Good God there are a lot of ways to spell Pierogie. For my sanity, I will use the Pierogie spelling in this post.
As a Clevelander, although I do not come from any Eastern European heritage, I consider the pierogie to be a family dish. My family cooked pierogies every way imaginable: sauteed, baked, fried and even grilled. One thing we rarely had though was homemade pierogies. On the way home from Melt a few weeks ago I decided that I was going to make pierogies from scratch. And you know what, it was pretty easy.
The first thing you need to do is get together a pierogie dough. The recipe I used is a bit of a mashup from a number of recipes I found online:
Pierogie Dough Recipe
- 2 1/2 C Flour
1 t Salt
1 Egg
2 T Sour Cream
1/2 C Water
1. In a stand mixer, mix the flour, salt, egg and sour cream.
2. Add the water a bit at a time until the dough starts pulling from the sides of the bowl. You should have something that looks like this:
3. Wrap that bad boy up in plastic wrap and let it kick it in the fridge for awhile. This is a great time to make your fillings if you haven’t already. Typical pierogie fillings include potato, cheese, onion, sauerkraut and prune. I don’t know who the hell likes prune, probably geriatrics. We went with potato & cheese and mushroom.
4. Now comes the part that makes you realize a $2 pierogie is totally worth it. The rolling and stuffing. Go get your dough out of the fridge and using a pastry cutter, cut yourself off a manageable piece. Start rollin’ that mo’ fo’ thin. Real thin. I’m a lazy bastard so I used a pasta maker to get it down where I wanted it. You’re going to want it about this thin:
You are going to eventually have to use something to cut circles out of the dough. I have a circular cookie cutter that I use for empandas, so I used that. You can use whatever you want though: a cup, bowl, scissors, used margarine container, slinky. Doesn’t matter. Like this homie:
5. Now comes the stuffing insanity! Yeah! Its pretty straightforward, you put the potatoes in the dough, seal up the edges and crimp. Easy, peasy, japaneesy. Thanks to the magic of the Internet though I can show you in pictures.
Although you may be tempted to eat these at this point, don’t. They are better cooked. After 3 or 4 minutes in boiling water you will have a colander full of the best pierogies you have ever had. They can also be sauteed, I do mine in a pan with a little butter and some garlic. Wicked good!
Its gonna be hard to eat all of the pierogies you made so you’ll probably want to put some in storage. They will last a week or so in the fridge, but for long term storage the freezer is the best option. A lot of recipes call for boiling the pierogies before you freeze them, but this doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. In addition to being one hell of a sticky mess, it seems like an awful lot of work for no real benefit. I laid mine out on wax paper, rolling after each row to avoid them from sticking to each other and put them in a zip-top freezer bag.
Tagged with: Perogie Recipes • Perogies • Pierogie Pastry • Pierogies from scratch
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January 6th, 2008 at 8:40 am
De tittene mektige tasty.
January 6th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
now that you have all these friends hanging out in the freezer, you have something quick to feed the wifey while she is complaining that her homemade 3 course meal is taking too long.
ha!
they look great. yum.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Wow, they look delicious! Pierogies are one of those things it never even occurred to me to make from scratch.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Your nails look really good in that second picture!
January 7th, 2008 at 4:17 am
I credit my great nails to Burt’s Bees Cuticle Cream, simply magical.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:36 am
I will have to try this, it looks great. I have tried homemade pierogis from different stores in the Slavic Village area and one in a certain well known market, but nothing beats Sophie’s Choice Pierogis. They make and sell them at this corner store in Garfield on Turney Road called Peter’s Market. They have so many flavors, sweet and savory, and they are actually pretty healthy nutritionally (perpetually dieting, gotta make sure I don’t eat too many). They’re fully-cooked too, last time my friends and I had a bonfire we warmed them up on our metal skewers (along with gourmet apple chicken sausage…Cleveland foodies)! Thanks for the recipe. A little fruit stand near me sells pouches of kolachky filling, I think I will try your dough and stuff it with that.
January 9th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Oh, P.S-I have seen the prune pierogi before too and passed over them, but a friend had them for the holidays and swears they were great. I guess they use a “prune butter” and not really whole dried up prunes. I have to keep remembering that prunes were plums at one point!!!
January 12th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Mark…because the wing comments were closed…i googled “wings in mayfield ohio” and the number 1 listing was eating cleveland.com. I was happy indeed. Patti and I are looking to get wings this evening and now i am puzzled as to where we should go. I think perhaps your number should be listed in instances like these. However you are the unreliable brother of the day so we will eat unfavorable wings now. I will see you tomorrow when you get your hair cut by the best stylist in the land.
