Buckwheat and Pork (one-pot meal)
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Here’s an easy and healthy dinner idea! We are buckwheat fans at our house and pretty soon buckwheat will need it’s own category on the blog 😉 (Click Here to read more about why buckwheat is so good for you). I love that this buckwheat and pork recipe is made in one pot. This means less dishes to clean and less fuss at the stove.
This is a simple, everyday buckwheat recipe that uses basic ingredients and the results are nothing short of delicious. My husband and son approved. P.S. This recipe is 100% gluten free. 🙂
Ingredients for Buckwheat and Pork:
1 cup buckwheat, rinsed and drained well
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/2-3/4 lb ground meat (we used pork)
1 medium onion diced (click for quick tutorial)
1 medium carrot grated
2 garlic cloves minced
2 Tbsp ketchup
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 bay leaves
Olive oil to sauté
How to Make Buckwheat with Pork:
1. Heat a dutch oven over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add well drained buckwheat and saute, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes. Remove buckwheat from the pot and set aside.
2. In the same pot add 2 Tbsp more olive oil. Add diced onion and grated carrot and saute for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add ground meat and continue to saute until lightly browned and cooked through. Add 2 Tbsp of ketchup, 2 minced cloves of garlic and combine well.
3. Spread toasted buckwheat evenly over the top of the mixture and cover it with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp of black pepper and 2 bay leaves.
4. Close the pot with a tight fitting lid. Simmer for 15 min or until kernels are soft and fluffy. Remove from heat and let it stand covered for an additional 10 min without mixing, then stir and serve.
Buckwheat and Pork (one-pot meal)

Ingredients
- 1 cup buckwheat, rinsed and drained well
- 1 1/2 cups boiling water
- 1/2-3/4 lb ground meat, we used pork
- 1 medium onion diced
- 1 medium carrot grated
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 2 Tbsp ketchup
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 2 bay leaves
- Olive oil to sauté
Instructions
- Heat a dutch oven (or heavy-bottomed pot) over medium heat. Once it’s hot, add 1 Tbsp olive oil. Add well drained buckwheat and saute, stirring occasionally for 3-4 minutes. Remove buckwheat from the pot and set aside.
- In the same pot add 2 Tbsp more olive oil. Add diced onion and grated carrot and saute for 4-5 minutes or until softened. Add ground meat and continue to saute until lightly browned and cooked through. Add 2 Tbsp of ketchup, 2 minced cloves of garlic and combine well.
- Spread toasted buckwheat evenly over the top of the mixture and cover it with 1 1/2 cups boiling water. Sprinkle the top with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp of black pepper and 2 bay leaves.
- Close the pot with a tight fitting lid. Simmer for 15 min or until kernels are soft and fluffy. Remove from heat and let it stand covered for an additional 10 min without mixing, then stir and serve.
♥ FAVORITE THINGS ♥
Shown in this post: (nope, no one paid us to write this; just stuff we love):
* The Le Creuset French Ovens are made to last a lifetime. They’re lovely too.
* This OXO garlic press is self cleaning and makes garlic work a breeze.
Does this recipe make anyone else crave pickles? I just love pickles 🙂
Hi Natasha. Our family also use buckwheat. I toast mine in the oven when I get the package, and store it. Also my family always used bacon rather than ground pork and baked it in the oven. Love that there is a bit quicker way to do it (my way takes approximately 1 hour to bake).
Wonderful! 🙂
Delicious. Reminded me of my moms buckwheat sausage and buckwheat soup. Was a bit dry as my pork was very lean.
Thank you for sharing that with me, Joyce. I’m glad this brought some memories back.
My neighbour just gave me a dish of pork and buckwheat. I have never had that before. I’m just wondering how to eat this. We should eat that with what? As a full meal or a breakfast??? I just don’t want to waste it…
Hi Sylvie! That’s so thoughtful of your neighbor. Yes, that is considered a meal either lunch or dinner. We like to serve it with a side salad. This Tomato & Cucumber salad goes really well with it.
Hi Natasha! Would this recipe work in a crockpot?
Hi LaLe, I have not tested it to advise. If you experiment please let me know how you like that.
Hi I’m going to try the pork one pot with buckwheat please could you tell me does the buckwheat need soaking over night or for like 8 hrs. That’s what it says on one of my packets ?
Hi Angela, we did not have to soak our buckwheat. We simply rinsed it before cooking
Hi, Natasha!
Thanks for this amazing recipe! I’ve made it twice already, and it’s a total hit! My husband loves it!
I was wondering if you could make it in a rice cooker. I was planning to saute everything over the stove and then let it cook in the rice cooker. Do you think it’ll work? What about the amount of water?
Thank you and have a wonderful week!
Hi Beatriz, I haven’t tried this particular recipe in the rice maker but I think it would be the same amount of water and set it to white rice (not brown rice or it will overcook). Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hi, Natasha!
Thanks for your prompt reply!
I’ve just made it in the rice maker just as I told you, and it turned out delicious!!! I sauted everything over the stove, poured it in the rice maker and forgot about it until it was done.
Thank you for your wonderful recipes every week!
