Cheesy Broccoli & Bacon Pierogi

 

I recently made homemade pierogi, not realizing that it made an absolutely enormous batch, until I had already boiled them all (silliness).  And while I knew they would (probably) get eaten eventually, it would mostly be me and Hubs and while we loved the pierogi, we didn’t need to carb load quite that much in a week.

I knew I needed to repurpose the pierogi in some way to make them new enough that the dudes would go for a meal of leftover pierogi.  Ultimately, I decided to merge the pierogi with my recipe for Bacon Broccoli Mac and we had a definite winner.

The cheese, bacon, and broccoli took the already delicious pierogi to the next level and those leftovers were taken care of quickly!

Cheesy Broccoli & Bacon Pierogi

½ batch Potato, Cottage Cheese, & Caramelized Onion Pierogi, cooked

1 pound thick cut bacon, cut in ½-inch pieces

2 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

2 ½ cups milk

¼ teaspoon paprika

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

16 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded

1 large head broccoli, but into florets

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F

Spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with nonstick spray.  Place the pierogi in the baking dish.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon to crisp.   Once cooked, set aside on a paper towel lined plate to drain.  Pour off most of the bacon drippings from the pan. 

Add the butter to the same pan and cook over medium heat.  Once melted, add the flour and whisk until smooth.  Cook for 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in the milk, allowing the mixture to thicken between additions.

Whisk in the paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and ¾ of the cheese.  Whisk until smooth, then stir in the bacon and broccoli and remove from heat.

Pour the cheese mixture over the pierogi.  Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until heated through.