This delicious Russian Piroshki Recipe is easy to follow and yields twelve Fried Piroshki! Fluffy and light like a donut, these Piroshki are filled with potatoes, meat, and spices! Serve hot and enjoy as a snack or main dish! Perfect for a cozy fall or winter day.
RUSSIAN PIROSHKI RECIPE WITH POTATOES AND MEAT
Today I’m sharing with you this delicious Fried Piroshki With Potatoes And Meat recipe!
They’re fried buns stuffed with a delicious potato and meat filling. They’re soft and fluffy like fried donuts and they’re basically the definition of comfort food which is why they’re *SO* popular in Russia!
With this easy-to-follow Russian Piroshki recipe, you can make these at home wherever you are!
WHAT ARE PIROSHKI?
Piroshki (or Pirozhki, this would be a much more accurate romanization) are boat-shaped buns made with a super fluffy yeast-leavened dough. They’re filled with sweet or savory fillings. They can be fried or baked.
Potatoes, meat, mushrooms, mixed vegetables, and boiled eggs are some of the most popular savory fillings! Sweet Piroshki, on the other hand, are usually filled with fruit like apples, cherries or apricots, jam or tvorog (farmer’s cheese or quark).
They’re usually hand-sized and are best eaten hot or warm! Some people like to dip them in sour cream 😛 .
HOW DO YOU MAKE PIROSHKI?
- Make the dough. Simply combine egg, sugar, and salt, mix, then pour in the milk and oil and give it another mix. Sift in the flour, add the yeast, and mix until a dough starts forming. This dough is supposed to be super soft and it will be a bit sticky at first. Don’t freak out, simply flour your work surface and knead until it’s soft, smooth, and elastic.
- Let it rise until double in size.
- Make the filling. Mash the boiled potatoes and add the meat, sald, paprika, coriander, cumin, and pepper. Mix and pour in the melted butter. I recommend popping the filling in the refrigerator to chill while you prepare the dough for the next step if your kitchen is particularly hot.
- Assemble the Piroshki by dividing the dough into 12 pieces. Roll out each piece into an oval and add the prepared filling. Pinch the sides together to seal the bun and roll it out again to flatten it down. See the pictures below for more detailed instructions! You should have a hand-size boat-shaped bun when you’re done!
- Fry your Piroshki in hot oil. The oil temperature should always be around 350F – 375F so I recommend using a kitchen thermometer if you’re new to frying! If the oil is too cold the buns won’t fry and will soak up all the oil, if it’s too hot they will burn.
HOW DO YOU SHAPE PIROSHKI?
Simply grab a piece of dough, roll it out into an oval shape, add about 2 tbsp of filling, then pinch the sides of the dough to seal the dough, flip it, and roll it out again to flatten it down.
For 12 large Piroshki, each piece of dough should weigh exactly 2 oz but feel free to make them smaller if you want to serve these as an appetizer!
HOW DO YOU STORE PIROSHKI?
Piroshki are best eaten as they’re made *but* if you have to store them, place them in an air-tight container and refrigerate for 1-2 days. Reheat until fully heated through.
HOW DO YOU REHEAT PIROSHKI?
If using the oven: 1-2 minutes at 350F.
If using the microwave: 40 seconds on high.
CAN YOU FREEZE PIROSHKI?
I would recommend freezing the dough as fried piroshki are best eaten as they’re made.
To freeze the dough, let it rise, then punch the dough down to release the air, wrap it in plastic wrap then add a layer of aluminum foil and freeze. You can freeze Piroshki dough for up to 2 months.
When you’re ready to make your Piroshki, thaw the dough overnight in the refrigerator, punch it down again to release any air, then continue following the recipe.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH PIROSHKI?
Piroshki are great as a cozy snack, appetizer, or main dish (if they’re big enough and hold a ton of filling)! That being said, I would keep the rest of the meal pretty light as Piroshki are fried and stuffed with meat, potatoes, and cheese!
Here are my favorite options: Healthy Roasted Veggies, Spicy Lebanese Potatoes or Spicy Honey Garlic Glazed Carrots would be great options. If you’re looking for a cozier alternative, any cozy soup of your choice will work!
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PIEROGI AND A PIROSHKI?
This is (oddly enough) a pretty common question. I say oddly enough because Piroshki and Pierogi have nothing in common!
Piroshki are stuffed buns, while Pierogi are dumplings. The Russian equivalent for Pierogi would be Vareniki (or Varenyky)!
HAPPY FRYING LOVES!! I hope you’ll love these super cozy Russian Piroshki with potatoes and meat as much as I do!
