Blueberry pierogi are a delicious sweet kind of pierogi filled with blueberries. These traditional pierogi are a must-try in summer! You can use fresh or frozen blueberries or swap them for strawberries, cherries, or plums!
Fruit pierogi are most often eaten as a main dish in summer, although you can also eat them as a dessert.
Making pierogi is very easy but if you need a visual, I have a video showing how I make pierogi in this pierogi dough recipe post.
What are pierogi?
Pierogi are one of the most popular Polish dishes (in Poland and abroad!). These polish dumplings are made with a simple unleavened dough and filled with sweet or savory fillings. They are boiled and then sometimes additionally pan-fried. It’s the comfort food of every Pole!
I’ve seen people calling them pierogis, perogy, pyrogy, perogies, perogis, pierogies – yes! so many different versions. It’s much simpler in Poland – pierogi is the plural name of these delicious dumplings (so calling them pierogis makes no sense since this is already plural!) and 1 dumpling is 1 pieróg. You could also call them pierożki (this is how my daughter calls them!) which means ‘small pierogi’.
Ingredients
Here’s what you need for pierogi dough:
- flour – I used all-purpose flour
- water – the water should be very warm but not boiling (it will make the dough softer)
- salt – to season the dough
- butter – adds flavor and makes the dough softer, you can use any vegetable oil instead (like sunflower or canola oil), some readers also reported that this recipe works well with vegan butter
For the blueberry filling you will need:
- Blueberries – in Poland wild blueberries, also called billberries or European blueberries, are used for this recipe, they are smaller than American blueberries, more juicy, and they have a more concentrated flavor. They are not cultivated but grow wildly in forests, they are harvested in summer and sold at farmer’s markets.
- flour or corn starch – thickens blueberry juices, you’ll need more if you’re using wild blueberries or European blueberries (mentioned above) – they are very juicy and break easily
- sugar
You can use frozen blueberries for this recipe – toss frozen berries with sugar and flour then put them back in the freezer. Take it out only when you are ready to fill your pierogi and don’t let it thaw. If using wild/European blueberries, be prepared – it can get messy!
Instead of blueberries, other fruit can also be used – strawberries, plums (season them with cinnamon), sour cherries, sweet cherries. The most popular fruits for fruit pierogi are strawberries and blueberries. Chop the fruit into smaller pieces, if they are not very juicy, you can omit adding the flour.
A very popular variation of this recipe: make a farmer’s cheese (twarog cheese) and blueberry filling – it’s super delicious.
Steo by step instructions
Make the pierogi dough
STEP 1: Stir the flour with salt in a medium/large bowl. Warm the water with butter/oil in a small pot until very warm but not boiling. Add the liquid to the bowl.
STEP 2: Stir the dough with a spoon until roughly combined.
STEP 3: Knead the dough by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a hook dough attachment, until it’s soft and smooth (it will take about 5 minutes with the mixer). When you follow the recipe (especially if you weigh the ingredients, instead of using measuring cups), the dough should be perfect, but if for some reason it’s not, add some water if it’s too dry, or a little bit of flour if it’s too wet. If the dough already forms a ball, is relatively smooth, but still tough, it means that it’s not ready, it must be further kneaded until soft and elastic (after resting time it will be even softer).
Wrap the dough with plastic foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes. While the dough is resting, make the filling. You can make it in the same bowl.
STEP 4: Divide the dough into 2 parts. Roll out the first part of the dough on a lightly floured surface (I like silicone rolling mats). Cut out rounds with pierogi cutter/biscuit cutter/a glass. The dough should be rolled out thinly. If the dough is hard to roll out, set it aside for about 5-10 minutes to rest. Gather scraps, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside.
Fill and shape pierogi
STEP 5: In a medium bowl, stir the blueberries with sugar and flour/corn starch. If you have regular American large blueberries you will need less flour (or even none if they are not juicy) and if you have frozen blueberries or wild smaller blueberries (European blueberries) that are very juicy and break easily, you will need to add more flour.
STEP 6: Scoop some filling with a teaspoon and place on each round.
STEP 7: Fold the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape. Press edges together, sealing and crimping with your fingers.
STEP 8: Place the pierogi apart on a towel or chopping board, lightly sprinkled with flour, cover loosely with a kitchen cloth so that they don‘t dry out. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Cook pierogi
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the pierogi in batches (for a 8-inch (21 cm) pot I cook about 10-12 dumplings at a time). When they float to the water surface cook them for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the dough.
- Drain well and transfer onto a plate.
Enjoy!
How to serve them
Serve them with lightly sweetened whipped cream or plain yogurt. I also like to sprinkle them with cinnamon.
Here you’ll find all my pierogi sauces and toppings ideas.
Storing and freezing instructions
Storage: To ensure that the cooked pierogi don‘t stick to each other, toss them with melted butter. Store in a closed container in the fridge for about 2 days. On the next day, it‘s best to pan-fry them with butter until golden.
