Basic Russian Vareniki or Pelmeni Dough (Russian Pierogi)
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I’m not gonna lie to you. 
These vareniki are a lot of trouble, but they are soo soo good. We grew up on these. Who didn’t? The dough is very easy to make. Make a ton of them because they freeze very well.
You can modify the filling a hundred different ways. Butter them up and serve them with a generous heap of sour cream. Don’t forget to coat them with “zazharka;” fried up bacon and onions. Uhh, I am drooling now!
If you want to make your man happy, make him some Vareniki (вареники). P.S. If you are new to making these, check out this new recipe with more exact measurements.
Ingredients for Dough:
1 large egg
2 Tbsp sour cream
3/4 cup water + 1 1/4 cup 2% milk (or 1 cup water + 1 cup whole milk)
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus about 1 cup more for dusting
For the Filling:
(I will post these individually)
Potato & onion
Blueberry
Cherry
Ground pork and turkey
Toppings:
For Potatoe filled vareniki:
Zazharka: Saute bacon and onion in butter and drizzle over your finished vareniki/pierogies.
For Meat filled pelmeni:
Melted butter. Also good dipped in vinegar or ketchup.
For fruit filling:
Dust finished product with some sugar to keep from sticking and dip in sour cream.
How to Make Basic Pierogi dough:
1. Whisk together egg and sour cream until well combined.
2. Whisk in 1 1/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup water.
3. Using a spatula, mix in four, 1 cup at a time.
4. Place the dough onto a floured surface. Using a food scraper, knead the dough by turning and folding it with the food scraper. Dust the dough with flour as you need it until it is soft and doesn’t stick to your hands (you’ll need around 1 cup more flour). Knead for 6 to 8 minutes. Don’t add too much flour or the dough will become hard to work with.
5. Place the dough under a bowl and let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour. Someone mentioned they made this recipe without letting it sit for an hour and it turned out great.
6. Cut the dough into 4 to 6 pieces. Work with one piece at a time and keep the rest covered with plastic wrap.
7. Form your chunk of dough into a log and cut off small pieces, one at a time. Pieces should be a little larger than a gum ball. Dust your rolling pin and cutting board with flour and roll out a piece of dough until it is 1/8″ thick and 3″ diameter. .
8. Fill these circles with the desired filling (potatoes, cherries, blueberries or meat). Fold the dough over the filling to form a crescent and seal the edges tightly with your fingers. If making pelmeni (meat filling), pinch the two edges together to form a “diaper” shape. Place the finished pierogis on a cutting board dusted with flour until ready to boil.
9. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. As you finish the first batch of pierogies, place them in boiling water. After they float to the top, cook about 2 to 3 minutes more, then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Drizzle the pierogies with melted butter.
10. Repeat steps 7 through 9 with the rest of the dough.
Notes:
To freeze the pierogies, place them on a cutting board and stick them in the freezer uncovered. Once they are frozen, transfer them to a large freezer-safe ziplock bag and dust generously with flour. They stay perfect for months.
Basic Russian Vareniki or Pelmeni Dough (Russian Pierogi)
Ingredients
Ingredients for Dough:
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tbsp sour cream
- 3/4 cup water + 1 1/4 cup 2% milk, or use 1 cup water + 1 cup whole milk
- 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus about 1 cup more for dusting
For the Filling: (I will post these individually)
- Potato & onion
- Blueberry
- Cherry
- Ground pork and turkey
Toppings:
For Potatoe filled vareniki:
- Zazharka: Saute bacon and onion in butter and drizzle over your finished vareniki/pierogies.
For Meat filled pelmeni:
- Melted butter. Also good dipped in vinegar or ketchup.
For fruit filling:
- Dust finished product with some sugar to keep from sticking and dip in sour cream.
Instructions
- Whisk together egg and sour cream until well combined.
- Whisk in 1 1/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup water.
- Using a spatula, mix in four, 1 cup at a time.
- Place the dough onto a floured surface. Using a food scarper, knead the dough by turning and folding it with the food scraper. Dust the dough with flour as you need it until it is soft and doesn't stick to your hands (you'll need around 1 cup more flour). Knead for 6 to 8 minutes. Don't add too much flour or the dough will become hard to work with.
