My mom is an amazing cook. I have so many happy memories of all the delicious food she made throughout the years. She was almost famous for her homemade rolls, but one of my favorite recipes she made was this bierocks recipe.
A Bitof Family History
My dad’s family is from Kansas, and a few of my growing up years were spent in a small Kansas Mennonite community. This recipe was very common in all of the church and local cookbooks there, but it was one of my dad’s sisters who originally shared the recipe with my mom.
I loved it when my mom would make bierocks! Something about the flavors of bread, meat, onions, and cabbage all blending together in a compact little roll. I thought it was one of the best things I’d ever eaten!
When I introduced bierocks to my husband, he also fell in love. And they’re a favorite of my children, too.
I believe Mom always used her delicious homemade white rolls recipe. I always use my whole wheat bread recipe.
Really any bread or roll recipe can be used, or you can buy the frozen Rhodes bread dough to make this recipe super simple!
Bierocks Recipe
The first step is to make the bread. I use my homemade whole wheat bread recipe that works well ina Bosch or other large mixer. Whatever dough I don’t need for the bierocks, I use to make loaves of bread or plain rolls.
Use this white yeast rolls recipe if you prefer a simple yeast roll recipe.
Ingredients:
Your favorite bread recipe (try this Easy Yeast Rolls recipe), or Rhodes frozen bread dough
2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 large head of cabbage (about 2 lbs), shredded or chopped fine
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
Directions:
1. Prepare bread dough according to your recipe or the package instructions. Set dough aside.
2. While dough is rising, prepare the filling. In a large skillet, brown beef. Add shredded cabbage, onions, salt, and pepper.
3. Simmer slowly until cabbage is soft. If mixture seems too dry, you can add water until moist.
4. Roll dough thin and cut into 5″ squares (or, do as I do and just pinch off the amount you want!). Place one square of dough in open palm of left hand, stretching slightly as needed.
5. Place a large kitchen spoonful of meat and cabbage in center of dough.
6. Fold ends over or pinch edges together. Seal by pinching.
7. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet or shallow pan, folded sides down. I always let the rolls rise for about 20 minutes before baking, but it depends on the recipe you’re using.
8. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes or until brown. I like to brush the tops with melted butter.
They’re so delicious straight out of the oven! I always make extras to freeze for later. They make a great quick dinner or easy snack.
Your favorite bread recipetry my Easy Yeast Rolls recipe, or Rhodes frozen bread dough
2poundsground beef
1large onionchopped fine
1large head of cabbageabout 2 lbs, shredded or chopped fine
2tspsalt
1tsppepper
Instructions
Prepare bread dough according to your recipe or the package instructions. Try this easy yeast rolls recipe. Set dough aside.
While dough is rising, prepare the filling. In a large skillet, brown beef. Add shredded cabbage, onions, salt, and pepper.
Simmer slowly until cabbage is soft. If mixture seems too dry, you can add water until moist.
Roll dough thin and cut into 5" squares (or, do as I do and just pinch off the amount you want!). Place one square of dough in open palm of left hand, stretching slightly as needed.
Place a large kitchen spoonful of meat and cabbage in center of dough.
Fold ends over or pinch edges together. Seal by pinching.
Place on lightly greased cookie sheet or shallow pan, folded sides down. I always let the rolls rise for about 20 minutes before baking, but it depends on the bread recipe you're using.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes or until brown. I like to brush the tops with melted butter.
They're so delicious straight out of the oven! I always make extras to freeze for later. They make a great quick dinner or easy snack.
Have you ever tried bierocks before? Any fellow bierocks-lovers out there? 🙂
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure here.
Bierock is a yeast dough pastry pocket sandwich with savory filling, originating in Russia. The dish is common among the Volga German community in the United States and Argentina. It was brought to the United States in the 1870s by German Russian Mennonite immigrants.
A runza (also called a bierock, krautburger, or kraut pirok) is a yeast dough bread pocket with a filling consisting of beef, cabbage or sauerkraut, onions, and seasonings. Runzas can be baked into various shapes such as a half-moon, a rectangle, a round (bun), a square, or a triangle.
Bierocks are a Kansas dish, and Kansans love them. But if they try to get them outside of the state (save Nebraska, where they're more commonly known as runzas) they'll likely be met with puzzled stares. Though they're Kansas' favorite German food, they're not served in Germany.
These stuffed buns are better known as Bierocks in Kansas and Runza in Nebraska. As the story goes, an enterprising lady known as Sarah 'Sally' Everett of Lincoln coined the name Runza to describe her family recipe of dough filled with a cooked mixture of ground beef and chopped cabbage.
No one is sure where the name "runza" came from (perhaps for the Low German "runsa" which means “bun shape,” or the soft shape of a round belly), but in 1949, two descendents of one of those immigrant families, Sally Everett and her brother Alex Brening, opened the first Runza Drive Inn in Lincoln, Neb., serving the ...
Bierocks—pronounced bee-rock and also known as runzas—are a German/Eastern European roll that made its way to the American Midwest. They're similar to the Russian pirozhki, another popular European meat-stuffed pastry. They vary in shape, but the most popular ones are usually round or rectangular.
Our recipes and processes are decades old. Our ingredients are not. We started in Lincoln, Nebraska, then expanded throughout the state and into some neighboring states. To keep it fresh, we choose not to go national.
It spread throughout eastern Europe, constant in form but changing in name. German settlers on the banks of the Volga adopted the pirogi, christened it “bierock” and brought it to the Great Plains in the 1870s, along with red wheat seeds and roots of their beloved peonies.
Yes, runzas and bierocks are essentially the same thing. Both are a type of bread pocket filled with a savory mixture of ground beef, onions, and cabbage (and sometimes other ingredients). The term "bierock" is often used in parts of Kansas and the Dakotas, while "runza" is more commonly used in Nebraska.
TO MAKE AHEAD: Baked, cooled bierocks can be tightly wrapped in aluminum foil, placed in zipper-lock bag, and refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 1 month.
Bierocks spread throughout Europe as a popular choice for working families. Eventually, German Russian Mennonites introduced them to the United States when they immigrated in the 1870s. As they headed west, bierocks went along for the ride.
What does sauerkraut mean? Sauerkraut is the German language equivalent of “sour cabbage.” In reality though, it can mean different things to different people. To busy home chefs, sauerkraut, or fermented cabbage, is a fast, easy way to liven up their families' favorite meals.
The typical German version of a sandwich is called a „Butterbrot“ and is made of darker bread (no toast!), butter and cheese or any kind of sausage/Salami; sometimes people add cucumbers, sliced hardboiled eggs or even salad for beauty and taste.
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