Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Pelmeni
Small dumplings of thin dough around a juicy meat filling, boiled and served with sour cream, a Russian staple.
Russian · medium · serves 4
prep 60 min · cook 15 min
~976 cal · 43g protein · 79g carbs · 53g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 29g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pelmeni are the classic dumplings of Russia, with Siberian roots where they were made in huge batches and frozen outdoors through the long winter, a ready meal any night. Small, thin-skinned, and filled with juicy meat, they are about as comforting as Russian cooking gets.
A simple dough is rolled thin and cut into rounds, each filled with a spoon of seasoned minced meat, then pinched into little sealed parcels, often with the ends joined into a ring. Boiled until they float, they are served steaming with a knob of butter, plenty of sour cream, and black pepper or vinegar.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally 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 4
3 cups flour
1 egg
1 lb mixed ground beef and pork
1 onion, grated with its liquid
3 cloves garlic, pressed
3/4 cup and 1/4 cup ice water (for dough and filling)
2 bay leaves (for the water)
4 tbsp butter, to toss
2 tsp white vinegar
1 small bunch fresh dill, chopped
1 cup sour cream, to serve
to taste black pepper
Instructions
1
Make a firm, smooth dough with the flour, egg, a pinch of salt, and ice water, knead it well, and rest it covered for 30 minutes to an hour.
✎ Chef’s note
Ice water, not warm. Cold water keeps the dough slack enough to roll thin without the gluten fighting back, and a rested dough rolls to pasta thinness without tearing.
2
Mix the meat with the grated onion and all its liquid, the garlic and plenty of salt and pepper, then work in a quarter cup of ice water until the mixture turns tacky and glossy, and chill it.
✎ Chef’s note
Grate the onion so it melts into the filling, and keep its juice. The ice water is not optional: worked in until the fat emulsifies and the mixture sticks to your fingers, it is what keeps the filling juicy. Under-mix or over-mix and the meat cooks dry.
3
Roll the dough thin, cut rounds, fill each, and pinch into sealed parcels.
4
Boil in well-salted water with the bay leaves until they float and the dough is just tender, about 4 to 5 minutes.
5
Drain and toss straight into a bowl with the butter, the vinegar and a pinch of salt so it emulsifies into a sauce, then serve with sour cream and a lot of dill.
✎ Chef’s note
Butter and a splash of vinegar tossed through the hot dumplings is the classic Russian dressing, and it turns into a glossy sauce as you stir. Pelmeni also freeze raw beautifully: freeze them apart on a tray, then bag them, and boil from frozen for a minute or two longer.
Russian and Siberian tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Moscow. The pantry is a record of long winters rather than of a capital. Cabbage and cucumbers go into brine, mushrooms are gathered and dried, fish is salted, and smetana, a thick soured cream, goes onto almost everything hot. Rye is in the bread, in kvass, and in a good deal of the sourness underneath.
🗺️
Russia. Tea is the ritual that organises the afternoon. A samovar keeps water hot and a concentrated brew, the zavarka, sits on top to be diluted cup by cup, and it is drunk with jam either stirred in or eaten by the spoonful alongside. The pickling that fills the rest of the table, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms and cabbage, is what makes a long winter edible.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Russia
Beef StroganoffSeared strips of beef and mushrooms in a mustard-spiked sour cream sauce over noodles, 19th-century Moscow at its most elegant.
Grechnevaya KashaToasted buckwheat simmered until fluffy and served with butter, the quintessential Russian porridge.
MedovikMany thin honey-baked layers stacked with a tangy sour-cream frosting, Russia's classic honey cake.
Browse all Russia recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
Make it a Russia meal
KvassDrink
MedovikDessert
Beef StroganoffDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pelmeni?
Small dumplings of thin dough around a juicy meat filling, boiled and served with sour cream, a Russian staple.
Where does Pelmeni come from?
Pelmeni is a Russian dish from Moscow, Russia.
Can Pelmeni be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pelmeni 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 Pelmeni 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 Pelmeni take to make?
About 75 minutes total (60 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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