Pelmeni Russian Meat Dumplings + 3 Ways to Fold

These Pelmeni, or Russian Meat Dumplings are delicious morsels of food made with ground beef, onion and dough. They are flavorful and absolutely satisfying. One of my most favorite everyday dishes to make though it does take a little bit of time. There is something satisfying in making these and the flavors can’t be beat.

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These dumplings are actually pretty simple to make. Ground meat with onion and spices, covered by some dough and cooked in water. But for me, these are absolutely delicious. They’re a wonderful reminder of my childhood and maybe that’s what makes them so special.

These little dumplings have a rich history and seem to be a long time favorite dish of Siberia (Read all about it here). They did become spread out throughout Russian, though they probably came there from China.

Anyway, if you make these, I hope you come to love them as much as we do.

Ingredients for Pelmeni

Dough – water, egg, salt, flour

Filling:

• Ground meat – ground beef is always my preference. Sometimes I use a mix of ground beef and ground pork (50/50). Use whatever you like or have on hand.
• Onion – I mostly use white onion. You can also do red or shallots, or a mixture of both.
• Seasonings – Salt and ground black pepper.

Dough for Pelmeni

Start off with making the dough for these dumplings as it is easier to work with if it has laid for a bit (Tip: Make the dough the night before and it will be ready go the next day).

In a big bowl, add hot water and salt. Stir so the salt dissolves and allow the water to cool off to room temperature. Add the egg and beat a little in the water. Add the flour until a good dough forms that doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still very sticky, add some more flour. Knead the dough until a smooth ball forms. Cover and let sit.

Tip: It’s okay if the dough is not smooth at first (image 3 above). Cover it and let it stand for a bit. Then knead again until you have a round, smooth ball of dough (image 4).

Meat Filling

Meanwhile, prepare the meat filling. Finely chop the onions and combine with ground meat and seasonings in a bowl. Mix the mixture thoroughly using your hands until well-combined.

Instructions to Make Pelmeni

Method 1 – Rolling each piece out by hand

This is probably my favorite method by far, though it’s not the easiest or fastest. That’s the way I learned to make these dumplings when I was still a child staying over at my grandparents’ house and I find it makes the most beautiful pelmeni ever:) You also don’t need any extra equipment to make this except a rolling pin.

Start off by cutting off a piece of dough. It doesn’t matter how big, just not too big. Roll it out into a long sausage. The sausage should be about 1cm thick.

Cut the sausage into small round pieces about 1cm thick. Dip the flat sides of the circles into some flour, dust off the extra flour and set aside, covered with a bowl or a towel.

Roll out individual dough pieces on the counter. Do 5-10 pieces at a time. Make sure to keep the rest covered so that the dough doesn’t dry out. If the pieces stick to the rolling pin, add a bit more flour.

Place about a teaspoon of meat in the middle of each rolled out piece of dough. Fold the dough in half and pinch the edges shut. Fold the ends to each other and pinch them together.

Place the finished dumplings on a well-floured cutting board. As you make more batches of the meat dumplings, make sure to keep the finished ones covered with a clean kitchen towel.

Method 2 – Cutting out a batch of dough pieces (instead of rolling out)

The second method for making these dumplings is to roll out the dough into a large circle, cut it into squares and then fold the dough the same way as in method 1. The method is faster since you are not rolling out each piece of dough by hand.

However, since you are cutting the dough into squares, the dumplings are not really round at the end. Instead, they have edges. Which look kind of cute, but are maybe not to everyone’s liking. Other than that, they taste exactly the same.

The biggest downside with this method for me is that I can’t seem to cut the squares evenly and big enough. So the dumplings end up being different sizes or really small:)

Method 3

The last method to make these dumplings is to use a Pelmeni metal mold, or Pelmenitsa. The advantage here is that you don’t have to manually fold each pelmen with your hand. Instead you use a rolling pin to stamp them into the mold. So you save a bit of time making these.

Thoroughly sprinkle the mold with flour (not pictured). Roll out a large, round piece of the dough and place it on the top of the mold covering all the holes from edge to edge. Place the meat into each hole.

Roll out a second piece of dough, cover the meat and the first piece of dough. Use a rolling pin to roll over the dough and basically stamp the dumplings out. Each dumpling will be shaped and the excess dough will remain on the mold. You just need to remove the pelmeni out of the mold and you have a whole bunch of dumplings ready at once.

The disadvantage of this method is that you need to make sure to flour the mold well, otherwise the individual dumplings will totally stick to the mold. You also have a lot of left over dough. Somehow, the little mold holes are so big, that I used all my meat up and still had half the dough left.

If using this method, double the amount of meat or halve the dough.

How to Cook Meat Dumplings

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt and then the dumplings. Stir the water until the dumplings are floating so they don’t stick to to bottom (takes about a minute). Cook the dumplings on medium heat. The water should still be boiling/simmering, but it shouldn’t be a rolling boil where the water is splashing out from the pot.

Fresh Pelmeni need to be cooked for 5 minutes after they start floating. If you are using frozen Pelmeni, cook them for 7 minutes after they start floating.

Take out the dumplings using a slotted spoon and place into a bowl. Add a sliver of butter on the top and mix into the dumplings until melted. Enjoy!

Toppings/Dips for Pelmeni meat dumplings

Always, always top the dumplings with butter. Ok. Maybe that’s a preference thing, but butter really makes everything better. And helps prevent the dumplings from sticking to each other. Aside from that, here are some delicious toppings to serve the Pelmeni with:

• Sour cream – probably the most traditional Russian topping for Pelmeni. You could also do yogurt instead, if you like that better.
• Tomato sauce – like my Homemade Adjika or just blend some tomatoes and garlic with salt for a simple, fast sauce.
• Sriracha sauce – add Sriracha for some heat. One of my favorite toppings along with sour cream
• Tomato Salsa – any kind
• Ketchup – well-loved by children:)
• Fresh herbs – like finely chopped dill or parsley.

What to serve with Pelmeni

Pelmeni are actually a complete meal (IMO) so you don’t need to serve anything along them. However, if you really want to spruce it up, here are some things you can serve along them.

Use the water from cooking Pelmeni as a broth. Ladle some into a bowl and then add the Pelmeni in there. This makes it a kind of a simple Pelmeni soup.

Serve a salad on the side to make this a more complete meal:) Something like my Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Salad or this Two-Ingredient Tomato Salad would go great here.

How to Store and Reheat Pelmeni

Pelmeni are best served fresh. The best way to accomplish that (without making a very small batch of Pelmeni each time) is to make a big batch and freeze the Pelmeni. Cook them up in a pot of salted water, and you have fresh Pelmeni in about 10 minutes.

If you do have any leftover Pelmeni, store them covered in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. Re-heat before serving.

One of my favorite ways to re-heat Pelmeni is to fry them on a skillet in a bit of butter. The Pelmeni get a nice golden brown skin and the taste is right up there with fresh Pelmeni.

Other Russian dishes to try

• Kazakh Beef Plov – one of my other favorite Russian (or in this case Kazakh) dishes to make.
• Sorrel Soup – usually made in the spring, this is a light and savory soup.
• Fried Eggplant Salad – easy salad to make with fried eggplants and tomatoes.

Lastly, if you make these Pelmeni Russian Meat Dumplings, please take a moment to comment below and leave a rating. It’s such a help for others who might want to try the recipe.

And of course, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram if you make this recipe. I’d love to see the photos of the recipes you have made!