Lithuanian Kugela

I am Lithuanian. My family loves this Omit the flour and use Farina instead. Add sour cream to the recipe. Use all of the bacon grease. I use both red and russet potatoes.

Learned from my grandmother, from the old country. We grated peeled potatoes on stove pipe that grandfather punch holes in it with nail, made just the right shredded texture. Store bought ones were just too fine, or too big. We made on the stove top or the oven. I liked the stove top better because you flip it over and get the best crust on all sides. Cast pan is the best on a gas stove slow cooked is the way to go.Good things are worth waiting for! Anyway… if you didn’t remove the liquid the just add a little flour to absorb, grate the onion, add some butter maybe a tbs. , the eggs, salt and pepper. As for the bacon we never pre cooked it! all that goodness cooked into those potatoes. cut the bacon into 3/4″ pieces while frozen to make cutting easier. This is not a dish for the dieting for two reasons, one is the lovely bacon grease cooks into the mix, two you can’t stop eating it till it’s gone. I serve it with butter on top with a heap of sour cream. Lord have mercy. Bacon Buns, and Cheeze/onion dumplings are another must try. Peoples noses will be leading them to your door when you cook any of these.

I made this for Christmas dinner and it turn out great! The only thing I did differently was add back to it! Which seemed to make it even tastier. Everyone loved it and was told to make it again. Very easy to follow along considering this was my first time ever making homemade baked macaroni and cheese.

I come from a Lithuanian background and this dish has been made two to three times every year along with other dishes such as sauerkraut balls, which goes good with it.

Made this for our International Dining Group. Everyone loved it. Here are the changes I made: No flour, grate raw Yukon Gold potatoes and then soak for a few minutes and strain, let liquid sit, drain off liquid and return starch that has settled to the potatoes. Freeze bacon and dice, cook with onions until brown, carmelized. Used only 5 eggs. Must serve with sour cream. I think I will add more seasoning next time.

Im English and my Husband is Lithuanian… He loved it! He said it was the he’d tasted in a long time 🙂

very nice! I think more onions fried ’til they are a bit brown would be even better. i think serving the next nite after panfrying a slab in butter would be good too.

I use a food processor and being lazy half the time I decided to try it with leaving the skin on…give it a try…tastes fantastic! This is the same as the recipe I grew up with and is great! Sour cream optional???? Ahhhh HAHAHAHA…that’s a good one!!!

This recipe is almost exact to the one my grandmother gave me, every year we make it for the holidays because everyone loves it. I even got my other side of the family (polish) to enjoy this dish. However i do omit the flour, i dont find it necessary, and i only use 3 eggs. otherwise it is perfect

I made this a few years ago for a pot luck picnic my step mom gave me the recipe and beleave it or not i never got any it was all gone a big hit. Been looking for the recipe for a while because i had lost the one my step mom gave me during a move. I have it again and now with my new husband and his family they get to try my family tradition for a holiday dinner.

Ahh, the ultimate comfort food! My friend’s family added buttered bread crumbs – and of course, the sour cream was mandatory, not optional . . .

Everything is about the same as my recipe except for a few things. I don’t soak the potatoes and I Cook it for about 2 and 1/2 hours. This makes for a hard crispy crust on the bottom which most people love. I also cook the bacon and onion together after the bacon is slightly cooked. I could not find the recipe I had and this was the closest to the one I had. I also use slightly less flour. Thirty five Years ago my mother gave me a food processor and this is the only recipe i use it for. You have to cut potatoes into pieces and turn processor on and off till you get a grated like consistency.

Flour? No way! Only the starch from the potatoes is necessary. By the way, I am 100% Lithuanian and grew up on this stuff and it’s called Kugelis. The Lithuanian language gives gender to the noun. Kugelis is a masculine word, ending it with an “a” would change it to a feminine word and therefore it is incorrect. But thanks for sharing the recipe..it’s a pretty good one. For anyone who thought it was bland..yeah it’s supposed to be that way, all Lithuanian food is bland and there is never ever any kind of cheese or garlic salt in Kugelis.

Amazing and Thankyou so much. I only have a faint memory of this dish made by my great grandmother. Made for my grandfather a few weeks ago and he loved it. Make to sure to finely shred the potatoes so they cook well. Draining and pressing the soaked potatoes to collect the starch is key.

Do you grate the potatoes finely the way my mother did? I prefer to coarsely grate them as for hash browns. Which is traditional?

Made this for a potluck and this was nearly the only thing left. It was pretty bland. I would add some cheese and some more seasonings if I ever made it again.

I am half Lithuanian, half English and was worried this dish would never compare to my grandfather’s. Thank you for the recipe! I did use a food processor for the potatoes,(against my better judgement)because of a time constraint, and was extremely pleased. Grandad would definetly object to this, but for first timers this might be an option. Just remember to strain the water from the potatoes afterwards. Thanks again!

I didn’t see the flour…my great-grandmother never added flour, either. I would omit it.

My husband was Lithuanian and taught me how to cook Lithuanian. First of all, I never use flour in my potato pancakes or Kugel. When you squeeze out the water from the potatoes into a bowl, let it sit for a minute then drain off the water carefully and at the bottom of the bowl you will find the starch from the potatoes. Take that and return it to the grated potatoes, this will help to hold them together. I like to serve them with fried salt pork, onion (fried nice and brown) and cream mixture. Just pour it over the dumplings after they are cooked and enjoy! Yummy! Yummy! P.S. Also, adding some evaporated milk to the potatoes will keep them white.

I thought this was good. But it was a bit too bland for me without adding garlic salt. I think maybe some cheese if I make it again.

I’m not Lithuanian and never tasted Kugela before. I had a lot of potatoes and not a lot else, so a search lead me to this recipe. Grating the potatoes and onion was kind of a pain. The end result was good although not especially memorable.