Russian Potato Piroshki with Garlic Dip
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These Russian Potato Piroshki with Garlic Dip are dangerously good! You must exert some self-control. Potato pirojki are one thing, but paired with the garlic dip… Oooh baby!
I hope you do try these pirojki. They truly are one of my very favorite treats.
Ingredients for the Dough:
1 1/2 Tbsp oil
15 oz luke warm water
4 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour (divided)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
1/2 Tbsp sugar (omit sugar if doing meat or potato filling)
Ingredients for Filling:
7 to 8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2″ thick chunks
3 Tbsp butter, melted for potatoes
1/2 medium onion
1 Tbsp butter for onions
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
Mix all dip ingredients together; that’s all there is to it!
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)
How to make potato filling:
1. Fill a medium pot with sliced potatoes and add water until potatoes are almost covered. Add salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce heat to a light boil. Boil 18-20 minutes, or until a knife easily pierces potatoes.
2. Mash potatoes, then add melted butter.
3. Saute diced onion and 1 Tbsp butter until onion is browned.
4. Mix onions into potatoes and let the mix cool to room temp.
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, sugar, 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 3o min in a warm spot, mix again and then let it rise again in a warm place another 45 min (no warmer than 100˚F or you will kill your yeast). (It should be 2 to 2 1/2 times in volume.
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 potatoes, otherwise the sides won’t seal.
5. Place 1 heaping Tbsp of potato filling in the center.Cover the potatoes with the sides of the dough and pinch the ends together with your fingers to seal the dough together. If necessary, flatten the pirojki slightly to make them a more uniform size.
6. Heat oil in a large, deep, heavy-bottomed pan. 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. Place on paper towels to cool and enjoy!
To make the garlic dipping sauce; just mix all the sauce ingredients together. Easy. 🙂
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!
Russian Potato Piroshki with Garlic Dip - Пирожки

Ingredients
Ingredients for the Dough:
- 1 1/2 Tbsp oil
- 15 oz luke warm water
- 4 cups + 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour, divided
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1/2 Tbsp sugar, omit sugar if doing meat or potato filling
Ingredients for Filling:
- 7 to 8 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" thick chunks
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted for potatoes
- 1/2 medium onion
- 1 Tbsp butter for onions
Ingredients for Garlic Dip – “Vmochanka”:
Mix all dip ingredients together;
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
Instructions
- Fill a medium pot with sliced potatoes and add water until potatoes are almost covered. Add salt, bring to a boil over high heat, then cover and reduce heat to a light boil. Boil 18-20 minutes, or until a knife easily pierces potatoes.
- Mash potatoes, then add melted butter.
- Saute diced onion and 1 tbsp butter until onion is browned.
- Mix onions into potatoes and let the mix cool to room temp.
How to make the Dough:
Using bread maker method. Set it to the dough setting and add the ingredients in the following order: Oil, water, 2 cups flour, salt, sugar, 2 cups + 2 tbsp flour*, yeast.
*to get an exact flour measurement, use a dry ingredients measuring cup and scrape off the top with the back of a butter knife.
Stand Mixer Method: Using a dough hook on speed 2, mix all the ingredients together, let rise 30 min in a warm spot, mix again and then let it rise again in a warm place another 45 min (no warmer than 100˚F or you will kill your yeast) It should be 2 to 2 1/2 times in volume.
- 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 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 potatoes, otherwise the sides won’t seal.
- Place 1 heaping Tbsp of potato filling in the center.Cover the potatoes with the sides of the dough and pinch the ends together with your fingers to seal the dough together. If necessary, flatten the pirojki slightly to make them a more uniform size.
- Heat oil in a large, deep, heavy-bottomed pan. 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. Place on paper towels to cool and enjoy!
I’m going to make this recipe and I’m really excited! Because they can be a bit time consuming and I have a family of 8 I’m going to make apple filling, cabbage filling and potato filling. Can I freeze them AFTER I get them? I’ve read through the comments but haven’t seen anyone try to freeze them after. Any suggestions? Thank you
Hi Nikole! I haven’t tried freezing them so I’m not sure how the dough would hold up. I suspect they need to be fried before they are frozen.
My family loves piroshki, I just dont like the frying method. I do not have air fryer but I would buy one if we could translate your fried recipes to air fryer! 🙂 has anyone done that? Especially your chicken sandwich one and these piroshki! Thanks!
