What to eat with pierogies?

[Elizabeth86]

My husband bought some and I have never even had them before. What do I serve with them?

[MrsMommy]

I serve them with kielbasa.

[kbutton]

Yes, Kielbasa, but anything really. 

[Drama Llama]

Cabbage cooked with carrots, onions, and kielbasa. 

[Elizabeth86]

20 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said:

Cabbage cooked with carrots, onions, and kielbasa. 

I’m not the best cook. Could you give me a bit of details, it sounds delicious.

[Drama Llama]

Just now, Elizabeth86 said:

I’m not the best cook. Could you give me a bit of details, it sounds delicious.

So, the pierogies, I'd saute with some butter and onions.

In a separate large pot I'd put some cut up kielbasa on the bottom, and on top add a whole bunch of cut up white cabbage, a bag of baby carrots, some onions, and maybe some potatoes.  I'd personally skip the potatoes if I did pierogies, but the potatoes are yummy.  

The put on a lid and put it on a medium low burner for a while, maybe 20-30 minutes.  

That's it.  Super easy, super fast, and cabbage is cheap.  

I like to make a big pot, and then the kids have leftovers for snack, because it lasts well. 

[Elizabeth86]

21 minutes ago, Baseballandhockey said:

So, the pierogies, I'd saute with some butter and onions.

In a separate large pot I'd put some cut up kielbasa on the bottom, and on top add a whole bunch of cut up white cabbage, a bag of baby carrots, some onions, and maybe some potatoes.  I'd personally skip the potatoes if I did pierogies, but the potatoes are yummy.  

The put on a lid and put it on a medium low burner for a while, maybe 20-30 minutes.  

That's it.  Super easy, super fast, and cabbage is cheap.  

I like to make a big pot, and then the kids have leftovers for snack, because it lasts well. 

Sounds great! I will give it a try!

[barnwife]

Add butter to skillet. Add pierogis, cook/brown them, and eat. If they are potato/meat/cheese, you can add onions to the skillet. If they are fruit-filled, don't add onions. Instead top with sour cream mixed with sugar.

Serve them with anything really. (Or you could just eat a meal of pierogis...not that I've ever done that. Nope. Definitely not. Nuh uh. No way.) Anything can be kielbasa, ham, whatever. 

I'm willing to show up and eat a very socially-distanced pierogi meal. That's the one traditional to my family food that we actually didn't make this Christmas. And now I want them.
 

[Clarita]

I second butter and onions. If super lazy and even with the butter and onions you can just top them with European sour cream or creme fraiche. The European sour cream is lower viscosity than the American version. You can cook pierogies like you would gnocchi either pan fried or boiled.  

[JennyD]

I haven't made this yet but I keep meaning to try it.  Hetty McKinnon's recipes rarely let me down.

[whitestavern]

When we have them we just serve them by themselves, like one would with pasta. We either top them with sautéed caramelized onions or breadcrumbs toasted in butter. 

[Harriet Vane]

Yes to kielbasa and to sauteed cabbage.

I also like to have chunky homemade applesauce with Polish food. Peel, cook, mash. Add a pinch of brown sugar if tart.

[Drama Llama]

So, this is none of my business, but when people say they serve it by themselves, do you literally mean with no vegetables or fruit?  

I try to serve one or both with every meal, even if it’s just from frozen or sliced apples.  

[J-rap]

I serve them with a marinara sauce and a little grated cheese, and then a large vegetable portion on the side, like roasted brussel sprouts or steamed broccoli.  Maybe a slice of Italian bread too.

[Elizabeth86]

2 minutes ago, J-rap said:

I serve them with a marinara sauce and a little grated cheese, and then a large vegetable portion on the side, like roasted brussel sprouts or steamed broccoli.  Maybe a slice of Italian bread too.

Great idea! I already have all the things for that!

[fraidycat]

Perogies are a main staple in our family. At holiday meals, they are homemade and served alongside turkey, ham, cabbage rolls, etc.

For weekday meals, we use frozen pre-made - usually served alongside sausage of some sort - kielbasa, farmer sausage or whatever you like.

We boil them separately, saute onions in butter in a large pan, add the boiled perogies, (boiled in small batches so they don't stick together) to the onion pan. Serve topped with sour cream.

They are delicious when fried over the next day as well. 
 

Then add whatever side you want like salad or green beans or any vegetable your family likes.

Edited January 4, 2022 by fraidycat

[marbel]

We would serve them with sauteed or braised cabbage and onions tossed with some caraway seeds, and rye bread.

[itsheresomewhere]

We sauté them with butter and either serve them as a side dish with dinner or alone for lunch.  Nothing like a delicious bowl of them for lunch. 