January 12th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
(you shouldn’t take credit for your nails assuming you do bite them until the free edge is gone and your fingers swell)
January 16th, 2008 at 1:54 am
I think the second picture of someone using the cookie cutters must be your ‘old lady’. Does she know you refer to her like that. Really she is the best thing to ever happen to you.
P.S. Your website is very informative as well as entertaining.
January 16th, 2008 at 4:10 am
I’m considering blocking the last two commentors for unruly behavior.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:38 pm
Yo Mark,
Recipe looks awesome. I’m about to embark my first pierogie making missing after years of waiting for my Grandmom to get off her lazy ass or trolling the Polish markets in Philly. I’m sure these will be hit of the Super Bowl party I’m going to.
p.s. Great move with the pictures. Was worried about how thick / think to roll it out.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:28 am
I just made some homemade pierogies last night. For the dough I just used flour, salt, oil, and water.
I rolled dough out real thin and cut into squares, not circles.
Just what I did, not saying this way was better or anything… enjoy
May 6th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
You just haven’t had the proper prune filling. My Mom Annabelle, she is no longer with us, made the best filling that I can recall. I’m sorry to say I do not have her recipe. Here in Washington Statea they are not a daily staple. Here it is fish and Starbuck’s.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:58 am
I grew up in Southwestern Pa- and this was a typical family meal for us. Though the potatoe and cheese is good….the prune ones were always my favorite. Just boil some prunes til soft, and use them as the filling….they come out very sweet and tasty! My aunt used to make tuna ones as well. For the potatoe ones, cook mashed potatoes with cheese……..and they are yummy!
After our are boiled, we brown some butter with onions , but the butter and garlic sounds good as well. Hope if no one has ever tried them….that they do…they are delicious!
August 2nd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
@ Lois
Oh dear God! Tuna perogies? That is truly unholy.
September 14th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
okay I have never even heard of these…came across your website searching for sorbet. Gonna try both. This perogi business looks good…kinda like an empanada? Anyway, you are funny, you say what I am thinkin’ when I cook.
November 11th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
My grandma Ida, may she rest in peace, made perogi, but she called them kreplach. She was from the Black Sea area, not from Poland. Does “kreplach” sound familiar to any Ashkenaziks out there with family from the Odessa/Black Sea area?
November 24th, 2008 at 10:19 pm
Yeah. Although I LOVE pierogies, I cannot justify eating 300… 300? Seriously?!
You got a recipe conversion chart here for a single person?
November 25th, 2008 at 10:29 am
I am making sauerkraut “rogies” (for Thanksgiving) as my husband’s Polish family has affectionately referred to the tasty little parcels for over 3 decades.
Simple filling: drain liquid from a 32 oz bag of fresh kraut. Rinse for 5 seconds in colander with water. shake out water.
Place 1 stick of butter in saute pan and add 1 finely diced large onion., heavily pepper to taste, cover and cook approximately 20 minutes on low heat. At this point kraut is awesome with roast pork or filling rogies!
December 3rd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I always used small tangy curd cottage cheese and equal amts of mashed potatoes, Alas no longer can find tangy cottage cheese so I have adopted sauerkraut for the tangy flavor. I can’t make them fast enough for my fanily! We love them. The reason I like to cook them first and then freeze ( if theres any left to freeze) , its much easier to heat cooked ones, takes less time when everyone is starved for perogies.
I enjoy making these when no one is home, that way I get to sample them and enjoy them. I usually eat about 8, after all I want to make sure they are ediable!!!
They are work but well worth the effort!!! Enjoy!!!!
December 21st, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Great Step by Step pics! So profesional.
I use the same dough recipie but I only get around sventyfive to a batch. I love the potato ones and my Busha uses a little sour cream and farmers cheese to tart the filling a little bit(mabye try in leu of tangy cottage cheese. Fruit perog’s are way good but try them with blueberries or peaches if you can find them fresh. No need to cook the fruit just stuff and cook. Garnish the fruit ones with a 50/50 mix of sugar.and sour cream. My kids and I just made 4.5 gallon size freezer bags worth took arond 8 hrs. Sooo worth it.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
CW
SoCal
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I grew up making these bad boys with my family, what a pain in the ass, I like to see how others make them also, your descriptions are a riot, you make this site fun to read, thanks! I had a few good laughs
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:04 pm
[...] Homemade Pierogies [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
i hear ya! i love um they been our family forever were polish. and we make the cheese potato ones too and onions.. and my lil sister eats them with jelly.. weird potato and jelly she says its really good actually alot of the family eat it with jelly im to scared to try it ya digg! but u should maybe ur more brave!
