Homemade Pierogies

Pierogi ; also spelled perogi, pierogy, perogy, pierógi, pyrohy, pirogi, pyrogie, or pyrogy; are dumplings of unleavened dough – first boiled, then baked or fried usually in butter with onions.

I’m going to show you two ways of making cheese and potato pierogies. By hand and by using a simple Pierogi mold.  Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of the page.  I’m telling you now that I’m horrible with using detailed/technical terms about cooking.  I’m counting on everyone that tries this recipe to have had at least one home economics class under their belt (or spent some time in the kitchen with an aunt like I did).  You can use all different types of fillings (Google that shit), but around here we stick with the one we know and love.

Some quick points.

  • One person can make this, but it’s easier and faster if you make this recipe with someone.
  • Nobody makes pierogies for just one meal.  Have freezer bags handy because this recipe makes a lot. They freeze beautifully.
  • It’s not difficult, but it will take time.  I usually block out an afternoon when we make them.

Pierogies

Mix together the flour, margarine, salt and sour cream.  I use a pastry cutter because I’m fancy that way, but you can use a fork if you’re not a fancypants.

Pierogies

Hollow out the mixture and pour in the beaten eggs.  Add milk last.

Pierogies

DO NOT USE A MIXER. Use your hands. This is the part I hate, but it has to be done. Make sure you just mix it (don’t knead it)  – add flour as needed, but don’t go nuts.

Pierogies

When it’s all mixed together (so that it forms a nice ball) place a wet paper towel over it and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.

Pierogies

While the dough is resting make your mashed potatoes. If you’re using real mashed potatoes you should have them finished (with cheese added) before you start making the dough.

Pierogies

Mix the cheese in while the potatoes are still hot because you want it to melt.

Pierogies

Cheesey Potato Heaven.

Pierogies

Take a small amount of dough (leaving the rest covered with the wet paper towel) and roll it out.  Use a goblet (1970’s, baby) or another wide mouth glass/mug to cut out circles. Yes, I have a mess here. It happens.

Pierogies

Drop a heaping spoonful of the mashed potatoes in the middle of the dough.

Pierogies

Lightly brush water around the edges of the circle.

Pierogies

Fold over and pinch closed with a fork. Make sure they’re sealed or you’ll have a mess when you go to boil them.  When we make pierogies we usually lay them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper as we go.  Then we put the entire cookie sheet in the freezer.  Rumor has it this is called flash-freezing.  Heh.  After they’ve hardened up, put them in freezer bags and freeze until ready to make.  The following  steps are used whether you’re cooking them fresh or frozen.

Pierogies

In a skillet, fry sliced onions with butter.  You can skip the onions if you’re like me and just melt butter in the skillet.

Pierogies

Drop the pierogies into boiling water – they’ll float to the top when they are done. Strain.  You CANNOT skip the boiling step.

Pierogies

Add them to the skillet with the butter and onions. Again, you can skip the onion part if you want, but don’t skip frying them in the butter.

Pierogies

A favorite meal at our house.  These bad boys are Eastern European peasant food and I love them!


Using a pierogi mold is a helluva lot faster than doing them by hand.

Pierogies

Flour your mold. Roll your dough out a little bit bigger than the size of your mold.

Pierogies

Lay the dough over the mold.

Pierogies

Fill with the cheese/mashed potatoes. Brush water all around

Pierogies

Roll out another layer of dough and place it over the mashed potatoes in the mold.

Pierogies

Run your rolling pin over the mold.

Pierogies

Lift off the excess dough (which can be used again).

Pierogies

Turn the mold over and plop them out onto a wax-paper lined cookie sheet.  Once the cookie sheet is filled up flash-freeze them.

Pierogies

I boiled these for lunch one day – straight from the freezer.

Pierogies

And it only took me a couple of minutes to fry them up.

Pierogies

And then I had a fabulous lunch. Did you notice how half of the pierogie is missing in this picture?  I couldn’t wait.

Pierogies re-heat in the microwave really well so don’t worry about making too many at one time (as if).

