Meatloaf and Melodrama

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Easy Pierogi Casserole

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Easy Pierogi Casserole is made with cheesy mashed-potato stuffed shells and covered with more cheese and onions.


recipe-for-pierogi-casserole-with-cheddar-cheese


One of my absolute favorite meals is pierogi, especially the kind filled with cheesy mashed potatoes. Now, if you’ve ever made your own pierogi, you know it’s a ton of work, and it’s not something you do often. So, I took a shortcut, and I made this Easy Pierogi Casserole. It’s got all of the cheesy goodness without all of the work, and it definitely falls under the category of comfort food!
I grew up making pierogi from scratch. Every year around Christmas, my grandma would come over, and I would help her and my mom make bunches of these tasty little dumplings. But because it was always so time consuming, we only made them once a year.

I still make them with my own kids, but somewhere along the line, I lost my grandma’s recipe for the dough, and I just can’t get them to taste the same. My mom doesn’t remember the recipe, and my parents usually buy pierogi from their church. These are good, but they’re not the same as Grandma’s — could they ever be?

So with the holidays coming up, I decided to try to re-create the same awesome potato pierogi taste, without all of the extra steps. This isn’t exactly a quick and easy meal, but it’s a lot quicker than the original.

I picked up a couple of bags of Kraft Natural Shredded Cheddar Cheese at Walmart the other day, and I also got the rest of ingredients I needed for this meal.


I always make my own cheddar mashed potatoes, but if you really want to save a few steps, you can use frozen, boxed or whatever works best. As I was mashing the potatoes, I added some of the shredded cheddar cheese. 

cheddar-mashed-potatoes

Instead of making pierogi dough, I cooked some jumbo shells. When they were cool, I stuffed them with the cheddar potatoes.

cheddar-pototo-stuffed-shells

Next, I cooked a bunch of diced onions in butter until they were nice and golden brown. This is what makes the stuffed shells taste like pierogi, so you definitely don’t want to skip this step!

onions-browned-in-butter

Then, I poured the onions all over the shells, topped them with more cheese and baked them until the cheese was nice and bubbly and ooey and gooey.

stuffed-shells-potato-pierogi-with-kraft-cheddar-cheese

 

How to Make Easy Pierogi Casserole

 

 

Easy Pierogi Casserole

Cheesy stuffed shells smothered in onions and more cheese taste just pierogi
Print Pin Rate
Course: Main
Cuisine: European American
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

  • 10 pieces medium potatoes peeled and cut into large
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 medium yellow onion chopped
  • 1 pound box of jumbo pasta shells
  • Additional butter as needed

Instructions

  • Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water until fork tender, and drain.
  • In the same pot, over low heat, mix the milk and butter, then add the cooked potatoes, salt, pepper and 2 cups of cheddar cheese, and mash until fairly smooth. Set aside.
  • Cook the shells according to package directions, drain and let cool.
  • Stuff the shells with the cheddar cheese potatoes, and place into 2 large baking pans that have been greased with olive oil.
  • Cook the onions in butter until a light golden brown.
  • Pour onions over shells, and top each casserole with remaining shredded cheese.
  • Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Notes

You can also use storebought mashed potatoes.
You can also add some water to the casserole before baking if you want softer shells.
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This recipe makes enough for two casseroles, so you can enjoy one tonight and save the other for another day!
Pierogi Stuffed Shells Casserole

Hearty, warm and super cheesy, this easy pierogi casserole is the ultimate comfort food, and my family absolutely loved it! Plus, they all think that this really does taste like pierogi.

Best of all, we have another dish ready to warm up later this week, and that’s definitely comforting to me!

Are there any cheese lovers in your home? 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. I have never tried making my own pierogi, but I can only imagine the effort that goes into it! This looks like a great way to get that cheesy, pierogi taste without all the effort! I also like when you can make two batches of something this delicious to save for another easy dinner later in the week. YUM! {client}

    Reply

  19. Does anyone have any suggestions to replace the onions? I see you said to definitely not skip that step but I do not like onions. I usually use minced onion or onion powder in recipes. Do you think the minced onion would work in place of real onions? I really want to try this. My kids love pierogies soI think they would like this too.

    Reply

  20. Minced onions are fine — it's the flavor you're looking for here, so you could also try the onion powder too. If I don't have onions, I use minced onions all the time. Let me know if this works. 🙂

    Reply

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