The best sauce for Eastern European dumplings is sour cream — cool, tangy, and rich enough to coat the dough without overwhelming the filling. But sour cream is just the beginning. Butter with fresh herbs, berry jam for sweet dumplings, and a pile of sautéed mushrooms and fried onions all have their place. Here’s what to reach for and when.
Classic smetana
Smetana is the Eastern European word for soured cream — thicker and slightly tangier than the supermarket version most people in the UK are familiar with. It’s the foundational sauce for pelmeni and vareniki alike.
Why does it work? The fat in the cream carries flavour. The acidity cuts through the richness of a meat or potato filling. It cools the dumpling to eating temperature as you spoon it over. And it creates a sauce in the bowl as you eat — the sour cream loosens slightly in the residual heat and coats everything.
Don’t be stingy with it. A generous spoonful over a hot bowl is the right amount.
With us, sour cream comes included with every bowl. It’s not optional.
Butter and herbs
At home, melted butter with fresh herbs — particularly dill — is one of the most traditional ways to dress dumplings. It’s simple, and it’s very good.
The method: melt butter in a pan over gentle heat until just foamy, toss the boiled dumplings through it briefly, then pile into a bowl and finish with a generous handful of fresh dill or parsley. The butter coats the dough and adds richness; the herbs add sharpness and colour.
This is a home preparation rather than something we offer at the bar. At Varenik & Pelmen, fresh herbs are one of our six included toppings — available on every bowl. The butter element is one for the home kitchen.
Berry jam for sweet dumplings
Sweet dumplings — vareniki filled with cherry or strawberry — need something different. Sour cream still works (the tang against the sweetness is a good combination), but berry jam is the more traditional finish.
Spoon it over the top rather than stirring it in. The jam should sit on the warm dumplings, melting slightly into the dough, creating a sticky, fruity coating. A tart cherry jam or a sharp strawberry preserve works better than something very sweet — you want contrast, not more sugar.
With us, berry jam is included with every bowl alongside all our other toppings. For sweet vareniki, it’s the go-to.
Mushroom and onion
Mushrooms and onions are the savoury toppings that add the most substance and flavour depth.
Sautéed mushrooms: cooked slowly in a pan until they’ve released their liquid and concentrated down. Earthy, a little meaty, excellent with pork and beef pelmeni or cheese and spinach vareniki. The mushroom juices left in the pan are essentially a sauce in themselves.
Fried onions: cooked over medium-low heat for long enough to go properly golden and sweet — not soft and translucent, but caramelised. The sweetness plays against the richness of the meat filling and the tang of the sour cream.
At our bar, both come included. Most people add them together, which is the right instinct.
Mix and match
The Eastern European approach to dumpling toppings is not to pick one and stop there. You pile them on.
Sour cream as the base. Fried onions for sweetness. Crispy bacon for salt and crunch. Fresh herbs for sharpness. Mushrooms for depth.
Everything works together. There’s no law against all five being in the bowl at once — in fact, that’s roughly what a well-loaded bowl looks like with us.
For sweet vareniki: sour cream, berry jam, and fresh herbs. The combination sounds unusual. It works.
The model at Varenik & Pelmen is simple: all six toppings are included with every bowl. Take what you want, leave what you don’t.
Frequently Asked Questions
What sauce goes with dumplings?
Sour cream is the classic and most versatile choice for Eastern European dumplings — it suits every savoury filling and most sweet ones too. Beyond that, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, crispy bacon, and fresh herbs all work as toppings that function like sauces, coating the dumplings and adding flavour. For sweet dumplings, berry jam is the traditional choice.
What do you dip dumplings in?
Eastern European dumplings aren’t traditionally dipped — the toppings are spooned over the bowl rather than served separately as a dipping sauce. Sour cream is the most common, added generously on top while the dumplings are still hot. It melts slightly into the bowl and coats everything as you eat.
Is sour cream the only option?
Not at all. It’s the most traditional and most recommended, but butter with fresh herbs is a classic home preparation. Mushrooms and fried onions add flavour and texture. Berry jam is the right finish for sweet vareniki. Crispy bacon adds crunch and salt. Most people use several toppings together rather than just one.
What’s good on sweet dumplings?
Berry jam is the go-to for sweet vareniki — a tart cherry or sharp strawberry jam spooned over the top while they’re hot. Sour cream works well too, particularly with cherry-filled varieties where the tang balances the sweetness of the filling. Both come included with every bowl.