Pierogi – Vegan Potato and Cheese Stuffed Dumplings

These little pockets of dough, similar to ravioli or Japanese gyozas can be stuffed with a variety of fillings, both savoury or sweet. The fillings vary from sauerkraut and mushroom served with melted butter and caramelised onions to strawberry or plum sprinkled with sugar and served with cream. In Poland, the most popular filling is made with potato and soft white cheese and this is the variation of pierogi we will be veganising today.

Pierogi dough

The dough is a simple dough of flour, water and vegan margarine/butter alternative. Some people like to add a beaten egg to the dough, but I don’t think it is necessary. Not many people do this, and as this is a vegan recipe we won’t be using any egg or egg replacements in this recipe.

Potato and cheese pierogi filling

The potato and cheese filling consists of boiled mashed potato, cream cheese, caramelised onions, salt and a generous amount of black pepper. This can be made up to 2 days in advance!

This recipe makes enough dough and filling for approximately 40 pierogi. This should be enough to serve 2 to 4 people, depending on the portion size. I can easily eat 10-12 and my partner can easily eat 20-25, so it really depends on the person!

Vegan Potato and Cheese Stuffed Pierogi

Print Recipe

Cuisine Eastern European, Polish

Cooks in: 1 hr 20 mins

Servings 42 pierogis

Author Let’s Eat Smart

Ingredients

For the filling

• 320 g potatoes
• 220 g vegan cream cheese
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp vegan margarine or olive oil for frying

For the dough

• 300 g plain flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 200 ml boiling water
• 30 g vegan margarine

Instructions

To make the filling*

• Peel, chop and boil the potatoes until soft and fluffy. Once cooked, drain and set aside to cool completely. 
• Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onion. Heat a little vegan margarine or olive oil in a frying pan. Cook the onion over a low heat for approx. 10 minutes or until completely soft and slightly caramelised. Set aside.
• Once the potatoes are cool, add in the cream cheese, caramelised onions, pepper and salt. Using a potato masher, mash it all together until well combined. Taste and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

To make the dough

• To make the dough, sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Dissolve the vegan margarine in 200ml of boiling water, then pour over the flour. Stir using a wooden spoon to form a dough. 
• Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until smooth. The dough should not be sticky.
• Sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll out the dough until it is approx. 3mm thick. Using a pastry cutter or an inverted glass tumbler, cut out 6cm circles of dough. 

Assembling and cooking

• To fill the pierogi, place a circle of dough in the palm of your hand and add a teaspoon of the filling in the middle of the circle. Fold the dough over to enclose the filling then, using your thumb and index finger, pinch along the edge to seal. 
• Place the pierogi onto a floured surface and cover with a tea towel to prevent them from drying while you make the rest.
• To cook the pierogi, bring a large pan of water with a pinch of salt to the boil. Carefully drop the pierogi one at a time into the water (depending on the size of your pot you should be able to cook around 8-10 at a time). Keeping the water at a gentle boil, cook the pierogi for approx. 6 minutes.
• Using a slotted spoon, lift the pierogi out of the water. You can serve them as they are with a drizzle of melted vegan butter and caramelised onions or gently fry them with a little vegetable oil or vegan butter alternative until golden and slightly crispy.

Notes

*You can make this filling up to 2 days in advance!

Freezing

Because pierogi can be time-consuming to make, it is best to make it in one big batch so double the recipe and freeze them if you can. To freeze, simply blanch them very quickly in boiling water, drain and lay flat on a tray so that they don’t stick together. Place the tray in the freezer. Once frozen transfer into a freezer bag. Cook from frozen in boiling water as below.