How to Make Polish Pierogi – Learning the Secrets to Dumpling Success in Krakow

How to make pierogi, Poland’s delicious boiled filled dumplings, isn’t as hard as you might think. While it takes time, it’s worth recruiting some helpers and making a big batch. You can freeze bags of pierogi or fry up leftover boiled dumplings the next day. During our time in Kraków, we decided to get pierogi making lessons from the chef of our favourite Polish restaurant. We wanted him to teach us the secrets to dumpling making success.

For us, the rustic, hearty food of Poland, particularly pierogi, has always been a big part of the appeal of Kraków and Zakopane – along with the folk music, culture, history, sheer beauty of Krakow, charm of Zakopane, and majesty of the surrounding mountains. For me, eating Polish food is also a nostalgia trip, due to my heritage and a life of eating and making the Russian-Ukrainian dumplings called varenyky and pelmeni, cousins of pierogi.

Although my grandmother grew up in a village in the Odessa area of Ukraine, her mother, my great grandmother Daria was born in the Ukrainian city of Lutsk, which historically had long been contested by Kyivan Rus, the first East Slavic state (now Russia, Ukraine and Belarus), and Poland, when it was called Łuck. I think that partly explains the fondness and special connection I’ve always felt to Poland and Polish culture and Polish food.

During our two weeks in Poland for the yearlong global grand tour dedicated to slow, local and experiential travel that launched Grantourismo, we settled into a cosy apartment in Krakow’s historic centre, with a big well-equipped kitchen. So even though I’d been making Russian-Ukrainian dumplings for as long as I could remember, I decided to seek out a pierogi master to learn the differences between the dumplings and his secrets to dumpling making success.

How to Make Pierogi – the Secrets to Dumpling Success

At my Russian-Ukrainian grandparents’ legendary Sunday lunches, the star attraction were the oven-warmed casserole dishes on the big dining table. They were filled to the brim with piping hot varenyky and pelmeni – mashed potato or farmer’s cheese and meat-filled dumplings respectively – swimming in butter.

Polish dumplings are called pierogi and they look and taste very similar to varenyky. The main difference is that Polish pierogi is often a little larger than Ukrainian vareniki and Russian pelmeni and the Polish dough casing is a little thicker. Other than that, they’re pretty much the same.

I used to think the types of fillings were what set apart the Russian dumplings from the Polish dumplings, but in both countries we’ve tasted countless fillings, and they’re practically the same. The most popular type of pierogi in Kraków according to our pierogi master, Chef Janusz Kluczewski, is Pierogi Ruskie (Russian pierogi), filled with mashed potato and cheese.

As a child I would often help my Russian-Ukrainian grandmother make Russian dumplings. Baboushka was a master at making pelmeni and vareniki and could make hundreds of dumplings quickly and expertly. I probably made about three dumplings to Baba’s ten.

After my grandparents died, my family would gather in the kitchen for varenyky and pelmeni-making sessions. It was loads of fun, even if – or perhaps because – it reminded us of Baba and Papa. We always enjoyed eating the results, no matter what they tasted like, because they were never quite as good as my grandmother’s and we could never really figure out why.

It was a desire to both perfect my varenyky and pelmeni skills, as well as learn how to make Polish pierogi, that took us to the kitchen of Restauracje Polskie Jadło Compendium Culinarum, one of our favourite restaurants in Kraków.

There, chef Janusz and his sous-chef Krystian allowed me to join their regular afternoon pierogi-making session in between restaurant services, so I could learn their secrets to dumpling success.

Chef Janusz had also learnt to make pierogi from his grandmother and mother, and it was those memorable times he spent in their kitchens that inspired him to go to culinary school. He didn’t seem at all surprised by my request because in Poland, it seems, there is something of a revival of interest in pierogi-making.

“The younger generation now see pierogi making as an art,” chef Janusz said. “They admire their friends who know how to make them. They still like to eat them out because they’re cheap and time-consuming to make at home, but when people have time, making pierogi together at home is now considered to be something that is a fun and clever thing to do.”

