I bought a Christmas CD yesterday. It was the first CD I’ve purchased in legit 3 years. Of course it is filled with Christmas tunes from one of my favourite guilty pleasure TV shows, Nashville. With only a few weeks left until the holidays, I figured I should get into the spirit. Also, the most recent Christmas CD I had was Justin Bieber’s, so it was definitely time for an update.
As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, I love when we receive recipe requests. Especially for Ukrainian dishes. A few months ago, we posted Ukrainian Cabbage Buns and they were a huge hit. Ever since that post, we have received a ton of emails and comments asking for a meat-filled version. Well friends, here it is. The ultimate recipe for Ukrainian beef-filled buns, or ‘Pyrizhky’. I would also like to note that because there are so many different crossovers in food and culture between Ukraine, Poland and Russia, that these may be called by a different name depending on where you are from/grew up. In Russia and other places, these are sometimes referred to as ‘Pirozhki‘ or ‘Piroshki’. Regardless, they are beef-filled baked buns that are beyond amazing. The dough is flaky, buttery and soft. Perfect little bite-sized pieces of heaven if you ask me.
You can definitely make your own fillings as well to go with this dough recipe. You can incorporate mushrooms, ground pork, mashed potato…the options are endless. Not to mention, this recipe is super easy to make.
You will need:
1 cup full fat sour cream
2 egg yolks
2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 tsp. white sugar
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1 white onion, finely diced
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 egg whites
In a medium bowl, mix together your egg yolks and sour cream.
Add in your melted butter.
Then add your flour.
Finally, add your sugar.
Mix together until all ingredients are incorporated.
Place dough onto counter and knead into a ball.
Knead with hands until the dough is soft and elastic, about 3-5 minutes.
Place dough in an airtight container and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.
Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add your ground beef , chopped onion, salt and pepper.
Cook meat until browned and onions are soft and translucent.
Set aside to cool completely.
Once your meat filling is cooled, roll out your dough.
Place dough on a floured piece of parchment paper on the counter.
Your dough will be a little hard and sticky. That is good. It is easier to roll out this way.
Roll out your dough until it is 1/4 inch thick.
Should look like so.
Using a round cookie cutter or cylinder, cut out 2-inch wide circles.
You can make them larger, but we prefer them to be bite-sized in our family.
Stretch dough a little with your fingers and place in the palm of your hand.
Spoon a teaspoon amount of meat filling into the center of the dough.
Be careful not to have any touch the edges as they will not seal properly.
Fold dough over in half and pinch the edges.
You will have a bit of a crescent shape to start.
Round the edges into a oval shape.
Place dough buns onto a parchment lined baking sheet approximately 1 inch apart.
Brush tops of the buns with your unbeaten egg whites.
Bake in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown.
Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
These beauties can also be baked and then frozen for a later date. All you need to do is heat them up!
If you are going to freeze them without baking, ensure you are freezing them in one layer on a plastic wrapped baking sheet.
These buns are so delicious. The dough is flaky and tender.
Perfect holiday comfort food in my books.
Enjoy!
- 1 cup full fat sour cream
- 2 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1 lb. extra lean ground beef
- 1 white onion, diced
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- In a medium sized bowl mix together sour cream and egg yolks. Add in melted butter, then flour and sugar. Mix well.
- Spread dough on the counter and knead until soft and elastic, about 5 minutes.
- Form dough into a ball and place in an airtight container. Refrigerate for at least 8 hour or overnight.
- Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in ground beef and onions. Add salt and pepper. Brown beef until it is no longer pink and the onions are soft and translucent.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool completely.
- Roll your dough out onto a well floured piece of parchment paper to 1/4-inch thickness. Dough will be a little hard and sticky. This is what you want as it's easier to roll out.
- Cut out 2-inch circles using a cookie cutter or cylinder. You can cut out larger circles but we prefer bite-sized buns.
- Spoon 1 teaspoon of the meat filling into the center of the dough circle. Be careful not to get any meat on the edges of the dough as it won't seal properly.
- Fold dough in half over the filling and pinch the edges to seal. You should have a crescent shape. Smooth edges over into an oval shape.
- Place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet approximately 1 inch apart.
- Brush tops of the dough buns with unbeaten egg whites.
