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Beef Piroshki are a fried Russian hand pie, or meat pie. Simple, like an empanada. A favorite Russian snack stuffed with beef and onion. Piroshki Recipe (Жареные пирожки)
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Piroshki (Жареные пирожки)

Beef Piroshki are a fried Russian hand pie, or meat pie. Simple, like an empanada. A favorite Russian snack stuffed with beef and onion. Piroshki Recipe (Жареные пирожки)
Course Dinner, Lunch, snacks
Cuisine Russian, Soviet, Ukrainian
Keyword Piroshki
Prep Time 1 hour 45 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 2 hours 30 minutes
Servings 24 Piroshki
Author Peter Kolesnichenko

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 1 ⅓ cups lukewarm milk
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 egg
  • 3 tablespoons melted butter

For the filling

  • 1 lb/500g ground beef
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 small onions finely diced

Instructions

Preparing the Yeast Dough

  • Pour yeast, sugar, salt, and ½ of the lukewarm milk in a bowl. Whisk together and mix in 2 tablespoons of flour. Allow to sit for 15 minutes until it starts to bubble and foam, seeing the yeast is activated.
  • In a larger bowl, add the flour, egg and melted butter. Pour in the yeast mix and combine all together until it forms a dough ball. Knead on a floured surface for about 5 minutes until smooth and elastic.
  • Place back into an oiled bowl, cover loosely with cling wrap and a kitchen towel. Place in a warm place until it rises, about 1 ½ hours. Punch down dough to remove air, gently knead again before using.

Making Piroshki

  • In a frying pan, over medium high heat, the ground beef until cooked and evenly browned. Add onions and continue to fry until translucent. Add salt and pepper, set aside to cool.
  • When the dough is ready, carefully place onto a very lightly floured surface. Careful not to overwork the dough, it needs to be soft. Using your hands, roll out the dough into a long sausage shape. You want to cut into pieces that are approx the size of a golf ball. Or you can pinch off golf ball pieces from the dough. You should get at least 24 pieces from this recipe. Cover pieces you aren’t working on with cling wrap so they don’t dry out.
  • Shape dough balls into the shape of an oval about 4 inches across (using your hands to shape, or gently with a rolling pin). Place about 1 tablespoon of the meat mixture in the centre. Pinch both sides of the edges of the dough together, creating a seal all around. Don’t allow the filling to touch the edges or the seal will come apart. Flatten the pinches edges, or leave like a perogy.
  • Heat a skillet with about 1″ of oil until hot. Gently place about 4-6 piroshki into the oil (pinched side down) and cook until they’re golden brown, around 3-4 minutes. Flip over and cook other side.
  • Remove onto a plate lined with paper towels to absorb excess oil. Serve immediately.