Instant Pot Pierogi Casserole is an easy comfort food dinner made with cheesy potato pierogies, smoked sausage, onions, cheese, and a rich, creamy sauce. This one-pot Instant Pot recipe comes together quickly and delivers all the cozy flavors of a classic casserole with minimal effort.
I love this recipe because it’s one of the easiest comfort food dinners you can make. Using frozen pierogies keeps prep to a minimum, while the creamy sauce, smoky sausage, and melted cheese turn simple ingredients into a hearty meal the whole family loves. 🥟🧀🥘
What you’ll love about this recipe:
Ingredient Notes
- Frozen Potato Pierogies: Frozen potato-filled pierogies make this recipe incredibly easy while creating a hearty, comforting casserole. There’s no need to thaw them before cooking.
- Kielbasa or Smoked Sausage: Kielbasa adds a smoky, savory flavor that pairs perfectly with the cheesy pierogies. Any smoked sausage works well if that’s what you have on hand.
- Ham: Ham is optional, but it’s a great way to add extra protein and use up leftover holiday ham.
- Onion: Thinly sliced onions become soft and slightly sweet as they cook, adding even more flavor to the casserole.
- Heavy Cream and Sour Cream: These create the rich, creamy sauce that coats the pierogies and sausage. Use full-fat sour cream for the best texture.
- Cheddar Cheese: Freshly shredded cheddar cheese melts beautifully and gives the casserole a rich, cheesy finish.
- 💙 Optional Garnishes: Top with sliced green onions, crispy bacon, fresh parsley, or an extra sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese before serving. 🥟🧀🥘
Be sure to check out the full recipe and ingredient list below
How To Make Pierogi Casserole
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode.
- Start by creating a layer of sliced onions, chopped ham, and sliced kielbasa in the pot.
- Add a layer of pierogies on top of the onion, ham, and kielbasa.
- Continue layering until you’ve used all the ingredients or reached your desired amount.
- Pour one cup of water into the Instant Pot.
- Set the Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure for 4 minutes.
- Perform a quick release once the cooking time is complete.
- Return the Instant Pot to Saute mode.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the heavy cream and sour cream.
- Pour the cream mixture into the Instant Pot.
- Add the shredded cheese to the pot.
- Allow the mixture to come to a low boil, stirring occasionally.
- Once the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly, transfer the contents of the Instant Pot to a casserole dish.
- Broil the casserole in the oven for 2-3 minutes until the top is golden and bubbly.
- Serve hot and enjoy your delicious pierogi casserole!
Tips I Found Helpful
- There’s no need to thaw the frozen pierogies before adding them to the Instant Pot.
- Slice the kielbasa into evenly sized pieces so it cooks evenly and every bite has plenty of flavor.
- Use freshly shredded cheddar cheese for the smoothest, meltiest sauce. Stir the sour cream and heavy cream together before adding them to help create a creamy, lump-free sauce.
- Let the casserole sit for 5 minutes after cooking so the sauce has time to thicken slightly before serving.
- If you’d like a crispier, golden cheese topping, transfer the finished casserole to an oven-safe dish, sprinkle with extra cheddar cheese, and broil for 2–3 minutes.
- Taste before serving and add salt and black pepper if needed, since different brands of kielbasa and cheese can vary in saltiness.
- Garnish with sliced green onions, crispy bacon, fresh parsley, or extra cheddar cheese for even more flavor. 🥟🧀🥘
FAQs about Pierogi Casserole
Casseroles I love
Instant Pot Perogie Casserole
This Instant Pot Pierogi Casserole is an easy comfort food dinner made with frozen potato pierogies, kielbasa, onions, cheese, and a rich, creamy sauce. Everything cooks together in the Instant Pot for a hearty, family-friendly meal that's perfect for busy weeknights.
Ingredients
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 24 frozen pierogies (potato-filled)
- 1 cup chopped ham (optional)
- 1 kielbasa, sliced
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 cup water ( for instant pot)
- 16 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to Saute mode.
- Start by creating a layer of sliced onions, chopped ham, and sliced kielbasa in the pot.
- Add a layer of pierogies on top of the onion, ham, and kielbasa.
- Continue layering until you’ve used all the ingredients or reached your desired amount.
- Pour one cup of water into the Instant Pot.
- Set the Instant Pot to Manual High Pressure for 4 minutes.
- Perform a quick release once the cooking time is complete.
- Return the Instant Pot to Saute mode.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the heavy cream and sour cream.
- Pour the cream mixture into the Instant Pot.
- Add the shredded cheese to the pot.
- Allow the mixture to come to a low boil, stirring occasionally.
- Once the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly, transfer the contents of the Instant Pot to a casserole dish.
- Broil the casserole in the oven for 2-3 minutes until the top is golden and bubbly.
- Serve hot and enjoy your delicious pierogi casserole!
