Easy Homemade Pierogi

It’s that time of year! The time of year where I eat a ton of pierogi and I’m so excited about it. If you’ve never had homemade pierogi, you are missing out! This easy homemade pierogi recipe only takes a few minutes to prepare and uses very minimal ingredients.

But What Are Pierogi?

The easiest way to describe pierogi is that they are Polish dumplings. They are a very popular food in Poland that is eaten year round but they make a big appearance on Christmas Eve dinner. In Polish tradition, we don’t eat meat on Christmas Eve so the dinner consists of a variety of pierogi and fish dishes.

Different Fillings for Pierogi

Pierogi can honestly be filled with anything you want! The more traditional fillings are cheese with potato, cooked sauerkraut with mushrooms and meat (not for Christmas Eve). The cheese & potato filled ones are called “Ruskie” which means Russian so I’m assuming they got their origin from there. This is probably the most popular filling and the one I will be including a recipe for.

Now pierogi are available at most supermarkets so why make my own you might be asking? TRUST ME when I tell you that the homemade dough does NOT compare! So let’s get started!

INGREDIENTS

Pierogi Dough (very similar to dumpling dough here)
Flour (300 grams)
Water (250 grams) Hot but not boiling
Salt (2 teaspoons)

Filling
Russet Potatoes (5 medium sized)
Goat Cheese Log (5 oz) or Farmer Cheese (5 oz)
Pepper
Salt
Olive Oil (1/4 cup)
Sweet (White) Onion (1 thick slice diced into small pieces)

INSTRUCTIONS

DOUGH

Add salt to flour.
Boil water and let sit for a few minutes so it is not scalding.
Add water to flour and start kneading.
Keep kneading until the dough can form a ball and has good elasticity.
Cover in saran wrap and leave out for 30 minutes in room temperature or warmer (this activates the gluten).
Next either roll out the dough using a rolling pin until it is very thin. You want it to be thin but not break when filling it.
You can also use a Kitchen Aid Pasta attachment* and put the dough through it. If using this then put through setting 1 twice and then setting 5 twice. This will give you the best thickness.
After you have the rolled out dough, use a round dough stencil or cup to make circles (as shown in photo).

FILLING

Wash and peel potatoes and then boil them.
While the potatoes are boiling, add the olive oil to a pan and heat up. Next add the diced onion and cook under a pan cover so they don’t burn. You want the onion sweat but not caramelize.
Once the potatoes are boiled and drained, add in the cheese, cooked onions with the olive oil and salt and pepper (to taste). Mix well with wooden spoon.

Next add about 1 tsp of filling into your circle shaped dough pieces. Fold them over and close with your fingers. You can also use a fork to seal them shut but make sure you don’t poke a hole.

Finally, add the pierogi to boiling water and let cook about 3 minutes.

All set!! You can enjoy right away with more of the same onion topping or keep in the fridge for about 2-3 days. You can also freeze them and then reheat by adding to boiling water again.