Eastern Home Kitchen

Ukrainian Recipes

Ukrainian Potato Varenyky

Soft-dough Ukrainian dumplings filled with potato and fried onion, boiled for seven minutes and served under more onion and a spoon of sour cream.

A plate of potato varenyky topped with golden fried onion, spring onion and sour cream

https://easternhomekitchen.com/recipes/potato-varenyky/

Prep
1 hr
Cook
30 mins
Resting
30 mins
Total
2 hrs
Yield
30 dumplings
Cuisine
Ukrainian

Varenyky are the dish people learn by standing next to someone who already knows how. The filling is potato and fried onion and almost nothing else, which means everything depends on the dough being soft enough to seal without fighting you.

Make the full batch. Rolling and filling takes about the same time for thirty as for fifteen, and uncooked varenyky freeze perfectly on a tray.

Ingredients

Makes 6 servings · about 5 dumplings each

For the dough

  • 625 g5 cups plain flour, plus more for rolling
  • 1 egg
  • 475 ml2 cups warm water
  • 1 tsp salt

For the filling

  • 1.5 kg3 ¼ lb floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 3 tbsp sunflower oil
  • salt and black pepper, to taste

To serve

  • 1 bunch spring onions, sliced
  • 200 g⅞ cup sour cream

Instructions

  1. Set out the flour, egg, water, potatoes and onions. From here it is one continuous job, so it helps to have the filling ingredients ready before the dough rests.

    Flour, eggs, potatoes and onions laid out for making varenyky

  2. Peel the potatoes, cut them into quarters and boil in well-salted water until a knife slides through with no resistance, about 20 minutes.

    Quartered potatoes boiling in a pot

  3. Meanwhile, sift the flour into a wide bowl, add the salt and egg and mix. Pour in the warm water a little at a time, bringing it together as you go.

    Flour, egg and water being mixed into a dough

  4. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes. You are after a very soft dough — softer than pasta, almost tacky but not sticking to your hands. Wrap it and leave it to rest for 30 minutes so the gluten relaxes and it will roll without springing back.

    Smooth varenyky dough wrapped in film to rest

  5. Finely chop the onions while the dough rests.

    Finely chopped onion on a board

  6. Fry the onion in the oil over medium heat until deep gold and sweet, about 10 minutes. Don't rush it — this is most of the flavour in the filling.

    Onion frying in a pan until golden

  7. Drain the potatoes well, add half the fried onion and mash until completely smooth. Season firmly — the dough around it is unsalted. Let the filling cool to warm before you use it.

    Mashed potato and fried onion filling in a bowl

  8. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 2 mm. Not paper thin: too thin and the seams split in the water.

    Varenyky dough rolled out on a floured board

  9. Cut out rounds with a glass or a cutter, roughly 8 cm across. Gather and re-roll the scraps.

    Rounds of dough cut out with a glass

  10. Put a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre of each round, fold it over and pinch the edge firmly from one end to the other. Press out any trapped air as you go — it forces the seam open when it boils.

  11. Lay the finished varenyky on a well-floured tray, not touching, and dust the tops with flour so they don't stick together.

    Sealed varenyky resting on a floured tray

  12. Drop them into a wide pot of boiling salted water in batches, stirring once so they don't settle on the base. They rise to the surface after a minute or two; cook for 7 minutes from the moment they float, then lift them out with a slotted spoon.

  13. Pile them on a plate, scatter over the rest of the fried onion and the spring onions, and finish with sour cream.

    Cooked varenyky served with fried onion and sour cream

Notes & tips

  • The dough should be noticeably softer than pasta dough. A stiff dough will not seal and the seams open in the pot.
  • Let the potato filling cool before you fill. Hot filling steams the dough from the inside and weakens the seal.
  • Cook in batches with plenty of room. Crowded dumplings knock into each other and tear.
  • Any that split are still perfectly good — eat those ones yourself.

Substitutions

  • Potato filling — Farmer cheese with an egg yolk, or sauerkraut squeezed dry and fried with onion, both work in exactly the same dough.
  • Sour cream — Melted butter with more fried onion, if you want them richer rather than tangier.
  • Egg in the dough — Leave it out and add an extra tablespoon of oil — an eggless dough is softer and traditional in plenty of households.

Storage & freezing

In the fridge
Cooked varenyky keep 2 days. Reheat by frying in butter rather than reboiling.
In the freezer
Freeze uncooked on a floured tray until solid, then bag them for up to 3 months. Boil from frozen, adding 2 minutes.
Reheating
Fry in butter until the outsides blister and crisp — arguably better than freshly boiled.
Make ahead
The dough can be made and refrigerated a day ahead; bring it back to room temperature before rolling.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between varenyky and pierogi?

Very little beyond language and habit. Varenyky is the Ukrainian name; pierogi the Polish one. Ukrainian fillings lean towards potato, cheese, cherries and sauerkraut, and varenyky are more often finished with fried onion and sour cream than with butter alone.

Why do my varenyky burst while boiling?

Almost always trapped air or too much filling. Press the air out as you fold, keep the filling to a heaped teaspoon, and make sure the water is at a steady simmer rather than a hard rolling boil.

Can I freeze varenyky?

Yes, and it is the best reason to make a big batch. Freeze them raw and separated on a tray first, then bag them. Boil straight from frozen for about 9 minutes.

How thin should the dough be?

About 2 mm. Thinner looks elegant and tears; thicker is doughy. If you can just see the shadow of your hand through it, stop.