holla playa
January 29th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Why do you crimp the edge over like that? I have been making pierogies since I was a child and never, never fold the edge over and crimp like that. A little egg wash on theinside edge and systematic closing the edges down usually holds them shut. I have even taken a fork, pressing the tines to crease the edges together…and that works.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Thanks so much for this post. Even though I’m Asian and never had pierogies growing up, I fell in love with them when I went to school in Cleveland. Now that I’m on the East Coast, I have no idea where to get my pierogi fix (sadly, there’s no West Side Market over here). I can’t wait to try and make these!
March 10th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
I am definitely going to try this recipe. My friend came to me at work talking about these things filled with potatoes, from scratch. She’s french canadian with a Ukranian background ( I found out today). We’re in Montreal. I asked her what was in them again and then told her they were Pierogie. I can’t remember what her mother called them. I think she said something like piroshke. Anyhow, I went out and bought some frozen ones tonight just to show her. But I want to try to make them from scratch. I first had pierogie in 1977, in Pennsylvania. My cousin married a Polish gal.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
I just wanted to say your dough was much easier t owork with than my Polish MIL. I am making them for Easter and I will be using your dough recipe.
thanks.
Making Cheese( ricotta, Kraut and Potato-shallot)
May 15th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Simple, easy to follow recipe. You have no idea how long it took me to find one! Thanks – stupid Canadians got me addicted to them when I was on exchange and I can’t find them anywhere back home in Scotland! At last, my tummy will love me again! Also laughed my ass off at your instructions – I might even try using a slinky!
June 24th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Thanks so much for this! I tried your dough recipe and it worked so well! I’m going to post on my blog!
I absolutely love pirogies.
They’re not so easily found in London (where I’m living now) so I’m always looking for a good recipe to make them myself, and this dough is the best yet!
When I went to Poland for 5 days I ate them every single day, sometimes twice! Maybe I have a problem….pirogaholic. haha!
June 30th, 2009 at 7:09 am
[...] 30 June 2009: I just came across another pierogi dough recipe, along with several more spellings: How to Make Perogie, Pierogie, Perogi, Perogy, Pirohi, Piroghi, Pirogi, Pirogen, Piroshke or Pyrohy. I do love that there are so many ways to spell the name for this fabulous [...]
July 31st, 2009 at 10:27 am
LOL, it’s the “Now repeat 300 times” that keeps me from making these more often.
August 3rd, 2009 at 1:28 am
[...] The Hell Is A Pierogi? Okay, for those of youΒ who are wondering, a Pierogi is a dish of slavic origin consisting of boiled dough stuffed with various ingredients. You would know that if you were from [...]
August 13th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
In Poland pierogi are often filled with white cheese (farmer’s cheese or quark), potatoes, and fried onions; in this form, they are called pierogi ruskie (Rusyn or Ruthenian pierogi), Also popular are pierogi filled with ground meat, mushrooms. However my wife, who is Polish (immigrated 1960), said that her mother usually made them with just potato, kraut, or just mushroom, pointing out that under the communist regime people had to make do with just what they could afford or get. Though upon marrying her, I thought “I want them filled with something more than just that – the sorts of things that the Italians fill ravioli with – something creative!”
It turns out friut fillings ARE served in Poland for a dessert occasionally.
October 15th, 2009 at 6:56 pm
i have a perogie maker. helps so much. Just lost my awesome dough recipe thou =(
October 18th, 2009 at 6:58 am
ΠΠ°Π½ΠΈΠΌΠ°ΡΠ΅Π»ΡΠ½ΠΎ Π½Π°ΠΏΠΈΡΠ°Π½ΠΎ, Π½ΠΎ ΠΊΠ°ΠΊ Π³ΠΎΠ²ΠΎΡΠΈΡΡΡ, Π΄Π»Ρ ΠΎΠ±ΡΠ΅ΠΉ ΠΊΠ°ΡΡΠΈΠ½Ρ Π½ΡΠΆΠ½ΠΎ ΠΊΠ°ΠΊ ΠΌΠΈΠ½ΠΈΠΌΡΠΌ ΡΡΠΈ ΠΈΡΡΠΎΡΠ½ΠΈΠΊΠ°
October 20th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
I am so going to make these – in my heritage we would call this a DUMPLING.