Homemade Pierogies
 
Original Source/Author:
: Dinner
Cuisine: Eastern European (peasant food)
Serves: A shit ton
Ingredients
  • Filling:
  • 8 cups mashed potatoes (already cooked instant or made with real potatoes)
  • 8 cups mild cheddar cheese (finely shredded)
  • Dough:
  • 6 cups flour
  • ½ stick (or ¼ cup) softened margarine
  • 1 pint (or 2 cups) sour cream
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 5 large eggs (slightly beaten)
  • ¼ cup milk
Instructions
  1. Start by making the mashed potatoes first (instant or real). When finished make sure you have 8 cups. Add the shredded cheese to the mashed potatoes while they're still hot. Stir until melted. Set aside.
  2. Measure flour into a large bowl. Add margarine, sour cream, salt. Mix together with pastry cutter or fork. Form a hollow in the flour mixture and pour in eggs. Add milk. Mix together with hands. Add more flour if needed. Don't knead the dough (this isn't bread/pizza dough). When it's mixed well, cover with damp towel and rest for 15 minutes.
  3. Working with small sections of the dough, roll out flat and cut into circles using a wide mouth glass/mug (or use a pierogie mold - see above). Put a heaping spoonful of the mashed potato mixture in the center of the dough circle. Lightly brush with water and fold the circle in half. Pinch with fork to seal. Drop in boiling water until they float then fry in a skillet with butter and onions.
  4. Can also be flash-frozen and placed in freezer bags. Making frozen is the same - just drop in boiling water until they float and then fry.

 

Pierogi Casserole – Nance and Robyn make the same recipe

Every week we’ll post a recipe that we both made. This week’s recipe was Pierogi Casserole. Printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.  The recipe was submitted by reader Jamie.

Robyn’s Take:

Jamie reports that she got the original recipe for this casserole from a cookbook her mother’s law office (in Canada) puts out every few years, but that she’s changed the original recipe a lot. When she submitted this recipe, I was all about trying it. Because guess who’s never actually HAD pierogies? That’s right, as far as I can recall, I’ve never had a single pierogi. I mean, Nance can apparently make them in her SLEEP, and I’ve visited her like 3,000 times, but has she ever actually made them for me? NO, SHE HAS NOT.

Why you hate me, Nance?

Anyway, when I actually got around to making the pierogi casserole, I was a little overwhelmed with all the different layers, but once I actually started doing it, it came together easily, and worked out like it was supposed to. Pretty much what it is, is a mashed potato/bacon/onion/cheese lasagna.

Your ingredients:

Pierogie Casserole (1)

Lasagna noodles (the ones you have to boil, not the oven-ready ones!), flavored instant potatoes, cut-up bacon, diced onion, minced garlic, shredded cheddar, cottage cheese, one egg, dried chives, green onions, and a package of Kraft dinner cheese powder.

Now, I don’t know if Kraft sells their cheese powder in a packet by itself, but I certainly couldn’t find that anywhere in the store, so I bought a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese, and just used the powder from the box.

First thing, boil your lasagna noodles.

Pierogie Casserole (2)

While that’s going on, fry the bacon, garlic, and yellow onion over medium heat until the onion is cooked through (about 8 – 10 minutes).

Pierogie Casserole (3)

And also, make your instant mashed potatoes.

Pierogie Casserole (5)

In another bowl, mix the egg and dried chives into the cottage cheese.

Pierogie Casserole (4)

When the lasagna noodles are done, drain them. I didn’t get a picture of it, but once they were drained, I set each noodle down, flat, on parchment paper on the counter, so that the noodles wouldn’t stick together.

Pierogie Casserole (6)

And when the bacon, garlic and onion are done cooking, add HALF of the mixture to the instant mashed potatoes, along with the powdered cheese.

Pierogie Casserole (7)

So, to sum up: before you start putting your casserole together, you have:

ONE bowl with cottage cheese/egg/chives mixed together.
ONE bowl with instant mashed potatoes/powdered cheese/half the bacon/onion/garlic mixture, mixed together.
Cooked lasagna noodles.
Half the bacon/onion/garlic mixture still in the pan.
And a packet of cheese over on the counter, minding its own business.

Grease a 9×13 pan (I used Pam), and cover the bottom with a layer of lasagna noodles.

Pierogie Casserole (8)

Spread 1/2 of the potato mixture on top of that.

Pierogie Casserole (9)

On top of that, another layer of noodles. Then the entire bowl of cottage cheese mixture on top of THAT, and the shredded cheddar on top of the cottage cheese.

Pierogie Casserole (10)

Another layer of noodles, the rest of the potatoes, and the last layer of noodles on top of that. Top the noodles with the rest of the bacon/garlic/onion mixture, and then sprinkle the chopped green onions on top of it all.

Pierogie Casserole (15)
Chef Tony says “This very complicated, lady.”

What it looked like before it went into the oven.

Pierogie Casserole (11)

And after it came out.

Pierogie Casserole (12)

I let it cool for 15 minutes, and then we ate.

Pierogie Casserole (13)

(Note: I didn’t have any sour cream on hand, but I think it would have only enhanced the experience.)

The verdict? It was good! Jamie referred to it as comfort food, and it very much was. Fred didn’t enjoy it as much as I did, but he ate it a couple of times, so he certainly didn’t HATE it.

