This Chicken Cabbage Savory Pirog recipe has the softest dough recipe with a savory chicken, cabbage and veggie filling. This pirog is similar to baked piroshki and is melt in your mouth good.
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Hey, hey! This is Valentina with Valentina’s Corner sharing this great twist on the traditional baked Ukrainian piroshki.
What is a pirog?
A pirog is a baked dough with a sweet or savory filling. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Mini pirogs are called piroshki and can be either fried (like these Fried Piroshki), or baked (like these Baked Piroshki).
A pirog can be either closed (with the filling inside), or open-faced (with the filling on top, similar to an American pie).
How to make a Chicken Cabbage Savory Pirog?
- Prepare the dough, set aside to rise.
- Prepare the chicken, cabbage and veggie filling, set aside to cool.
- Roll out the dough. Add filling to the center of the dough and close the filling, sealing the edges.
- Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake until golden in color and enjoy!
Tip: When closing the dough over the cabbage, it will kind of look like a crunch wrap from Taco Bell (if you’ve ever had one).
Cabbage Filling-
The chicken goes really well with the cabbage filling but if you want to leave the chicken out, you totally may!
When sautéing (lightly braising) the cabbage, cook until desired tenderness is reached. I personally like the cabbage to still have a firmer taste to them, while my husband likes them really tender. So, sauté to your personal preference.
Piroshki (mini pirogs) are really common in the Ukrainian but the recipe stems from the Uzbek cuisine where they mostly make their pirogi as a large pirog (instead of the small piroshki we use in our Ukrainian kitchens, though they make them as well). Uzbek food is so delicious and oh so unique.
What filling can you use when making a pirog?
Popular savory fillings include cheesy potato, ground meat, sautéed mushrooms or like these with cabbage.
Sweet fillings can be either apples, berries, poppy seed or nuts.
What dough is used for a pirog?
A yeast dough is typically used for any pirog or piroshki.
This recipe for baked pirogi is so soft and just melts in your mouth it’s so delicious. Don’t be turned off by the mayo as an ingredient. It is the key ingredients in the dough and you cannot taste it once baked.
More Pirog-Style Recipes to Explore:
- Russian Potato Piroshki– do not skip the garlic dip!
- Cheesy Baked Potato Piroshki– that cheese…
- Fillo Dough with Brie Cheese– favorite appetizer at parties.
- Cherubereki Recipe– crowd pleasing easy recipe.
Chicken Cabbage Savory Pirog
Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1 tsp oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup warm milk
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 ½ tsp active dry yeast
- 1 ½ tsp granulated sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
For the Savory Filling:
- ¾ lb chicken, thighs or breast, cubed finely
- 1 tsp oil
- ½ large onion, finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 3 cups cabbage, shredded finely
- 2 small carrots, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 ½ tsp ketchup
- 1 ½ tsp sour cream
- 3 Tbsp favorite herbs, I mixed parsley and dill
- 1 egg + 1 tsp water, beaten for egg wash
- ½ tsp sesame seeds, optional
Instructions
Prepare dough:
- Prepare dough. In a bowl, whisk mayo, oil, salt, water and milk. Sprinkle yeast over top of the mixture and sprinkle sugar over yeast. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel, let sit 5 minutes for the yeast to activate and become foamy.
- Gradually add flour, mix until flour is well incorporated. Set dough aside to rise at room temperature, covered, 1 ½ to 2 hours (until the dough doubles, almost triples in size).
Prepare filling:
- In a large skillet, on med/high heat, cook chicken on 1 tsp oil until fully cooked (about 2-3 minutes), stirring as needed. Remove from the skillet.
- Sauté onion on 1 Tbsp butter until tender, stirring frequently. Add the 2 Tbsp butter, cabbage, carrots, garlic and water. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté until cabbage is desired tenderness.
- Add the ketchup, sour cream, herbs and the chicken that was set aside. Cook another minute, stirring frequently. Remove from heat to cool.
How to assemble the pirog:
- On a lightly floured surface, divide dough into 2 equal parts (cover second dough). Roll out until about 12” round.
- Take half of the cabbage filling and place it into the center of the dough, spread evenly (leaving about 3” of dough uncovered around the edges).
- Gently start pulling the edges of the dough over the filling into the center to close the pirog. Continue going around until cabbage is completely covered. Pinch seams together.
- Gently, flip the pirog over. Flatten the pirog as needed so it’s even in size and so the filling is evenly distributed. Gently flip the pirog and repeat with second pirog.
- Brush with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds and let rise 30-45 minutes.
- Bake in a preheated oven to 400°F 18-22 minutes, until golden in color.
Nutrition Per Serving
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
Q: Have you ever explored the Uzbek cuisine? I’d love to hear about your favorite Uzbek recipes in the comments below. 🙂
Can these be frozen – either before baking or after?
You may definitely freeze the pirog once it’s completely cooled. To reheat: thaw and bake until warm. Enjoy, Judy.