- Bake in a 350 degree Fahrehneit oven for approximately 25 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes or until ready to serve.
- Transfer to a wire rack to either cool completely if you are freezing for later.
- These buns freeze very well. After baking and cooling, transfer to a freezer bag and place in the freezer. All you need to do in the future is heat them up in the oven or microwave.
- You can also freeze unbaked in a single layer on a baking sheet wrapped with plastic wrap.
36 Comments on Ukrainian Beef-Filled Pyrizhky
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Alison
November 28, 2014 at 9:15 AM (10 years ago)One of my favourites!!!!! I also like to put finely diced mushrooms in my filling. I can’t wait to make big batch for Christmas!!!!! ….and of course I’m the only one in my family that likes them filled with sauerkraut
Claudia's Cookbook
November 28, 2014 at 2:13 PM (10 years ago)Mushrooms would be awesome in the filling. I have to admit, I like the Sauerkraut ones the best as well 🙂 Thanks for sharing Alison!
Sharaden
December 1, 2014 at 2:17 PM (10 years ago)Looks so good. Thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it out! One thing I was curious about, how come you didn’t use the same dough as the sauerkraut filled buns?
Claudia's Cookbook
December 2, 2014 at 8:39 PM (10 years ago)Thanks Sharaden! You definitely can use the same dough as the sauerkraut filled buns! The dough we featured for these beef-filled buns is slightly more buttery and flakier. Both are great options though. It’s really personal preference. Let me know how you like them! 🙂
charlene devost-boutot
December 9, 2014 at 6:35 AM (10 years ago)Last October, I was desperate to find a meat filling recipe, so I used my own (French Canadian tourtière meat filling recipe) equal portion of ground meat: lean pork, lean beef and chicken) with spices etc. It was awesome. Next time I will use the recipe for the dough which seem to be more flakier). My future son-in-law was quite impressed.
Claudia's Cookbook
December 9, 2014 at 9:24 AM (10 years ago)Thanks so much for sharing Charlene! Your tourtière filling sounds delicious! Glad to hear you impressed your son-in-law 🙂
Mike
December 10, 2015 at 4:15 PM (9 years ago)My background is russian/German and I grew up on these as well as beroques , very similar but with fried cabbage,onion and ground beef as the filling. Beroques were larger, about the size of a hamburger bun. Still would eat 3 or 4 ….
Claudia's Cookbook
December 14, 2015 at 7:12 PM (9 years ago)Yum! Those sound awesome Mike!
Dawn Evans
November 10, 2021 at 8:03 AM (3 years ago)My husbands grandmother was German and taught me how to make bierocks. I wonder if a person could add kaput a to these perisky?
Nadia
March 15, 2016 at 2:14 AM (9 years ago)Hi Jamie,
Do you think the dough would be as good with a dairy free sour cream?
Claudia's Cookbook
March 20, 2016 at 8:21 PM (9 years ago)Hi Nadia – I can’t say for certain as I’ve never tried dairy-free sour cream. That being said if the texture is similar, I don’t see why not!
Doris
October 24, 2016 at 9:12 AM (8 years ago)I’m 57 snd haven’t had these in more than 45 years. I can’t wait to try and see if they taste as wonderful as my moms did. Thank you for the recipe.
Claudia's Cookbook
October 30, 2016 at 4:09 PM (8 years ago)You’re very welcome, Doris!
Tetyana
December 1, 2016 at 9:59 PM (8 years ago)I’m a Ukrainian-Aussie newly-wed who has really started to miss Baba’s cooking. I’m ready to impress my hubby with these 🙂 Thank-you!!
Claudia's Cookbook
December 13, 2016 at 10:03 AM (8 years ago)You’re so welcome, Tetyana! Let us know how impressed your hubby is with the recipes 🙂
Tetyana
December 11, 2018 at 7:59 PM (6 years ago)He loved them!! I made a whole batch of sauerkraut ones for the family af Christmas too. The sour cream dough is sooo delicious 🤤 They really turn out well every time using this recipe and make a super tasty snack :)) thanks!
Claudia's Cookbook
December 11, 2018 at 9:20 PM (6 years ago)Yay!! So happy you like them!
Caroline
December 12, 2016 at 9:06 PM (8 years ago)Is there any leavening like yeast or baking powder in this recipe?
