Homemade Runzas

Runza’s

A spinoff of the Nebraskan Runza restaurant sandwhich you can make at home. These are the perfect handheld meal for harvest and they freeze well. I like to double this recipe.
Course Main Course
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

Dough

  • 4.5 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 packets yeast
  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 2 eggs

Filling

  • 1.5 lbs ground beef
  • 1 small onion
  • 1/2 head small cabbage
  • 1 1/2 carrots
  • 1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese block

Instructions
 

Starting the Dough

  • Mix the dry ingredients 1.5 cups of flour, sugar, salt and 2 packets of yeast in a bowl (I like to use my stand mixer)
  • Mix the wet ingredients seperately in a small pot on the stovetop. Add the milk, butter and water. Make sure this mixture is all melted and at a temperature of 120-130 degrees farhenheit before you add it to the dry ingredients. Usually I get the mixture too hot and have to let it cool down.
  • Add the wet ingredients slowly to the dry ingrients. Using a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment works great for this.
  • Mix up the two eggs in a small bowl and add them to the rest of the dough mixture. Mix until fully incorporated.
  • Then add the remaining 3 cups of flour. Add one cup at a time until fully incorporated into the mixture.
  • The dough should be a little sticky. Add a little flour to hand knead a few times and place in a covered bowl to rise for 1 hour.

Filling Preparation

  • Chop the onion and cabbage. Shred the carrots
  • Brown the hamburger and onion in a pan. Add in some seasoning. I use a combination of steak seasoning, garlic powder, pepper, and oregano. Season to your liking.
  • Add in the carrots and cabbage. Steam and cook down for several minutes.
  • Prep the cheese by slicing it into sandwich like slices

Assembling the Runzas

  • After the dough has risen, punch it down and take out about a wiffle ball size dough portion
  • Roll out the dough to approximately 6" x 8"
  • Lay out the cheddar cheese across the middle of the dough, leaving room to wrap the edges. Add the meat and cabbage mixture on top of the cheese.
  • Fold up the long edges first and then tuck in the ends of the dough to seal.
  • Flip the runza over and bake seal down for 15-17 minutes in a 350 degree F oven.
  • Enjoy the runzas out of the oven or freeze them.
  • TO FREEZE: Allow the runzas to cool completely, then place in freezer bags, labeling them and storing away for future use.
  • REHEATING: They can be reheated from Frozen. Cover each individual Runza in tin foil. Bake in a 325 degree Farhenheit oven for 30-40 min
Keyword beef, field meal, ground beef, sandwich

6 thoughts on “Homemade Runzas

  1. Mary O'Hara says:

    This looks awesome as well, I make something like this I learned from our mom, she called them beef pasties its beef and mashed potatoes with onions at times cabbage is aded as well.

    • admin says:

      Oh yeah! I’ve heard of those. They’re something that’s also popular in very northern Wisconsin and Michigan!

  2. Holly. says:

    I’m going to make some of these up next week for the freezer. Our harvest time is primarily summer hay, but I expect some fall manure hauling meals and possibly some corn harvest meals. My future self will thank my present self.

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