- Place the dough under a bowl and let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour.
- Cut the dough into 4 to 6 pieces. Work with one piece at a time and keep the rest covered with plastic wrap.
- Form your chunk of dough into a log and cut off small pieces, one at a time. Pieces should be a little larger than a gumball. Dust your rolling pin and cutting board with flour and roll out a piece of dough until it is 1/8" thick and 3" diameter.
- Fill these circles with the desired filling (potatoes, cherries, blueberries or meat). Fold the dough over the filling to form a crescent and seal the edges tightly with your fingers. If making pelmeni (meat filling), pinch the two edges together to form a "diaper" shape. Place the finished pierogis on a cutting board dusted with flour until ready to boil.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. As you finish the first batch of pierogies, place them in boiling water. After they float to the top, cook about 2 to 3 minutes more, then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Drizzle the pierogies with melted butter.
- Repeat steps 7 through 9 with the rest of the dough.
Notes
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
My mother was Russian an made her pierogis (after cooking in water)in a cottage cheese kinda sauce. Does anyone know it an how. Husbands mother was German an Fred hers then sprinkled with sugar
Hi Gloria, I haven’t tried this, but I hope our readers have experience and can share.
My husbands grandma does a cottage cheese filling. It is farmers cheese (which is basically very dry cottage cheese, hard to find so I make my own by straining regular cottage cheese and then drying it on paper towel) she mixes that with an egg. Makes it with fried ham, then uses the drippings from fried ham to make a white gravy to put over the vareniki.
That sounds delicious!
Hi can you tell me how to make double batch? I want to make alot and freeze it we love these especially hubby. Thank you so much its so easy and so good
Hi Irina, you can double the recipe or make one batch at a time. I hope you love this recipe!
These look divine, Natasha! I’ve never made sweet pierogie but my great grandmother (also Ukrainian) used to. We love savory ones- potato & onion, potato and sauerkraut, and my grandmother loves potato and farmers cheese.
Butter or frying them with lots of onions, garlic powder are our favorites.
I’ve taught my boys (since they were about 5 they helped me) how to make them. They appreciate them knowing how long it takes. If I knew how to submit a photo, I’d love to send you one of my son making them with me!!!
That sounds wonderful! I’m glad you and your family enjoyed this recipe. It is a great bonding experience to cook with your boys, good to know that you’re having fun with them. Feel free to share some photos of your cooking creation on our Facebook page and group!
Hi Natasha, your recipe has 1c water and 1c milk; however, on your video you say 1c water and 1/4c milk – can you clarify? Thank you
Hi Kathy, I don’t have a video for this dough so you might be referring to a different dough. For this dough, 1 1/4 cup milk and 3/4 cup water is what I use. For our pierogi recipe, it’s a slightly different dough.
Can bread flour be used instead of all purpose flour?
Hi Dee, I haven’t tried it with bread flour so I’m not sure if the measurements should be different or if the dough would still be the same.
1. My dough is drier than I thought it would be
2. This is not ‘Russian pierogi’ its Ukrainian varenyky, one of the national dishes of Ukraine
3. Pelmeni is a Russian dumpling originating in the Asian parts of Siberia and not related to varenyky.
Can I use skim milk to make the dough?
Hi Nadia, that should work fine but it might work better with skim milk using 1/2 cup water and 1 1/2 cups skim milk.
Hi Natasha. I’m an old dude who only learned to cook later in life but I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it. I’ve started recreating recipes that I remembered from long ago and have had mostly good luck (but not always!) Anyway, as a kid my beautiful Ukrainian grandmother (although she swore she was Greek but was born and raised in the Ukraine) would make us varenyky, pyrizhky, borscht and other traditional dishes. She would make the varenyky and pyrizhky with either ground beef and onion or potatoes and there was ALWAYS a pan of caramelized onions on the stove that you could always smell through the house (although back then I just thought that maybe she wasn’t a very good cook and had burned them! Who knew?? But my grandfather seemed to like them) Fried varenyky smothered in sour cream was an absolute staple most of my life but sadly I haven’t had them since I lost her almost 20 years ago, which is around the time I started learning to cook.
