Lazy Pierogi are sweet dumplings made with farmers cheese and flour, then quickly boiled. They are a lazy version of cheese vareniki served for breakfast or dinner with sour cream, butter and jam.
I am going to show you how you can make them easy with ricotta cheese and enjoy a taste of Ukraine.
Lazy pierogi will remind you a lot of gnocchi. In Ukraine, my mom and grandma made them for breakfast and often even dinner.
Traditional “lenivye vareniki” are made with farmer’s cheese (tvorog) but today I will show you how you can make them with store bought ricotta. You may also love syrniki also with ricotta cheese!
My kids love these little dumplings and cooking Ukrainian recipes brings connection, peace and memories!
What Is Pierogi?
Traditional pierogies are made of dough pockets filled with either savory or sweet fillings.
Common versions are sauerkraut, meat, cheese and potatoes. In summer, our family made “vareniki” with sour cherries, strawberries, black and red currants.
While pierogies are extremely fun to eat, they are very labor intensive. Making the authentic version will require preparing the dough, rolling it out thin, cutting out circles, preparing the filling, stuffing them and pinching the pockets.
It is a fun Sunday activity rather than a weeknight dinner!
What is Lazy Pierogies?
With lazy man pierogi you get the taste of classic pierogies without extra labor. It’s like stuffed cabbage rolls vs. cabbage roll casserole. They combine all the ingredients of traditional pierogies but take only 30 minutes to make!
These easy pierogies with cheese, flour and egg are light, fluffy balls of dough combined with delicious toppings just melt in your mouth.
They come together in one bowl, are quickly boiled and served while hot.
Ingredients You Will Need
Let’s make some lazy pierogi quickly. Here is what you will need:
- Ricotta cheese
- Eggs
- All-purpose flour
- Sugar
- Salt
- Butter
- Yogurt, sour cream, jam, butter and sugar for serving
How to Cook Lazy Pierogi
All you will have to do is boil the water, mix dough in one bowl, cut it into uniform pieces and cook. Just remember that handling lazy pierogi is a bit of a gentle process, especially made with ricotta cheese.
- Bring large pot of water to a boil. In a large bowl, add ricotta cheese, eggs, flour, sugar and salt. Stir well until combined. The dough will be sticky.
- Spoon 1/5th of the dough onto a well floured surface and roll into a rope, sprinkling with more flour as you go. Dough will stick to your hands but not much, that’s when you use a bit more flour. Flatten a bit with your hands.
- Cut with a knife into 1 inch dumplings. As you carefully separate each dumpling, give it a gentle roll in flour
- Generously salt the boiling water to prevent sticking and reduce heat to low-medium from vigorous boil. Lazy pierogi are delicate and we cook them low and slow. Now add lenivye vareniki to the pot in batches and cook undisturbed for about 2-3 minutes. Then gently stir with a wooden spoon, making sure they don’t stick to the bottom. Cook for another 3-4 minutes or until they float to the top.
- Remove into a bowl with a wire strainer, add half the butter and stir to prevent sticking. Repeat with remaining lazy pierogi.
My main tip for cooking these Ukrainian lazy dumplings is to handle them gently and they shouldn’t fall apart. I do not love to add too much flour but rather taste more cheese, this keeps dumplings fluffy and light.
Roll ropes gently, drop in water with care, stir with wooden spoon slowly and remove into a dish gently.
FAQs
Ukrainian gnocchi are cooked when they float near the top and about 7 minutes have passed. You do not need to wait for the water to boil again, in fact it will ruin them. Small dough floating pieces are OK.
You can use store-bought cottage cheese only if you drain it in a colander first and then blend in a food processor. Also skip salt in the recipe.
Farmer’s cheese (tvorog) used traditionally in the recipe is dry, therefore doesn’t require as much flour as cottage cheese. That’s why you have to drain and pulse the cottage cheese.
Region where I am from, Kyiv, and our family never made savory version of lazy pierogies or fried them. In Eastern Europe, there are many versions of this recipe that you are welcome to try and share with us.