Notes
There's no need to thaw the frozen pierogies before cooking. Kielbasa or any smoked sausage works well, and leftover ham is a great optional addition for even more flavor. Use freshly shredded cheddar cheese for the creamiest sauce, and let the casserole rest for 5 minutes before serving so the sauce can thicken slightly. Garnish with sliced green onions, crispy bacon, fresh parsley, or extra cheddar cheese for the perfect finishing touch. 🥟🧀🥘
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Pierogis! Takes me back to days visiting the Polish festival in my hometown. The ladies would serve up fresh, homemade pierogis. They were DELICIOUS! Cannot wait to give this one a go.
Tried this one tonight! Amazing!!!
This perogies casserole looks so creamy and delicious. I pinned and stumbled so I can make it later! Thanks!!
A little confused as to why you put the instapot on saute and put the onion, sausage on etc. and layer it right away, and turn off and put on high pressure? Should I be sauteing the onion/sausage for a few minutes first all together before layering it? What is the purpose of having it on saute for just a few minutes wile assembling it in the instapot it it’s not really browning or cooking it per se. Does that make sense? Haven’t eaten yet, but I’m sure it will be great regardless. I just didn’t understand that part.
Supposedly it will help reduce time to bring your IP up to pressure if you turn on saute first. I worry I’d forget and wonder off for a bit.
I made this tonight exactly as written and it was very good. The sauce was very delicious and creamy, but almost too rich for my liking. Also, the amount of sauce was a bit too much. If I make this again, I would like replace the heavy cream with 1/3 cup of milk and reduce the amount of sour cream to 1/2 cup. I would also consider using chicken broth in the pot rather than plain water. Using one full pound of cheese was a bit too much for us, so I will probably reduce the amount of cheese next time and am going to consider adding a couple tbsp of nutritional yeast to help boost the lovely cheesy, tangy flavour – which would help bring the calories down to something a bit less artery clogging. I want to restate that the recipe is fine as it is, these changes are to my own personal tastes and health requirements; I only mention it for those who may also have similar tastes.
@Felicity, I agree. I make one similar to this but with less cheese and sour cream and I do use chicken broth not water gives it much better flavor. I like to use the low sodium both.
OMG…this was soooo good. Very rich, creamy and a lot of sauce. I would only change the amount of sauce it makes by cutting back to half the amount of sour cream and heavy cream. But then again that may not be enough sauce so I will have to experiment. Husband love loved it. Enough for leftovers for lunch for work tomorrow.
I used chicken boullion instead of water and less cheese than was called for. I won’t be using boullion again… just a bit too salty, thankful I stopped grating when I was sick of it. I used about half a cup of extra sour Greek yogurt instead of the sour cream to reduce the volume of sauce… thus, I concentrated the salt factor. Kind of wish I measured the ingredients I dumped in for sauce because it was GOOD! Oh well, where’s the adventure in measuring stuff?
I will be making this again and bet it will be even better with perogies that are not freezer burned.
I made it this afternoon. I had already started before I realized that I was out of pierogies! Subbed frozen tortellini and the fam loved it! Can’t wait to try again with pierogies. 🙂 Thank you!
I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome.
I halved the recipe. Used lactaid fat free milk, light sour cream, probably about half the cheese the recipe called for (mostly cheddar and a little bit of pre shredded moz I wanted to use up). I also dumped in some baby spinach I wanted to finish. So dang good. I had to stop myself from going for thirds.
I want to make this but dairy is an issue in my family. Is there a version that I can do that has no dairy? I am new to using a pressure cooker and I am slowly adding things to cook in it.
IF Lactose is the issue se Lactose Free Milk or Cream, use LF plain Greek Yogurt to sub for sour cream
hard cheeses like aged cheddar, parmesan are lower in lactose. Swiss Cheese has no lactose
otherwise try coconut milk full fat, it gives a nice rich taste & no coconut flavour when cooked with other things,
I made this but veganised it 🙂 I used these ingredients for sauce. 1/2 cup soaked cashews, 2 cups broth, 1 teaspoon white miso paste, 1 garlic clove, a splash of lemon juice and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy. It came out great but there was a lot of sauce. I also blended in a half cup roasted rosemary potatoes I had to use up. The sauce was so yummy. We had them with carrot, mushroom and zucchini, and the onion. Served over mixed greens and green onions on top. The pierogies were perfectly cooked (Thanks Carla!)
hello..made this but used low fat milk combined with low fat sour cream and half the cheese.
Now I had quite a bit left over…refrigerated it. Two days later we ate it with cooked chicken. WOW..so much better..the perogies soaked up the sauce and boy it was sooo good. Sort of like leftover lasagna which is always better like that. Also had cauliflower which sent well with the sauce. Try this…you wont regret it.
Yay glad you liked it
Love perogies! Loved this recipe. Highly recommend… so quick and easy
Amazing! I substituted the water for beer though, added garlic, kraut, and a little deli mustard. Thank you for the amazing meal!