12 Cosy Polish Autumn Recipes (Soups & Stews)

As soon as there is a chill in the air, the Polish kitchen changes gear. Out come the sauerkraut, the wild mushrooms, the pearl barley and the slow-simmered stews - the food of long evenings and short, grey days. These are the Polish autumn recipes I cook on repeat once the weather turns, from a bubbling pot of bigos to a tangy bowl of żurek.

Below you will find my favourite cosy autumn dishes from the blog - traditional Polish soups, cabbage dishes, comforting stews and warm bakes, each one a genuine home-cooked classic. Pick a hearty soup and a sweet bake for a lazy Sunday, or work your way through the whole list as the leaves come down. Autumn is one of seven occasions in my guide to Polish food, which sets out what gets cooked and when.

1. Bigos (Polish Hunter’s Stew)

Polish Bigos Hunter's Stew with beef, sausage, and sauerkraut in a cast-iron pot served with bread

Bigos is what autumn is for. The cabbage harvest is in, the dried forest mushrooms are on the shelf, and a pot of hunter’s stew simmering through a cold Saturday makes the whole house smell like the season. It reheats better every day, so one weekend pot carries you into the week. Get the recipe.

2. Żurek (Polish Sour Rye Soup)

Polish Żurek soup in a bowl, accompanied by sourdough bread, a halved boiled egg, and topped with fresh herb garnish.

Żurek is the soup for the first properly cold week of autumn: sour, smoky and dense enough to be a meal. The rye starter takes four or five days to ferment, which makes it a perfect slow-weekend project when the weather has turned and you are in no hurry. Get the recipe.

3. Zupa Grzybowa (Wild Mushroom Soup)

Traditional Polish Wild Mushroom Soup (Zupa Grzybowa) served in a white bowl, garnished with parsley and featuring porcini mushrooms, pasta, and vegetables.

If one dish owns the Polish autumn it is mushroom soup. September and October are foraging season, when baskets of porcini come out of the woods, and zupa grzybowa is where the best of them end up, in an earthy broth that tastes of the forest floor in the best possible way. Get the recipe.

4. Barszcz Czerwony (Polish Beetroot Soup)

Polish Christmas beetroot soup (barszcz czerwony) served with mushroom uszka, brushed with butter and sprinkled with black pepper on a festive table.

Barszcz czerwony is Poland’s clear, ruby-red beetroot soup - warming, gently sour and beautifully vibrant. A Christmas Eve essential traditionally served with little uszka dumplings, this authentic Polish borscht is easier to make from scratch than you would think. Get the recipe.

5. Krupnik (Polish Barley Soup)

Bowl of traditional Polish krupnik barley soup with chicken, potatoes, carrots, fine pearl barley and fresh parsley.

Krupnik is autumn-pantry cooking: pearl barley, carrots, potatoes and a clear broth, all things the season stores well. It is the soup Polish households fall back on from the first frost onward, cheap to make and filling enough to be dinner on its own. Get the recipe.

6. Kapuśniaczki (Sauerkraut & Mushroom Pasties)

Freshly baked Kapusniaczki, golden brown with mushrooms and sauerkraut, garnished with caraway seeds, straight from the oven.

Kapuśniaczki pair the two great autumn preserves, sauerkraut and dried forest mushrooms, inside a golden crust. They are what to bake when the weather turns: warm from the oven with a bowl of soup, or wrapped in a napkin for a cold-day walk. Get the recipe.

7. Gołąbki (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

Gołąbki (Polish stuffed cabbage rolls) on a plate, topped with vibrant tomato sauce and a sprinkle of black pepper, accompanied by rustic cutlery.

Autumn is when cabbage heads are at their biggest and their leaves peel away whole, which is exactly what gołąbki need. A tray of cabbage rolls baked in tomato sauce is the taste of October in a Polish kitchen, and the filling of pork and rice makes them a full meal. Get the recipe.

8. Polish Braised Cabbage (Kapusta Duszona)

Delicious serving of traditional Polish braised cabbage with crispy bacon, accompanied by tender new potatoes and a golden brown pork Schabowy, presented on a rustic dining table setting.

Kapusta duszona turns the autumn glut of cabbage into something worth planning dinner around: shredded and stewed slowly with onion and smoky boczek until it collapses into sweetness. It keeps for days and sits beside anything the season puts on the plate. Get the recipe.

9. Polish Braised Chicken

Close-up of golden braised chicken drumsticks and thighs in a glossy glaze

When the evenings pull in, this is the pot to reach for: chicken seared and left to braise until it falls off the bone while you get on with something else. The kind of low-effort, warm-kitchen dinner that autumn weeknights are made of. Get the recipe.

10. Placki Ziemniaczane (Potato Pancakes)

Crispy Polish potato pancakes on a plate, with a fork piercing the top.

Potato pancakes belong to the weeks after the potato harvest, when the sacks are full and starchy maincrop potatoes fry up crisper than anything the summer offered. Grate, squeeze and fry them lacy at the edges, then argue about soured cream versus sugar like every Polish family. Get the recipe.

11. Racuchy (Polish Apple Pancakes)

Stacked Polish Apple Pancakes (Racuchy z Jablkami) garnished with icing sugar on a plate, with fresh apples in the backdrop.

Racuchy are the answer to apple season. When the orchard windfalls and allotment apples pile up in September, Polish kitchens fold them into a soft yeasted batter and fry pancakes to eat warm with a snowfall of icing sugar. The best possible use of a glut. Get the recipe.

12. Pierniczki (Polish Gingerbread Cookies)

Polish pierniczki gingerbread cookies decorated with royal icing, arranged on a ceramic plate with star anise and festive greenery.

Pierniczki mark the turn from autumn toward Christmas. Honey and warm spice fill the kitchen in November, and because these soft gingerbread biscuits genuinely improve as they sit, Polish bakers make them weeks ahead and let the tins do the work. Get the recipe.