“Haluski” is a Polish comfort food made of cabbage and noodles.

This is Polish comfort food. The flavors are quintessentially Polish, and so is the simplicity of the humble and inexpensive ingredients. The cabbage has a sweetness that is beautiful up against the tang of the sour cream, and smokiness of the bacon adds the perfect extra touch. The caraway and dill are there without being obviously assertive. I could eat this all day.

Social Learning

Cooking Tips:

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven: If you’d like to cook the bacon in a less-attended way, so that you can carry out other tasks as the bacon cooks, consider cooking the bacon strips in the oven, and dicing them afterward. To do this, lay strips on a baking sheet, place in a cold oven, then bake at 400°F until crisp (about 14–40 minutes depending on thickness). No flipping required.

If it were up to me, I’d cook the cabbage to al dente, and I’d add so little sour cream that you’d hardly know it was there. But it’s not up to me. My husband used to work in a neighborhood that was full of Central and Eastern European immigrants, and regularly got haluski from an insanely good, nearby Polish deli. And theirs – which kind of imprinted itself on him – had tender cabbage and was more on the decadent side, like the one I’ve presented here. 

Ingredient Options and Flexibility:

Cabbages vary. Some are larger than others, it’s hard to know ahead of time how many ounces of noodles you’ll need. I like a cabbage-to-noodle ratio of 1:1 or 2:3. So, I cook the whole twelve-ounce package of noodles, add enough so that the haluski looks right, and stash the leftover cooked noodles in the fridge.

Options abound. Every element except the cabbage, noodles, sour cream (or cottage cheese), salt, and pepper is pretty much optional. In fact, my grandmother almost as a rule made a bare-bones version of this (with cottage cheese), and I loved the hell out of it. The version I’ve come up with is pretty fancy. Using the parsley garnish is fancy almost to the point of being uppity.  

Sausage is great with haluski, but haluski doesn’t need it. If you do serve sausage with or in it, the type you use is quite flexible. My grandmother would’ve used fresh or smoked kielbasa. The idea that I’m suggesting brats would probably get me a suspicious sideways glance from her, if not worse. But I’m telling you, just about any brat you choose, you can hardly go wrong. I’ve tried Parmesan-garlic brats, cheddar brats … l’ve even tried sweet Italian brats – which I did not think would work – and they turned out to be great with haluski. 

Fresh kielbasa, however, if you can get it, is the ultimate. The scent of fresh kielbasa and haluski wafting through the house will practically resurrect your Polish ancestors from the dead so that they can congratulate you. Note that fresh kielbasa may appear slightly pink inside, even when cooked to a proper temperature. If you use my “brat” method for cooking it, and it fully browns before it’s cooked, you can finish it off in the microwave. 

Butter is something I’ve minimized in this recipe. I have used bacon fat and sour cream … so the dish is hardly light. But some recipes might include four times as much butter as I’ve used. In the final stages, once you added the cooking water and are looking for a creamy texture, stirring in some butter might be what you’re looking for. 

Caramelizing the onions would add a welcome flavor. If I weren’t adding in bacon and sausage, I’d do it.

Serving Suggestions:

I prefer to have haluski as a meal. However, it makes a great side to something like pierogi.

I don’t remember my grandmother making haluski for dinner. I do remember her throwing it together on a whim, because the ingredients were handy. (If you grow up in a Polish household, cabbage, cottage cheese, and sour cream are always around.)

Left over, haluski is quite good. You may need to add a bit of water, and garnishing with a small dollop of sour cream will more of a command than a suggestion.

Haluski Info:

Haluski (pronounced “hah-LOOSH-kee”) might be served for lent, if you omit the bacon and sausage. But I enjoy it any time of year, especially in colder months. It’s very similar to another Polish dish, called “łazanki.” Indeed, you might say that haluski is the Polish-American version of łazanki. Łazanki is often made with square, lasagna-like noodles, might use sauerkraut instead of or mixed in with the cabbage, and might include mushrooms as well.  

The Backstory

Haluski is best if you eat it straight out of the pan. Don’t even bother finding a plate. Just grab a fork and dig in. Once you’ve eaten as much as you possibly can, THAT’s when you call out, “Hey everyone, I made cabbage and noodles!” And then let them all come in, find some plates, and divvy up what’s left. This is the way.

Haluski

Credit for images on this page: Make It Like a Man! This content was not solicited by anyone, nor was it written in exchange for anything. References: 4 Sons ‘R’ Us, Polish Feast. Thank you, Kesor. Thank you, ⌘+C. Make It Like a Man! is ranked by Feedspot as #5 in the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Blogs. 

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