How do you turn pierogis into a meal? You have got to make our easy pierogi casserole with kielbasa and cabbage baked in the oven. It is so good even the kids will have seconds and it can be made cheesy too if you like!
I have been cooking frozen pierogies for my family for years. Never had I strayed from the normal way of either boiling them to tender or make frozen pierogies in air fryer and serving as a fun side dish with dinner, until now!!
One night I had some kielbasa sausage that needed to be cooked and had leftover cabbage from the night before. I hate wasting food so it dawned on me that combining these three things might make a really good casserole, and it did!
Adding in a creamy sauce to the mix made it something my family actually raved over (and that is the goal right?). Let me explain how I made this so you can make this cheesy dish this week as well.
Now let’s talk about the main ingredient. You can find a few different varieties of these noodles filled with mashed potatoes at your local grocery store, in the freezer section. The typical flavors are cheese, garlic and potato and onion. It doesn’t matter which you choose. Mrs. T’s Pierogies is the most popular brand.
Ingredients for Pierogi Casserole
You are going to want to buy 2 boxes of frozen pierogies (16 oz. each). Either buy the same or mix and match flavors, we used a 5 cheese blend this go around. If you wanted to cut this in half to feed fewer people you certainly could and use just 1 box.
Do you need to thaw the frozen pierogies?
Yes, to get the best texture and allow the thick center to get warmed and soft you want to thaw these first. All you need to do is leave the boxe(s) on the counter for about 1 hour before starting this process.
Grab a link of kielbasa sausage. Once again there are several choices and any of them work. You can find a spicy version, smoked etc…
Your head of cabbage should be small and cut into cubes, about 1 inch in size so the leaves can break down and get nice and tender with all the other ingredients. No need to boil cabbage first, it will cook with everything else.
Adding some melted butter, cream cheese and sour cream will create a creamy sauce to coat everything and make it the comfort food you will want to make over and over.
You should add some chicken broth to provide more liquid for everything to bubble and get nice and tender under the foil.
And then there is cheese, and a lot of it. Now this is optional and could be left off (or use a dairy free alternative – Daiya has great choices). We used shredded Swiss this go around. I add some seasonings here and there too, listed below.
Variations
I mean there are tons of substitutions you can make but I will go over the most general ones. As for the meat you really could throw in anything that is precooked. With that said I will do this when I have leftover pulled pork or even chicken. Ground beef works too!
If you wanted to make this spicy you could sprinkle in some dry Sriracha or chili powder. Instead of the cream cheese sauce I created below you could use alfredo sauce. Just you’d want to use enough to coat everything which would be 1.5-2 cups of that.
How Long to Cook Pierogi Casserole
You are going to want about 50 minutes total to bake this in the oven. With that said there is a range depending on your personal preference as to how soft you want the cabbage leaves and meat. Generally this is perfect for us though. 😉
How do you know when it is done?
It is all about texture, you want it to be nice and tender. This takes time, covered, to do. Checking with a fork you can feel and see whether the tines slide in and out easily, just do that. You also want the added cheese on the top to melt which only takes a few minutes at the end.
Pierogi Casserole Recipe
Equipment
- 1 casserole dish 9×13" size
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 head cabbage, small, chopped into 1" cubes
- 1/2 cup onion, diced
- 2 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 link kielbasa, cut into 1/2" rounds, then cut in half
- 2 packages frozen pierogies, cheese used, 16 oz each, thawed
- 2 cups cheese, Swiss cheese used, shredded
Instructions
- * Leave the boxe(s) of frozen pierogies on the counter for about 1 hour before starting this process so they can thaw.
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Melt butter in a large skillet and add cabbage and onions. Stir well and cook over medium heat until cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in garlic, paprika, salt, thyme and cayenne pepper and cook an additional minute. Remove from heat.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together softened cream cheese, sour cream and broth. Fold in cabbage, kielbasa, and thawed from frozen pierogies, 1 cup cheese and pour into prepared casserole dish.
- Spread evenly in dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake for 45 minutes or until center is hot when a knife is pushed into it. Remove from oven and discard foil. Top with remaining cheese and return to oven for 4-5 minutes to melt. Serve hot!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
