Rakott krumpli, Hungary's beloved layered potato bake with hard-boiled eggs, sausage and a black-pepper sour cream sauce.
Rakott krumpli is a genuine Hungarian classic — sliced boiled potatoes layered with hard-boiled eggs and often sausage, bound together with sour cream and baked until the top turns golden. It's the kind of dish that shows up at family Sunday lunches and church potlucks, valued for being filling, cheap to make and endlessly adaptable to whatever's in the fridge. The technique that matters most is boiling the potatoes whole and unpeeled so they don't waterlog, then slicing them once cooled enough to handle. Layers alternate potato, egg, sausage and a sour-cream-and-paprika sauce, finished with a generous crack of black pepper and a scattering of breadcrumbs or extra sour cream on top before baking. Done right, the eggs stay tender, the potatoes soak up the sauce without turning mushy, and the top forms a lightly crisp, golden crust.
Serves 6
Boil the whole, unpeeled potatoes in salted water 25-30 minutes until a knife slides in easily. Drain and cool until just handleable, then peel and slice into 1cm rounds.
Hard-boil the eggs (10 minutes from a boil, then ice bath), peel, and slice into rounds.
Whisk together sour cream, paprika, black pepper and salt in a bowl.
Butter a baking dish. Layer a third of the potatoes, then half the egg slices, half the sausage, and a third of the sour cream sauce. Repeat, finishing with a top layer of potatoes and the remaining sauce.
Drizzle melted butter over the top, scatter breadcrumbs evenly, and crack extra black pepper over everything. Bake at 190C for 30-35 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling at the edges.
Let the casserole rest 10 minutes before cutting — this lets the layers set so slices hold together instead of collapsing.
Boil potatoes unpeeled — peeling before boiling lets them absorb water and turns the layers waterlogged.
Slice the potatoes and eggs to roughly the same thickness so the casserole bakes evenly and slices cleanly.
Let hard-boiled eggs cool completely before slicing, or the yolks will smear instead of cutting cleanly.
Meatless version: skip the sausage and add sautéed mushrooms between layers instead.
Extra-rich: swap half the sour cream for crème fraîche or heavy cream for a silkier sauce.
Cheese-topped: scatter grated cheese over the breadcrumbs for the last 10 minutes of baking.
Refrigerate covered up to 3 days; it reheats well in a 160C oven for 15-20 minutes or in the microwave. Not recommended for freezing, since the sour cream layer can separate on thawing.
Rakott krumpli belongs to Hungary's family of 'rakott' (layered) baked dishes, alongside rakott káposzta (layered cabbage), and has been a staple of home cooking and cheap communal meals since at least the early 20th century, prized for stretching a few eggs and potatoes into a filling dinner.
Peeling potatoes before boiling exposes more surface area to water, which makes them waterlog and fall apart when sliced. Boiling them whole in the skin keeps them firm enough to layer neatly.
Yes — assemble the full casserole a day ahead, refrigerate covered, and bake straight from the fridge, adding about 10 extra minutes to the covered baking time.
This usually means the potatoes were peeled before boiling or weren't drained and cooled properly before slicing. Make sure they're fully drained and only lightly steaming when you slice them.
Per serving (380g / 13.4 oz) · 6 servings total
Ask our AI cooking assistant anything about this recipe — substitutions, techniques, scaling.
Chat with AI Chef →Join the conversation
Sign in to leave a comment and save your favourite recipes
Have feedback or need help?
We read every email and reply within 1–2 business days.
© 2026 MyCookingCalendar. All rights reserved.
