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Homemade dinner
Pancakes with meat

Meat-Stuffed Potato Pancakes (Draniki)

The tastiest — golden, appetizing, and filling! Meat-stuffed draniki are one version of the famous Belarusian classic. Here they're made with a ground-meat filling, so each one turns out like a little hand pie: crisp on the outside and juicy within.

Pirko Rita

Recipe author

Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Potatoes

560

Ground pork

220

Onion

Eggs

Wheat flour

Sunflower oil

100

Ground black pepper

Salt

Sour cream (for serving)

200

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 16 % 5 g

Fats 50 % 16 g

Carbohydrates 34 % 11 g

205 kcal

GI: 90 / 0 / 10

Cooking method

Step 1:

How do you make meat-stuffed draniki? Start with the meat filling. Peel the onion, cut it in half, and chop one half however you like (with a knife, grater, or blender). Add the onion, salt, and ground black pepper to the ground pork and knead it well. Line a board or plate with plastic wrap. Shape the meat into 10 small patties and set them on the wrap. Chill the patties in the refrigerator.
Step 2:

Make the potato batter. Wash and peel the potatoes well. Grate the potatoes and the other half of the onion on the fine side of a box grater. Transfer the grated mixture to a deep bowl and add the egg, wheat flour, and salt. Mix everything thoroughly. You want a fairly thick batter that holds its shape rather than spreading.
Step 3:

Pour the oil into a skillet and set it over the heat. Once the skillet is hot, spoon the potato batter into it in small rounds, like pancakes.
Step 4:

Right away, set a meat patty on top of each round of potato. Cover it with more potato batter so the pork ends up fully enclosed inside the pancake. Fry the draniki over medium heat so the meat filling has time to cook through and doesn't end up raw.
Step 5:

Fry the pancakes until golden, then carefully flip them and fry the other side until golden too. You can flip them a few times as they cook to get the color just right. Transfer the finished draniki to a paper towel to soak up the excess oil. Repeat with the rest of the batter. Serve the draniki hot with sour cream. Enjoy!

Draniki are a hugely popular Belarusian dish that have won over millions of people — not only because they're easy to make and take just a handful of ingredients, but because they're ridiculously good. Today there's a huge range of them, with all kinds of fillings and takes on the method. This time I made them stuffed with meat, and they came out juicy and delicious, though I'll admit I still have a soft spot for the classic version of this wonderful dish.
Important! The wrong skillet can ruin even the best recipe. For all the details on picking the perfect pan for different dishes, read more here.
Always wash your eggs before using them — even a shell that looks clean can carry harmful bacteria. A food-safe brush and a little dish soap work best.
Fry with an oil that has a high smoke point. Every oil is good only up to a certain temperature — its smoke point — beyond which it starts to burn and form harmful compounds, including carcinogens. Unrefined oils, with few exceptions, have a low smoke point; they're full of unfiltered particles that quickly start to burn. Refined oils stand up to heat better and have a higher smoke point. Whether you're cooking in the oven, in a skillet, or on the grill, use an oil with a high smoke point. The most common high-smoke-point choices are refined sunflower, olive, and grapeseed oil.