November 5th, 2009 at 4:05 am
Forgive me, but using that plastic pipe (PVC, most likely) is not too smart! That is not food-grade plastic and should never be used when making contact with food. All kinds of chemicals can leech into the food and you don’t want that.
November 5th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
@Arline – I disagree. And I hope you don’t drink tap water. PVC pipe is safe for plumbing where water can sit for days at a time, in fact many cities are requiring the use of PVC pipe in new construction. Studies have shown that the amount of chemicals being transfered into the water is barely measurable let alone dangerous.
That being said, I’m using it to roll out some dough. There are no chemicals leaching into the food from this process.
November 14th, 2009 at 11:04 am
This is a great resource for those of us who are clueless about cooking anything. If I had the patience to do this, I would, but I don’t so I satisfy my Pierogi cravings at Babushka’s Kitchen in Northfield Center. Their close to what I remembered growing up at grandmothers. She also made some with a cheese filling like ricotta or a sweet cottage cheese and sautΓ©ed in butter and sugar. Nobody ever thought about calories back in the 60′s, so everything came soaked in butter and onions or sugar, it was great!
Polish food is good, and like Pierogis its all beige
December 21st, 2009 at 10:44 pm
My two sisters and I made pierogies today. We think we are pros at it. Took us 6 hours to made 200. Our mother taught us how to make them and we always fight over the right way to make them. My mother has died so we dont have her to tell us which of us a right. (I am) We make them similar to you with little variations. Can’t wait till Christmas Eve when the whole family gets together. Naturally we are polish and proud of it.
December 27th, 2009 at 6:49 pm
What’s the difference between a perogie and a pasty?
February 17th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
I am making pierogi today Ash Wednesday for our meatless supper. I could not find farmers cheese (it is a dry curd, if you use moist stuff like cottage it is way to runny) so I got whole milk ricotta & pressed it down between 2 coffee filters, got out 2/3 of a cup of liquid after a few hours. Use a strainer liner with a filter, filter on top pressed with 2 heavy ceramic soup cups.
microwaved 2 yukon gold potatoes & seasoned them with butter, garlic salt & pepper (no liquid) in they went & sauteed onions, too, for good measure I grated a small (2″X2″) cheddar cheese . Time to start the dough I think I will you part cake flour to see if I can get a tender dough. Stop writing & start doing!
February 17th, 2010 at 1:30 pm
opps, excuse my dyslexia should read ” I think I will USE
part cake flour to see if I can get a nice tender dough”
February 18th, 2010 at 7:27 pm
how do you cook perogies?
March 9th, 2010 at 10:54 am
You are really missing out by not trying fruit ‘Rogies. They can be filled with cooled (and very thick) blueberry, strawberry, or apple filling, and the prune-filled are also delicious. Don’t knock what you have not yet tried, as that can lead to regrets later, when you finally do try them, and then are forced to eat crow-filled Pierogies seasoned with remorse. :~)
Here are another couple of tips: By boiling before freezing, you will not need to do that step later and the tasty little pockets can go straight to the saute pan. This is a time-saver, for those who get the craving and demand relatively immediate satisfaction. Second, I would freeze these in a single, non-touching layer on a baking sheet overnight, before placing them in a bag. You’ll put in a lot of work assembling them, and won’t want to start over because they all stuck together due to the method of freezing, which they will do if frozen in other ways.
My two-cents worth, and I learned to make these at the side of the Master of Pierogies, Chef Konnie Konopacki. RIP, Chef, I have not forgotten all your great advice!
October 27th, 2010 at 4:01 pm
So, I just realized that I’ve been using this recipe for over two years and haven’t looked at the rest of your site. (Whoops.) But I will in a minuto.
This recipe has been greatly loved by our fam. Thanks a bunch!
November 19th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
The best way to clean your finger nails is to mix 4 ozs. of minced garlic and 1/2 lb. of kosher salt with 20 lbs. of ground pork. When you’re finished, your nails will be perfectly clean. Rather than wasting all of that meat, stuff it into casing and smoke it for 8 hours. It makes a great Christmas gift and you don’t have to tell anyone how you made it.
December 27th, 2010 at 5:46 am
Thanks for the help.