Hi, I’ve made it and I´ve posted on my blog. Thanks a million for this recipe, I love it!
Thank you for the great review. Please be sire to provide credit and tagging. Have an awesome day!
hi.i did,really loved the way ‘that is so easy,soft,but when I boild it,it came a part.
mabe because it was partially cooked and I overcooked.i don’t know,but it was so perfect dough I ever worked on
Just made this today… Delicious!!! Thank you Valentina for sharing the recipe! Definitely will make again!
Thanks for the wonderful review, Lena. So glad you enjoyed the pirog.
Hi,what brand of flour do use?i also would like to ask you about the pilmeni dough,if you tried to use hot water for the dough?
Hi Margolis, I haven’t tried that, do you have good success with that?
Just made this,looks wonderful!
That’s so great!
This was WoW!!! The dough is just perfect. Thank you ladies. I’ll be making a cheesy potato one next with this dough and layout. 😋
Thank you for the great review, Inna! We are so happy you enjoyed that!
Thank you for the yummy recipe 😋 I made it without the chicken, I think next time I would just double up on the cabbage ingredients. It was a huge hit in our house. Definitely will be making this again.
Thanks so much, Katie. 🙂
Thank you for the recipe, girls! It was so delicious and perfect for a family dinner! 😋
Thank you for the wonderful review, Tanya. <3
I love this! Can’t wait to try it. One of the dishes that I miss from Turkmenistan but I think it is consumed in Uzbekistan also is gatyklash. It is a rice and yogurt soup served hot. Sadly, I think the yogurt here is too sweet so I’m still trying to find the right way to make it.
Never tried a gatyklash, Miriam. Sounds interesting. Maybe you can substitute for a plain Greek yogurt? 🙂
This I have to try…
Sounds so weird but wonderful
This is the one recipe of the year that shouts …Try me
Thank you gals.
Thank you kindly, Jim!
Could I make this with potato filling?
Yes, a potato filling would be wonderful.
Do you bake these seam side down? It looks like you put the egg wash on the side without seams but in the instructions it says to flip it over after flattening and then add egg wash?
Yes, seam side down. Though it really doesn’t matter. Some people like the design the seam gives the pirog. Enjoy!
Do I stack one Pirog on top of the other and seal the edge to bake as one or does this make two Pirogs? I got to make this, It looks delicious!!
Hi Lucy, this makes 2 pirogs. I will clarify that in the recipe. Thank you for asking!!
How much water for the savory filling?
Hi Larisa there should just be the one teaspoon of water mixed with the egg for the egg wash.
I’m so sorry Larisa, I missed that part in the ingredients. It’s 1/4 cup water. Thanks for catching that. 🙂
Where/whendo you add the 1/4 cup of water? I don’t see this in the recipe?
Hi Sara, that would be added in step one for the dough “Prepare dough. In a bowl, whisk mayo, oil, salt, water and milk” and step two for the filling “Sauté onion on 1 Tbsp butter until tender, stirring frequently. Add the 2 Tbsp butter, cabbage, carrots, garlic and water.” I hope that helps!
Mrs. Natasha is the best cook/baker in this world and i just loooooooove her cooking
thanks Natasha
love you
Mel B (Melanie Brown)
Aww I feel the love! Thank you Mel B
My husband asked me for cabbage pie few minutes before I open my email from
“Natasha’s Kitchen”….aaaand here it is! The recipe! It’s a magic )) Thank you so much!
Awww that’s the best! I love that! Thank you for sharing that with me, Elena!
Hi Natasha , How about salt in filling?did you put any salt? And also in your recipe when you cook cabbage you put water .How much water?
Hi Snezhana. Yes, as step 2 in the “prepare filling” says season with salt and pepper. 🙂
Can I make the dough in the breadmaker?
Honestly, I’ve never made this particular recipe in a bread maker. However, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work.
If you’re concerned about the mixing part, you can also use a Kitchen Aid mixer and the dough hook. 🙂
I made the dough in the bread maker and it turned out great.. wet ingredients first along with salt. Then dry ingredients and yeast on top. Used th dough cycle which was 1.5 hours and it came out beautiful.
I usually never comment on blogs but just had to here.
I am so happy to see Valentina on here. She is my favorite Slavic inspirational blogger. I’ve learned so much from her and her faith. Natasha you are my favorite food blogger and two of u together is like the perfect combo. 🙂 🙂 Love…..
Thank you so much for leaving your kind review! Yes, Valentina is inspiring and does a beautiful job with her blog! Thank you Mila! 🙂
Love the site! Iam Slovak and enjoy baking and cooking. Many recipes are the same that my mother and Baba passed down to me and I have passed them down to my daughter and son!
That’s so great! I’m so happy you found our blog!
Aww, Mila. That’s really sweet. Thank you. (My face is turning all shades of pink here.) Not sure that I can be in the same league as Natasha though. She’s amazing. 🙂