My family primarily prepares this Lithuanian meal around the holidays. It pairs well with either ham or turkey. Additionally, it is offered in lots of genuine European eateries. Although this recipe takes some time, it is well worth the effort. In no way is this a “stick to your ribs” dish or a healthy option. Each slice tastes excellent with a dollop of sour cream on top.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 2 hrs |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 pound bacon, diced
- 2 large onions, diced
- ½ cup butter
- 5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and shredded
- 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
- 6 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place bacon in a Dutch oven set over medium heat, cover, and cook until the bacon has softened and begun to release it’s grease. Stir in the onion and cook until softened and translucent. Remove the cover, and continue cooking and stirring until the mixture caramelizes and turns a deep, golden brown. Remove from heat and stir in butter to melt.
- Stir shredded potatoes into the onion mixture, then stir in the evaporated milk and eggs until well combined. Pour into a 9×13-inch glass baking dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until golden on top. Remove and let stand for 10 minutes before slicing into 3×3-inch squares. Serve hot.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 475 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 39 g |
| Cholesterol | 148 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 5 g |
| Protein | 14 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 450 mg |
| Sugars | 6 g |
| Fat | 30 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’ve been making my grandmothers version of kugulis for years. It differs a bit from this recipe – I use white potatoes – less water in them. I fry up the bacon, then break up and mix into the potato “batter”. I also line the pan with strips of bacon and add strips on top as well. No butter, and instead of condensed milk I use cream. Add some salt, pepper and a touch of garlic to the mix and that’s it. Serve with lots of sour cream.
Great recipe
Love it! My Lithuanian Granny made it the same way. Always a family favorite as I remember those many years ago. I added shredded cheese to half the recipe amount. Delish either way!
You definitely want to add salt and pepper to taste before you put it in the oven. I also all the bacon grease. I have a machine that grates the potatoes and onions in their raw uncooked state. Make sure to grease your baking dish. Other than that its a good recipe. I also put in a quarter cup of farina or cream of wheat. Not sure why except that it is mom’s recipe. Consistency comes out like pudding. We call it potato pudding.
The key to this recipe is the grind of the potatoes. In Lithuania they use a special mechanical potato grinder If you do not have this it should be grinded by hand. If you us e a blender or food processor don’t grind it to a pulp. It will not come out correctly. Use milk not condensed milk. Kugelis when prepared correctly is really tasty Fry bacon and onion, add sour cream to create a tasty sauce topping.
was very good got good compliments will make it again
I halved this recipe used egg beaters and a 5.5 oz box of Morning Star veggie bacon and diced 6% fat ham with 1/4 C olive oil instead of butter. I grated the potatoes in my culinary mixer food processor grater. No left overs from it.
This is delish! Just like our Bobete made.
I should have used yellow potatoes, I don’t think my Bobchie used russet. It made 2 trays, my husband loved it. This dish was my favorite growing up.
My husband is Lithuanian and got it into his head, he wanted to make this for Christmas. Of course I made it, used the food processor to shred the potatoes. I did cut the recipe in half, made sure to add salt and pepper. His mother always added shredded cheddar cheese on the top
If you use regular milk I recommend to scald it first to avoid a white presence in the final product.
I have been searching for a recipe to replicate one my Mother-In-Law made some time ago, unfortunately this wasn’t it. Need a stronger bacon presence, next time I would halve the potatoes, leave out the butter and reduce the milk
My bacon wasn’t fatty enough so I did use the butter. I tried putting skin on chicken breasts on the top , but that didn’t work out to well. I cheated and used my nutribullet to grind the potatoes! I like that consistency better than shredded. It honestly tasted just like our potatoes pancakes! Delicious!
No changes and everyone thought it tasted GREAT!!
I use a similar recipe from my Lith. Mother-in-law and it’s wonderful. Got the best compliment today when she ate it, said “I thought my Mother came back and cooked it for me!” My Mother-in-law just turned 100 years old on the 13th!! I use 1 large sweet onion chopped, and add it to the bacon when about half done. I only let it get brown just a little, you don’t want it crispy. Then add all other ingredients with 3 t. salt or salt blend and 2t. blk. pepper. I put 2 T. of butter in baking pan in the oven to melt and brown a bit (be careful it gets brown quickly) and then quickly pour the potatoes in the hot sizzling pan. It helps with browning. I also bake at 450* for 15 min. and then 60 min. at 350*. Perfect every time……an oh so delicious!!!!
I made this for a work luncheon last night for today and it went over awesome. I followed the recipe mostly, but did change some things from reading the reviews. I used 6 oz of heavy whipping cream instead of evaporated milk and I did not use butter. I also squeezed the liquid out of the potatoes. I peeled the potatoes, ran them through a food processor to shred them. I had a big bowl with a cheese cloth draped over it and put the shredded potatoes in the cloth. I squeezed the liquid out of the potatoes and put them back in the food processor (you may need to split in parts to fit in the food processor). I let the liquid in the bowl set for a bit to let the starch sink to the bottom. I then sucked the liquid out (at least most of it) and all that was left was the starch in the bottom. I put the starch back in the potatoes and blended the shredded potatoes until they almost look like they are mashed (kind of looks like apple sauce if you use yukon gold, which I did). I then mixed all the ingredients together and put some kosher salt in it and a lot of pepper (highly suggest pepper and lots of it because it will be bland). This is kind of a rambling of what I did, but it was fun to make too. Have fun.
Wonderful recipe. To simplify, I used defrosted pre-shredded frozen potatoes (hash brown kind). Saves a huge amount of time! I followed recipe exactly but did add salt and white pepper. I make Kugelis every holiday season (I’m part Lithuanian). This was easy and delicious. I’ll be making it again, for sure.
Potatoes must be grated to get the texture of authentic kugelis – add salt and 3 or 4 eggs is plenty!
Food processor setting for grinding works great to make this the right consistency. Thanks for the recipe!
As someone who is of Lithuanian background, and even living in Lithuania, the first question is should the bacon be cold or hot smoked? Actually, it would be much better, and authentic, to use what is called “salt pork” in the US… hardly any “meat”in it at all. Also, most American-Lithuanians I knew in the US use a “safety grater”, which looks like a metal tennis racket to grate the potatoes… the flaky shreds add a depth that simply shredding will never accomplice. Sadly, here in Lithuania, most people who make this regularly use a machine to grind the potatoes down… this absolutely sucks, as it makes this strange, almost rubbery loaf. Depending on how long you cook it, and how you want it too look, you can always use regular milk. Some “traditional” recipes call for burying a pig’s ear or a piece of chicken in the loaf before you cook it, but then again, what’s so traditionally Lithuanian about potatoes, which didn’t even show up in Lithuania until the later 17th Century? And why call it “Kugelis”, when people in Lithuania, up until the early 20th C. called it “Babka”? Thanks, Jablonskis…
I am Lithuanian, both my grandparents came from Lithuania and my grandmother would make this for every Thanksgiving and Christmas since I was a little girl. It was something I very much looked forward too, but every time I asked for the recipe she said she didn’t have one and did a little something different every time. Now that she is almost 90, I wanted to make this for her for Christmas. I don’t really follow recipes to the exact (that’s just how I cook) so I probably used more bacon and more butter than the recipe called for, but it was excellent and everyone loved it!!!! The only thing I noticed different from my grandmothers version is I used a food processor to shred the potatoes and that gave them a different consistency in the finished product than when she would hand shred them (to a mush like consistency). Also, I did make sure to squeeze out the excess water as many other’s have suggested.