It’s Passover time! This Vegetable Kugel is chock full of potatoes, sweet potatoes, zucchini and leeks. Yum!
Now that Purim and SXSW are over, my mind is only on one thing. Sleep! Okay two things, sleep and Passover. And vegetables. Alright, three things. Well, this Vegetable Kugel recipe has two out of three of those things. Not too bad! And if you use your kugel as a pillow it has it all. A lot of people I know don’t get as excited as I do about Passover, and I can see why. Mushy gefilte fish, those weird jelly fruit things, no beer for 8 days. But I love it! I love the challenge of chametz free cooking and an excuse to eat matzo ball soup for every meal. Plus, flourless chocolate cake (recipe coming soon), an excuse for a dinner party, and lots of wine!!
I’ve got TONS of Passover recipes ready to share with you, and even more in our first ebook! First up, vegetable kugel. But not just any vegetable kugel, this one has sweet caramelized leeks, sweet potatoes, zucchini. It makes a great pareve side, or I like to top mine with Greek yogurt and eat a piece for lunch. Best part is, it’s easy!
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. First, slice light green parts of leeks into rounds and heat up a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of oil and leeks with 1/4 teaspoon salt and turn heat to low. Sauté, stirring often until slightly browned and translucent.
Meanwhile, grease a casserole dish with oil. Shred up the remaining vegetables- potato, sweet potato, zucchini, onion and garlic and remove as much water as you can with paper towels. This is important for a dry kugel! Combine with leeks, eggs, 1/4 cup vegetable oil, matzo meal, remaining salt and pepper in a large bowl. You can even use gluten free matzo meal to make this gluten free! If you mixture is wet, add in a little more matzo meal. Pour mixture into the casserole dish and bake for 45 minutes until kugel is cooked through and topping is browned.
Let cool slightly, cut into squares and eat!
You can even make this ahead and reheat in the oven when ready to serve. Don’t you love all the colors??
Vegetable Kugel with Caramelized Leeks
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil divided, plus more for greasing the pan
- 2 large leeks or 3 small leeks, sliced into rounds
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt divided
- 1 large russet potato (about ½ pound) washed well and peeled right before using
- 1 large sweet potato (about ½ pound) washed well and peeled
- 2 medium zucchini (about ½ pound) washed well and NOT peeled
- 1 medium white onion (about ½ pound)
- 3 medium garlic cloves
- 3 large eggs beaten
- 3 tablespoons matzo meal
- ½ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 x 9 casserole dish with oil and set aside.
- Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add a tablespoon of oil and leeks with 1/4 teaspoon salt. Immediately turn heat to medium-low. Sauté, stirring often until slightly browned and translucent, about 10-15 minutes.
- Shred up the remaining vegetables with a hand grater or food processor- potato, sweet potato, onion, zucchini, and garlic and remove as much water as you can with paper towels. This is important for a dry kugel! Combine with leeks, eggs, ¼ cup vegetable oil, matzo meal, remaining salt and pepper in a large bowl. If is very wet, add in a little more matzo meal.
- Pour mixture into the casserole dish, smooth over with a spatula, and bake for 45 minutes until kugel is cooked through and topping is browned.
- Let cool slightly, cut into squares and eat!
Gloria says
Amy, what a beautiful, healthy, and creative idea!! I have a young nephew who needs to avoid gluten. I can easily make this gluten free by taking my gluten -free matzo and making meal in the food processor. Thanks for this recipe!!
Amy Kritzer says
Great idea, Gloria! I’ll add that as a note too. Great to hear from you! 🙂
Kayla Young says
Hi do you have nutritional info on this?
Renee G says
Can you substitute carrots for sweet potato?
Amy Kritzer says
Sure I think that would work!
Maura Shapiro says
Can this be made ahead and frozen?
Amy Kritzer says
It’s better made fresh, I wouldn’t freeze any potato or vegetable kugels. They can get a little soggy.
Linda Mintz says
I am gluten-free and made this using gluten-free matzoh meal. I did double the amount called for as my veggie mix was pretty moist after only using three tablespoons. It was very good!
Amy WJWE says
Great! Happy to hear it.
