, colourful villages, expansive natural landscapes, steaming thermal baths, and a lively nightlife in Budapest. The food is just as memorable — hearty, flavourful, and often featuring onions, paprika, and sour cream.
I still remember a trip to Hungary years ago: the magnificent Parliament building, the Danube, the old subway cars, the thermal baths, and the bustling Great Market Hall. I took a market tour and cooking class with a local host and learned to make dishes like cold cherry soup, chicken paprikash with nokedli dumplings, cucumber salad, and cottage cheese–filled crepes. That market cooking class left a lasting impression and put Túrós Csusza on my radar as a dish worth sharing.
Túrós Csusza is the kind of everyday comfort food found across Hungary: quick to prepare, nourishing, and loved by all generations. It’s the perfect weeknight dish — cook some egg noodles, crisp a bit of bacon, and stir in cottage cheese and sour cream. Traditionally, the pasta would be made by hand and torn into rustic pieces, but today most people use egg noodles, broken lasagna sheets, or other dried pasta. The contrast of warm, silky pasta and pockets of melting cottage cheese and sour cream, topped with cool cottage cheese and crunchy bacon, is irresistible.
How to make Túrós Csusza, the Hungarian mac & cheese
- Make fresh pasta and tear it into ragged pieces, as in the traditional method.
- Use a bag of egg noodles for a quick, authentic approach common in modern kitchens.
- Or break lasagna noodles into bite-sized pieces for an easy and reliable shortcut.
Lasagna noodles work well as a stand-in for hand-torn pasta; if you use a gluten-free variety, choose the ruffled-edge noodles to reduce sticking. The method is straightforward: fry bacon until crisp, cook the broken pasta, and toss everything together with bacon fat, plenty of cottage cheese, and sour cream. Top with extra cottage cheese, crisp bacon bits, a sprinkle of paprika, and sliced green onions or chives if you like.
Serve hot and dig in — one creamy forkful is hard to resist.
There’s something profoundly comforting about those silky noodles wrapped in a tangy, cheesy sauce — and bacon only makes it better.
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Kitchen Frau Notes: Ingredient amounts in this recipe are guidelines. The classic approach is informal: cook pasta, fry a few slices of bacon, add pasta to the bacon, and spoon on generous amounts of cottage cheese and sour cream. Stir and adjust to taste. For convenience, chop and freeze portions of cooked bacon so you always have ready-made bacon bits for a quick Túrós Csusza.
Túrós Csusza (Hungarian Pasta with Cottage Cheese)
- 4 slices (about 150 g) bacon
- 12 lasagna noodles (about 280 g) or 10 oz (280 g) wide egg noodles; use gluten-free if needed
- 1 cup (250 g) cottage cheese (or 1½ cups dry curd cottage cheese), divided
- ½ to ¾ cup (120–180 g) sour cream (use about 1 cup if using dry curd cottage cheese)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- A pinch of paprika, optional
- Sliced green onion or chives, optional
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (about 1–2 teaspoons salt).
Stack the bacon slices, cut them into ½-inch (1 cm) dice, and cook in a large skillet over medium heat until golden and crisp. Remove the bacon bits with a slotted spoon to a plate and leave the fat in the skillet. Turn off the heat under the skillet for now.
Break lasagna noodles into 1–2 inch pieces. When the water boils, add the pasta pieces, stirring as you add them so they don’t stick. Cook according to package directions, stirring occasionally (gluten-free noodles may need extra stirring).
Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet with the reserved bacon fat. Return the skillet to medium heat and season the pasta with salt and pepper.
Add half the cottage cheese, ½ cup sour cream, and half the bacon bits to the pasta (use 1 cup sour cream if using dry curd cottage cheese). Toss and heat until some curds begin to melt; add the remaining ¼ cup sour cream if the mixture seems dry.
Transfer the pasta to a serving platter and top with the remaining cottage cheese and bacon bits. Finish with a sprinkle of paprika and chopped green onions or chives, if desired.
Túrós Csusza serves about 4 as a side dish or 2–3 as a main course.
Jó étvágyat!
Explore other Hungarian recipes and share your results with #eattheworld. If you enjoy simple, comforting dishes, Túrós Csusza is an easy, satisfying recipe to add to your weeknight rotation.