Stuffed with ricotta and pumpkin, this easy pierogi recipe is healthy, hearty and extremely satisfying! Toss your pumpkin pierogi with a quick brown butter sage sauce for a cozy meal perfect for autumn!
When Viktor and I took a weekend trip to Krakow a few years back, we spent the days roaming the beautiful streets in search of the perfect pierogi. From tiny little corner shops to cozy cafes, we sampled everything from the traditional potato and cheese to sweet dumplings filled with cherries and blueberries! Now that autumn is in full swing, I’ve been enjoying these Polish dumplings at home with a seasonal twist — pumpkin pierogi!
pierogi dough
The dough for these pierogi just calls for flour, a pinch of salt, hot water and a few tablespoons of melted butter. It comes together quickly and only needs to rest for half an hour before you can roll out and form your dumplings.
You don’t need any special equipment to make these pierogi (although sometimes these little dough presses can be fun) — just grab a glass to cut out the dough and a fork to make indents around the edges. The dough is generally pretty easy to seal, but if it does happen to get dry, you can brush the edges with a bit of water to make it stick together.
ricotta pumpkin pierogi filling
We actually used our homemade pumpkin puree for this recipe, but canned pumpkin will work too! The only other ingredients are ricotta, parmesan, an egg and nutmeg. We had the perfect amount of filling for about 40 pierogi using a 3 inch (8 cm) cutout. If you decide to go with pierogi that are a bit bigger, I would suggest mixing up a bit more of the filling to make sure that you have enough!
brown butter sage sauce
Rolling and cutting out dough is enough work for dinner, so we like to pair our pumpkin pierogi with a delightfully simple brown butter sage sauce!
You’ll just need a few slices of bacon (completely optional), butter and fresh sage leaves. First, cook the bacon until crispy and then set it aside. Next, melt the butter with your sage leaves and cook over medium heat until the sauce becomes brown and foamy with a nutty aroma. Make sure to stir frequently to prevent burning! And that’s it — our sauce is ready!
After boiling your pierogi, you can quickly sear them in the brown butter if you want, but that’s completely optional. They’re just as tasty placed directly on a plate with a bit of crispy bacon and the brown butter spooned on top.
If you love dumplings as much as we do, you’re definitely going to want to check out these favorites:
- pelmeni | russian meat dumplings
- beef khinkali | georgian dumplings
- pork and kimchi mandu | korean dumplings
ingredients
pierogi dough
- flour 2 ¾ c (340 g)
- salt ½ tsp
- hot water 1 c (240 ml)
- melted butter 2 tbsp (30 g)
ricotta and pumpkin pierogi
- pumpkin puree 1 c (250 g)
- ricotta ¾ c (200 g)
- grated parmesan ¼ c (30 g)
- egg (beaten) 1 large
- nutmeg ¼ tsp
- salt ½ tsp
brown butter sage sauce
- bacon 3 strips
- butter 4 tbsp (55 g)
- sage 5 leaves
instructions
ricotta and pumpkin pierogi
- Combine the flour and salt.
- Add in the hot water and melted butter. Knead for about five minutes.
- Place the dough in a bowl, cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, mix together all ingredients for the filling in a large bowl.
- Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to ⅛ inch (3 mm) thickness. Cut out 3 inch (8 cm) circles and spoon about one tablespoon of filling into the center of each pierogi. Fold the pierogi in half and pinch to seal.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pierogi and cook until they float.
brown butter sage sauce
- Cook the bacon in a large skillet until crispy. Remove to a paper towel lined plate. Drain the pan of grease and wipe clean.
- Melt the butter in the pan over medium heat. Add the sage leaves and cook until the butter begins to turn brown and foamy (2-3 minutes). Remove the sage leaves from the sauce.
- Optional: Turn the heat to medium-low, add the pierogi and sear briefly on each side.
- Serve the pumpkin pierogi with brown butter sauce and crumble the bacon over top.
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