How to Make Pierogi – The Secrets to Making Polish Dumplings

Lessons in making Polish pierogi in the kitchen of chef Janusz Kluczewski at Restauracje Polskie Jadło Compendium Culinarum in Kraków. Ironically, this home cook of Russian-Ukrainian heritage learns how to make Poland’s most popular pierogi called Pierogi Ruskie (Russian pierogi), which is filled with mashed potato and cheese.

Step #1 Make the Pierogi Fillings

“There are as many different types of fillings as there are types of cooks,” says chef Janusz, who estimates there could be hundreds of fillings. In Kraków, after Pierogi Ruskie, pierogi filled with minced meat is also popular, and during the Christmas period, cabbage pierogi and mushroom pierogi are traditionally eaten.

How many fillings you want to make at once is up to you. The more fillings you make the better as far as I’m concerned. But keep in mind the more fillings you have, the greater amount of time you need to prep them.

It turns out, there are no great secrets when it comes to making pierogi fillings. Make a potato filling as you would a firm mashed potato with translucent onions that have been fried in butter. Minced meat is Terence’s favourite. My grandmother used to keep her meat simple, combining just beef and pork mince, finely diced onions, and salt and pepper, but you could always add a favourite herb, such as dill, and a smidgen of ground chilli.

You’ll find a mashed potato filling, beef and pork mince filling, and braised cabbage fillings on these links to my Russian Ukrainian potato varenyky, meat pelmeni and cabbage varenyky. I also have a sweet Ukrainian berry-filled vareniki recipe.

Chef’s Pierogi Filling Tips

* Whatever fillings you make, ensure that the mixtures are not too moist – this is important.
* Make the fillings well ahead of time, says chef Janusz, so the dough does not have to wait for the fillings; the chef rolled his mince filling into firm miniature meatballs, which he kept in the fridge until needed.

Step #2 Prepare the Pierogi Dough

Getting the dough right is the real key to success when it comes to making perfect pierogi, according to chef Janusz. He spent a great deal of time experimenting with different types of wheat flour for pierogi until he decided that Type 450 was the ideal flour for pierogi dough. Here is the pierogi dough recipe of chef Janusz.

Pierogi Dough Recipe

Pierogi Dough

AuthorTerence Carter

Getting the dough right is the real key to success when it comes to making perfect pierogi. Combine all the ingredients and knead them together by hand. Do not use a blender, mix master, or anything mechanical.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Course Snack

Cuisine Russian

Servings made with recipeServings 100 pierogis

Calories 3823 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 kg plain flour - type 450
• 1 egg
• 700 mls water
• splash of oil
• pinch of salt

Instructions

 

• Sprinkle a small amount of flour across your kitchen bench, just enough so that the dough doesn’t stick, but not too much, as you don’t want the mixture to dry out.
• Don’t over-knead: once all the ingredients are combined, the dough is ready.
• Keep the dough moist: you should be able to cut the ball of dough in half and it should have a rough texture and be very moist to touch.
• Once the dough is ready, use a big, heavy rolling pin to roll it out, and roll it out straight away so that it doesn’t dry out.
• The dough should not be difficult to roll out; if it is, then the dough is probably too hard, because it's too dry.
• If you must keep the dough for a short time, wrap it in aluminium foil to keep it moist.

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 3823kcalCarbohydrates: 763.4gProtein: 108.8gFat: 28.2gSaturated Fat: 4.9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 23.3gTrans Fat: 0gCholesterol: 164mgSodium: 237mgFiber: 27gSugar: 3g

Step #3 Create the Pierogi Casings

Once you’ve rolled out the pierogi dough, it’s time to make the pierogi casings (also called pierogi skins) and fill them to form the pierogi. When I made varenyky and pelmeni with my family, we worked like an assembly line, a couple of people making the casings, a couple of people doing the fillings.

