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If you liked the potato or apple pirojki, you will love these meat filled Belyashi! Some people refer to theses as chebureki, but chebureki are usually made with raw meat and have a thinner dough. The dough is so easy when using a Breadmaker. Serve these meat piroshki by themselves or pair them with that awesome garlic dip you might recall from the potato piroshki. I know these are originally made with lamb, but turkey and beef are more practical and the flavor is fantastic!
Ingredients for the Meat Piroshki Dough:
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
15 oz warm water
4 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (divided)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
Ingredients for the Meat Filling:
1 lb ground turkey
1 lb ground beef (Fat content: 80/20)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1 medium carrot, finely grated
3 Tbsp dill
2 Tbsp mayonnaise
1/2 cup warm water
Other Ingredients:
Enough canola oil to go half-way up the side of the piroshky when frying.
Lots of extra flour to dust the cutting board (I probably use at least 1/2 cup extra flour)
Ingredients for Garlic Dip – “Vmochanka”
(this is for one serving, so increase it accordingly):
1/4 cup warm water
1 Tbsp olive oil (you can use any kind of oil really)
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 tsp salt
How to Make Russian Pirojki (Chebureki) Dough:
How to make the Dough:
1. The easiest way to do this is in a bread maker. If you have one, set it to the dough setting and add the ingredients in the following order: Oil, water, 2 cups flour, salt, 2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour*, yeast.
A bread maker will do the following: mix, let dough rise, mix again and let the dough rise (It takes about 1 to 1 1/2 hours) and once it’s done in the bread maker, its ready to go.
*to get an exact flour measurement, use a dry ingredients measuring cup and scrape off the top with the back of a butter knife.
You can also make this dough using a stand mixer with a dough hook on speed 2 (mix all the ingredients together, let rise, mix again and then let it rise in a warm place (like the oven). (It should be 2 to 2 1/2 times in volume). While it’s rising, work on the meat filling for piroshki – see below.
2. Put the finished dough onto a well floured cutting board, dust the dough with flour and with well-floured hands, shape it into a large log.
It will rise more as you make the piroshki
3. Cut off pieces one at a time about 3/4″ thick.
4. Place the piece of dough over your well-floured hand (dough will be sticky) and shape it into a 3″ to 4″ circle using your hands. Do not put flour on the side where you are going to put the meat, otherwise the sides won’t seal.
5. Stir the meat mix to distribute the juices. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of meat filling in the center.Cover the meat with the sides of the dough (being careful not to let oils or juices seep out), and pinch the edges together to seal the dough. Flatten the pirojki slightly to make them a more uniform size.
Notes:
It helps to wash your hands half-way through the process to keep the dough from really sticking to your hand. And keep those hands well-floured!
6. Heat oil in a large, deep, heavy-bottomed pan or cast iron dutch oven. There should be enough oil to cover the pirojki half-way up the side.
7. Place them in the hot oil (about 330˚ F) and fry until deep golden brown on each side. Sometimes they puff up a lot on one side so you may end up with a third side that needs to be fried.
8. Place on paper towels to cool and enjoy! Try the garlic dip – it’s GOOD!
How to Make Meat filling for Belyashi:
1. Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat. Brown ground beef and turkey, breaking it up into small pieces with a spatula. Season meat with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/ tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic powder.
2. When the meat is almost done, add diced onion and saute 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add shredded carrots and saute another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add 3 Tbsp dill, mix well.
5. Add mayo, stir well.
6. Stir in 1/2 cup water to moisten the meat mix. Transfer meat mix to a bowl and let cool to warm or room temperature.
Meat Piroshki (Belyashi)

Ingredients
Ingredients for the Dough:
- 1 1/2 Tbsp oil
- 15 oz warm water
- 4 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
Ingredients for the Meat Filling:
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 lb ground beef, Fat content: 80/20
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 large onion, finely diced
- 1 medium carrot, finely grated
- 3 Tbsp dill
- 2 Tbsp mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup warm water
Other Ingredients:
- Enough canola oil to go half-way up the side of the piroshky when frying.
- Lots of extra flour to dust the cutting board, I probably use at least 1/2 cup extra flour
- this is for one serving, so increase it accordingly
Instructions
How to Make Meat filling for Belyashi:
- Heat a large skillet over medium/high heat. Brown ground beef and turkey, breaking it up into small pieces with a spatula. Season meat with 1/2 tsp salt, 1/ tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic powder.
- When the meat is almost done, add diced onion and saute 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add shredded carrots and saute another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add 3 tbsp dill, mix well.
- Add mayo, stir well.
- Stir in 1/2 cup water to moisten the meat mix. Transfer meat mix to a bowl and let cool to warm or room temperature.
