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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% or 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
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.