It finally dawned on me that I should try to recreate them and started searching on the internet (I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t even know how to spell “varenyky”) I found quite a few variations but distinctly remember my grandmother yelling at us (with love, of course) when we were little and wouldn’t eat and she would say, “it’s all good ingredients, butter, eggs flour and salt!” (in broken english, of course. GOD I MISS HER!) but none of the recipes included butter and eggs for the dough. I’ve seen dough recipes with butter and no eggs, eggs and no butter, sour cream and even evaporated milk. I’d like to recreate them as close to what I think she made. Any recommendations on dough with eggs and butter? Thanks you!
Hi Alf, our Pierogi recipe might be more like what you remember of your grandmother’s cooking.
Hi Alf. Here is a link to a recipe that might be similar to your grandmother’s. I haven’t tried it but found it while looking for a cherry pierogi recipe. It uses butter, egg, flour, salt and milk (instead of water).
https://letthebakingbegin.com/cherry-dumplings-cherry-vareniki/
Alf, here is the recipe you’re looking for, I’m sure of it:
– 1 and 1/2 cup water
-3 tbsp cooking oil ( canola or grapeseed, NOT olive oil)
-1 egg
-4 and 1/2 cups of flour
-1 tsp salt
Combine water/oil/egg, blend well. Then add 3 and 1/2 cups of flour and the salt. Start kneading, and add the last cup of flour as you knead. Knead until smooth and soft then put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover it. Let it rest for 20 minutes then roll it out on a floured board, thinner than for pie crust. Then you can cut it into strips to make into 2 to 2 and 1/2 inch squares. Put a tsp of filling in the middle, fold one corner across to make a triangle, and pinch the edges (have water nearby to dip your fingers in to help with sealing if need be). Drop them a few at a time into a pot of boiling water, stir with a wooden spoon occasionally to prevent sticking, then when they float to the top they’re done!
I hope this helps, my in-laws are Ukrainian and my ancestors are Hungarian – my in-laws gasped when I made my dough with sour cream haha, they were none too thrilled! This is the recipe they use, from a Ukrainian cookbook made in Canada (Ukrainian Daughters’ Cookbook).
Could i substitute heavy whipping cream for the whole milk? I just came back from the store about to make it and realize i don’t have whole milk, just skim milk.
Hi Vanessa, I have not tested that to advise. If you experiment, please let me know how you like that.
Natasha do you happen to have your old dough recipe? We are dairy free and that one was perfect.
Hi Yelena, I don’t recall having a dairy-free dough recipe. Could it be that you saw it on another site?
Do not call it Russian, This is UKRAINIAN food, and you know it!
Varenyky are definitely Ukrainian, but Pelmeni are Russian. This dough crosses borders. I am Ukrainian and I do understand the frustration of the Russification of Ukraine that has taken place for decades. Most Ukrainians don’t even know how to speak Ukrainian. It is those of us in the diaspora who have maintained the language. I do appreciate Natasha’s blog, and she has a blend of both cultures in her.
Lyudmila please kindly do not pick Russo Ukey fights. I turn to this website for relief from that stuff! Splendid response, Natasha. Pelmenyi are in fact Siberian and the dough and stuffing concept traveled Westward from Siberia. Varyeniki are the Ukrainian rendering of what started as Siberian. Even Chinese dumplings came from Siberian Asians and not the other way around!
Easy peasy, I made a big batch of vareniky using this recipe, they turned out perfect. We grew up eating these, and my kiddos now seem to enjoy vareniki as much as we do. Love it!
That’s so great Olga! I’m so happy your entire family enjoyed that!
Natasha, thanks for sharing your wonderful and tasty recipe with us. They are really great! A question for you,have you had to freeze the dough? If so,how does it come out?
Thanks.
Inna
Hi Inna, it isn’t recommended to freeze the dough before making the vareniki – it becomes firm and more difficult to work with. I usually mold the vareniki completely, dust with flour, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze. Once they are frozen, you can transfer them to a ziploc bag and keep them in the freezer until ready to boil (no need to thaw).