SarahBeth says
This was a huge hit at the seder table. I saw that someone thought it was bland. I don’t like black pepper, so I needed to do some substitutions anyway. This Kugel can handle any (savory) spices or herbs that you want to use! I added chopped fresh rosemary, and a spice mix by Penzey’s called “Sunny Paris” (shallots, chives, green peppercorn, dill weed, basil, tarragon, chervil and bay leaf). Fresh dill, thyme, chives, or parsley would be great (you’ll be buying the parsley anyway), or you could finally use that cool spice mix you keep forgetting you have! Onions upset my stomach, so I chopped up the green part of a bunch of scallions instead. It’s hard to go wrong with this recipe!
Amy Kritzer says
Thanks! Good idea to add some extra spices!
Samantha @FerraroKitchen says
Can’t wait for the Passover recipes! I need to get crackin’! And can you believe I have never made kugel?? I need to get on that!
Amy Kritzer says
Ooh yes get on that! Potato kugel is the best!!
Sharon says
If not making for passover, what can you sub for the matzo meal?
Thank you
JGW says
This looks amazing! Also, I think this is the first time I realized we live in the same town. It seems like about 50% of all my favorite recipes come from you, so I guess it makes sense that we have similar taste.
Amy Kritzer says
Aw thanks, Jillian! I love to hear that.
Becky Bartlein says
I am making this for seder this year! It was hard to choose between all your amazing recipes!
Amy Kritzer says
Aw thanks, Becky!!
peter @feedyoursoultoo says
The kugel is just beautiful and that is not easy to do with a kugel. I also need a vegetable recipe so I am so glad I found this post. I featured the recipe on my Friday Five – Passover addition over @Feed Your Soul Too – http://www.feedyoursoul2.com/2014/04/friday-five-passover-addition-2.html
Amy Kritzer says
Thanks so much for featuring me, Peter!
Winnie says
I just love this Kugel!
It has everything that we like
I will just use potato starch instead of the matzo meal (we don’t use matzo meal at all)
Thanks!
Amy Kritzer says
Thanks- enjoy!
Ashley says
I clicked on this because it has a Vegan label, but I notice that there are eggs in the recipe- can they be substituted?
Amy Kritzer says
Oh yes, it works with vegan egg substitute!! Sorry about that.
Obi says
Is the matzo meal/breadcrumbs critical? Will it work without any bread?
Amy Kritzer says
It helps bind it all together. I haven’t tried with no binding at all.
laripu says
I’ve been thinking of making this for a while. I made it last night, with more eggs and more matzoh meal (because it was a bit wet). Anyway, it turned out great ! Thanks for this recipe.
Amy Kritzer says
Awesome glad you liked it!!
laripu says
Oh, also, I used carrot instead of zucchini, and much more garlic… a whole head of garlic…. muhahahaha!
Amy Kritzer says
Nice! Keeps away the vampires.
LISA says
LOL.
KareninStLouis says
Can I assemble the day before and refrigerate until baking? Or have you tried making ahead and freezing? If so, how do you defrost and reheat? Thanks so much.
Amy Kritzer says
Hi Karen! This kugel does freeze very well. I’d defrost in the refrigerator and then heat covered in the oven, uncover for the last 5 minutes to crisp the top. Alternatively, you can make it ahead of time, bake it, and keep it refrigerated for up to 3 days before serving too. Reheat in the oven. Hope that helps!
KareninStLouis says
So helpful. Thank you. I love your site.
Amy Kritzer says
Aw thank you so much! I’m doing an event with the Federation in St Louis next month! Hope to see you there!
KareninStLouis says
Yes, I found it on the calendar. It’s a Young Adults event, but maybe I can crash it!
Amy Kritzer says
We are doing more than one event- stay tuned!
Kat says
Looks like a perfect seder side dish! If I make it ahead of time and reheat – how long and on what temp should I reheat it for? Thank you!
Amy Kritzer says
Thanks! It’s better made fresh, but I would do 300 for 20-30 minutes until warm.
Sharon Westey says
This recipe is absolutely delicious! I have to say though that it took me a lot longer than 30 minutes of prep time for this recipe…washing, peeling, and shredding all those veggies, patting them dry, etc. It took more like over an hour to prep everything before it went into the oven
Amy Kritzer says
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Elana Gomberg says
Hi Amy- The Vegetable Kugel w Carmelized Leeks looks delicious and so perfect for Passover as a side dish. Have you ever made these in individual servings by baking them in greased muffin pans? I’m making another kugel in a 13 x 9 pan, so thought I might vary them by making these in the muffin tins. Please let me know if this will work and if, like in your original recipe, they can be made ahead and frozen, then re-heated. Thanks. Elana
Amy Kritzer says
Hi Elana,
Individual servings would totally work! Maybe just cook 10 minutes less. These are always better fresh or refrigerated and then reheated if you can!