Claudia's Cookbook
December 13, 2016 at 9:59 AM (8 years ago)No.
Ken
March 8, 2017 at 4:13 PM (8 years ago)when I was a kid, my friend’s grandmother lived with them. She had escaped the Russian revolution and made it to the U.S. She would make the most fabulous dishes and this was one of them….at least very similar. I think her dough was a sour cream dough.
Claudia's Cookbook
March 11, 2017 at 11:42 AM (8 years ago)Thanks for sharing, Ken!
Michelle
April 28, 2017 at 2:47 AM (8 years ago)I just made these and I was not happy with the overall end product. I followed your recipe to a “T” and found the dough to be too sweet and in my opinion, does not compliment the beef filling at all. On another note, I absolutely LOVE your recipe for cottage cheese dill buns. It has become my go-to recipe for that filling.
Karen
September 8, 2017 at 7:57 AM (7 years ago)Will try these look good but would anyone know of a dough that is more like a not sweet doughnut dough ????
Karen
September 8, 2017 at 7:59 AM (7 years ago)Thirst look good and i will try them but am looking for these made with a more doughnut like dough.
Betty
November 24, 2019 at 8:02 PM (5 years ago)In our very Ukrainian household,pyrizhky/ with only a cottage cheese filling and a yeast dough. But then, on the farm, you always had cottage cheese. Now I make them with dry curd cottage cheese and a bit of sour cream. After baking, we make a cream sauce with dill and green onion and make them for an hour more. But I will definitely try beef. Thanks for a different take on the recipe.
Karen Traunot
September 9, 2017 at 3:09 PM (7 years ago)I made these and rolled crust just when it was warm enough to roll had put in fridge overnite outer part of crust flaked but rest still doughy i cook a lot and dont know what i did wrong weren’t quite 1/4 inch thick (dough) so wasn’t too thick
Ellie Maley
May 8, 2020 at 9:25 PM (5 years ago)I made these buns this evening & realize I’ve made a mistake. I used the recipe with sour cream, egg yolks, butter etc..BUT I forgot to let the dough rest in the fridge ,instead I rolled it out , rolled nicely, cut in circles, filled with hamburger filling THEN….OPPS, read that dough was supposed to cool over night.
I put the filled buns on a tray in the fridge..it this going to work????
I was brought up in a Ukrainian district near Yorkton Sask… loved the food our neighbors served..Yummmm. Now have to see how they will turn out any ideas?
HUggs E. 🙏🏻😷
Jerri
November 11, 2018 at 1:17 PM (6 years ago)Just made these for our Ukrainian dinner group. They were a big hit! But, not easy to make due to their small size. It is worth noting that the meat pieces need to be very small so they not puncture the dough. I think I would make them slightly bigger next time in order to fit in more filling.
Anna
December 29, 2018 at 12:00 PM (6 years ago)Is it okay to have light sour cream for this recipe? or is full-fat required?
raju
September 11, 2021 at 12:28 AM (3 years ago)Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
Sarah
January 7, 2022 at 3:45 PM (3 years ago)Hi Claudia, Like all the other comments, thank you for the recipe! Your site brings back such loving memories of my Grandma.
Do you (or anyone else) know of any other way of cooking these? My grandma’s were a really deep brown and I’m pretty sure she didn’t bake them in the oven… I recall a really large pot (but that could have been the water for the varenyky…). Could she have deep fried them? My Australian mum always complained that there was too much oil in Grandmas cooking! 🙂
Thanks again Claudia!
Heide
March 3, 2022 at 10:03 AM (3 years ago)I was curious if the sour cream could have a substitute and get the dough right still? My body doesn’t tend to get on with it, and I was just curious if anyone had any ideas about non-dairy substitutes that might work well in this dough.
Claudia's Cookbook
June 15, 2022 at 5:06 PM (2 years ago)I’m sorry, I haven’t tried a substitute. Perhaps plain 2% or higher greek yogurt? I can’t guarantee the results.
Lori
March 28, 2023 at 3:40 PM (2 years ago)I have made your recipe exactly as you stated and they turned out amazing. The best I have ever eaten. I have frozen some for future snacks but what is the best way to reheat them without the dough getting dry?