You’re so welcome! Thank you for sharing this amazing review with us!!
Hi Natasha if I wanted to double the recipe.. Do I double the whole recipe or just the buckwheat and water?
Hi Natalie! I would double it completely. Leaving out the meat and other ingredients for the doubled portion may make it bland and too simple for a dish that is already simple. If you just double the buckwheat and water don’t forget the seasoning and please let me know how you like it!
Hi Natasha,
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipes!
I made this buckwheat with pork at the start of the week and loved it so much I made it again! I’ve been feeding it to my family and friends 🙂
It might sound a little strange, but I just want to say thank you – my grandad was Russian but my mum grew up without him, so he’s a huge presence by his absence. It feels like half of us that’s missing. It occurred to me that I could get a tiny window on all that culture and lifestyle that we lost through food! Making pelmeni was a treat – the knowledge that my grandmothers probably did it for generations, and it was so satisfying to wrap up each little mouthful by hand knowing that i was feeding the people I love 🙂
I love the flavours in Eastern European food, that kind of sour, pickle-y note seems to give great depth without adding spice or wine! So thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes with us, it really means a lot. And super tasty! I’ll be back!
Best wishes to your family,
Ciara
Thank you so much for your thoughtful comment! It really means so much to me. I know what you mean about wrapping each little dumpling. It’s a beautiful thing! 🙂
Thank you, Natasha for such easy and very yammie recipe, but only it came out dry. I’m thinking that either might be cause I was steaming these 15 minutes on medium heat, or maybe cause I used regular skillet with not thick enough bottom, or small proportion of water compared to grechka? In our family we usually cook buckwheat to water 1 cup to 3 cups of cold water ( 1:3). What we do, on high hear we pour first 3 cups of cold water into sautéed meat, onions, carrots, and tomato or tomato sauce, and wait for water to boil, and then pour out 1 cup of buckwheat, and lower the heat to med-high, and wait 15 minutes.
Natalya, If you have used the same proportions I have listed, make sure you are using tight fitting lid and keeping it covered. Make sure to keep it covered for additional 10 minutes after its done cooking. With buckwheat its easy to fix if it comes out dry, just stir in a splash of boiling hot water and fluff it up.
Thank you very much for teaching me how to cook with buckwheat. I was slightly unsure but with determined resolve of my new diet my wife enjoyed this dish thoroughly. I did cheat and use a little white wine instead of water however.
I’m so happy to hear that. Thanks for sharing that with me 🙂 I love the idea of using white wine instead of water!
Thank you so much for this delicious recipe! I found your recipe while searching for some tasty ways to cook buckwheat. Someone told me that eating buckwheat is great for healing bones (I recently had an injury). I used chicken breakfast sausage (because it was all I had) and WOW it was still so wonderful. I don’t have a dutch oven (just a ceramic stock pot) so I just stirred the bottom about 2-3 times and it did not burn. I’m so happy because this was healthy, so easy to make – even in a leg cast! 🙂 – the flavors are incredible, and my boyfriend approved (as in, he devoured it.) Now..off to find tonight’s dinner in the rest of your recipes! Thanks, Natasha!
I’m so happy you loved it! I hope you recover quickly – that would be so hard to have a leg cast. Sheesh I cant even imagine. God bless you to heal quickly! If you are a buckwheat fan, you should try the buckwheat pilaf also. Mmm 🙂
This sounds like such a comforting meal for when the weather gets colder. And so easy to make! Great pictures!
Thank you Emily, I have another great buckwheat recipe coming later this week. You’ll love that one too :).
Natasha, since I married a Russian wonderful man, the Kasha is one of the dishes that I introduced my kids since little. Some said don’t like it.
I always make it the traditional way. But this time is my First one pot meal dish.
I used ground turkey and instead of water I used chicken broth.
Family loves this recipe now.
I make a lot of your recipes.
So today my honey said kasha Nasha …
Thanks again!
Dora, great job on improvising and you are welcome :). You just reminded me that I need to buy more of buckwheat, since we are out.
Dora, did you use the same proportions of Chicken Broth as water?
Also how did the ground turkey came out? I used ground beef and it was not tender.
Natasha,
Just found your blog and I love it! My family is Polish and so many of these recipes remind me of home 🙂 My mama just made this this other week!
Welcome to the site Aleksandra :). Don’t you just love it when a recipe brings back sweet memories from your childhood. I hope you’ll find some new favorites.
After making your “Buckwheat with Mushrooms,” I am a Buckwheat convert! I want to make this, substituting ground lamb for the pork (Pork is hard to get and very expensive in Middle East where I live). Do you think it will work? Thank you for your advice…. and your delicious recipes.
I do think it would work well with lamb. It’s the opposite here; pork is cheap and lamb is expensive. Let me know how you like it with lamb! 🙂
Growing up, my mom made buckwheat all the time but this recipe was the first time I’ve ever made it myself. It turned out very good both times and my husband, who refused to eat buckwheat before, loved it. First time I made it with beef, second time all I had was breakfast pork sausage and it was delicious.
Mila, I like the idea of beef and pork sausage :). Thank you for sharing that tip with me.
