Vegetarian

On the menu tonight – Pierogi with Onions!

I love pierogi! There’s something great about the browned butter, sauteed onions, the slight crisp on the outside and the pillowy goodness inside. But, unless you have a machine or some help, they can be time consuming to make – especially the filling and folding part of the process.

Since nobody in my immediate circle is making pierogi for me and since there isn’t a restaurant nearby that serves them, I figured I better get to it and make some!

After suffering from severe analysis paralysis on how to make the dough, I ultimately went with one of the simplest dough recipes I could find. The recipe claims it’s grandma’s recipe. I can’t vouch for the validity of that, but I can say that I was really happy with the way they turned out. There were recipes that used a whole (beaten) and others that use a whole egg and an egg yolk. Some used a leavener and others didn’t. Grandma’s recipe used a single egg and no leavener – keep it simple, right?

Once the dough dilemma was solved, what would I fill them with? I opted for a potato, cheese, and onion filling. I saw recipes that included sauerkraut, and other things. I’d like to try the sauerkraut version, but that will have to be another time. Today, it was the potato, cheese, and onion filling.

With the decisions locked in, it was time to cook! I made the mashed potatoes first. Russet potatoes are the preferred type for pierogi – at least according to all the recipes I looked at. I didn’t skimp on the butter, sour cream, etc. I wanted the most decadent mashed potatoes I could make. For the cheese, I went off script and used Velveeta. While it isn’t traditional, it melts fantastically. I also added sauteed onions to the potato mixture. I did a fine dice on the onions and got them nice and brown with some crispy bits in there too.

When I made the dough, another decision I had to make was hand kneading or stand-mixer kneading. After all the other work that goes in to making this dish, I took the help from my stand-mixer for kneading the dough. After letting it rest, I rolled it out as thin as I could get it and used a 3″ biscuit cutter to cut my rounds. There’s some mild debate about the size cutter, but 3″ seems to be the most popular. By all means, use whatever size cutter YOU like! 🙂 Just know that your cooking time may vary a little depending if you go bigger or smaller.

Since this was my first batch, I went pretty small – 2 cups of flour. That yielded 20 pierogi for me. I still have a LOT of filling left, so I guess I’m making more soon and put in the freezer. If you haven’t made these before, I’d recommend going with a small batch to get your process down. As an example, once you cut the dough round, how will you fill it with the potato mixture? I used a couple of spoons to meter out the proper amount. I have a small ice cream scoop that I use for cookies, but it was a little too big for this application. I think the next time I make them, I’ll put the potato mixture in a ziplock bag, cut a corner off and use it like a piping bag.

Sealing the pierogi. Oh man… you can’t over-fill them or you have a big mess in the boiling water. So, start on the light side of how much filling you add. I stretched each dough round a little bit by hand, kind of like a very small pizza, to hedge my bets on the filling fitting without being too much. I started by folding it over in the middle. I let the weight of the filling stretch the dough a little more, which gave me some wriggle room to pinch more of the little dumpling closed. One closed all the way, I set it down on a parchment lined baking sheet and crimped it with a fork to seal it really well. Oh, I went round and round on whether to use water or an egg wash on the inside edges to help seal it. I went rogue and didn’t use ANYTHING!

When cutting the rounds out with the biscuit cutter, you want to get as close as you can to the edges of the dough and the edge of your last cut. Why? Because once you cut as many rounds as you can with your biscuit cutter, you’ll want to gather up the remaining dough and roll it out a second time to get some more dough rounds.

Once all the pierogi have been assembled and crimped, I put them in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes. I used that time to clean up a little and get the water boiling. I also cut some onion slices to saute in butter and serve over the cooked pierogi.

After reading all that I went through, you can see that this is NOT a 30 minute meal. If you can get some kitchen help to take on any of the tasks, it will go much quicker. Once you get the process down, I’d recommend making bigger batches so you can freeze some for another time.

The next time you are craving some delicious pierogi – I hope that you will try my recipe!

Print Recipe

Pierogi with Potato, Onions, and Cheese

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading...

Pierogi with Potato, Onions, and Cheese

Ingredients

• 5 or 6 Russet potatoes, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces for boiling
• 1 Vidalia onion
• 1/2 cup of whole milk
• 4-6 ounces of Velveeta cheese (I cut three or four thick slices with a wire cutter and then cubed that)
• 1/2 cup sour cream, plus more for serving
• 4 ounces (half a stick) of butter
• 2-3 Tbsp Kosher salt
• 1-2 tsp white pepper
• Dough:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 whole egg, beaten
• 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup water (you may need more or less depending on the humidity)

Instructions

1

Fill the pot you intend to cook the potatoes about half way with water

2

Peel and cut the potatoes to size and then put them in the pot

3

Once all the potatoes are in the pot, put on high heat and bring to a boil

4

Reduce the heat to a strong simmer and cook until the potatoes are fully cooked, approx 6-8 min from reducing the heat (test with a fork, it should go in easily without breaking up the potato)

5

While the potatoes cook, I prepared the onion and cheese.

6

In a medium saute pan, over medium heat, I added about a tablespoon of butter and the diced onions

7

I cut the Velveeta into cubes

8

When the potatoes are finished cooking, drain them. I dump the water and potatoes in a colander so that I can add the milk to the pot (you really should heat the milk first, but I was already using enough pots and pans). Start with about about 1/4 cup of the milk and add the butter to the pot

9

Use a ricer to rice the potatoes into the pot with the milk and butter (if you don't have a ricer, just put the potatoes back in the pot and use a potato masher. The ricer just ensures a really creamy mashed potato)

10

Mix the milk and butter with the potatoes. Add the sour cream and cheese, then mix to combine

11

At this point add the white pepper, and see how the consistency is. If it's too thick, add some more of the milk

12

Add the sauteed onions to the potato mixture and incorporate those as well

13

Taste and see if it needs anything, like more salt

14

Once it tastes how you want it, start on the dough and allow the potatoes time to cool a bit

15

In a stand-mixer with the dough hook, add the flour, salt, egg, and about half of the water

16

Turn on the mixer on low to incorporate the ingredients, adding water to get the proper consistency. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixer

17

Knead in the mixer until the dough is firm and well mixed, for about 5 minutes

18

Let the dough rest at least 10 minutes

19

Put the dough on the counter top and start rolling it out to about 1/8" thickness

20

Once it's rolled out, start cutting the dough rounds with your biscuit cutter

21

Before you fill, I gently stretched the round out a little bit bigger to make sure I had some room to seal the edges

22

Using a teaspoon, gently put a small dollup of potato mixture on the cut dough and begin sealing it.

23

I folded the round in half and let the weight of the filling stretch it out a little bit more. Then, I worked my way down each side, pinching it closed

24

I put the now-sealed pierogi on a parchment lined baking sheet and sealed it one more time with a fork

25

Continue until all the dough has been used

26

Once finished assembling, put the baking sheet in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes. At this point, you could freeze them (Leave on the baking sheet until fully frozen before transferring to a baggie)

27

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add 2-3 tablespoons of Kosher salt

28

Using a spider or slotted spoon, gently lower the pierogi in the boiling water and let them cook for 3 - 4 minutes.

29

While they boil, pre-heat a medium saute pan with a tablespoon of butter and about a quarter of an onion halved and thinly sliced

30

When the pierogi have finished boiling, use your spider to remove them and add them directly to the saute pan

31

Cook them until you get a little golden crust on one side (I like to crisp up both sides)

32

Once they are cooked to your liking and the onions have browned a little, remove from the heat and serve

33

I always have some sour cream to put on the plate along with the pierogi.

34

Enjoy!