[Idalou]

I grew up eating the ones filled with potatoes or farmer cheese with butter and onions. They were usually the main dish, as my mother made a huge amount and probably didn't feel like cooking anything else.

When my grandmother made kielbasa, that was always a clue that she was making sour cherry pierogis. Oddly enough, as a kid I didn't think they were a dessert food.

[barnwife]

2 hours ago, Baseballandhockey said:

So, this is none of my business, but when people say they serve it by themselves, do you literally mean with no vegetables or fruit?  

I try to serve one or both with every meal, even if it’s just from frozen or sliced apples.  

Well, usually for us they are eaten as part of a holiday meal. So no, they don't get served by themselves. But our church once had a pierogi fundraiser. I bought what to me seemed like a small amount of them for our family size. I would have ordered more, but I was already purchasing (way) more than anyone else. We brought them home, cooked them, and had them for lunch. Knowing me, I probably sliced apples or something too. I do remember being internally grumpy that we didn't have many left over, and wishing I had bought more.

But I honestly can't remember. And in the grand scheme of life, I just can't work up the energy to care about one meal my kids/we may have eaten that was only pierogies. I/we/they have certainly eaten worse things. FWIW, I also try to serve a veggie or fruit or both with most meals. But I figure if I do that 80% of the time, we're doing okay. (Am I out of the running for mother of the year? This may be a record for how quickly I've taken myself out of the running!)

Also, my family almost always makes sauerkraut ones and fruit ones. If they have fruit inside, why add one on the side? I'd never eaten a cheese/meat/potato one until I was an adult. 

Long story short, I wouldn't usually serve only pierogies. But I am willing to make exceptions.

[Starr]

Often we sauté onions, and have applesauce and sour cream with ours. So yummy 

[Drama Llama]

I am not saying I would never serve just pierogies or Mac and cheese or grilled cheese or whatever.

But I aspire to vegetables, so I guess I wouldn’t answer “what do you serve with . . .?” Wjth nothing because I like to think I am the kind of parent who would at least throw some baby carrots and applesauce cups on the table.  

I guess maybe in my mind the question was what do you plan to serve when you plan for pierogies? 

[whitestavern]

2 hours ago, Baseballandhockey said:

So, this is none of my business, but when people say they serve it by themselves, do you literally mean with no vegetables or fruit?  

I try to serve one or both with every meal, even if it’s just from frozen or sliced apples.  

They’re pretty high calorie and dense, so I don’t feel the need to add anything. And I really can’t imagine any veg or salad that would go well. The ones I like best are filled with a cabbage mushroom mix so that’s my veg I guess!

[Arcadia]

4 hours ago, barnwife said:

Add butter to skillet. Add pierogis, cook/brown them, and eat.
 

We buy them from grocery outlet and that’s how my kids eat them. They are potato pierogis and I think the brand is Cheemo

OP,

Cheemo brand recipe page link https://cheemo.com/recipes/

[KungFuPanda]

5 hours ago, Elizabeth86 said:

My husband bought some and I have never even had them before. What do I serve with them?

I serve them with any combination of kielbasa or smoked sausage, beets, and sour kraut. I pan fry them with butter, olive oil, and onions and serve sour cream on them. 
 

Sometimes we fry them up with bacon and onions then top them with cheese, green onions, and sour cream. We call this pierogi-skins and, yes, we’ve had them for dinner . . . more than once. 😬

[marbel]

10 hours ago, Baseballandhockey said:

I am not saying I would never serve just pierogies or Mac and cheese or grilled cheese or whatever.

But I aspire to vegetables, so I guess I wouldn’t answer “what do you serve with . . .?” Wjth nothing because I like to think I am the kind of parent who would at least throw some baby carrots and applesauce cups on the table.  

I guess maybe in my mind the question was what do you plan to serve when you plan for pierogies? 

Well, most people did mention something, at least onions, which are a legit vegetable. 🙂 But also, yeah, sometimes our dinners are one-dimensional and the vegetable may be the cilantro and bit of lettuce sprinkled over the meat-and-cheese taco.  🤷‍♂️ Or I may not serve a fruit but there will be apples or clementines or something that gets eaten by some or all of us, depending on desires. 

[KungFuPanda]

13 hours ago, Baseballandhockey said:

So, this is none of my business, but when people say they serve it by themselves, do you literally mean with no vegetables or fruit?  

I try to serve one or both with every meal, even if it’s just from frozen or sliced apples.  

Usually they’re part of a meal. If we’re eating JUST pierogies they’re a lazy lunch or dinner. We didn’t do this when we had children in the house. At my house, we ONLY buy the pierogies with potatoes and cheddar. You could get them stuffed with other things, including veggies, and treat them like a stand-alone meal. Even when you’re being lazy, it’s easy enough to crack open any combination of a can of beets, a can of kraut, or a jar of applesauce. You could also throw colorful peppers or some cabbage in the pan with pierogies and keep it one-dish

[happi duck]

I can't imagine pierogi with marinara.  