Sure. To make recipe healthier, feel free to cut back sugar to 1-2 tbsp and use whole wheat flour. They will look a bit darker which is OK. For me, it is a treat and I would like to make and my family taste them just like my grandma used to make.
What to Serve Lazy Pierogi With?
The key is to serve lazy pierogies while hot so the butter melts. In our family, we served lazy vareniki stirred in melted butter, topped with sour cream and sprinkled with more sugar.
You fork each dumpling, roll in these toppings and pop in your mouth. Heavenly!
Nowadays, we often use yogurt instead of sour cream and add jam. Fresh berries are a beautiful luxurious addition, you could also serve with leftovers of healthy fruit salad.
This traditional Ukrainian dish can be served for breakfast, dinner and dessert.
More Ukrainian Recipes
- Ukrainian borscht
- Unstuffed cabbage rolls
- Instant Pot beef stew
- Roasted chicken thighs and potatoes
- Cucumber and tomato salad
I hope you enjoy my lazy pierogi recipe and let me know how you like them!
Would you like to see farmer’s cheese recipe? Would you like me to share more Ukrainian recipes? Please let me know in comments below.
Ukrainian Sweet Lazy Pierogi (Vareniki)
Ingredients
- 17 oz ricotta cheese whey drained from the top
- 2 large eggs
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour more for dusting
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp butter
- Yogurt, sour cream, jam, butter, sugar for serving
Instructions
- Bring large pot of water to a boil. In a large bowl, add ricotta cheese, eggs, flour, sugar and salt. Stir well until combined. The dough will be sticky.
- Spoon 1/5th of the dough onto a well floured surface and roll into a rope, sprinkling with more flour as you go. Flatten gently with your hands and cut with a knife into 1 inch dumplings.
- Generosuly salt the boiling water (prevents sticking) and reduce heat to low-medium and not vigorous boil. These are delicate pierogi. As you carefully separate each dumpling, give it a gentle roll in flour and add to the pot. Work quickly and cook in a few batches.
- Cook lazy pierogi undisturbed for about 2-3 minutes. Then gently stir with a wooden spoon, making sure they don't stick to the bottom. Cook for another 3-4 minutes or until they float to the top.
- Remove into a bowl with a wire strainer, add half the butter and stir to prevent sticking. Repeat with remaining lazy pierogi.
- Serve hot with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream and jam. Or sour cream and sprinkled with sugar. Also can add more butter, just make sure to add it while dumplings are hot.
Notes
- Store: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
- Handle gently: My main tip for cooking these Ukrainian lazy dumplings is to handle them gently and they shouldn’t fall apart. I do not love to add too much flour but rather taste more cheese, this keeps dumplings fluffy and light too. Roll ropes gently, drop in water with care, stir with wooden spoon slowly and remove into a dish gently.
It’s always bothered me how terrible my lazy vareniki look (even though no one but me cares!) so i checked out your recipe for hints. I’d already made my own dough, similar to yours but w/traditional pressed cottage cheese & 3 eggs. I refrigerate for half an hour and pat the dough out to a rectangle rather than rolling otherwise i end up handling them too much. Working with a fifth of the dough at a time, instead of halves, made a huge difference, as did boiling at a lower temp than filled vareniki. And I’ll try 2 eggs next time. Thanks!
My family always served these as a side dish rather than dessert so I don’t add sugar to the dough but this time we did have some with sour cream and jam which was delicious.
So glad you enjoyed them!
Hi
We have lots of cottage cheese variety here but can’t always get ricotta. What would be the best % milk fat for this recipe?
Thanks!!
Any. Of course, the higher the fat content, the tastier.
These were amazing!!! It was all we could do not to eat them completely gone lol. Delicious!
Yeah! So glad you enjoyed them!
I would like how to cook Ukrainian dishes of all regions of Ukraine and thank you for sharing I am so happy to know about the Ukraine culture .
Thank you! Looking forward to how you like them!
Love how easy these were for a quick dessert!
So glad you enjoyed them!