Thank you,Natasha! I also remember you commented you freeze golubtsi. Can you tell me more in details how you do it?
Thanks!
I put them into freezer safe Ziploc bags in a single layer with as much juice as you can get in there and freeze. Thaw in the refrigerator then sauté on the skillet to heat them up.
You should try this dough recipe, it’s super simple and the dough doesn’t dry out nor is it super sticky.
Whisk 1 egg with a pinch of salt
Then add 3 cups flour and 1 tbsp veg oil.
Mix until nice and combined then add 1 cup of boiling water. (Don’t worry.. it’ll come together nicely) mix with a spoon then knead it together with your hands, adding flour as needed, until you get beautiful soft dough.
This is my go to dough for vareniki or pelmeni. 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing!! I will have to try that 🙂
Lidiya, if I understood correctly, you mix eggs, salt with flour and oil. And then you add boiling water.
How to avoid eggs coagulation from the boiling water?
Mix the salt and eggs first..
Then add the flour and vegetable oil.. once it’s all mixed, then you add the boiling water.. I’ve never had any problems with the eggs and hot water
Hi Natasha, I was wondering if this recipe would work if I used bread machine to mix dough..would it work?
Hi Luba, I haven’t tried this particular dough in a bread maker so I can’t really make that recommendation. This one doesn’t require a lengthy kneading so I’m not sure if the over kneading would toughen or soften this dough. I just haven’t tried it. Sorry, I can’t be more helpful! If you test it out, let me know how it goes 🙂
Can I make the dough a day prior or will it dry out in the fridge?
Hi Lydia, the dough is the easiest to work with – soft, pliable and easy to roll out when it is fresh. I would recommend using it after it is made.
Hi. I make pelmeni with simple ingredients: flour, egg, water & salt. I like my pelmeni but i wanted to try something new. Have you done pelmeni with simple dough? What is the difference?
I think the extra add-ins make it a little softer and tastier 🙂
Thanks for posting this! Do you have a recipe for the classic Ukrainian filling of cabbage/onion? Is it just that simple… cabbage and onion fried up?
Hi Danielle, the only cabbage filling that I have is the one in my piroshki, but you could probably simplify it to use just cabbage and onion.
Is all purpose whole wheat flour okay to use?
Hi Amber, this recipe isn’t intended to be used with whole wheat flour – I think they would be tough in consistency with whole wheat.
Hi Natasha, this dough recipe is great! I just made about 300 pelmeni! Thank you! I have a question for you: have you ever tried to freeze the pierogi with blueberries (or any other fruit)? I want to make fruit pierogi but not sure if I can freeze them for later use.
Wow that’s alot of pelmeni!! Can I have some? lol. You can freeze fruit filled pirogies the same way but fresh fruit is best (i.e. use fresh blueberries rather than frozen). Enjoy!
Yes, it would be cheating, but….has anyone thought to purchase the round dumpling dough from an oriental market? I’ve used them for years for turning out 100’s at a time. Also, gave 5 stars for an excellent recipe, although I prefer some more fat (e.g. hamfat, baconfat, lard, etc) in the dough when I make it from scratch.
I’ve never tried that but it is a good time saving tip. Thank you for sharing!
It is I who thank you 🙂 Most excellent fillings you have listed here!!
I don’t know if it’s just me – but everytime I make this dough – I follow your recipe exactly – and I ALWAYS end up needing 7 cups of flour just for the dough… Are you using a special kind of flour? 🙂
I am just using an all-purpose flour. Do you possibly use Canadian flour? I will re-measure it next time I make this to double check but I do use just regular American flour.
I use US flour, but it also 7cups.
These look so good!
Do you freeze them before you boil them or after?
Freeze before boiling. Set them on a floured cutting board and freeze them then once they are frozen solid, you can transfer them to a large ziploc bag and keep them frozen. To cook them, put them into boiling water, adding them a few at a time so you don’t cool the water too quickly.
Is there really no salt in this dough recipe? And is there a special reason for that? 🙂
I made this recipe alongside another recipe that didn’t have the sour-cream, milk or eggs….this one was noticeably more tender and delicious! Thank you!
