If you're looking for a warming addition to your winter dinners, you will love this classic Polish Haluski recipe because it's a wonderful hearty dish of Noodles with Cabbage and Bacon.
Best of all, you just need a few staple ingredients for this comforting dish the whole family will love!
Ha-who-ski? That’s right.
What is Haluski?
Haluski (or halušky) is a wonderful dish of noodles, fried cabbage (or sometimes sauerkraut), and bacon. Anyone who comes from an eastern and central European family knows that this recipe is a staple for dinner, especially on cold nights. Plus, it is SO easy to throw together.
Made in just one pot, it’s quick, easy, and comforting. You don’t have to worry about adding any side dishes.
Sometimes, the simple things in life are the best, like a belly full of pasta.
What's in this Polish noodle dish?
This haluski is made up of egg noodles, cabbage, onion, and bacon. If your family is anything like mine, almost any vegetable was cooked in the fat of the meat that was leading the meal. Might seem a little crazy, but it tastes dreamy.
So, don’t be skeptical about the cabbage – it’s not boiled, but rather sautéed in bacon fat. There's a considerable improvement in cabbage's flavor and texture when it's fried, especially in bacon fat.
It's simple enough for any cooking level, and it's hearty enough to feed any sized appetite. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, simply leave out the bacon or grab this pasta recipe with pumpkin and goat cheese or feta mac and cheese!
And if you want to make this extra Polish, you can throw in some kielbasa. Ham is also an option - just cube it up and fry it, though you may need a bit of extra oil in the pan as I don't feel ham renders as much fat as bacon or kielbasa. It seems that traditionally some sort of pork is used in this dish.
Egg noodles or pasta?
Traditionally, this dish is made with egg noodles. If you’ve never eaten egg noodles before, here’s your chance! They are arguably richer in flavor than pasta and create an entirely different consistency.
Egg noodles are fabulous in Hungarian goulash, with ground lamb, chicken noodle soup, stroganoff, and, well, haluski.
There are even gluten-free and egg-free options at some grocery stores. This way, you can fit every dietary need but still get the bite and flavor of a classic egg noodle.
How To Make Noodles with Cabbage and Bacon:
*Keep scrolling to get the full (printable) recipe, ingredient amounts, and more tips, or click on the “Skip to Recipe” button at the top of the page.
- In a large cast-iron or non-stick skillet, fry the diced bacon over medium heat until crisp; drain bacon on a paper towel-lined plate.
- Sauté the onions in bacon fat, add cabbage and cook until tender.
- Meanwhile, cook egg noodles. Drain and add with bacon to the skillet. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
Bacon is the cure-all, right?
If you live in the Midwest, you understand how brutal our winters are. The wind here close to Lake Michigan is no joke! What feeds the soul after a long, freezing day? A big bowl of pasta does the trick, especially when it has bacon in it.
You’ll be a hit at holiday or family gatherings with a big tray of haluski. It's one of those dishes where your cousin takes a scoop, sits down with it, and then stands up for seconds and thirds, asking your mom what it is and giving the recipe to his mom.
Noodles Without Borders
The idea for Polish fried cabbage and noodles recipe came for my December Noodles Without Borders, which is a monthly challenge that my friend Bobbi from Healthy World Cuisine and I started doing in August (can you believe it's December already?).
We each share around-the-world yummy pasta recipe on the first Tuesday of every month. Otherwise, the rules are that there are no rules. Bobbi is showing us how to make Italian pasta Trofie al Pesto from scratch, so you better go check it out now, but be sure to come back. 😉
Other skillet pasta dishes you should try:
Noodles Cabbage and Bacon - Polish Haluski Recipe
Equipment
- saucepan
- Sieve
- cast iron skillet
- Kitchen knife
- Cutting board
Ingredients
- ½ pound bacon diced
- 1 onion chopped or thinly sliced
- Head of green cabbage about 1 ½-2 lbs, cored and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 8 oz egg noodles
- 1 teaspoon caraway seeds optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large cast-iron or non-stick skillet, fry the diced bacon over medium heat until crisp.
- Drain bacon on paper towel. Add the onions to the skillet and sauté for 2 minutes.
