Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Štruklji
One of Slovenia's most iconic dishes: thin dough rolled around a cottage-cheese filling, boiled in a cloth and sliced.
Slovenian · medium · serves 6
prep 40 min · cook 20 min
~392 cal · 16g protein · 38g carbs · 19g fat · 1g fiber · 3g sugars · 11g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Štruklji are among the most iconic dishes of the Slovenian table, prepared for centuries in both everyday and festive kitchens with dozens of regional variations. A thin, elastic dough is spread with a filling, most classically cottage cheese loosened with sour cream and egg, then rolled up tightly like a swiss roll.
The roll is wrapped in a cloth and gently boiled (or baked), then sliced into rounds. Štruklji cross the line between savoury and sweet: a cottage-cheese roll can be served as a side to meat with buttered breadcrumbs, or sweetened with a little sugar and vanilla as a dessert. There are said to be more than seventy documented fillings.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and nut- and pork-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 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups cottage cheese or quark
2/3 cup sour cream
1 egg (for filling)
2 tbsp
1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Mix the flour, egg, melted butter, water and salt into a smooth, elastic dough, cover and rest 30 minutes.
2
Stir the cottage cheese with the sour cream, egg and semolina into a spreadable filling.
3
Roll the dough out very thin into a rectangle, spread the filling over it leaving a border, and roll it up tightly from the long side.
✎ Chef’s note
Roll it firmly so no air pockets or leaks form; wrapping it in a cloth keeps its shape.
4
Wrap the roll snugly in a clean cloth or cling film, tie the ends, and simmer gently in salted water about 20 minutes.
5
Unwrap, cool slightly, and slice into rounds. Serve with buttered breadcrumbs as a side, or dusted with sugar as a dessert.
Slovenian culinary heritage.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ljubljana. Struklji is a category rather than a recipe: the same rolled dough boiled, baked or steamed, filled with cottage cheese and tarragon, or walnut, or apple. Zganci is the other everyday thing, buckwheat cooked stiff and broken into lumps, once the breakfast of anyone working outdoors.
🗺️
Slovenia. Slovenia sits where the Alps meet the Mediterranean, and its food follows, hearty sausages and buckwheat žganci in the hills, seafood and prosciutto on the coast. Štruklji dumplings and potica nut roll are national treasures.
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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 Slovenia
JotaA Ljubljana stew of soured sauerkraut, borlotti beans, potato, and smoked pork, winter in a pot.
Ajdovi ŽganciRustic buckwheat "spoonbread" crumbles served with warm milk or cracklings, Slovenian comfort.
Kranjska KlobasaThe protected Carniolan sausage, simmered and served with mustard, bread, and sauerkraut, a Slovenian icon.
Browse all Slovenia 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 Slovenia meal
Prekmurska GibanicaDessert
Kranjska KlobasaLunch
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Štruklji?
One of Slovenia's most iconic dishes: thin dough rolled around a cottage-cheese filling, boiled in a cloth and sliced.
Where does Štruklji come from?
Štruklji is a Slovenian dish from Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Can Štruklji be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Štruklji 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 Štruklji 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 Štruklji take to make?
About 60 minutes total (40 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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