Bierocks (also known as cabbage burgers by my husband’s family) are considered a German treat around these parts. They are rolls filled with a combination of ground beef, cabbage, and onions. Bierocks freeze exceptionally well, so be sure to make extra to have some around for later!
Begin by putting together the dough. This recipe uses my great-grandmother’s Refrigerator Rolls recipe, which works perfectly. However, your favorite dinner roll recipe will likely work as well. You can even use frozen bread dough which has been thawed.
To make the filling, begin by browning a pound of ground beef, adding salt and pepper to taste. Chop up some onion and some cabbage. You can toss the onion in with the ground beef as soon as you wish. However, wait to add the cabbage until the ground beef is nearly done. If you add the cabbage when the ground beef is still raw, you will have a tough time getting it to all cook, as the raw beef will stick to the cabbage and not make contact with the pan. Cook the cabbage until it is soft and the volume has decreased significantly. You may want to cover the pan to help it cook faster. Drain off the liquid when the beef is completely browned and the cabbage is cooked.
Roll out the dough into a large, thin (1/4 inch thick or less) rectangle. Cut into squares of equal size. If you like lots of filling, make bigger squares; if you like less filling, make smaller squares. I would say that you could make anywhere from 6 to 12 squares, and have reasonably sized bierocks.
If you’re adding cheese, put the cheese on the dough first so that it will melt into the meat as they bake. Place some filling in the center of each square.
Pull together the corners and pinch the seams shut. Place the filled dough on ungreased baking sheets, with the seam-side down.
Bake the bierocks until the rolls are light golden brown. Let cool on wire racks for at least a few minutes before serving.
If you are making extra to freeze, allow the bierocks to cool completely. Wrap each tightly in plastic wrap or foil, and place in a resealable plastic bag. To reheat, thaw the bierocks covered in foil in the oven. Although you can thaw/reheat them in the microwave, the dough will quickly get tough as they cool back down to room temperature.
Bierocks
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 medium onion or one small onion
- 1/2 head small cabbage shredded
- bread dough I recommend a 1/2 recipe of Refrigerator Rolls
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Brown ground beef with onion in a skillet. Once ground beef is nearly browned, add cabbage. Cook until beef is fully cooked and cabbage has softened and cooked down. Drain liquid.
- Roll out dough and cut into squares. Place filling in the center of each square, and seal dough by pinching seams shut. Place seam side down on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake in a preheated 400 degree F oven until light golden brown. Let cool slightly before serving.
- If freezing, cool completely before wrapping tightly in plastic wrap or foil. Place in a resealable plastic bag.
I usually use canned dough for bierocks, but the refrigerator dough was DELICIOUS! Thanks!
One of the things I decided on for the new year was to educate myself and make more foreign dishes. (outside of those themed around asia)
German food is at the top of that list so I was pretty pumped to stumble this. I have a question though, is there any sort of recommendation on a sauce to pair with this? It seems like it would be somewhat dry as is.
I have never seen bierocks served with a sauce, but that’s not to say there isn’t one! They are a little on the dry side, but the beef & cabbage mixture is baked in the bread dough, so that keeps some moisture in the filling. I can imagine that some sort of cheese or mushroom-based sauce would be yummy. Let me know how they turn out!
I make a cheese sauce that we pour over the top. Also I add chopped cooked bacon to the hamburger and cabbage mixture. Our family loves these!
That sounds delicious! Hard to go wrong with bacon & cheese in my opinion 🙂
I put gravy on them. Bottled beef gravy is good, also mushroom,
Enjoy
My mom used to make a beef gravy to pour over the top or to dip in if you like…it was great!!!
Also have put the gravy with ground beef and cabbage mixture and over the top. Yum!!!
Coming from a Volga German area in Kansas, we dipped them in ketchup. Any alterations i.e. sauerkraut or sauces we sacrilegious :).
My family is German heritage and we use horseradish. Although ketchup and gravy work depending on your taste.
My mother used to make an easy cheese sauce she would serve over pirogi: Saute a finely chopped small onion in butter until caramelized. Heat a cup of whole milk and add in 6-8 slices of American cheese. (add more or less to your desired thickness) Stir in onions and serve immediately. You could use this to ‘dip’ the sandwiches in or add a dollop of cooled sauce into the center of the meat before encasing in the dough.
We add cheese to ours and my husband tops them with mustard. I have a friend who also uses cream of mushroom with her beef mixture. I made this recipe last night (we make it a lot!) and thought I might add that next time.
[…] was happy to be able to make a nice, big batch of bierocks, and I now have quite a few ready to go in the freezer. Another bonus of making the dough is that […]
The photos are really great! We called them Krautburgers or Kraut Runzas where I come from in Colorado. Our school cooks even made them for lunches once a week. They were a staple of the local Germans from Russia. Germans and Russian people I have met from other areas have not known what they were, so I was glad to see this site calling them Bierocks.
I think I will try this recipe and use saurkaut instead of cabbage , I think I will add a little lipton onion to the mixture
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My sister and I love this recipe! We love onions, so I substitute the cabbage with a pack Lipton’s French Onion soup 🙂
I can’t digest fibrous greens such as cabbage or lettuce. Can i simply omit the cabbage?
You can omit the cabbage. They will not have quite the same flavor, though!
You never mentioned any seasoning. I’ve seen recipes with salt/pepper, coriander, Cheyenne, cinnamon, water etc. I’ve made them with salt/pepper and tasted like it needed more flavoring. These little hand sized sandwich’s have always been ahit in our family for over 50yrs. A German women showed my mother how to make them and we’ve been eating them ever since.
I dip my bierocks in a mixture of grey poupon mustard and soy sauce, really tasty
Cooking tomorrow night with a cheese sauce. I will let you guys know how it all turns out. My husband is excited seeing as he has been talking about this recipe for years.