Thank you so much for sharing this delicious recipe! I made it last night and my husband loooved it. Very flavorful and tasty. Just one little question. You specified that the dish should be mixed right before serving. The very bottom of my dish burnt a little. So I was wondering if that’s because I didn’t mix it all the time while the buckwheat was cooking or is it because I made it in a regular pan (not a dutch oven).
Thank you Ilona for the great review. You might try cooking over slightly lower heat. Are you using non-stick pot? Also, a heavy bottomed pan helps with more even heat distribution. Hope this helps :).
Thank you for the prompt answer. I’ll try lower heat next time(That could’ve been my problem). My pan was heavy bottomed, double layered. Not sure if it was a non-stick pot though. I just feel like if I was to mix the dish a couple times throughout the process while it’s cooking, it wouldn’t burn as much. So was just wondering if it’s important not to mix it. But thank you again, your recipes are always very clear and easy to understand, not to mention delicious!
You can open the lid to mix a few times, but you might need to add a little more water if you do that. The reason I leave the lid on is to trap the steam to fully cook the buckwheat. Thank you so much for your sweet compliment! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the recipes 🙂
DELICIOUS !!!! Yum yum yum!!! Thank u so much for the recipe !!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it 🙂
I am planning to make this right now, but I am a little worried about how much water I shoud add. I always add 2.5 cups of water to 1 cup of buckwheat. You add less, does it still cook through well?
Inna, we never put in more than 2 cups because it tends to turn mushy. Buckwheat cooks through, hope this helps :).
I added 2 cups of water and it was perfect. I regret for not doubling the recipe, it was really good! Even the kids ate a full meal, with some ketchup on top of corse. It’s so much healthier then rice. Thanks for the recipe Natasha!
You’re so welcome and I’m so happy to hear your kids loved it! 😉
Natasha yum!! I am not a fan of buckwheat but lately have been converting. This recipe is sooo good!
I’m so happy you enjoyed it and that it’s helping with your buckwheat conversion 😉
I just came back on here to share my mom’s recipe of “plov” made with buckwheat like I promised but looks like you figured it out. lol. I make it a bit differently but when people ask for the recipe,I just tell them to make it like they make plov but use buckwheat instead of rice. I think you can substitute buckwheat for practically any rice dish. Hope you enjoyed the new way of eating buckwheat. 🙂
I love that idea of subbing it for plov. I actually hadn’t really considered that for the plov recipes I already have posted, but I’ll have to try that next time. Thanks Lana 🙂
Natasha,thank you so much for this delicious , easy ,soooo flavorful dish. This one is a keeper!!!
Thank you Lina for such a great review and you are welcome :).
I like buckwheat, and your recipe looks good and sounds good. Where do you buy buckwheat besides the russian store? thanks
Check your local grocery stores. I know whole foods carries it. We typically buy it at the Russian store so I haven’t really scouted around. They sell it in the bins at Winco but the Winco one always turns out mushy. I believe our Rosauers grocery store has it as well.
thanks!
Mmm..yumm! I love buckwheat! Grandma and mom always made it with butter. So, I stick with it. Also love to add mushrooms to sauteed vegetables.
Pickles! Of course I crave pickles! Always.LOL
Ha ha! We are both pickle fans. I love that! I agree it’s kind of hard to beat buckwheat all buttered up and served with the pickle.
The dish is simple to make but it looks wonderful. It is very healthy and being gluten-free makes it more appetizing. Very amazing.
Thanks so much Maureen! I agree, knowing it’s gluten free does make it more appealing :).
I love buckwheat and I replace lots of recipes calling for rice with this amazing seed. Thank you Natasha for posting recipes with buckwheat and for all your work. Love your blog!
Thank you so much Adi :). I’m so glad you are enjoying the blog and recipes 🙂
Congratulation’s to you and your family on the birth of your baby girl. May your family always be happy.
Thank you Sharon :). We are enjoying every moment with her.
Natasha this is great making it tomorrow!! Love your website!
I would love to hear how it turns out :).
Do you think it’d be good with grou d beef? We don’t eat pork and I’d love to introduce buckwheat in our diet.
Thanks for your always easy and yummy recipes!
I think it would be great with ground beef or even ground turkey. You can definitely change things up 🙂
I always use ground turkey instead of pork(I use turkey for everything lol). It’ has the same feel as pork and juiciness:)
Wow looks amazing. I am making this for dinner tonight. As a child I hated buckwheat (maybe cause I never tried it, I was so picky.) It wasn’t until I got married and began cooking for my husband and kids that I discovered how much I love buckwheat. My oldest son refused to eat it so I implemented a two bites rule… and guess what, he loves it. Thank you for sharing this recipe!!!
I love the idea of two bites rule! I’ve only done one bite with my son and I think we’re going to have to change that 😉
I never tried buckwheat until an adult either and now I love it. I really like the 2 bites rule and need to implement that asap with my 5 and 3 year olds.
Natasha, this looks so wonderful, beautiful and so simple to make. Thank you for the recipe, I can’t wait to try it.
I hope you love it! It really is very simple and tasty 🙂