If the people filling the pierogi couldn’t keep up, the casing rounds would just sit there. Chef Janusz reminds me that this causes the pierogi casings to dry out so he and Krystian create the rounds and fill them as they go, so Steps #3 and #4 overlap. My family put a damp cotton tea towel over the casings to prevent them drying out.

Chef’s Pierogi Casing Making Tips

* Sprinkle the kitchen counter with a little flour so that the pierogi dough doesn’t stick, but make sure you don’t get flour on both sides of the casings; the exterior can have a dusting of flour, but not the interior.
* When it comes to rolling out the dough, getting the right thickness comes from experience and practice – you want the pierogi casings to be not too thick so that they never really cook through properly, and not too thin so that they don’t tear and fall apart when they’re boiled.
* Use the rim of a glass to create the dumpling casing rounds and use the same glass so the shapes are uniform. The diameter of the glass that the chef was using was 6.5cm.

Step #4 Fill and Fold the Pierogi

My grandmother and mother always used a teaspoon to scoop the dumpling filling out of the bowl of mixture and into the casing, to ensure the amounts were uniform, but chef Janusz and Krystian use their (gloved) hands.

Once again, this is where experience comes into play. I’ll continue to use a teaspoon until I’m as confident as they are in their measurements.

Chef’s Pierogi Filling and Folding Tips

* Put a little bit of your mixture (mashed potato, mince, cabbage, or whatever) into the dead centre of the dough casing, fold the casing in half around the mixture, and pinch the edges of the two sides together, beginning at one corner and finishing at the other to create a semi-circular shape.
* If the two sides are not joining when you pinch them together your dough is too dry; you’ve probably got some flour on the casing interior, so dip your finger tips in water (not too much) and try again to help it stick.
* Chef Janusz uses the one shape for all pierogi, whereas my grandmother used the shape above for the cheese and potato varenyky, but joined the two tips together to create a rounded shape for the pelmeni so we could tell them apart.

Step #5 Cook the Pierogi

Polish pierogi are always boiled first, even if they’re ultimately going to be served fried. My family always ate boiled varenyky and pelmeni for the main meal on the first day, and then we ate fried dumplings the next day for breakfast, brunch or lunch.

In Polish restaurants you can order boiled or fried pierogi. The genius of leftover pierogi is that after a big social gathering, the next morning those fried dumplings really help you get over that hangover.

Chef’s Pierogi Cooking Tips

* It’s important to put the pierogi into boiling water, but ensure the water is on a gentle boil so that the pierogi don’t get ripped apart.
* Chef Janusz adds a little salt and oil to his water; my family just use salt.
* If your pierogi dough is the right thickness, the pierogi should be ready 2-3 minutes after they have risen to the top.
* When you remove the pierogi, what you do next depends on when you’re serving them. If you’re serving the pierogi straight away, put the pierogi into a casserole dish with some good quality butter, put the lid on, and gently toss them so the butter covers the pierogi evenly. If you’re keeping the pierogi until later, chef Janusz recommends scooping the dumplings out of the hot water straight into cold water then draining the pierogi to stop the cooking process and prevent the pierogi from sticking to each other.

Step #6 Serving Pierogi

The Polish eat exactly as Russians and Ukrainians do. If feeding family or a group of friends for a relaxed meal at home, serve pierogi family-style in casserole dishes at the centre of the table. My baboushka always made a few fresh salads to accompany the dumplings, such as a Russian garden salad, a beetroot and potato salad, an Olivier potato salad, or a simple tomato and onion salad. Black bread and pickles and vodka were essentials. Here’s our dill pickles recipe.

Casserole pots and salad bowls were passed around the table and people helped themselves. For a dinner party you can portion the dumplings out individually as they do in Polish restaurants. Either way, always provide dishes of sour cream. No, the butter is not enough. Too much fat, you say? Don’t worry, that’s what the vodka is for!

Polskie Jadło Compendium Culinarum
ul św St. Jana 30
012 433 9825
www.polskiejadlo.com.pl

First Published 8 January 2011; Last Updated 1 June 2025