Hi Nikole, I haven’t tried this recipe in an air fryer to advise on the outcome, I have a different recipe for baked piroshki and I really do think this dough is best for frying and not baking because it is very very soft. I haven’t had anyone report trying yet either.
Natasha, can I make the dough the night before?
Amazing recipe! They always come out so perfect!
Hi Katie, I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure. You would probably have to let it rise at room temperature for a while before using the dough to let it puff up.
Hi Natasha,
I so enjoy your blog and videos, and never had a “fail” with any of your recipes ;-). Your pizza dough started me off on working with dough and is the best! So I was thrilled when I saw Russian piroshki. My grandmother was known for her piroshki, it was what all her grandchildren wanted. But unfortunately, I never got her recipe. So I’m trying to figure out the best way to come close…..I know she used eggs in her recipe, as well as salt and sugar. It seemed to lean towards a pastry dough but certainly wasn’t too sweet. While I would make it as you wrote it, could egg(s) be added without compromising the recipe? Thanks!
Hi Eva, this recipe does not need the egg and I don’t have a dough with egg in it for piroshki. My baked piroshki have eggs but that is a very different recipe although also very yummy.
Can you freeze these it is a large recipe for 2 people.
Hi Sharon, I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure how the dough would hold up. I suspect they need to be fried before they are frozen
Natasha I love your recipe. I’ve made it so many times without fail. I was also wondering if they are bakable so I decided to experiment. I used whole wheat flour and out of the 16 I made I baked 5 of them on 350 for 20 min but sprayed them with avacado oil before placing into the oven. They came out great.
Hello Diane! I’m happy to hear the recipe is such a success. Thanks for sharing your great and helpful review with other readers!
Hello Natasha,
I LOVE your blog!!! For this recipe, can I leave the dough in the fridge overnight. Thank you sooo much for sharing the recipe.
Hi Yen, I honestly haven’t tried that but I suspect the dough might be not as pliable after refrigerating.
If someone else has tried with great results, please let us know! 🙂
First time ever making piroshki and they turned out ahmmaaazingg!! Thank you! I’m so proud of myself and it was so easy 😊
My pleasure, I’m happy to hear how much you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
Hi Natasha,
I went through the comments and saw some people asking about baking these instead of frying. I know you said you weren’t sure how they would be baked but it was a while ago. I’m hoping maybe you have some new info on this by now. 🙂
Any suggestions for baking these?
Thanks so much!!
Hi Olga, I have a different recipe for baked piroshki and I really do think this dough is best for frying and not baking because it is very very soft. I haven’t had anyone report trying yet either.
Could I freeze them and then deep fry.
I haven’t tried that so I’m not sure how the dough would hold up. I suspect they need to be fried before they are frozen.
Do you reuse the oil after frying ? Thanks
Hi Jessica, I do like to reuse a bigger batch of oil like this. Strain through a fine mesh sieve to catch any solids and then pour into a container like a glass jar with lid.
I was wondering if a hand mixer would work for this recipe? Since I don’t have a stand mixer
Hi Natasha, you could only make that work well if your hand mixer has a dough hook, otherwise the next best thing would be to mix it with a wooden spoon and knead by hand.
Is the onion an ingredient that I can skip or is the recipe better off with it?
Autumn, onions can be skipped. Let me know how they turn out :).
Made them today!!
Really good!! At first, I was like “It’s good but…” and them I made the garlic dipping sauce, and I was like: “SOOOOO GOOOD!!!” *-* Thank You Natasha!!
Hooray! You made the garlic sauce. I’m so happy you loved them 🙂
because I loveeeeee garlic can I use more I usually do no rules with food ha ha
Hi Betty, yes you can definitely add more garlic to taste (we also love garlic very much so I understand where you are coming from!).
Hi Natasha, when makeing this dough in mixer do i start w/ water then, oil ect…& end w/flour?
Yes add the ingredients to the mixer in the same order 🙂
Thanks!
Is it necessary to use yeast? I wanna make this but don’t have it atm.
They won’t rise without it since this is a yeast dough. Sorry I don’t have better news for you 😉
Natasha, next time u make a garlic dip again try adding a little bit of lemon juice or vinegar and some black pepper too.
Thank you for the tip Dina, I love trying new ideas :).
you are welcome…. i need to try making this soon.. looks sooo
good!!
Hey do you have the directions for the Garlic dip?
You’re right! I missed the instructions. Well, it’s easy; just mix the sause ingredients together and you’re done! I updated the recipe 🙂 Thank you Lena!
