Bierock was always a favorite of mine growing up. My German grandmother used to make them all the time. The funny thing is, I grew up thinking they were of German origin since my great-grandparents were German. To tell you the truth, I think my grandmother thought they were German as well because she never told us otherwise. I learned later in life that they are actually of Eastern European, possibly Russian origin. My great-grandparents immigrated from Germany to Russia many moons ago (I don’t have the exact year off the top of my head) when Russia was offering free land to immigrants. I’m sure they learned the local cuisine and adapted their own recipes, too, while they were there. Eventually, they came to the US and brought those wonderful recipes with them!

Bierocks were always so fun to eat! They’re just dough pockets filled with beef, cabbage, and onions. Simple ingredients but delicious! I made them many times as my kids were growing up and I miss making them (and eating them) to this day! I just can’t stand in the kitchen and make them anymore. It’s a lot of work making individual pockets!

Several years ago, I needed to make this recipe work for me in my dilapidated (hahaha!) state. It may have been a “thing” already, but I turned the original Bierock recipe into a casserole! It doesn’t take much time to get it all together. It’s something that I can even do now if my pain level isn’t too high.

I’ve decided to start writing down all of my recipes and taking photos of the end result so I can write my first cookbook. I’ve often thought about doing this, but never really got very far. This morning, after trying to recall another family recipe to give to my son, I figured I’d better get to it before I forget them all! I really had a hard time remembering the recipe! I have so many rattling around in my brain, they’re destined to get lost if I don’t write them down! It may take me some time to accomplish this task, but it’s one of those things like cleaning and decluttering that must be done!

So, without further hesitation, here’s my Bierock Casserole recipe! Be sure to let me know what you think!

Bierock Casserole

1.5 lbs. ground beef
1 medium head of green cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 roll of refrigerated pizza dough
Pan spray

Preheat oven to 350*.

Brown ground beef in a large pot. When browned, drain fat. It will be ok if there’s a little fat left because the onion and cabbage will need this to cook down. (You just don’t want it to be swimming in fat!) Add onion and cook until slightly tender. Add cabbage, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often until cabbage is tender. While the cabbage is cooking down, get your casserole dish ready.

In an 8” x 12” glass casserole dish, spray your choice of pan spray on bottom and on the edges of the dish. Remove the pizza dough from the packaging. With the 12″ side of the pan facing you, unroll the dough, stretching it and pressing it down to cover the bottom of the pan. You will want about half of the dough hanging over the edge of the pan. When your cabbage mixture is completely cooked down and hot, spoon it into the casserole dish, on top of the dough.

Pull the remaining dough up and towards you, stretching it over the top of the mixture, and tucking in the edges. Spray top with pan spray.

Turn oven down to 325* and cook the casserole for 20 minutes uncovered. When the top of the dough starts to turn golden brown, cover it with foil. Cook for an additional 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

Cut and serve! 6-8 servings.

I hope you’ll like this recipe and give it a try yourself! Happy cooking, my friends!