Tania Oshman says
This is really good, but doesn’t hold together well enough to cut into squares. Could I make it in muffin tins?
Amy Kritzer says
It should hold together! Make sure the mixture is very dry. But yes, you can make them in muffin tins too, I’d check doneness at 35 minutes.
Anne says
I made this for Seder tonight and it was a huge hit. I squeezed the mixture with my hands and couldn’t believe how much liquid came out. Then I also dried with a paper towel. I made it earlier in the day and it reheated perfectly. Thanks so much for this terrific recipe.
Amy Kritzer says
So glad! Happy Passover!!
Mary Abercrombie says
I made this for our vegetarian Passover dinner. It looked SO beautiful when it came out of the over that I thought everyone would love it, but it was so bland no one wanted more than one bite. I followed the recipe exactly. Any ideas on how to make it tastier?
Amy Kritzer says
Hi Mary,
I’m surprised! I’ve made it a ton of times. Did you caramelize the leeks completely and use enough salt?
Mary Abercrombie says
Yes, I did caramelize the leeks and squeezed out the veggies in a tea towel. The recipe only calls for 1 teaspoon of salt, and half a teaspoon of pepper, which looking back seems like not nearly enough for that amount of veggies.
Amy Kritzer says
1 teaspoon is plenty for this smaller sized kugel (9×9 inch pan), but you are welcome to add more if you like or sprinkle a little on at the end to taste.
Amy Kritzer says
Also make sure you really dry out the vegetables. With that you should have better luck next time!
Kayla Young says
Hi Amy do you have nutritional info on these?
Amy Kritzer says
Sorry, I don’t track nutrition.
Peggy Stewart says
This looks great and I will try it if I can find matzo meal in Vancouver, Canada. So, I am giving you a comment and some stars. Will you go on my website and give me a comment also? I own Magnetewan Books, a feminist publishing house in Vancouver at http://www.radioladies.ca – you don’t have to order a book, just leave a comment or go on the Facebook page which is linked and leave a comment. I will also plug your book on my Facebook page if you plug mine (smiley face).
Charlie Brown says
Awesome! Reminds me of our Hanukkah”confetti” latkes. Pretty and delicious
Amy Kritzer says
Ooh yes this would make a fun latke too!
Marina says
TEN stars! ??????????
Sharon says
What would you suggest I use instead of matzo meal, if not making for passover. Thank you
Amy Kritzer says
You can still use matzo meal or panko.
Anonymous says
I was not impressed with this… I drained all the water/juice, as directed and it just seemed like a blah, strangely textured concoction. Wouldnt recommend. I expected it to be crispy and savory. It ended up actually being quite sweet.
Amy Kritzer says
Sorry you didn’t enjoy! The sweet potatoes and caramelized leeks are sweeter vegetables so that may be what you took as sweet. The edges are cripsy, but the overall texture is supposed to be creamy. Especially since this is mostly not russet potatoes, which have more starch than the vegetables in this recipe. If you are looking for a crispier more savory kugel, I would recommend one using all russet potatoes.
Ira says
I agree, it is bland. I am surprised with all these good reviews. The recipe is missing something.
Steven Douglass says
Agree. Made according to directions but mine didn’t look as pretty/colorful. Didnt taste good. It seriously needs help. I figure I can probably salvage them for a side later in the week by adding more spices and some cheese and a dipping sauce of some kind. I hate throwing away veggies.
Amy Kritzer says
Sorry it didn’t turn out well for you! I’m not sure how it didn’t get colorful if you used all the veggies. Cheese would be a good addition too!
Jim E Johnson says
Big hit during sader.
Amy Kritzer says
So glad!
elaine landes says
Can I make this way ahead and freeze?
Amy Kritzer says
It can get a little soggy frozen and defrosted, so better made a few days ahead of time and refrigerated or made fresh.
Ellen Rachich says
It is not shareable on Facebook…please do so as it looks delicious