How to make the Dough:
- The easiest way to do this is in a bread maker. If you have one, set it to the dough setting and add the ingredients in the following order: Oil, water, 2 cups flour, salt, 2 cups + 2 Tbsp flour, yeast. A bread maker will do the following: mix, let dough rise, mix again and let the dough rise (It takes about 1 to 1 1/2 hours) and once it’s done in the bread maker, its ready to go.
- You can also make this dough using a stand mixer with a dough hook on speed 2(mix all the ingredients together, let rise, mix again and then let it rise in a warm place (like the oven). (It should be 2 to 2 1/2 times in volume). While it's rising, work on the meat filling for piroshki - see below.
- Put the finished dough onto a well floured cutting board, dust the dough with flour and with well-floured hands, shape it into a large log.It will rise more as you make the piroshki.
- Cut off pieces one at a time about 3/4″ thick.
- Place the piece of dough over your well-floured hand (dough will be sticky) and shape it into a 3″ to 4″ circle using your hands. Do not put flour on the side where you are going to put the meat, otherwise the sides won’t seal.
- Stir the meat mix to distribute the juices. Place 1 heaping tablespoon of meat filling in the center.Cover the meat with the sides of the dough (being careful not to let oils or juices seep out), and pinch the edges together to seal the dough. Flatten the pirojki slightly to make them a more uniform size.
- Heat oil in a large, deep, heavy-bottomed pan or cast iron dutch oven. There should be enough oil to cover the pirojki half-way up the side.
- Place them in the hot oil (about 330° F) and fry until deep golden brown on each side. Sometimes they puff up a lot on one side so you may end up with a third side that needs to be fried.
- Place on paper towels to cool and enjoy!
Oh. My. God… I am going to a Russian dinner this evening and made these this afternoon. I have never made anything like this but – yum!! Soo so good. I have already eaten 3 and don’t think I will be hungry for dinner! Hehee – took some photos and will post back here a bit later.
Thank you!
Mandi
I’m so glad you loved them. They’re dangerously good aren’t they? 😉
Really did and yes! – they were so well received too. Other dishes people brought were caviar pie Romanoff, borscht, beef stroganoff and dessert of pashka! Yumm…
Russian Meat Piroshki (Belyashi) babushka’s photostream http://flic.kr/ps/29gGc7
That’s awesome! Thanks for including the link to your photo stream 🙂 Lovely, just lovely 🙂
I like to add cheese, I will use Rhodes dough and bake them when in a hurry and they turn out pretty good for a quick baked option
Thank you for the tip Michaellee :).
hey natasha for how long did you saute the meat?
Just until its fully cooked through.
It seems like its more of a broth in there i guess… I haven’t made them in a few years, might have to repeat soon per hubby’s request 😉 If you google belyashi, you will see some with holes 😛
Ugh… I hate frying! I know that food fried at the correct temp does not absorb as much oil, but i still dont like it. Though fried dough obviously tastes amazing. I read some comments and I have to admit, when I make things such as pelmeni, which is really rare, I do like to add a bit of mayo, I feel it gives great flavor as well as moistingness (not a word, i know) to the meat filling. I have to say though, these are pirojki, and that is great 😉 but not belyashi, as those are made with raw meat and a hole in the middle, when you drop them in the oil, you do so with the hole side down and that way after they are done frying on the other side, there is a “juice” on the inside 🙂 Not that I’m a pro, and I didnt grow up on belyashi and pirojki… just what I learned from my 7 years of marriage and lots of cooking using russian recipe sites. Thanks for your recipes Natasha! That’s my name too btw 🙂
Thanks Natasha! 🙂 I didn’t know about the hole in the middle but that sounds interesting. And they don’t absorb too much oil with the hole there?
Hi Natasha – what do u think about placing these in a deep fryer?
I think it would work well. The cooking would be more even, just make sure they don’t brown too quickly. You want the filling to be nice and hot 🙂
I am trying to find similar recipe to meat piroshky that I had after mass. It was like a filled donut but soft bread like and it had ground beef onion and rice. This was a Russian orthodox church recipe. Does anyone have a recipe like this?
Hi Natasha,
just a quick question, how long do you kneed the dough, then how long do you let the dough rise after the first mix? And then do you just redo the same length of kneeding and rising again? I dont have a bread maker, but I do have a kitchenaid mixer with a dough hook. The times werent really clear…
Using a stand mixer with a dough hook on speed 2
1. mix all the ingredients together and knead for 10 minutes until well blended.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 30 min until double in volume,
3. mix again and then cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place (like the oven, but not hotter than 100 degrees F). (It should be 2 to 2 1/2 times in volume ~ about 1 hour)
I hope that helps.
This is an absoloutely beautiful recipe! My babushka makes traditional piroshki and I haven’t been able to get my hands on her infamous recipe yet, but these turned out quite well. 🙂
Has anyone tried serving them with Soy Sauce and cream together? Whenever we eat pelmeni we cover them in soy and cream, and it complements it beautifully, but no one else seems to have heard of the combination.