Privet Natasha! I baked some potato piroshki and belyashi yesterday and they turned out great. I followed your dough recipe (only I used all-purpose flour) and brushed piroshki with some olive oil, baked at 350F for 20 minutes, I used gas oven though. I think one could change oven temp. and baking time if using an electric oven. Thanks for the recipe!
You are very welcome Cher 🙂
Hi, Natasha. I love this quick, easy and yet delicious pirojki recipe. I have made it for many times. I used Canadian bleached flour and they turned out great. But now I feel bad about buying bleached flour, I thought it was another weird process that they do and the flour is white as snow!….
So, I got this gold medal flour, which is unbleached, but the result is not as good. With same amount of flour, the dough is thinner. Harder to work with. Plus, they look kinda grey and not as soft….
Do you use the bleached version?
I used the unbleached all purpose gold medal. Lately I’ve been baking things with bleached Canadian and everything seems to turn out better with the Canadian. I haven’t tried it on the pirojki. I have noticed that you need a little more flour when you use gold medal vs Canadian.
My neighbour Ana (she’s Ukranian) makes the dough using flour, yoghurt, eggs and dry yeast.
Ruined my diet…
Oh no!! :-O Yes, this is definitely not a diet food! Yogurt; that’s interesting!
Hi 🙂
I’ve made these a few times and they were delicious. I seemed to have a slight problem thoough. The dough seemed to crack when it was being fried. Any idea why?
I haven’t had that problem, but I can try to troubleshoot it… what kind of oil are you using? Are you making sure to fry them pretty soon after making them (before they dry out on the counter)?
I use canola oil and i make them right away.
I love piroshki, in any form or shape. Lately, I have been making my mom’s recipe http://cuceesprouts.com/2011/09/cucee%E2%80%99s-healthified-mini-piroshki-russian-style-savory-meat-filled-pastry/
Hey Natasha,
Great site. I was looking for “vinegret” online and found this site and i think i’ve read most of your receipes already 🙂
I have one question for PIROJKI: if preparing the dough “manually” you mentioned to leave it to rise for 2.5 hrs in “preheated oven”. Isn’t it too much heat? Let’s say if I will preheated for 10 min on 400F then turn it off and put the dough right in. Would it be ok?
Thanks in advance,
Cheers from Canada 🙂
Sorry I didn’t specify how warm the oven should be. Preheat on the “warm” setting. But be careful since some ovens go up to 170 on warm so just heat it to about 100F then turn it off and let the dough stay in there with the oven door closed till it rises. You could also leave it on a sunny countertop.
Can you post meat peroshki thanks!
It’s on my to-do list 🙂
Can u plez post meat peroshki recipe as soon as u get a chance?
don’t need a milk or egg?
This recipe does not call for milk or egg. Pojaloosta 🙂
spasibo natasha, ya obezaltelno sdelayu etot pirojki, ocheni vkusno vidno
Dear Natasha,
Love you recipes + this exquisite Piroshki. Would you be having a recipe for Pelmeni – My dear mother used to make all sorts of piroshki and also pelmeni. Many thanks again.
Use the basic vareniky/pelmeni dough that I have posted and I haven’t posted the filling for pelmeni, 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!
Natasha, thank you for this recipe, I made them yesterday and they were so delicious! I tried both frying them and baking. I have to say that they didn’ t turn out very well in the oven, I think the temp I set was too high. But, the fried ones were awesome. The dough was perfect! I love your site, thanks for the hard work that you put into it. God Bless You!
Thanks for this recipe! I’ve made them in the past and have always just bought store bought pizza dough due to lack of time. This weekend I was planning on making them from your dough and was wondering what you would suggest. I want to bake them instead of frying. What would be the ideal temp and for how long?
I’m not much help with that. I haven’t tried baking them so u will have to experiment. Let me know how it turns out.
Why dont they cook all the way when you fry them. They get golden brown but the inside is still doughy.
I’ve never had that problem before. The only thing I can think of is how much oil you are using? Does the oil at least go half-way up the sides of the piroshki while they are frying? Also, you might be on too high of heat. They shouldn’t turn golden instantly.
Hello Natasha!
Can you suggest another way I can make the bread? Because we only have here those manual mixers that are impossible to use, no electric ones!