You know this is the first dough recipe that I ever posted and I have since started to add a little bit of salt to my dough. It wouldn’t hurt to add a little. It’s not really necessary if you salt the water and the sour cream adds some nice flavor, but you can add it if you want to.
We have always used dry curd cottage cheese. It is difficult to find dry curd in Utah. We rinse the cottage cheese and put it in a strainer for a day or so to remove extra liquid. I have never topped them with onion and bacon, but think the next time we make it we will. My family came from Georgia to Canada with the Doukhobors in 1898. The Doukhobors for the most part were vegatarians, nor did they raise pigs so maybe thay is why I am unfamiliar with the bacon addition.
Thanks for sharing your version Cricket and give onion/bacon a try, you won’t be disappointed :D.
My maternal family, also were Doukabours and we used primarily dry cottage cheese although potatoe and cheese was also popular around the house when I was a child at the farm. Borsht and verinike were always available in the house whenever we
were hungry. If we weren’t fussy about
the main course at suppertime we could always have borsht and verinike
provided we gave appropriate notice before the main meal was started.
Regards Bill
I love your recipes but your website has gotten slower and slower with all of these advertisements. it takes forever to load sometimes 🙁 sometimes it just freezes
We recently switched to a different ad provider and have seen an improvement. Thanks for letting me know you are having issues with it. Are you usually looking on Mobile or Desktop? Also, what browser are you using? Is there a certain spot on the site that freezes? Thank you for your help – I really appreciate your feedback!
When you said 1¼ cup 2% milk (or 1 cup water, 1 cup whole milk)” did you mean replacing with 1 cup water and 1 cup whole milk or did you mean either one 1 cup water or 1 cup milk?
Oh goodness I can totally see how that is confusing. Sorry about that. I clarified the recipe. So you can replace 1 1/4 cup 2% milk and 3/4 cup water with 1 cup whole milk and 1 cup water. Thanks for asking!! 🙂
Could i use an electric for the dough? Or is it best to you a whisk?
Electric mixer is not necessary in this recipe. I have another dough recipe that does utilize an electric stand mixer because that one needs to be kneaded.
Could you use frozen fruit (Blueberries, strawberries) defrosted ahead of time as a filling?
Would you just add the fruit whole and add sugar?
Yes, just add the sugar first and the fruit afterwards. Strawberry would be fine if they are sliced or smaller. Hope this helps :).
I appreciate the fast response! You are awesome! 😉
Thanks for the great recipe! I live at about 1050m (3500 ft) above sea level and am wondering how to adjust this recipe to get my dough to work?
I haven’t don’t a whole lot of research on adjusting for various altitudes, but I don’t think there will be a difference in this particular recipe because the vareniki are boiled rather than baked. As far as I know, you usually make adjustments when you bake.
Thank you for the wonderful site. My russian friend’s Mom made pierogi’s at Christmas time and I was lucky enough too be at the right place at the right time and got my first taste of these wonderful treats. She had several fillings that were all wonderful, but my favorite one was pork and sauerkraut. Have you every heard of this or know its name.
I’ve heard of vareniki with sauerkraut and that does sound really good! Were the once you are talking about baked, deep fried or boiled?
I was wondering if there is a way to make this dough using stand mixer?
If you want to make a dough that requires the stand mixer, I’d recommend this one: https://natashaskitchen.com/2011/05/09/russian-pelmeni-recipe-new-dough-recipe/
Very nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wished to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts.
In any case I will be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope
you write again soon!
Welcome to the site Krista :).
Natasha I just want to say that I made the blueberry vareniki for the first time and they came out perfect! My husband loved them and they will definitely be made again soon. Thank you for your wonderful instructions 🙂
Oh goodness blueberry vareniki sound so good!! Man, when am I not hungry? lol I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Hi i was wondering if you can use this dough recipe with Amish cheese/ homemade cheese for filling. Love all of your recipes!
Thanks!
You can but you probably want to sweeten it up a little 🙂 is it the tvorog/ farmers cheese?
Can gluten free flour be used for this recipe?
