Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding)
A dense baked pudding of finely grated raw potato bound with egg, milk, onion and smoked bacon, browned on top and served with sour cream.
Lithuanian · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 80 min
~658 cal · 18g protein · 65g carbs · 36g fat · 8g fiber · 8g sugars · 17g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kugelis, also called bulviu plokstainis ("flat potato"), is one of the best-loved dishes of Lithuanian home cooking and is often named among the country's national dishes. It is a baked pudding of finely grated raw potato bound with eggs, milk and rendered bacon fat, cooked in a wide dish until the top is deep golden brown and the inside is firm but tender. A parallel tradition among Litvak Jewish families made a kosher version bound with goose or chicken fat rather than pork.
The method is simple but particular. Smoked bacon and onion are rendered together, the potatoes are grated very fine and their browning slowed with a little acid, and everything is mixed and baked slowly for well over an hour. The starch in the potato, along with the eggs, is what sets the pudding.
Kugelis is Sunday and gathering food across Aukstaitija and Lithuanian-American kitchens, cut into thick slabs and served hot with sour cream and, often, lingonberry jam or a bacon-and-onion sauce.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 kg (about 4.5 lb) starchy potatoes, peeled
250 g smoked bacon, diced
2 onions, finely chopped
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk
1 tbsp lemon juice (keeps the potato pale)
1 tbsp butter or bacon fat, for greasing
to taste salt and pepper
1 cup sour cream, to serve
Instructions
1
Heat the oven to 190C (375F) and grease a deep baking dish.
2
Render the diced bacon in a pan over medium heat until the fat runs and it crisps, adding the onion for the last few minutes until soft.
3
Grate the peeled potatoes on the finest holes of a grater, mixing in the lemon juice as you go, then squeeze out and discard the excess liquid (keeping any starch that settles).
4
Combine the grated potato with the bacon and onion and their fat, the eggs, milk, salt and pepper, and mix well into a thick batter.
5
Spread into the dish and bake for about 75-85 minutes, until the top is deep golden brown and the centre is set.
✎ Chef’s note
Cover loosely with foil if the top colours too fast before the middle is done.
6
Rest 10-15 minutes, then cut into thick squares and serve hot with sour cream.
Aukstaitija / Lithuanian home tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Vilnius. The cold soup is a summer institution and its parts are fixed: kefir, grated cooked beetroot, cucumber, spring onion and a great deal of dill, with a hard-boiled egg on top. The hot boiled potatoes come on a separate plate rather than in the bowl, and leaving them off is not really an option.
🗺️
Lithuania. The pink comes from beetroot but the body of the soup is kefir or buttermilk, with grated cucumber, spring onion and a great deal of dill stirred in cold. The one rule nobody breaks is the plate of hot boiled potatoes served on the side rather than in the bowl, so every spoonful is chilled and every bite of potato is not.
🌍
Europe. Europe has written a great deal of its food into law. A regulation of 1992 created the protected designation of origin and the protected geographical indication, tying a name to a place and a method, and an EU evaluation published in 2021 counted more than three thousand registered names across those schemes, from cheeses and hams down to particular shapes of bread.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Lithuania
Šaltibarščiai (Cold Beet Soup)A shocking-pink chilled soup of beets, kefir, cucumber, and dill, Lithuania’s summer in a bowl, with hot potatoes on the side.
CepelinaiZeppelin-shaped potato dumplings stuffed with meat, served with bacon-onion sauce and sour cream.
Varškės Blynai (Curd Cheese Pancakes)Little pan-fried pancakes of fresh curd cheese, crisp and golden outside and tender inside, served with sour cream and jam.
Browse all Lithuania recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
Make it a Lithuania meal
TinginysDessert
KibinaiLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding)?
A dense baked pudding of finely grated raw potato bound with egg, milk, onion and smoked bacon, browned on top and served with sour cream.
Where does Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding) come from?
Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding) is a Lithuanian dish from Vilnius, Lithuania.
Can Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kugelis (Baked Potato Pudding) take to make?
About 110 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 80 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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