You can also store pierogi dough in the fridge for up to 2 days. The next day you can make the filling and cook fresh pierogi. Don’t leave the blueberries with sugar – they will release juices and it will be very hard to fill the pierogi with such blueberries.
Freezing: you can freeze cooked and raw pierogi. You can cook frozen pierogi straight from the freezer (don’t thaw them).
How to freeze pierogi: Place the pierogi apart on a tray, lightly sprinkled well with flour. Freeze until solid. Transfer to containers on plastic bags.
How to cook uncooked frozen pierogi: Cook like fresh pierogi but take them out once they float to the water surface.
How to cook cooked frozen pierogi: I cook frozen dumplings just like fresh ones, with the difference that you can cook a smaller amount of them at a time, I cook max. 7-8 frozen pierogi at once (and about 10-12 fresh). When you drop too many frozen pierogi at once into the water it will lower its temperature too much and they will burst.
More pierogi recipes
I have many pierogi recipes on my website!
- recipe for pierogi dough
- post describing many different authentic and modern pierogi fillings
- pierogi ruskie (authentic potato and cheese pierogi)
- potato and cheese pierogi the American way (with cheddar)
- sweet cheese pierogi (another kind of dessert pierogi)
- pink pierogi with spinach and feta filling
- pierogi with sun-dried tomato and lentil filling
- sauerkraut and mushroom pierogi
- uszka – tiny wild mushroom pierogi
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Blueberry pierogi
Ingredients
for the dough:
- 2 cups (250g) flour
- 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp (140g) water
- 1.5 tablespoons (20g) butter
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
for the filling:
- 1 1/2 cups (225g) blueberries
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon flour or corn starch
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Instructions
Make the dough:
- Stir the flour with salt in a medium/large bowl.
- Warm the water with butter/oil in a small pot until very warm but not boiling.
- Add the liquid to the bowl. Stir the dough with a spoon until roughly combined.
- Knead the dough by hand or with a stand mixer fitted with a hook dough attachment, until it’s soft and smooth (it will take about 5 minutes with the mixer). If you follow the recipe exactly (especially if you weigh the ingredients, instead of using measuring cups), the dough should be perfect, but if for some reason it’s not, add some water if it’s too dry, or a little bit of flour if it’s too wet. If the dough already forms a ball, is relatively smooth, but still tough, it means that it’s not ready, it must be further kneaded until soft and elastic (after resting time it will be even softer).
- Wrap the dough with plastic foil and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Shape and fill pierogi:
- Divide the dough into 2 parts.
- Roll out the first part of the dough on a lightly floured surface (I like silicone rolling mats). Cut out rounds with pierogi cutter/biscuit cutter/a glass. The dough should be rolled out thinly. If the dough is hard to roll out, set it aside for about 5-10 minutes to rest.
- Gather scraps, cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Make the filling: In a medium bowl, stir the blueberries with sugar and flour/corn starch. If you have regular American large blueberries you will need less flour (or even none if they are not juicy) and if you have frozen blueberries or wild smaller blueberries (European blueberries) that are very juicy and break easily, you will need to add more flour. Make the filling directly before filling pierogi, don’t leave the blueberries in sugar for too long or they will release juices.
- Scoop some filling with a teaspoon and place on each round.
- Fold the dough over the filling to create a half-moon shape. Press edges together, sealing and crimping with your fingers.
- Place the pierogi apart on a towel lightly sprinkled with flour, cover loosely with a kitchen cloth so they don‘t dry out.
- Repeat with the remaining dough.
Cook pierogi:
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the pierogi in batches (for a 8-inch (21 cm) pot I cook about 10-12 dumplings at a time). When they float to the water surface cook them for 1-2 minutes, then remove from the water with a slotted spoon. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of the dough.
- Drain well and transfer onto a plate.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Instead of butter, you can use vegetable oil or vegan butter.
- You can use frozen blueberries for this recipe – toss frozen berries with sugar and flour then put them back in the freezer. Take them out only when you are ready to fill your pierogi and don’t let them thaw. If using wild/European blueberries, be prepared – it can get messy!
- Instead of blueberries, other fruit can also be used – strawberries, plums (season them with cinnamon), sour cherries, sweet cherries. The most popular fruits for fruit pierogi are strawberries and blueberries. Chop the fruit into smaller pieces, if they are not very juicy, you can omit adding the flour.
- You can swap half of the blueberries for Polish twarog cheese (farmer’s cheese).
- How to serve blueberry pierogi: Serve them with lightly sweetened whipped cream or plain yogurt. I also like to sprinkle them with cinnamon.
- The amount of pierogi: based on the feedback that I got from the readers, the amount of pierogi you’ll get from this recipe can vary greatly! My pierogi are rather small and I like to pack them with a lot of filling, that’s why I got 50 pierogi from this recipe. This may be different for you and you can get only half of this amount.
- Calories = 1 serving (1/4 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!
1 Comment
Lizzie
17 March 2024 at 21:24straightforward recipe. Easy-to-follow instructions. kid friendly !!!!!!