BTW. I’m definitely not geriatric but prune or plum pierogies were fought over every xmas eve dinner i ever attended at our families house.Tradition started with Grandma and carried on by her kids to this day. (1972 was my first one) Grandma would make potato and longhorn cheese, potato and prune pierogies. Probably a third of each. We would all try to see who could eat the most and we would argue about who would get the prune ones. You see they were like candy after they cooked. And, with a little melted butter over them they are smoking hot. You might want to take a chance and see what you’ve been missing and try them but be prepared that it will be hard to share them once you’ve had one. Just watch out if I’m sitting next to ya.
Thanks for the dough recipe.
Cheers and Happy Holidays.
January 16th, 2011 at 12:44 am
I’ve read dozens and dozens of recipes for pierogies but none with the filling Ba (my grandmother) made. Meat! It is to die for. You cook a bottom round roast in a crock pot with loads of onions. When it’s cooked and very soft, you let it get cold in the fridge. I do this the day before I make the filling. I then cut the pot roast into large chunks and finely chop it up by batches, along with the cooked onions, and s & p in the food processor, You now have a bowl of ground cooked meat. Fill the pierogies just as you would with potato filling. When the pierogies are cooked we drizzle them with browned butter. It’s hard to stop eating them.
January 30th, 2011 at 8:21 am
Pierogi dough actually works best with a “hard” wheat flour, otherwise it gets very sticky and hard to work with. King Arthur is one brand whose “regular” flour is made from “hard” wheat. Cake flour is a soft wheat flour. For pierogis, you actually want the higher protein content of regular flour help hold everything together.
January 31st, 2011 at 4:18 pm
[...] Pierogies full of mash and cheddar topped with sauteed broccoli & onions [...]
February 28th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
Thanks for the recipe it was easy and awesome! I couldn’t stop laughing while I was reading this recipe!
March 5th, 2011 at 9:52 pm
I remember my grandma (Babche), and visiting her every summer in Pennsylvania. We would beg her to make Perogies…and she would. We loved the potatoes and cheese ones, but she also made Huckelberry ones…..and my cousins and I would go and pick the Huckelberries right down the road until we had pails and pails full. She would then in turn make us the Huckelberry Perogies along with the Potatoes and Cheese ones. Those were some great memories. Perogies are the best thing that ever happened since (sliced bread)… LOL Its worth the effort to make them. There is nothing else quite like it. Enjoy…
April 22nd, 2011 at 5:01 pm
This is the most entertaining recipe i’ve ever read! thank you! I will be making pierogies for my first time this weekend, and yours is the recipe i will use! so where are the best wings in mayfield? i live there.
July 18th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
Hey Mark,
Excited to try this recipe tonight! My Polish grandmother has been making perogies for what seems like forever, and teaching my sisters and me along the way. I can’t find her recipe, but am craving them so am going to give this one a whirl. Thanks for posting!
July 25th, 2011 at 11:33 am
Hi, this dish seems close to Malaysian’s daily dishes.. We called it as ‘Karipap’ (Curry Puff).. Anyway, by trying different fillings, perhaps we can get a better recipe for this though..
August 19th, 2011 at 4:43 pm
Making these for the little homies (my one yr old and 10month old nephew)
October 8th, 2011 at 11:12 am
Into my potato filling, i use mashed potatoes (mashed with real butter and sour cream), sauteed vidalia onions, shredded cheese (whatever i have on hand will work), a little bit of fresh dill, and most importantly, BACON! Not only do i use bacon, but i admit to putting in a little bit of the bacon grease. My recipe will not win any award in a diet category, but my Polish grandpa loves them! I was taught to freeze them before boiling, but I always boil them to save time, and it saves time on the day you eat them.
October 20th, 2011 at 10:29 am
[...] pierogies did not go as smoothly as I would have liked.Β I followed this recipe, which worked great the last time we tried it.Β This time the dough was way too wet.Β I added [...]
January 23rd, 2012 at 3:11 pm
If you want to try a very authentic pierogie stop by Perla Homemade Delights in Parma they make the dough very thin and delicate, I like to fry them in just a little bit of oil in the pan at high heat so they come out nice and crispy! If you’re not from around Cleveland they also ship them at perlapierogies.com
February 25th, 2012 at 3:00 pm
Nice Post! I love pierogies!
March 30th, 2012 at 11:45 pm
[...] How to Make Perogie, Pierogie, Perogi, Perogy, Pirohi, Piroghi …Jan 6, 2008 … One thing we rarely had though was homemade pierogies. On the way home from Melt a few weeks ago I decided that I was going to make … [...]