The Best Haluski Recipe is the Simplest

No kitchen in Schuylkill County is complete without a good haluski recipe.

A recipe for haluski, you say? Well … OK. There’s not much to this Polish staple.

But there are a lot of variations and add-ons (plugins, if you will) to haluski. There are so many that you almost lose sight of the star of the show, the haluski.

So, we went looking for the best haluski recipe. And we found plenty. Most are just copies of others, honestly. And there are some that hardly qualify as haluski.

Just one piece of advice here: Don’t — WE REPEAT, DO NOT — go to Flavortown!

Looking for the Best Haluski Recipe?

We think simple is best. Cabbage, noodles, butter, onions, salt, pepper.

But even though 75% of the haluski you’ll eat in your lifetime (unofficial stat) will only have those ingredients and nothing more, you know not all haluski is made equally.

So, we suggest assembling the basics and going from there. Remember, it’s all in your attitude. You have to want this. Otherwise, it’s just cabbage cooked with noodles and onions and butter.

The Simplest of the Simple

Call us haluski purists. But you can’t beat the simplest haluski done to perfection. There’s nothing high-falootin’ about it but a good haluski is unforgettable.

So, check out this simple, back of the box recipe for haluski from Barbara Rolek at The Spruce Eats.

Again, nothing flashy. It’s just being in the moment and being ready to taste that taste that screams haluski.

Perhaps Just a Little Bacon

Beth Pierce seems to really get the true spirit of haluski.

On the blog SmallTownWoman.com, she suggests dressing up the traditional haluski recipe with a little bacon.

Now, we are purists. And we tend to think bacon is overdone. It doesn’t really need to be in EVERYTHING.

But bacon in haluski is not uncommon. And we think the control used in this haluski recipe isn’t going to let the bacon overpower the dish. After all, it’s NOT a bacon dish. It’s a cabbage and noodles dish. But you can’t ignore the color on the onions.

We’re Open to the Idea of Pancetta But Starting To Lose Us

This recipe from A Family Feast hit us where it counts. Author Martha Pesa says this haluski recipe comes from her side of the family and we just assume it’s probably Mahanoy City. We did not confirm this with the Pesas.

Still, we’re excited to try her spin on the eastern European classic.

Not Really Haluski, More Like Shenandoah In a Pot

We wanted to find a recipe for haluski that included some caraway seeds. They add a little punch to your standard haluski.

Well, there’s not much more to share other than to say, take the first recipe on this list and add some caraway seeds to it. Boom, you’re done.

So, we kept digging and found this recipe at Gonna Want Seconds that they call a Pittsburgh-style haluski.

This one’s almost got too much happening. This is beyond a side dish. So, it may not be a purist’s haluski but that doesn’t mean we won’t eat it.

We Warned You About Flavortown

The Father of Flavortown goes too far. He sees the line and kicks dirt on it with his version of haluski.

The Fieri haluski recipe starts with the standard noodles and cabbage. But then he loses us. Needless to say, this won’t fly as haluski north of Saint Clair.

Yeah, those are peas in there. Capers, too.

Check out the Guy Fieri Holy Haluski recipe — with the pancetta … and thyme — that was featured in his Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives cookbook.

Subscribe to Coal Region Canary

Get email updates from Coal Region Canary by becoming a subscriber today. Just enter your email address below to get started!

Support Coal Region Canary

Like our reporting and want to support truly local news in Schuylkill County? Your small donations help. For as little as $5, your contribution will allow us to cover more news that directly affects you. Consider donating today by hitting the big yellow button below ...