Nick doesn’t like sauerkraut and so we came up with this recipe for spinach pierogies. This is our second time making them; but this time, to add some extra flavor, we used some bacon as well. They turned out great and they were a hit with my family along with the other pierogies.

Ingredients:

4 slices of bacon
1 bag of frozen spinach, defrosted and drained
1 tbsp milk
1 tbsp garlic salt
4 cups mashed potatoes, prepared to your liking
1 cup of shredded cheese of your liking, I used Colby Jack and Cheddar Mix
1 package of wonton wraps, about 60 squares, dimensions are about 4″ by 4″
water
oil

Directions:

  1. Cook the bacon in a frying pan, once cooked, remove bacon from grease and chop up finely. Do not discard grease.
  2. Add the spinach to the bacon grease and saute together until spinach seems slightly cooked. Mix in the milk and garlic salt so as to give the spinach some flavor.
  3. Once spinach is prepared, mix in a bowl with the mashed potatoes, so that the mashed potatoes and spinach are well combined.
  4. Now start stuffing and preparing your pierogies. I use a type of assembly line, where I have my spinach potatoes in a bowl, my cheese in a bowl, and a cup of water for sealing the dough. You might want to use some flour on your surfaces you are working with so that the wonton wrapper doesn’t stick.
  5. You take one wonton wrapper and gently place the fillings in the middle of the square. Use about 1 teaspoon of spinach potatoes and 1/2 teaspoon of the shredded cheese.
  6. Next, fold the wonton paper corner to corner to create a triangle. In order for it to seal, dip your finger in the water and dampen the corners of the wrapper. Once closed, dampen the outside corners as well and squeeze the corners together to make sure it truly is sealed. Repeat until you are out of ingredients. Do not place raw pierogies on top of one another because the wonton wrappers stick to each other.
  7. When you are ready to cook them, heat up enough oil to cook the pierogies, but you do not want to fully immerse them. For 10 pierogies in a pan, I would use about 2 tbsp of oil. Heat the large frying pan to about medium heat and gently place the pierogies in the pan for about 2 minutes on each side or until slightly browned. Do not walk away because they can burn easily.
  8. Once pierogies are cooked, serve with sour cream and grilled onions. Enjoy!