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Follow this recipe to learn how pierogi from scratch should actually be made. Sauerkraut and Mushrooms Pierogi are one of those things that remind me all about Christmas as a kid. Warm and cozy Christmas Eves with presents galore and family everywhere.
Although there are many variations of what people serve on Christmas Eve in Poland, I have not heard of one home that wouldn’t serve Sauerkraut and Mushrooms Pierogi.
I usually make my Pierogi a few weeks before Christmas and then freeze them. This year, I only cooked for my husband and I, so I made our Pierogi on the morning of Christmas Eve.
Notably, I didn’t include our  little man in the head count, as he is at the stage of eating only what he likes (e.g., he could have pizza every day). I wrote in this post about traditional foods for Christmas in Poland and how to make a perfect pierogi.
This time I want to introduce you to Sauerkraut and Mushrooms Pierogi from Scratch.
The dough is pretty simple – you just need flour, milk, water and butter. Mix it together and let it rest under a bowl for about half an hour. Then you roll the dough in batches and cut out little circular pieces of the dough, using either a cookie cutter or a wide glass.
The filling for Sauerkraut and Mushrooms Pierogi from Scratch requires a little bit more work.
First, if using dried mushrooms, you need to soak them for few hours or overnight. Then you’ll need to boil them in the same water that they were soaking in for roughly an hour.
In the meantime, you should rinse your sauerkraut, then cover it in water in a pot and boil until soft. It may take an hour as well. I usually do this the day before I make pierogi. Then you’ll need to saute onions with fresh mushrooms until soft. This may take about 30 minutes.
Once all your components for the filling are ready, you can use a food processor to mix them together. Make sure not to overdo it, so it has a recognized texture of sauerkraut and mushrooms.
When your filling is ready, you can start to roll the dough and assemble pierogi. Have a big pot of salty water boiled so you can just drop your pierogis in batches.
I usually take 1/4 of my dough, roll it until thin and then cut out circles and fill them with filling. I then seal them and boil them. Then I move to the next part of the dough. Make sure that you keep your dough covered with the plastic wrap the whole time so that it won’t dry out.
When you drop pierogi into the pot of boiling water, use wooden spoon and mix them so they do not stick to the bottom of the pot. When they eventually rise to the surface, allow them to boil for another minute.
Then take them out and dry them on the baking sheet. Be sure to separate them to avoid sticking. Continue until all the dough and filling are finished. If you end up having leftover filling, you can save it and then the next day make some French Crepes and fill them with this Sauerkraut and Mushroom Pierogi filing. And you’re done.
Enjoy your Sauerkraut and Mushrooms Pierogi from Scratch!
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 3 cups whole purpose flour
- 1/2 cup warm milk
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup of warm water (depending on how much your flour soaks)
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- A little bit of kosher salt
For the filling:
- 1 onion , finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon of oil (whichever you like)
- 2 packages of fresh mushrooms (baby bella), 10 oz. each, sliced
- 1 package of dried porcini mushrooms , 1.5 oz.
- 2 cups of sauerkraut
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
For the dough:
- Pour the flour on a counter or other surface that will allow you to make the dough
- Add a pinch of salt
- Make a little whole in a middle and start adding milk and butter
- Add a little water at the time and work the dough until you can form a ball about 10-15 minutes
- Once done, cover it with the big bowl and let it rest for about 20-30 minutes
- Use 1/4 of the dough at the time, covering the remaining with the plastic wrap
- Roll the dough until thin (like pasta) and using either cookie cutter or large wine glass cut the circles
- Place 1 teaspoon of fling in the middle of the circle
- Wet one half of the circle and then seal it together
- Boil large pot of water and season with salt
- Once the water is boiling put about 8 pierogi at the time
- Once they come to the surface let them cook for 1 minute and using spider or slotted spoon take them out on a plate
- If you are not serving pierogi immediately, take them out on a counter and let them cool down and dry a little bit. Make sure that they are not touching each other. Once cooled, place them on a baking sheet, again with distance from each other, place in a freezer and let them freeze. Once done, you can pack them in the plastic bag.
For the filling:
- Place dried mushrooms in a pot of water and let it stand, preferably overnight
- The day of making pierogi, cook porcini mushrooms in the water that they soaked in
- Rinse the sauerkraut and place in another pot, cover with water and cook for about an hour
- In the meantime heat up 1 tablespoon of oil, add chopped onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes
- Add sliced fresh mushrooms to the onions and cook until soft, about 15 minutes
- When dried mushrooms are cooked, remove them from the water with slotted spoon, reserve the water
- Rinse them well under running water to make sure that they are perfectly clean
- Once all your ingredients are cooked, you can add sauerkraut, fresh mushrooms and dried mushrooms to the food processor and process until finely chopped but not mushy
- Placed processed filling back to the pan and using strainer add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dried mushrooms water and cook for a few minutes
- Check for seasoning, add salt and pepper and cook for few more minutes until all the ingredients are merged.
- Let it cool before starting to assemble pierogi.
If you like this recipe you may also like this Authentic Polish Pierogi with Potato and Cheese:
These sound so amazing. Totally inspired to try making them. Anything involving dough scares me (making it, not eating it) but what’s the worst that can happen right? Beautiful!
Thanks Christine
How many are in a serving?
You should have about 40 pierogi from this recipe and I would say for a healthy serving – 6 or 7 per person.
My family have about 6 to 12 uszka each but 15 to 20 pierogi each. I make mine with a whole cabbage and a whole jar of sauerkraut. There are rarely many if any left to freeze.
What type of Suaerkraut is recommended. Is this just ant store-bought any brand in a jar?
I’m lucky in NY as we have plenty of Polish grocery specialty stores. However, you can buy regular sauerkraut from the supermarket (the one that you would use for hot-dogs). Make sure to rinse it though because it may be too tangy.
Thank you for the recipe. My mother passed away last year, so I’m attempting to make the Christmas Eve dinner in her likeness. I plan on making the pierogi ahead of time and then freezing them. My question is, once I made the pierogi, do I boil it (then dry it like you mentioned), and then freeze it? Or do I simply assemble the pierogi and then freeze it raw (sort of speak), to then boil it on Christmas Eve? Thanks!!
I always boil then dry and then freeze. I’m pretty sure I talk about this process in the post. If not check the recipe for Authentic Pierogi with Potatoes and Cheese. I definitely talk about the process of freezing them.
Have you ever made pierogi with Asian wonton wrappers?
No, I have not. If you try, let me know try let me know how they came out.
Can’t wait to try this at Christmas!
These are sensational 🙂 Tell me, Edyta, have you ever played with adding any herbs/spices to this? I can’t help thinking they might benefit from a certain something. Also, if they are frozen after you have boiled them, how long to cook them again from frozen, more or less? Thanks again!
When they come to the surface just boil them for about a minute.
hi there! is there an alternative to the dried porcini mushrooms? would it work if i bought another 10 oz package of fresh mushrooms in its place?
Yes, you can use fresh mushrooms.