- Add cabbage to the skillet and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in caraway seeds if using, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, boil egg noodles according to package direction and drain.
- Add cooked egg noodles and bacon to the skillet. Season with salt to taste and lots of black pepper and stir until noodles are heated through.
Notes
- If you're omitting the bacon, fry cabbage in ½ cup butter or use kielbasa or another smoked sausage.
- You can add one clove minced garlic to the skillet with cabbage if you prefer.
- Try a variation of this dish using sauerkraut!
Nutrition
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Reminds me of something my grandma made - Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner party. Have a wonderful week!
Grandma's meals are the best 🙂 They're like big warm hugs!
This looks absolutely incredible! It would be a great way to get your cabbage in for New Years. Thank you so much for sharing your amazing recipe with us at Merry Monday this week!
Thank you, Marie! It's a simple dish the whole family loves! 🙂
Jas, love the polish treat. Thanks for sharing on Fiesta Friday group.
Thank you, Rita! 🙂
Wow! This looks and sounds amazing! Will have to try!
I promise you won't be disappointed! 🙂
It is amazing to me that frying or roasting cabbage turns it into an entirely different vegetable. What a great winters meal. Thank you for bringing it to FF.
Right? It's absolutely delish! Thanks, Liz!
Jas, Another family dish that has been passed down through the generations! I can't even pronounce the Hungarian version, so we just call it cabbage and noodles. My husband decided to make it one time and it tasted better than mine, but then later I found out he never drained the bacon grease. LOL
LOL, your husband knows what's good! Bacon makes everything better, doesn't it? 😀
Heavens to Murgatroyd 🙂 ! I click on to a new blog for me and find two of my very favourite people commenting ahead if me ! Have obviously not done my homework 🙂 ! Well, having been born in Estonia and having had my eldest auntie (of nine children and eight girls who married into seven different European countries !) wed to a Polish army general, I have obviously had this dish at quite a few prior times in my life before . . . have to pay much more attention to you and Bobbi . . . oh, by the bye, hello from summery Australia . . .
Oh, wow! Hello, fellow European! 😀 So nice of you to stop in and nice to "meet" you. That's quite a rich family history and how lucky to try traditional dishes first-hand! And then you move across the globe, lol. Hope my next recipe (will be published Friday at 7 am EDT) will bring more memories of your eldest auntie, as it's also a classic Polish recipe. 🙂
Enjoy your summer!
Oh my! This looks delicious! I never met a noodle I didn’t like. LOL I will definitely be pinning and giving this a try!
Lol, it makes two of us, Donna! Thanks for stopping in. Happy Holidays!
Looks really delicious. I usually stir fry my cabbage as it gives it a better flavour and texture than boiling but ive not eaten with noodles before but I will now. thank you for linking to #CookBlogshare
Hi Jacqui, that's precisely what I did. I only boiled noodles. 😉 Happy Holidays!
This nooodles! ohhh so delectable... i wish i could grab a bite from the photo 😉
Incredibly tasty for such a simple dish. Thanks, Priya! xx
I think bacon is such a great meal combined with pasta! I would love to eat this on a really cold day.
I totally agree, Corina! It's a perfect comfort winter dish! xx
We you hear you loud and clear about the brutal winters of this frozen arctic tundra, we call Michigan. A delicious bowl of Polish Haluski is sure to warm you from the inside out. Extra bacon of course for the boys as according to teenagers- "Bacon is it's own food group". Thanks for making Noodles Without Borders a fun and memorable journey around the world.
The more bacon the better is what I say. Maybe I'm secretly a teenage boy, lol. Thank you, Bobbi! Love doing our monthly noodles with you. Stay warm this winter! Hugs
Jas, another fine dish that will suit the Swedish table well. We have a dish where you fry thick sliced pork belly in butter and then saute cabbage, but not with noodles. We'll just have to give your Haluski a try and see if it kicks our Bacon- och vitkålspytt up a notch or two. I think it will.
Try it, Ron. My mom used to stretch meals by adding noodles to cabbage, sauerkraut, and bean dishes (I never liked pasta with my beans, not even today). Sometimes she'd add cooked rice to fried cabbage instead of noodles. Ah, the memories...