I haven’t tried it with gluten-free flour so I’m not sure if the measurements should be different or if the dough would still be soft with gluten-free.
Hi Natasha! I tried this dough recipe for vareniki yeasterday and I loved it. the only thing I would change about it I would add 1 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of olive oil. Thanks for all the great recipes!
I’ll have to try your modification. Thanks Inna! 🙂
ok thanx:) its just how my mom usually made them and i love it that way:)
i have a question can i make these na paru?? not boil them???
I haven’t tried it, but I think that would be a different recipe. Let me know if you try it.
Noticed your mention of “pierogie” in the context of pelmeni and varenniki. Pelmeni and varenniki are nowhere close to “pierogie” – unless you are speaking Polish and referencing Polish cuisine. In Russia/Russian the word “pierogie” is a plural form and actually applies to large rectangular sheet pies (singular – “pierog”) made using pastry or yeast dough with meat, cabbage, or other fillings. They are cut into pieces and eaten with utensils. Smaller sized “pieroshki” made using similar doughs can be baked or fried in oil – similar fillings. These are hand sized and eaten with your fingers. Smaller sized “pieroshki” are usually served accompanying soup.
Pierogi is American name for varenniki. They also called that way in Polish cuisine. American reader won’t search for vareniki, but for pierogi, so that’s why I have multiple names.
Hi Natasha, my mother was from Belarus and I remember she made the Cherry Knedliky with yeast in the dough. Have you ever heard of them made with yeast?
Is that like a baked cherry piroshki version? https://natashaskitchen.com/2012/07/22/buchty-sweet-cherry-filled-buns/
The moment I saw there was Sour Cream in your dough I knew it was authentic, and not another Polish Pierogi Dough Recipe.
Dear Natasha,
Thank you so much for posting these great recipes. I’m going to try and make the Cherry Varenekies first. I was born in Russia and my babushka used to make the cherry ones and the strawberry ones as well. Well know I now live in NJ and married to an American man. But he’s willing to try almost any kind of food. Do you think it will be okay if I used the dark pittied cherries that come in a can, it’s hard to find the other kind.
Sabina
P.S. I’m dying to show this web site to my mom, she’ll get a big kick out of it.
Thank you Sabina! Yes the canned cherries will work great, just drain well and add more sugar if they are very sour. Hope you love them!
I happened upon your website by chance. I’m from Winnipeg, Canada, which has a large Ukrainian (and probably Russian too :~> ) population. I now live in Dallas and miss many of the tasty foods that my friends who are Ukrainian made for any of the holidays when we had dinner parties.
I’ve only started to browse your website, but so far I am very impressed!!
Thank you! I’m so glad you like the site! I hope our family favorites will become yours.
Thank you!! sounds good! I’ll try it out 🙂
I was also wondering.. I had some dough left over for how long do u think can I refrigerate it for?
Cover it well with plastic wrap and it should be just fine at least a week. Try Rolling it into a log and cutting off 1/3 inch pieces and boiling till they rise to the top; excellent and easy dumplings. Just butter ’em up!
Well I tried this one today and it turned out perfect 🙂 thanks 🙂
Awesome! So glad to hear that 🙂
Does the recipe say if u use one cup of water to use one cup of milk with it? Or its either the milk or water which ever one u want to put in?
Yeah; that was a little confusing. Sorry. It’s either:
3/4 cups water and 1 1/4 cups 2% milk
OR
1 cup water and 1 cup whole milk
I have another recipe posted with more exact flour ingredients that I’ve been using; it does require a mixer though;
That is so nice of you to share the Russian recepies with other people, my hubby loves pel’meni, but we do the filling with chicken, you should try it, i”m sure you’ll like it, but thanx for the dough, i’m gonna try it with the soure cream like you do, sometimes this week. God Bless you
Luba, thank you!! God bless you too! What do you mix in with the chicken? Any sauteed onion or just salt and pepper?
Hey, do you cook and then freeze them or freeze them before cooking?
