Homemade Pierogi
December 15, 2009 > 16 Comments
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I am the type of person that loves tradition. I cling to the traditions of my childhood and I’m always making sure to create new traditions for my family. I view traditions as the ties that bind a family together throughout the years.
So when food and tradition merge into one, you know I’m all over it!
Traditional, homemade Polish pieorogi are probably my earliest food memory and one of the food traditions that I hold most dear. Both of my grandmothers made pierogi, my mom made pieorogi, and now I’m proud to carry that on.
Plus, for my husband and I, it has become a wonderful Christmastime date night routine. We have fun working together and sampling the fruits of our labor. 
Now let me warn you right from the start, the process of making pieorogi is fairly simple, but it takes a long, long time! To me, it’s worth the 4 hours though.
Homemade Pierogi
For the Potato with Caramelized Onions & Bacon Filling
- 2 lbs. baby red-skinned potatoes
- 1/2 lb. bacon, diced
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 c. butter or margarine
- 1/2 c. milk
- 1/4 c. sour cream
- 1 1/2 t. salt
- 1 t. black pepper
- 1/2 t. garlic powder
1. Wash potatoes, place in a large pot of cold water and bring to a boil. Boil until potatoes are tender.
2. While potatoes boil, cook bacon and onion in a skillet until bacon is crisp. Darin all but 2 t. of grease from the skillet. Set aside.
3. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Add butter or margarine to pot and mash with the potatoes. Stir in milk, sour cream, salt, pepper and garlic powder until desired consistency. Stir in bacon and onions, along with reserved grease. (You can skip the reserved grease if you want, but it adds a great bacon flavor all throughout the potatoes.)
For the Sauerkraut filling:
- 1 1/2 lbs. sauerkraut, rinsed and drained
- 2 T. butter or margarine
- 1 onion, diced
- 1/4 lb. mushrooms, diced
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 T. sour cream
1. Heat butter or margarine in a large skillet. Add onion and mushrooms and cook until onions are tender and mushrooms are browned. Stir in rinsed and drained sauerkraut. Season to taste with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Allow mixture to cool, then stir in sour cream.
For the dough
- 4 c. flour
- 1 t. salt
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 – 1 c. water
1. Mound flour on a cutting board or counter top. Sprinkle with salt. Make a well in the center and crack eggs into the center.
2. Using two butter knives, cut the eggs into the flour until thoroughly combined.
3. Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in water just until dough comes together but is not sticky. Knead for about 2 minutes, until smooth. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
To make the pierogi:
1. Fill a large stock pot with water. Generously salt the water and bring to a rolling boil.
2. Working in small batches, roll out some of the dough. You want the dough to be very thin, but not so thin that it will fall apart when boiled. (Because then all the filling falls out and you have to start over with a completely new pot of boiling water!) Using a biscuit cutter or the rim of a glass, cut out circles of dough.
3. Place desired filling in the center of each dough circle. Press edges and seal well with the tines of a fork.
4. Place about 6 pierogi at a time in the boiling water and boil for 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and dip in some melted to butter to prevent the pierogi from sticking to each other. Pile on a plate.
5. Continue until done, adding more hot water to the cooking pot as needed.
You can then eat the pierogi as they are, fry in a little butter or cool completely and freeze for later use.
Using that dough recipe, we made about 6 1/2 dozen, although it’s hard to say for sure since I lost track of how many became snacks.
I packed up all of our pierogi into freezer bags and they’ll make the trek to my parents’ house in just over a week with us. We’ll eat them with dinner on Christmas Eve, and we’ll probably have the leftovers at some point the next day.
What are some of your favorite traditional foods to make for the holidays?
This post is being linked to:
- Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace
- Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
- Tackle It Tuesday at 5 Minutes For Mom
Tags: homemade pierogi > making pierogi > pierogi recipe > polish pierogi > traditional Polish foods
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16 Responses to “Homemade Pierogi”
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December 15th, 2009 @ 2:56 pm
it is so good to see another polish girl making some pierogi. we make our dough a bit different though. my grandma’s recipe calls for the sour cream in the dough and not the filling. my household likes the cheese filling the most. have a merry Wigilia!
December 15th, 2009 @ 6:14 pm
My mom is from Ukraina and she makes the same thing. One eassy way is to not fill them out but just boil them and eate them covered in cooked onions until are tender in olive oil or butter. Yamm!!!
December 15th, 2009 @ 6:21 pm
Those really really fantastic!! I bet they taste heavenly! Nice tackle.
December 15th, 2009 @ 7:51 pm
Thank you! I’ve always wanted to know how to make pierogis.I will try my best to make them even without a husband.
December 15th, 2009 @ 9:31 pm
I made a attempt at making pierogi about oh … seven years ago after seeing Martha Stewart do it. Mine fell apart in the water! Maybe I will try your recipe sometime! Around here the holidays would not be the holidays without tamales! I started making my own a few years ago and they are lots of work but worth it if I make a big batch and freeze. I also put in a green olive in a few, it is supposed to bring the person who gets the olive good luck. I don’t know how authentic that is but it is fun anyway! Have a Merry Christmas Kate!
December 15th, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
You have NO idea how hungry I am right now!
Looks great!
December 15th, 2009 @ 9:53 pm
What great instructions. I have never had pierogi. Yours look good. I appreciate the recipe and instructions. I always wondered what was inside that little bundle.
December 15th, 2009 @ 10:47 pm
I’ve never had these but they sure look delicious! Foods our families love are always worth the effort
December 16th, 2009 @ 1:09 am
The kids and I make perogies for every holiday. We pretty much stick to the potato filled kind, And I’ve adapted the recipe a bit. We use dough I make in the food processor so it’s not so messy and then we roll it out with our pasta machine (my rolling skills aren’t that great)…we condensed our process down to about 8 minutes in one of our most recent episodes to share with everyone: http://www.twokidscooking.com/2009/12/2-kids-cooking-tv-alex-sophs-perogies/
It is a process, but we think it’s worth it too!
December 18th, 2009 @ 10:38 am
[...] ~Homemade Pierogi made by Cooking During Stolen Moments [...]
December 24th, 2009 @ 10:20 pm
Wow, I’m impressed. I’ve store bought these but never homemade them.
December 28th, 2009 @ 9:49 pm
[...] favorite traditions tend to revolve around the kitchen, from baking cookies to homemade pierogi and from-scratch gifts. I love having the kids work with me in the kitchen just as much as I loved [...]
December 29th, 2009 @ 6:11 pm
my grandmom and aunts ( from Nanty Glo Pa.) made fantastic pierogi but their recipes were never handed down. ( and they been gone for 25 years). I have researched many recipes and your looks the most authentic ( from what i recall) So I am going to make them soon and will let you know how they turn out. Thank you for posting this recipe !
February 5th, 2010 @ 3:05 pm
[...] (so easy even a two year old can do it!) but when I saw Kate’s version with mushrooms on Stolen Moments Cooking, I knew I needed to share it here. I know it looks like a simple dumpling on the outside but [...]
April 13th, 2010 @ 9:14 am
One knows that our life is not cheap, however people need cash for different issues and not every person earns enough money. Thus to receive some loans and bank loan will be good solution.
July 25th, 2010 @ 4:51 am
Around here the holidays would not be the holidays without tamales! I started making my own a few years ago and they are lots of work but worth it if I make a big batch and freeze.