The things I would do differently: I’d probably cut the lasagna noodles into smaller pieces because getting the pieces out of the pan was a pan. Also, next time I’ll use the herb and butter instant potatoes that Jamie suggested, because I got the roasted garlic ones, and HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, all the vampires in a 30-mile radius turned and fled en masse. That was some garlicky-ass shit, right there. I mean, I love garlic, but I don’t love smelling it coming out of my pores for two days afterward, thanks.

In summation: two thumbs up from me, one and a half thumbs up from Fred, definitely comfort food, and I recommend it. Thanks for the submission, Jamie!

Pierogie Casserole (14)
“Once again, Chef Tony not get to eat ANY of it. Y’all are some onion-eating motherfuckers.”

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Have a recipe you want us to make? Check out this page (there’s also a link to that page up there under the banner) and follow the instructions to submit a recipe!

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Nance’s Take:

Truth Game:  I discussed this recipe with Robyn last week.  If by discussed you mean that I sent Robyn an email asking her if she actually followed this recipe. She replied that she had followed the recipe and I told her that was a good thing because I wasn’t going to.  Translation: I didn’t want to listen to the family bitch.

My happy ass knows some shit about pierogies. I grew up eating and making pierogies so I can’t be playing when it comes to these things. We take our pierogies as seriously as we take our football team and yunz know how we are about our Steelers!

We have on very rare occasions made up a pierogi casserole/lasagna, but the truth is, it’s not even close to eating real pierogies. It is, however, a great way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. Our recipe is very simple. Noodles, mashed potatoes, cheese.  Bake.
Pierogi Lasagna
My God, this babydoll is getting old! But I can still count on her to be in the middle of the kitchen floor when I have some cooking to do!
Pierogi Lasagna
I had good intentions when I started – that’s why I got the big pasta pot out. I took a picture before I noticed that I didn’t have much water in it.
Pierogi Lasagna
Turns out that it didn’t really matter since I only had a few lasagna noodles in my house. Sigh.
Pierogi Lasagna
I decided to use a bread pan in place of a casserole dish since I only had 5 motherfucking lasagna noodles.
Pierogi Lasagna
I sprayed the shit out of that bread pan with cooking spray because I didn’t want to clean up a mess. Then I threw one cooked noodle in there and slapped some potatoes in it.
Pierogi Lasagna
Spread the mashed potatoes all over the noodle and sprinkle with way too much cheese.
Pierogi Lasagna
Keep repeating until you hit the top.
Pierogi Lasagna
I baked it until my need to eat transcended my need to make it look good.
Pierogi Lasagna
I know this looks horrid and let me tell you why…
I willingly poured melted butter all over this shit because I lost my damn mind. The reason for the butter was because real pierogies are boiled and then fried in butter and onions.  I didn’t want to mess with onions, but I thought I would try just throwing some butter in there.  Don’t do that.  If you want to fry some onions in butter and layer them on top of the noodles go ahead.  Just don’t be a dumbass like me.

Between the melted butter and the greasy cheddar cheese this was probably the grossest thing I ever ate. Don’t do that. EVER. Pierogi Lasagna
You can barely see it, but even Sadie was giving me the side-eye.

Since I half-assed this recipe I promise that Shirley and I will take a day to make real pierogies and I’ll post it on DCEP.  This way everyone can know the joy that is stuffing your piehole with our family’s version of soul food.

Pierogi Casserole - Nance and Robyn make the same recipe
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
: Entree, Side Dish
Cuisine: Polish Comfort Food
Serves: 12
Ingredients
  • 12 lasagna noodles (don't use oven-ready)
  • 2 packs of flavored instant potatoes
  • 8 slices of bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 T minced garlic
  • 1 pkg of Kraft dinner cheese powder (I used the packet of cheese from a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese)
  • 1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 c. cottage cheese
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp dried chives
  • 4 green onions, sliced
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 9x13" baking dish with cooking spray.
  2. Boil the lasagna noodles according to directions on the box. Drain and set aside.
  3. Over medium heat, fry bacon, garlic and onion until the onion is transparent, about 8 - 10 minutes.
  4. In a large bowl, make both packages of instant mashed potatoes. Mix in powdered cheese and half of the bacon/onion/garlic mixture.
  5. In a medium bowl, mix 1 egg and chives with the cottage cheese.
  6. Place a layer of noodles in the bottom of the baking dish.
  7. Top with ½ of the potato mixture.
  8. Add another layer of noodles.
  9. Spread with all of the cottage cheese mixture, and sprinkle with shredded cheddar.
  10. Add another layer of noodles.
  11. Top with the rest of the potato mixture.
  12. Add the last layer of noodles.
  13. Sprinkle the rest of the garlic/onion/bacon layer across the top, and top that with the sliced green onions.
  14. Cover with tin foil.
  15. Bake for 25 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
  16. Let cool for 10 - 15 minutes before serving.
  17. Serve with sour cream, if desired.