Thanks so much for the recipe, Natasha!
You are welcome Anastasiya, I’m glad you like the recipe :).
I don’t have a bread maker but would like to make this using my handy dandy Kitchen Aid mixer. Have you ever made it using the mixer? If so, could you tell me how long to knead the dough and allow it rise, etc?
I had some notes on the Kitchen Aid mixer in step #1: “You can also make this dough using a stand mixer with a dough hook on speed 2(mix all the ingredients together, let rise, mix again and then let it rise in a warm place (like the oven). (It should be 2 to 2 1/2 times in volume).” It takes about 1.5 to 2 hours to rise; it also depends on where you let it rise; it will rise faster in a 100 degree oven and slower at room temp. Cover the top with a towel so it doesn’t dry out.
Hey Natasha, would vegetable oil be ok to use instead of canola oil? I want to try these today, but don’t have canola oil, and don’t want to run to the store just for that… Thanks!
Yes vegetable oil would work for these 🙂
Thanks! I’ll give it a try and let you know later how it went! 🙂
Hey Natasha! Sorry, finally getting some time to let you know how the piroshki went! They were pretty good. I actually ended up making half with meat and half with the potatoes…and I did make the garlic dip. I would say that the ones with potatoes are my favorite, and really delicious with the garlic dip. But I did take another readers advice and let the garlic sit for atleast an hour, and I totally noticed a difference in flavor! Way much better the longer it sits!
Question for you or Vadim, have you guys tried making garlic butter dip? If so, what amounts of what?
Thanks for all the work you both put into this blog!! Its my favorite go-to blog for recipes!!! 🙂
Forgot to mention, I did use vegtable oil, and it worked out just fine…I just kept checking the temp of the oil with every piroshok I put in.
Vita thank you for letting me know that you enjoyed the recipe. Looks like I’ll be marinating my garlic longer before I dip 🙂 Thanks for the tip!
Hi.. Adriana here again… I just wanted to let you know how excited I am for finding your blog filled with recipes that i had no idea about. I am Brazilian and as you can imagine out ethnic background is completely different, but I find it comforting to know that we have something in common…. the love of food! We Brazilians love hearty foods and i will definitely will be trying this recipe!
I hope you’ll find lots of new favorites :).
I made these and they turned out amazing. They were a huge hit. How do you think the recipe would turn out if I tried to bake these instead of frying them?
I haven’t tried baking this dough recipe, but I think it needs to be a different dough to work well for baking. I’ll be testing a couple recipes that I have this week and will post which ever one I think is best 🙂
Thanks, that sounds great!
Hey Natash.. Did you ever figure out a recipe for the dough that can be baked?
A couple of my readers shared their recipes with me and they will be tested soon; I’m thinking next week. Sorry my to-do list is a mile long! 🙂
oh no prob.. i just realized this is a new post.. for some reason the date seemed a year old to me.. lol
No, you are correct; I’ve taken forever and a day to post a baked piroshki recipe. 😉
I made those for dinner tonight. Awesome! I just can’t get enough of you wonderful recipes. I already planned my meals for the week 🙂
Thank you for a sweet comment Olia, I’m glad you enjoying the recipes :).
These sound wonderful, I am going to make them for dinner tonight! What can I serve as a side dish? I spent the majority of this morning looking at all your recipes and I’m super excited to try them 🙂
Welcome to the site Lisa. I would serve some vegetables on the side like Cabbage and Bell Pepper Salad or they also go great with soups. Hope this helps :).
Natasha! Your recepies are amazing!! Thanks so much for all the work you do to make my life easier!!! Just made this pirozhki- they are soooooo good. I never thought of precooking meat. Thank you for all your recepies!!!
Thanks Yulya; you’re so sweet 🙂
Hello Natasha,
Were you able to try out a recipe where the piroshki were baked?
I’ve found some baked versions for sweet ones, and figured if you just don’t put in the sugar, the dough should work well for the meats too. What do you think?
That sounds like it would work; it’s the same idea with fried piroshki. Let me know how it works out and if you find a great recipe! 😉
This is mouthwatering! Thank you!
You’re very welcome
I used the dough except instead of meat filling i made a cabbage filling. The dough was perfect!!
Awesome! So glad you liked it!
I made these yesterday and they turned out delicious!! This is the best dough for pirozhki that I have tried so far! It’s so easy to make and it’s so light and tasty. Thank you for a delicious recipe! I will be making them again next week:)
Thanks Vita. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. Now try the one with potatoes and the garlic dip. DROOL. And the ones with apples are quite nice too 🙂 There’s so much you can do with that dough!
Yes, I will be definitely trying the potato and apple ones next week:)