Polish Potato Dumplings Recipe

(Last Updated On: April 16, 2024)

This Polish potato dumplings recipe goes way back in time, probably more than a couple of hundred years ago! I say that because my mother-in-law, Alice, and her mother, Granny, made them all the time. I am sure Granny’s mother, and her mother made them too. They made them as a side dish that goes with fried pork chops and sauerkraut as we still do today, although, they could also be made as a main dish.

🏷️ Key Ingredients

The ingredients used in this recipe are simple and you may already have them in your kitchen. Also, this recipe makes a large batch of potato dumplings, so you can cut the recipe in half or have leftovers the next day as we do.

• 5-pound bag of potatoes
• 1 ½ teaspoons of table salt
• 7 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 pound of bacon
• 1 medium onion
• 1/8 teaspoon of table salt (for the boiling water)

✨ How to Make Polish Potato Dumplings

These step-by-step instructions are accompanied by detailed photos for enhanced clarity and guidance.

Step 1. Peel the Potatoes for the Dumplings

To begin with, let’s peel that 5-pound bag of spuds. Place the peeled potatoes in a large bowl of cold water so they won’t turn brown while you are still pealing the other potatoes.

Tip: When trying to figure out how many potatoes to make for your family, plan about 1 to 2 potatoes per person, and then add a couple more for good measure.

Step 2. Cut the Potatoes into Cubes

Then, after peeling all the potatoes, cut them into cubes with a sharp knife. The smaller you cut the potatoes, the easier it is for your blender to do its job.

Step 3. Put the Potatoes into the Blender

The next step is to put the cut-up potatoes in the blender. Add the potatoes a little at a time. Keep adding the potatoes and blending them into a purée. You won’t have enough room in the blender for all of them, so dump out the blended ones into a big bowl. Continue to blend the rest of the potatoes until done blending all of them.

Note: If you don’t have a blender, you can grate the potatoes with a cheese grater. That is how the ladies did it back in the old days when there was no such thing as a blender. And so the procedure was passed down from one generation to the next. But… it does take a long time to do it that way, not to mention how hard that is on the hands. Certainly, an electric cheese grater would be much easier on the hands.

Step 4. Transfer Puréed Potatoes to Large Bowl

Pour the puréed potatoes in the same bowl you used earlier. In the next step mentioned below, we will be adding the flour and salt.

Step 5. Add the Flour and Salt to the Puréed Potatoes

In a separate bowl, add 7 cups of flour together with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Mix well. Then, a little at a time, add the flour and salt mixture to the bowl of puréed potatoes, creating the dumpling dough. Mix thoroughly.

Step 6. Cook The Potato Dumplings

Add 1/8 teaspoon of salt to a big pot of water. We used a pot that was big enough to hold 20 cups of water about half way up the pot. Put the salted water on the stove and bring it to a boil.

When the water starts boiling, drop the uncooked dumplings by spoonful into the boiling water. Be sure not to make the spoonful too big. While the shape of the dumplings doesn’t matter, if they are too big, they won’t cook evenly with any smaller ones. Little pieces of dough may separate from the dumplings, and that is perfectly fine.

Hint: Wet the spoon first in the boiling water, then start putting the dumpling dough into the boiling water. The wet spoon makes the potato mixture not stick to the spoon. Also, if you don’t have a large pot, you can cook half of the batch of the dumpling dough at a time.

Cook the dumplings for about 15 minutes. Use a spoon to stir the potato dumplings while they are boiling in the water. If you don’t mix them every now and then, they may start to stick together or stick to the bottom of the pot. After cooking for 15 minutes, turn the burner off.

Step 7. Drain and Rinse in Cold Water

Use a slotted spoon – a spoon with holes in it – and remove the potato dumplings from the hot water, then put them into a colander in the sink. Run cold water over them. This step is a must-do step. The cold water will rinse off the starchy build-up formed around the potato dumplings.

Rinse the pot you were cooking the potato dumplings in and then put the cooked potato dumplings back into the same pot. Set them aside for now.

Step 8. Slice the Bacon and Onions

Slice one pound of raw bacon into pieces, and then dice one medium-sized onion.

Tip: Semi-frozen bacon is easier to cut.

Step 9. Fry the Bacon

Put the bacon pieces in the frying pan first, then cook on medium heat until about halfway done cooking.

Step 10. Add the Diced Onions

After the bacon is just about done, then add the diced onions.

Step 11. Fry the Bacon to Your Liking

Continue to fry the bacon and onions until they are to your liking. This may take about 15 minutes or so. I like my bacon completely done and the onions soft.

Step 12. Add the Bacon and Onions to the Potato Dumplings

Next, transfer the bacon, onions, plus the bacon grease, to the pot with the cooked dumplings. Mix thoroughly. Turn the burner on medium-low. Then reheat the potato dumplings and the bacon and onions to your liking, for about 7 to 10 minutes. Stir occasionally so they won’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

🌟 Recipe Variations

• If you don’t like onions, you can eliminate them from this recipe.
• Try pouring maple syrup on your serving.
• Sprinkle some red pepper flakes on your serving.

❓ FAQs

📄 Final Thoughts

From one generation to the next, recipes can stay the same, or they can change quite a bit. Sometimes there are minor changes to a recipe, and then again, sometimes there are major changes to a recipe. This simple Polish potato dumplings recipe is the same as it was from many years ago from my husband’s side of the family who migrated to the United States from Poland. It is our family’s favorite Polish cuisine!

My husband eats potato dumplings just like they are, but the kids and I pour maple syrup over the top of ours. See the maple syrup in the photo? The taste reminds me of something my mom made many years ago. So delicious. I hope you enjoy these delicious Polish potato dumplings as much as we do!

🗂️ Recipe Card

💙 More Recipes You Will Love

If you love Polish recipes and Polish dumplings, or any kind of dumplings for that matter, we have a few similar dumpling recipes that are quite tasty.

• Milk Soup with Dumplings – Tiny little cooked flour dumplings added to milk and sugar for breakfast or lunch.
• Fried Dumplings with Syrup – Shaped like a rolled noodle, fried in cooking oil and maple syrup poured on top. For breakfast, lunch, or brunch.
• Chicken Soup Dumplings – a delicious chicken soup made with rotisserie chicken and lots of dumplings.