Varenyky, Perogies, Pierogi: The Same Dumpling, Three Names
The UAFest kitchen team
August 2026 · 7 min read
Food court, UAFest — where the varenyky-eating contest happens
Varenyky are Ukrainian filled dumplings, boiled and served with sour cream and fried onion. On a Canadian menu the same dumpling is usually spelled perogies, and in Polish it is pierogi. The names come from different languages and land on plates that look much alike.
The differences that do exist are in the details: the dough, what goes inside, and what comes over the top.
The names, sorted out
Varenyky (вареники) is the Ukrainian word, from varyty — to boil. Pierogi is Polish, and in Polish it is already plural, which is why pierogies makes a linguist wince and a Canadian menu shrug. Perogies and perogy are the anglicised spellings that took hold on the Prairies, where Ukrainian settlers arrived in the 1890s and the dumpling became a fixture of church suppers and community halls.
So: one dumpling family, three spellings, and a century of Canadian history in the third one.
What goes inside
Ukrainian fillings split into savoury and sweet, and the sweet ones are a genuine difference from the Polish repertoire — cherry varenyky in July are a season of their own.
- Potato and fried onion — the everyday standard.
- Potato with cottage cheese, or with mushrooms.
- Sauerkraut, sometimes with mushrooms, for fasting days.
- Fresh cheese (syr) with a little sugar, served with sour cream.
- Sour cherries, blueberries or strawberries in summer, dressed with sugar and cream.
Dough that stays soft
A varenyky dough is flour, water, a little oil and salt, sometimes with an egg. The rest is the resting: half an hour under a bowl relaxes the gluten and turns a stiff dough into one that rolls thin without fighting back.
Roll it about 2 mm thick, cut rounds with a glass, and keep the cut circles under a towel while you work — dry edges refuse to seal, and a dumpling that opens in the pot takes its filling with it.
The contest
At UAFest the varenyky-eating contest is one of the fixtures of the day, and it draws a crowd every year. The recipe below is for the kitchen, where they are eaten more slowly.
Recipe
Varenyky with Potato and Fried Onion
Soft boiled Ukrainian dumplings filled with potato and onion, served with sour cream.
- Prep
- 1 hour
- Cook
- 20 minutes
- Total
- 1 hour 20 minutes
- Makes
- About 40 dumplings, 4 to 6 servings
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g all-purpose flour, plus more for the board
- 250 ml warm water
- 2 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 egg (optional, for a firmer dough)
- 1 tsp salt
Filling
- 1 kg floury potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 2 large onions, finely diced
- 60 g butter or 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- Salt and black pepper
To serve
- Sour cream
- A second onion, fried golden in butter
- Chopped dill
Method
- 1Make the doughMix the flour and salt, add the warm water, oil and egg, and knead 8 minutes until smooth and elastic. Cover with a bowl and rest for 30 minutes.
- 2Make the fillingBoil the potatoes until soft and drain them well. Fry the onions in the butter until golden and sweet, about 12 minutes. Mash the potatoes with the onions and their fat, season firmly, and let the mixture cool — warm filling tears the dough.
- 3Roll and cutRoll the dough about 2 mm thick and cut 7 to 8 cm rounds. Keep the rounds under a towel as you go.
- 4Fill and sealPut a teaspoon of filling on each round, fold it over and press the edges together firmly, then crimp them. Wet edges seal badly, so use flour on your hands rather than water.
- 5BoilCook in batches in plenty of boiling salted water. They rise to the surface after 2 minutes; give them 2 minutes more, then lift them out with a slotted spoon into a bowl with a little melted butter so they do not stick.
- 6ServeTop with the fried onion and its butter, a spoon of sour cream and dill. Leftovers are excellent fried in a pan the next morning.
Notes from the kitchen
- Freeze them raw on a tray, then bag them. Boil from frozen, adding a minute.
- For cherry varenyky, drain pitted sour cherries well, add a spoon of sugar and a pinch of semolina to hold the juice, and serve with sugar and cream.
- Keep the pot at a rolling boil and never crowd it — dumplings that touch, tear.
The varenyky-eating contest happens once a year, and the queue starts early.
Sunday, September 13, 2026 · 12 PM – 6 PM · Riverside Park, Carleton Place
What people ask
Practically, yes. Varenyky is the Ukrainian name for the boiled filled dumpling, and perogies is the spelling that took hold in Canada. Pierogi is the Polish word for the same family of dumplings.
Perogies is the common Canadian spelling. Pierogi is Polish and already plural, so pierogies doubles the plural — both spellings appear on menus across the country.
Potato with fried onion is the everyday one. Sauerkraut, mushrooms, fresh cheese and, in summer, sour cherries are all classics.
Usually a dry or floury edge, or too much filling. Press the seal firmly along its whole length, keep cut rounds under a towel, and boil in small batches.
The UAFest food court serves them on festival day in Carleton Place, alongside the varenyky-eating contest — September 13, 2026, 12 PM to 6 PM at Riverside Park.
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