Pierogi Recipe {Vegan, Gluten-Free}

I was SO excited when I first created this pierogi recipe! Sometimes when I’m making a recipe healthier, it takes TONS of trial (and sometimes a few delicious errors) to get it perfect.

In this case, though, I swapped out main ingredients for my favourite, reliable switch-outs, and the end result is crispy, filling, cheesy, smokey and just plain delicious the VERY first time!

So, for all you health-junkie pierogi-lovers, here’s a gluten-free, vegan cheese and potato pierogi recipe.

Note: if you’ve ever made home-made pierogis before, gluten-free or not, you know that they’re not a weekday meal. They’re a “look at how fancy my health is, I just spent 75 hours cooking in my boiling hot kitchen, so you ARE going to love these” meal. You’ve been warned, health rock star. 

Vegan, Gluten-Free Pierogi Recipe:

Dough: (adapted from: About.com)
-4 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
-3 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
-1 large tsp. egg replacer mixed with 2 tbsp. water (I use Orgran GF no-egg)
-2 tbsp. olive oil
-2 tsp. Celtic salt
-1 1/2 cups water (added slowly, you may not need that much, you may need a bit more, until your dough forms a beautiful, round ball)

Method:
Add everything together, and knead until you’ve got a hefty ball of pierogi dough. Then wrap in plastic wrap or a container for 30 minutes (or until you’re done the next steps!) and keep at room temperature.

Now start a big pot of water to boil (no salt).

Potato Filling:
-5 red potatoes, medium-large size

Method:
Peel and dice your red potatoes, and once the water has started boiling, add the potatoes. Once they’re mushy and ready to be mashed, get a spoon with holes in it and grab them out of the water. I did this (ok, this part may not be traditional at all), so that I could re-use the potato water to boil the pierogis in (mostly because I’m a bit impatient at boiling water).

Cheese Filling: (from: Amanda Nicole Smith – I love you!)
-1 cup cashews (soaked for as long as you have time for)
-1 red pepper
-4 tbsp. nutritional yeast
-1 tbsp. lemon
-1 tbsp. SMOKED paprika (it’ll taste bacon-y if you use smoked!!!)
-Celtic salt & pepper

Method:
Whip that in your blender until smooth. Then try not to eat it all before it’s in your pierogis!

Grab a cast iron pan (or your regular grilling pan).

Onion Filling:
-1 onion, yellow, medium size (you’ll need 1 more onion, coming up soon!)

Method:
Dice up your onion into really small pieces. Then toss it in your pan, turn your burner (below that pan) onto medium, and throw in a lug of olive oil (that’s a Jamie Oliver term that I’ve taken for my own. If you’ve got a great bottle of olive oil, it totally will “lug”. Trust your inner chef, you’ll know!)

Grill your onion until translucent, then turn off the burner.

Now grab a big glass bowl, and mash up your potato pieces. Add all of your delicious cheesy filling, and your grilled onion. Mix until light and fluffy. I added another 2-3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast here, as well as another tsp. or two of sea salt. Get it tasting strong, remember, it’s got to be punchy enough to taste good under that delicious GF dough you’ve got.

How to put it all together:
Grab a large piece of parchment paper. Flour it with your gluten-free flour. Squish 1/3 of your dough by hand until it’s flat enough to start rolling out. Flour the top of the dough. Then roll out to about 1/4 of a centimetre. If it’s thicker than that, I’ve got a tip coming up!

Now take a cup or a fancy large circle cutter, and cut your dough into large circles – as many as you can fit. My glass was about 3 inches at it’s widest.

Tip: if your dough was thicker than 1/4 cm, once you’ve cut it with the glass, roll it out again until it’s that thin. Bonus? You can add more filling to it!

Note: if you roll your circles out too much, they may explode cheesy goop on you. This will likely only happen once, and then you’ll know your optimal dough thickness. I believe in you!

Throw about a tbsp. of filling into your pierogi dough circle, and then fold it over and press the two semi-circle (open) edges together. I found if you over-filled it with cheesy goodness and clamped down with your fingers, the edges actually sealed REALLY well with a paste of filling between them. So jam as much filling in there as you can.

Re-heat your onion-grilling pan, chop up some more onion (if you like pierogis with caramelized onion) and start grilling it with Earth Balance Buttery Spread, or olive oil.

Make sure your potato boiling water (or refreshed pierogi-boiling water) is boiling. Then add your first 5-6 pierogis into the boiling water. Wait 2-3 minutes, until they float (some were SUPER fast, others took their time), and then put them in your onion pan (above) to sear and crisp up the outsides.

Repeat the process of rolling out 1/3 dough, cutting it, filling it, boiling the pierogis, and then searing them until you’re out of filling and dough. I made about 15-20 REALLY filling pierogis.

Garnish with chives, your caramelized onion, and your favourite cashew sour cream.

Happy Eating! Yum, yum, yum!!

Did you love them? Did you change anything? I’d LOVE to hear!