Freeze them before cooking 🙂
The amount of flour used is just a general guideline…It depends on your altitude of where you live and how far above or below sea level you are…I found that out from my mama in law…I tried her recipie, it was easy, but it didn’t work, I had to add about two more cups of flour…she lives in a different country…
Hi
these look great! i am ready to make them finally..
do u think using a hand mixer will be fine? I will definitely need to invest in a stand mixer soon..
You really don’t need a mixer for this recipe at all. The only thing I’m not crazy about with this recipe is that it doesn’t have “exact” flour measurements. I’ll have to re-do it one of these days. The recipe that I like best is this new dough recipe and you do need a stand mixer for that one.
Thank you for sharing your dough recipe! I have tried a few others and they never work out. Always too tough and doesn’t roll thin enough. This one is perfect.
Awesome! Thanks for your comment. I know pelmeni are tough to make as it is, which makes it extra painful when it doesn’t work out. Glad you liked the recipe. I have another recipe for dough that has more exact measurements of flour, but I am glad you liked this one 🙂
wow, so just made pierogies and they turned out AMAZING! I usually eat them after boiling, but my american husband wanted them fried. So I fried them after they cooked. the dough fried reminds me of blini. great great recipe!
That’s wonderful! I’m so glad you liked ’em 🙂
I am so glad I found your site! Currently waiting on the dough to rest before making pierogies. I have had such a hard time finding true russian recipes, spasibo for creating this site! Where I live there are no russian groceries stores or anything so being able to have good russian recipes makes me feel back at home
you do not need and egg if the flour is of the 00 type
Eggs are used in baking to reduce the amount of ash and gluten
By the way, is it a traditional Ukrainian way to make the potato filling with hard cheese like mozarella? In Poland we have pierogis called “ruskie” (Russian style) but we use white (kind of like cottage) cheese instead of hard cheese. I am wondering if it’s our modification or maybe it’s also practiced by dear neighbors, too.
I freeze them when they are raw and when I’m ready to eat them, i just put them in salted boiling water
The cottage cheese type of filling is more traditional. We just like them this way 🙂
Wow, this freezing tip will save me from trouble in future,. I recently made my first pierogis ever, I cooked them and just chucked them in the freezer in the box and a smaller portion in a smaller box. Then after several days I put the frozen small portion in hot water and most of them lost al the filling to the boiling maelstrom. I guess my only hope with the big portion is let it unfreeze and just saute them on a frying pan with the zazharka. But next time I will know better. Do you freeze them when they’re raw or after cooking?
Oh no worries. Take your time. I’m gonna make it with this dough recipe since I have all these ingredients on hand. I’m sure it will be just as good 🙂 And seriously, since I stumbled on your blog, I’ve been literally checking it like every day! Everything just looks so amazing! I wanna make everything!
Thank you Tanya!
Is it possible to make pelmeni without using pork, or will it make the meat too dry?
Pelmeni are made traditionally with beef. I make them with pork and turkey and I know people who just use ground chicken and it turns out good. Hope that helps.
What if I was to mix chicken with turkey or either of these two with beef? Or would that turn out weird tasting?
I don’t think I would try mixing beef with poultry – I haven’t tried it myself but that just doesn’t seem like the best combo. Ps my other recipe uses buttermilk ameboid nice and elastic too.
Do you have that other recipe on this site?
I’m drafting it up. I’m hoping to post it tonight. If you need it sooner I can email it.
I usually mix beef and turkey to make pelmeni filling, kotleti, meatballs, etc. We don’t like pork so this mixture works for us very well.
Will the blueberry and cherry filling leak through with this dough?
I used it for cherry before and it didn’t leak. but I’ll be posting a new, more exact recipe for dough soon.
Sweet! Thank you 🙂 All this time I’ve been using a dough recipe that was so plain but this one seems like it would have a better taste to it. And is it true that the sour cream is put in there to give the dough more elasticity?
Thank you so much for the dough recipe! We used it for our Russia food tour when we were making Pelmeni!!
You’re welcome! That’s very cool! I’m really looking forward to checking out your website as well!
I received a new pelmeni mold that I had ordered in the mail today, so I decided to try out your recipe for dough. The one I usually use is a tiny bit different – but I am really glad I tried yours – they turned out amazing! 🙂
So glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi Natasha!