[gingersmom]

More pierogis!!!

[barnwife]

12 hours ago, Arcadia said:

We buy them from grocery outlet and that’s how my kids eat them. They are potato pierogis and I think the brand is Cheemo

OP,

Cheemo brand recipe page link https://cheemo.com/recipes/

It's how my Polish grandmother cooked/served them. If it was good enough for her, it's good enough for me!

[Amethyst]

We eat ours with salsa and fried onions. Usually some broccoli too.

[Elizabeth86]

On 1/3/2022 at 7:08 PM, Baseballandhockey said:

So, the pierogies, I'd saute with some butter and onions.

In a separate large pot I'd put some cut up kielbasa on the bottom, and on top add a whole bunch of cut up white cabbage, a bag of baby carrots, some onions, and maybe some potatoes.  I'd personally skip the potatoes if I did pierogies, but the potatoes are yummy.  

The put on a lid and put it on a medium low burner for a while, maybe 20-30 minutes.  

That's it.  Super easy, super fast, and cabbage is cheap.  

I like to make a big pot, and then the kids have leftovers for snack, because it lasts well. 

This was delicious! Thanks for talking me through it. I added the cabbage later on in the cooking because dh doesn’t like cabbage to be very soft. Thanks so much!

[Drama Llama]

17 minutes ago, Elizabeth86 said:

This was delicious! Thanks for talking me through it. I added the cabbage later on in the cooking because dh doesn’t like cabbage to be very soft. Thanks so much!

I'm so glad!  

[Arctic Bunny]

On 1/3/2022 at 7:05 PM, Baseballandhockey said:

So, this is none of my business, but when people say they serve it by themselves, do you literally mean with no vegetables or fruit?  

I try to serve one or both with every meal, even if it’s just from frozen or sliced apples.  

Farmer’s sausage/kielbasa/garlic sausage, and perogies, in the instant pot for 6 minutes. Boom done. Serve with sour cream. Emergency meal: check. Everyone still alive: check. 😄

[Drama Llama]

2 minutes ago, Arctic Bunny said:

Farmer’s sausage/kielbasa/garlic sausage, and perogies, in the instant pot for 6 minutes. Boom done. Serve with sour cream. Emergency meal: check. Everyone still alive: check. 😄

Do you add water or anything?

The only thing I cook in my instant pot is N95's but I keep saying I'm going to change that.  

 

[Arctic Bunny]

1 minute ago, Baseballandhockey said:

Do you add water or anything?

The only thing I cook in my instant pot is N95's but I keep saying I'm going to change that.  

 

Lol! A cup of water or so. I put the perogies in a colander over the sausage and scoop a butter/margarine type product on the perogies so it melts as they cook and prevents sticking. Or (and this feels particularly grievous for some reason) I spray each layer of perogies with non-stick spray canola oil.

I see sauerkraut is being suggested as a vegetable, and if that does indeed count, we have a vegetable. If it’s not a true emergency meal, a side salad.

[Drama Llama]

1 minute ago, Arctic Bunny said:

Lol! A cup of water or so. I put the perogies in a colander over the sausage and scoop a butter/margarine type product on the perogies so it melts as they cook and prevents sticking. Or (and this feels particularly grievous for some reason) I spray each layer of perogies with non-stick spray canola oil.

I see sauerkraut is being suggested as a vegetable, and if that does indeed count, we have a vegetable. If it’s not a true emergency meal, a side salad.

To be clear, I totally get the "emergency meal" thing.  I just read, in my mind, the OP as "what do you aspire to serve with pierogies".  If I'm writing down my meal plan, or my grocery list, there are always fruit and/or vegetables.  That doesn't mean my kids haven't been served a meal that consists entirely of bagels and cream cheese.  

Sauerkraut is definitely a vegetable.  

[Arctic Bunny]

Just now, Baseballandhockey said:

To be clear, I totally get the "emergency meal" thing.  I just read, in my mind, the OP as "what do you aspire to serve with pierogies".  If I'm writing down my meal plan, or my grocery list, there are always fruit and/or vegetables.  That doesn't mean my kids haven't been served a meal that consists entirely of bagels and cream cheese.  

Sauerkraut is definitely a vegetable.  

😂 I guess I mean it’s on my easy list and unless it’s Christmas, I’m saving perogies for my once every 8-16 day “I work nights, dad’s on days, and homework took longer than expected” meal. 🙂 So not part of a meal plan, so much as it’s a part of my not meal plan 😉 and therefore, no balanced meal required.

[QueenCat]

I like mine with caramelized onions and cheddar cheese. They have really good ones at Whole Foods.