You can probably mix everything with a spatula or by hand until all the ingredients are well combined – the dough will be very sticky and that’s ok. So follow this order: 1. mix all the ingredients together well, 2. cover with a towel and let rise in a warm oven (20-30 min), 3. mix well again and then 4. cover with a towel and let it rise in a warm place (like the oven). It should be 2 to 2 1/2 times in volume. The total process should take about 1 hr 15 minutes with rising time. You can let it rise a little more at the end if it didn’t rise enough; it won’t hurt it.
Hi,
I made the potato piroshki and they turned out great. I liked your tip on using the bread machine to mix the dough. Do you have a meat-filling recipe for piroshki? When we were in Ukraine, we thought they used a pork filling, but most of the recipes I find on-line use beef. Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for letting me know! I do have a meat filling recipe. I will post it next time I make them. I love the meat filling!! I believe mine is pork and turkey.
I used to fry them very often when my kids were young. Now they married and moved out…
There are mentioned two wrong ingredients: apples and sugar, that probably got there from different recipe.
It may confuse some beginners…
Thanks Natasha for letting me know. I’ll fix that. That’s what I get for using copy/paste.
These turned out amazing! Thank you!!!
what is the temp?
I believe the temp was about 330 degrees F. They should sizzle when you put them in. I added the temp to the recipe. Thanks Margie!
When I saw the photo of your piroshki it automatically reminded me of my grandmothers, except she makes a peas and garlic filling. I never tried with potatoes but they look so good.
OOps….and about 4 TBS yeast in that bread dough. I shouldn’t be talking to someone about one thing and trying to type about another.
Ah! That is why the dough was so wet. I read the recipe for Apple Piroshki as five 1/4 cups of flour for a 1 1/4 cup total. Seemed really, really, REALLY wet. So I just added flour until it felt right. Piroshki dough always feels light and wet to me with the roughly 2:1 flour to liquid ratio. I’m more used to the standard bread ratio of roughly 3:1. Shura at church once asked me to get her dough out of the mixer and knead it for her – she was aghast at how I started to manhandle it – “No! No! Gently! Is delicate, Joseph! You are not making bricks! GENTLY!”
About half an hour later I had her feel some bread dough I made – 10 cups water, about 2 TBS salt, 1 TBS sugar, and 28 – 30 cups bread flour. She poked at it, looked at me, poked at it…”Oh….is very dense. You don’t touch my piroshki dough again.” Bless her…pushing 90 then and still making piroshki by the hundreds and borscht by the ten gallon batch.
Oh yes, 1 1/4 cups of flour would probably make it the consistency of cake batter 🙂 Your dough stories gave me a good laugh.
Yeah…but it made for a really nice sponge and the yeast was really happy.
Glad you got a chuckle out of the story. I was a bit of a shock to some of the older ladies – a man helping out in the kitchen. Or (gasp) even doing the Sunday lunch! Unheard of!
Natasha, would this dough work for baked pirozhki or does it only work if you fry them? I can’t eat anything deep-fried, so I always bake my pirozhki. I’ve been looking for a quick pirozhki dough recipe for a while now. The only recipe I know is my mom’s and it involves a long rise. Also, the garlic dip is a great idea! Is it Ukrainian? I’ve never heard of a dip for pirozhki in Russia.
I’m not sure if the dip is Ukrainian; might be. I’ve never tried baking these. You might want to add 1/4 cup more flour if you are going to try it because they might be a little sticky for baking.
Yum! You must have self-control made of steel or something!
Hello Natasha- I have enjoyed your recipes so much! Some i am familiar with, others I have looked for recipes for in the past and am happy to find them here, and many are new- a super combination for me! I appreciate all the time you are spending on this blog… you are an inspiration!
Hi Margo – thank you soo much! I sent you an email 🙂
Emmmm…my grandmother used to make these for me as a child in ukraine! I couldn’t ever find a good recipe of them, but I can’t WAIT to try these and share them with my friends here in Italy! Thank you!
Hi Anna, I hope these taste just like your grandmothers. I love them and my mom and aunt make them the same way. I also have apple piroshki posted, the filling is just bits of apple with 1/4 tsp sugar; those make for nice dessert piroshki with tea. Enjoy!
Hi Natasha,
This is a scrumptious recipe that we will try in St Petersburg!
My next post is about sharlotka and has my recommended list of Russian Food Bloggers… you too!
Please look it over when published, and let me know if I missed any good Russian cooking sites.
Keep on cooking!
Rob
Thank you Rob, I appreciate that. I will definitely check it out!
This looks like fun! Maybe when I’m done with my Indian food extravaganza, I will move on to Russian food…
Thanks for sharing your recipe!