Please leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating if you make it! I LOVE hearing from you! <3
MORE RUSSIAN RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE:
- Authentic Shchi (Russian Cabbage Soup)
- Russian Olivye Salad (Salat Olivye)
- Russian Chocolate Salami (Shokoladnaya Kolbasa)
- Russian Chocolate Cake Truffles (Shokoladnaya Kartoshka)
Russian Piroshki Recipe With Potatoes And Meat
Ingredients
For the Piroshki Dough
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp white granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp (155 ml) milk warm
- 5 tbsp (50 ml) water warm
- 1 tsp instant yeast
- 3 and 1/3 cups (415 g) all-purpose flour sifted
For the Piroshki Filling
- 2 large potatoes boiled in salted water
- 1 small onion
- 10.5 oz ground meat (pork, beef, chicken, or turkey)
- 1/2 tsp salt or to taste
- 1 and 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 stick (55 g) unsalted butter melted
- Vegetable oil for frying
Instructions
For the Piroshki Dough
- Make the dough. In a large bowl, add the room temperature egg, sugar, and salt. Beat until foamy. Pour in the warm oil, milk, and water and mix. Sift in 3 cups of flour, add the instant yeast and immediately mix the flour into the egg mixture.
- Knead the dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. The dough will be sticky at first. Gradually add in the remaining flour (if needed) until your dough is soft and glossy but not sticky anymore. You should be able to knead your dough without it sticking to your hands. Knead for 5-6 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
- Let rise. Place the dough into a large bowl greased with vegetable oil, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until double in size. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, this might take anywhere from an hour to two hours. Meanwhile, make the filling.
For the Piroshki Filling
- Make the filling. Mash the boiled potatoes, add in the ground meat, salt, paprika, coriander, cumin, and pepper. Mix. Gradually add in the melted butter until you get a soft and sticky filling. Cover and set aside. You may want to refrigerate the filling if your kitchen is hot and your dough isn't ready yet.
How to Assemble and Fry
- Divide into pieces. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide into 12 equal pieces for large Piroshki. Each piece of dough should weigh exactly 2 oz. You can also make smaller Piroshki if desired.
- Assemble the piroshki. Grab each piece of dough, roll it out into an oval, fill it with 2 tbsp of filling (use less if making smaller Piroshki), then pinch the sides together to seal the dough, flip, and roll out again (see pictures for reference). Your Piroshki should be about 1 inch thick. Do not let the filling or melted butter seep out or the Piroshki will open while frying. Cover both the remaining pieces of dough and assembled Piroshki with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. Work quickly to keep the dough from rising too much.
- Fry. In a large deep frying pan over medium heat, add the vegetable oil. The Piroshki should be able to float in the oil. The oil temperature should be between 350F and 375F. Fry each Piroshki for 3 minutes (flipping it once) or until golden brown on both sides. Place the fried Piroshki on a clean plate lined with paper towels to drain. Some Piroshki may puff up a lot, it's okay. Serve immediately!
Martha
I made my own ground beef and potato mixture but used everything else from this recipe. Amazing! Sooo so good. The whole family loved them. For sure a new go-to for us.
Bianka
Hey Martha! I’m so happy to hear that your family loved this recipe! Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it!! xo
raju
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
Bianka
Thank you, Raju!
Jl
Hi! Just trying out this recipe now. But what do I do with the water that is supposed to go in the dough? I can’t find it in the instructions. Thanks so much!
Kacie
Hi! I made this recipe but adding 3 cups of sifted flour made it extremely dry to the point that when I attempted to mix with my hands it was like sand. I dumped this mix and instead did everything the same way except I used 1.5 cups of flour and this turned out much better. I’m not sure why when I attempted the recipe I needed half the flour as everyone else? I’d love to hear your thoughts on what I might have done wrong. Thanks!
Bianka
Hi Kacie! Thanks for reaching out! It could be different things. Did you weigh the flour or did you use cups? If you used cups, did you spoon and level? When working with flour, I always recommend using a kitchen scale because that way you’ll know exactly how much flour you’re adding to the dough. This is how professional bakers do it to ensure consistent results every time. Cups aren’t always reliable as 1 cup of flour can be 125 g and the next one 137 g. If you don’t own a kitchen scale, I recommend using the spoon and level method to fill your cup as scooping the flour directly from the bag/container can lead to 30% more flour being packed into your cup. Excess flour can cause dry, crumbly, tough dough. Another reason could be different flours absorb liquids differently so the flour I use may need more liquid while your flour may need less. xo