For me when kneading the dough, I needed at least 2 more cups of flour. This made it still soft and a lot less sticky. I also used full fat yougurt instead of sour cream since I ran out.
Overall, everyone really liked them after I cooked them, but next time I will try to roll the dough a little bit thinner..o well, practice makes progress 🙂 I served them with turkey stock, and fried mushrooms and onions as well.
Have you ever used the pel’meni tool? I am thinking of buying it on ebay or something. It took a lot of time rolling out the dough and making circles with a glass! But this recipe I will be using for sure next time too, thanks!
Hi Marina, thank you for letting me know. The next recipe will have exact flour measurements. I’m glad you enjoyed them. Yes, I do use the pelmeni mold when I make them. I think it’s much easier. We bought ours on ebay. They aren’t very pricey as far as I remember and it was shipped from Ukraine 🙂
Hi Natasha!
I am Russian and my husband is Ukranian, but we both grew up on pel’meni! You are right, when I was in Siberia mom would make lots of those and will freeze it outside in the winter!
We are now in Canada, and before have been buying expensive pel’meni from the Polish store, but now I have more time to cook since kids are in school so I will make this recipe.
This will be my second attempt, I made one a couple of months ago from a recipe from allrecipes.ru, but it did not turn out right (but we ate it anyways:).
I just made the dough and am letting it rest for an hour, I will let you know how it goes!
I hope they are the way you remember them. I am working on another recipe that uses buttermilk and I will put exact measurements for flour since not everyone knows just how the dough should feel when it’s done. I’ll try to get that posted soon.
You know how some ppl make dough in bread makers. Well you think i should follow ur steps or just purt everything in one time and let it do its thing? What do u think? Ever tried that?
I wouldn’t recommend the vareniki dough in a bread maker. If you knead it too much it will become tough, it really doesn’t take long to knead this dough. I do it by hand with a food scraper. I do use the bread maker to make the dough for pirojki and it works well for that, especially since pirojki dough needs to rise in a warm place.
Maybe I missed it, but did you post the recipe for the pelmeni filling? I can’t wait to try it out but I don’t know how to do the filling.
Hi Ben, I haven’t posted it yet, but I do have a very good recipe, here’s the general idea: 1/2 lb pork & 1/2 lb turkey, 1 small onion (minced) & 1 garlic clove (crushed), 1/2 tspn salt and 1/4 tspn pepper, a couple dashes of tobasco sauce (or any hot sauce). Saute onion in a couple tbsp oil for a few minutes till soft, add garlic and saute another minute. Mix everything together and there you have it!
Thanks!
I just wanted to say thank you! I’m an American married to a Ukrainian man, Zahar, and I try so hard to make foods that are from his home. I spent the last summer with him and his family & tried my best to communiate with his mother to get recipes…but it didn’t work out the best with the language barrier…so I found your site and I’ve been so happy to be able to bring some foods from home to table for him! He thanks you too! 🙂 Keep it coming!
You’re both very welcome!
OMG- I know how you feel Brittney. Im American married to Oleg-Russian/Ukranian (moms Russian-dads ukranian). When we got together over 12years ago, it wasn’t too popular to mix cutures. But his mom, though she doesnt speak English, was nearly the only one that liked me.
But, I so understand the language barrier. My mother in law constantly speaks to me in Ruskiy, I’m not sure if she knows I don’t understand much of what shes saying, or if she is just speaking outloud. Whatever the case may be, I feel blessed to have a mother in law that doesnt judge me for being different. She even let me move in with her and her younger child (and she was even a recent widow)when I learned I was pregnant 12 years ago. This is when I discovered my love for Russian food. She would cook me delicious plates of various Russian food several times daily. I can imagine that her decision to take me in as her American daughter, wasnt too popular, but I truly am grateful that she went with her heart.:-)
What a great story. Thanks for sharing that here 🙂
Hey, I love your website.
Props for making these from scratch. I eat so many pelemeni that I could never make enough myself.
THanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoy the site. Do you buy pelmeni premade? I admit I have before too 🙂
Can you make some extra for me and slavel?
I’m making pelmeni for David’s 1st bday.