Description
Tender and delicious, these Vegan Pierogi with Potato and Leek are the perfect appetizer. These vegan dumplings are easier than you think!
Ingredients
Scale
Dough
- 250g (1 ½ cups + 1 tbsp) unbleached all purpose flour (see note 2)
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 tbsp Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer + 4 tbsp water (see note 3)
- ½ cup vegan sour cream (see note 4)
- ¼ cup coconut cream/solid milk from can OR softened vegan butter
Filling
- 1 cup mashed or riced potatoes
- 1 small (or ½ large) leek, diced (see note 5)
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- ½ tsp sea salt
Toppings, optional
- 1 cup diced shallot or onion for serving
- Extra vegan sour cream and/or applesauce for serving
- Chopped parsley for garnish
Instructions
- Make the dough: Add the flour and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine. Make a well in the center and add your prepared vegan egg replacer (for Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer, just mix 2 tbsp of the powder with 4 tbsp of water and let it sit for 3 min), vegan sour cream, and coconut cream or softened vegan butter. Combine with a strong spoon, spatula, or your hands until you have a somewhat sticky and rough dough ball. If your dough is too try, add a touch more vegan sour cream or coconut cream. If it is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour. Either way, don’t add too much of either thing or you’ll end up overcompensating.
- Refrigerate: Flatten the dough ball somewhat and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Place in the fridge and allow to chill for at least an hour, or up to 24 hours (if you want to make the pierogi the next day).
- Make the mashed potatoes: Dice and boil potatoes (you don’t need to dice them but this makes the boiling time shorter). As soon as you can easily mush or pierce them with a fork, remove from heat. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the potatoes to a medium bowl, or drain them in a colander but reserve some of the starchy boiling water. This can be mixed into the potatoes while mashing them which creates a nice creamy texture. I follow the same process as in my vegan mashed potatoes recipe.
- Cook the leeks: While the potatoes are cooking, dice up a small leek (or half a large leek), and saute over medium high heat with a touch of water as needed (or oil, if you prefer) in a large nonstick skillet. It took me about 6-7 minutes to get nicely caramelized leeks. You can also use onion or shallot, but the leek is a really nice flavor.
- Make the filling: When they are cooked, gently stir them into the mashed potatoes and add any seasoning you like--I used sea salt and nutritional yeast. I also added 2 tablespoons of coconut cream from the can I already had open, but you can use vegan butter, any non-dairy milk you have in the fridge, or just a bit of the starchy cooking water you boiled the potatoes in.
- Set up: Set up a workstation with a lightly floured work surface (I use a Boos board), your dough, a rolling pin, a bowl of extra flour, the bowl of filling, a spoon, a fork, and a circle cutter of some sort. I used a 2.5” biscuit cutter but you can use a cookie cutter or a floured glass. I recommend a diameter between 2 and 3”.
- Boil water: Also, start a large pot of salted water boiling if you are cooking these right away.
- Roll and cut the dough: Roll out the dough so that it’s an even thickness of about ¼”. It doesn’t matter what shape, as long as the dough is fairly even. You may want to flour the top of dough and/or your rolling pin if you notice any sticking. Like cookies, use your round cutter or glass to cut as many circles as you can fit. We can re-roll later.
- Fill pierogi: Take one of the circles at a time and use your spoon to add a small amount of filling. The amount of filling you need will depend on the size of your circle and your dexterity. I don’t have a ton of dexterity, especially in my left hand due to a disability, so I ended up using about a level teaspoon of filling per circle.
- Shape pierogi: Now fold over one edge of the circle and pinch the edges closed with your fingers. If the dough is sticking to your fingers instead of itself, try dipping your fingers in a little extra flour from your bowl. Use the tines of your fork to crimp both sides of the sealed edge of each pierogi. This keeps it from coming apart. Set aside. Once you’ve run out of your first batch of circles, use your hands to mush the dough scraps together and re-roll. You may need to roll it in a bit of flour to make it less sticky. If you find it too dry, wet your hands with warm water and work the dough a bit to moisten it. Repeat this process until you’ve used your dough. You can save any tiny scraps in the freezer for dropping in soups, if you like. water and cook until heated through. Finish on a skillet (see below) if desired.
- Freezing instructions: If you’re freezing, freeze uncooked pierogi on a tray until frozen, then you can add them to a freezer-safe container or bag and store frozen for up to 3 months. When ready to cook frozen pierogi, simply drop in boiling salted water and cook until heated through. Finish on a skillet (see below) if desired.
- Boil pierogi: Once you get 8-10, drop them in the boiling water and set a timer for about 5 minutes. Go back to work on your other pierogi. Once the timer goes off, transfer each pierogi to a colander to drain.
- Cook in skillet: After all pierogi are boiled, saute/caramelize some finely diced shallots or onions in a large non-stick skillet, then scrape them into a bowl and add as many pierogi into the skillet as you can comfortably fit. You can use a bit of oil or vegan butter if you like, but I just used a splash of water. Cook each side until lightly browned and place on a plate.
- Serve: Serve with the caramelized shallots or onions, fresh parsley, and some more vegan sour cream and/or applesauce. Enjoy!
- Store: Refrigerate leftover pierogi (what’s that?) in an airtight container for up to 5 days. I recommend only freezing uncooked pierogi (see freezing instructions above).
Notes
- Note 1: Prep and cooking time estimates do not include refrigeration time since it’s variable.
- Note 2: If you want to make gluten free pierogi, I recommend using a high quality cup for cup flour like Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Flour or King Arthur Baking Company Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour. I always use either of these flours when baking gluten-free and I think they’d work in this recipe.
- Note 3: I used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer which is what I use frequently instead of flax eggs. Flax eggs are great for some things, but they’re a little dense. The commercial egg replacer does a great job of binding and enriching the dough without weighing it down. It also just visually disappears (unlike flax) and is shelf stable.
- Note 4: For sour cream, both the flavor and the texture help enrich the dough to make pierogi. I have a 3 ingredient, 2 minute vegan sour cream recipe, or you’re welcome to use store bought instead. Tofutti makes a nice sour cream. I’d venture to guess that plain unsweetened vegan yogurt would also work fine here. You could also use a vegan ricotta, but I haven’t tried it. If you cannot eat soy, either buy a vegan sour cream that does not contain it, or make my vegan sour cream recipe but substitute a cup of soaked cashews or sunflower seeds instead of tofu.
- Note 5: Leeks are a member of the onion family and have a light and delicate yet delicious savory flavor. You can use onion, green onion, shallot, or omit if you like, but I highly recommend leek. I just sauteed them with a little water, then mixed them in with my mashed potatoes.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Snack, Side
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Polish
Keywords: Vegan, Oil-Free, Nut-Free, Sugar-Free, Can Be Gluten-Free, Can Be Soy-Free, Vegan Pierogi