This haluski recipe is everything budget-friendly comfort food should be—simple, filling, and packed with flavor. It’s based on the cabbage-and-noodle classic with a few upgrades: smoky bacon, chicken thighs for richness, mushrooms for depth. It’s not traditional Slovak dumplings or coal-town Catholic potluck food—but it’s rooted in that world.

This one leans into hearty. If you’re feeding a group or just want to stretch a few ingredients into something satisfying, this hits the mark.

Ingredients for This Haluski Recipe

  • 1 head green cabbage, sliced thin and divided

  • 1 lb bacon (diced)

  • 24 oz bag Reames egg noodles (frozen)

  • 2 lbs chicken thighs

  • 1 lb baby portabella mushrooms, sliced

  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced

  • 3 tbsp flour

  • 2 tbsp jarred garlic

  • 8 cups water

  • 2 tbsp chicken base

  • 1 stick (8 tbsp) butter

  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

  • 2 tsp salt

  • 1/2 tsp black pepper

  • 1/2 tsp paprika

How to Make This Haluski Recipe

  1. Cook the bacon:
    In a large pot or Dutch oven, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove and set aside, leaving the fat in the pot.

  2. Sear the chicken:
    Add chicken thighs to the bacon fat and sear until browned on both sides. Remove and set aside.

  3. Cook the base vegetables:
    In the same pot, add onion, garlic, mushrooms, and half the cabbage. Sauté until the cabbage softens and the mushrooms release their liquid.

  4. Make the stock and cook the noodles:
    In a separate pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the chicken base and add the Reames noodles. Cook until noodles are just tender. Reserve both the noodles and the broth.

  5. Build the base:
    Sprinkle flour over the sautéed vegetables and stir to coat. Cook for 1 minute, then add Worcestershire, salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir in the seared chicken and cooked bacon.

  6. Add stock to form a sauce:
    Pour in about half of the reserved noodle stock to create a loose sauce. Let everything simmer for a few minutes so the flavors meld.

  7. Bring it all together:
    Add the cooked noodles to the pot and stir to combine. Then add the second half of the cabbage 3–4 minutes before the end to keep some texture.

  8. Finish with butter:
    Once everything is heated through and combined, remove from the heat, stir in the butter to emulsify and bring the dish together. Serve hot.

Recipe Notes for This Haluski Recipe

Why We Add the Cabbage in Two Stages in This Haluski Recipe

The first half of the cabbage cooks down early, sweetens, and thickens the base. The second half goes in near the end to stay tender-crisp, giving the final dish better texture and layered flavor.

Reames Noodles Change the Game

Frozen Reames noodles give this haluski recipe a doughy, dumpling-like texture that beats dried pasta every time. They hold up well and soak in all that broth and butter.

Stretch It Further

Haluski feeds a crowd as-is, but it stretches even more with a fried egg or some crusty bread on the side. Leftovers reheat well with just a splash of broth or water.

Budget-Friendly Version Still Works

You can strip this haluski recipe down to just cabbage, butter, and noodles. It won’t be as rich, but the flavor holds up. This version with bacon, mushrooms, and chicken goes further and hits harder—but the basic version still earns its keep.

One-Pot Cooking Isn’t Always the Answer

Yes, you could cook this in one pot. But in my experience, one-pot recipes often sacrifice quality. Things steam instead of sear, and the result is usually gummy. Taking the time to do it in stages is what makes this haluski recipe stand out.