6 Polish Sauerkraut Recipes (Classic Home Cooking)

Sauerkraut, kiszona kapusta, is in half the dishes I grew up on. It goes into stews, pasta, pancakes, pasties and a raw salad that sits next to most Polish dinners. These are the six Polish sauerkraut recipes I make at home, from a weekend bigos to a salad you can make in fifteen minutes.

If your own sauerkraut has not gone sour, my guide to why sauerkraut is not sour explains what the salt and the temperature are doing, and my guide to Polish food shows where these dishes sit in the wider year.

1. Bigos Królewski (Polish Hunter’s Stew)

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Bigos is the big one: three meats, sauerkraut and fresh cabbage, dried mushrooms and a glass of red wine, cooked slowly for hours. It tastes best on the second or third day, so make it ahead. Get the recipe.

2. Bigos Hultajski (Slow Cooker Bigos)

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The sharper of my two bigos. The sauerkraut goes in undrained with beef and smoked kielbasa, and the potatoes and carrot cook in the same pot, so it comes out as a whole dinner. The slow cooker does the work over about six hours. Get the recipe.

3. Łazanki (Polish Pasta with Cabbage)

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Small squares of Polish pasta tossed with sauerkraut, fresh cabbage, mushrooms and smoked kielbasa. A one-pan supper in 50 minutes, and my childhood favourite. Get the recipe.

4. Krokiety (Mushroom and Sauerkraut Croquettes)

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Thin pancakes rolled around mushrooms and sauerkraut, then crumbed and fried until the outside is crisp and the pancake inside stays soft. The recipe makes about twelve, and they freeze well. Get the recipe.

5. Kapuśniaczki (Sauerkraut and Mushroom Pasties)

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Soft enriched-dough pasties filled with sauerkraut, mushrooms and onion braised with bay and allspice. They are one of the dishes I put on the Christmas Eve table. Get the recipe.

6. Polish Sauerkraut Salad (Surówka)

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Squeezed sauerkraut, grated carrot and finely diced onion with oil and a pinch of sugar. It takes fifteen minutes, and I eat it with kotlety, schabowe and placki. Get the recipe.

FAQ

Do I need to rinse the sauerkraut?

Taste it first. In bigos hultajski it goes in with its juice for the sharpness, and for the salad I squeeze it. If yours is very sour, squeezing out more of the juice takes the edge off.

Which ones are vegetarian?

Krokiety, kapuśniaczki and the sauerkraut salad. Both bigos and the łazanki have meat.

Which is quickest?

The salad, at fifteen minutes, then łazanki at fifty. Bigos królewski is the long one, about five and a half hours, and best a day or two later.

Which sauerkraut dish will you make first?

There is one here for a weeknight and one for a Sunday. Smacznego!