Active time: ~1 hour | Total time: ~3½ hours, plus soaking and an overnight rest | Serves: 8 | Difficulty: Medium
Quick Overview
- Soak dried mushrooms and keep the soaking water
- Brown smoked bacon, pork and beef, then simmer the meat in broth or water
- Add fresh cabbage first, then sauerkraut, mushrooms, prunes and spices
- Finish with onion, smoked sausage and, if you like, tomato paste and red wine
- Simmer slowly, rest overnight and reheat before serving
What Bigos Is
Bigos is a Polish stew of sauerkraut and fresh white cabbage cooked slowly with several kinds of meat, smoked sausage, dried mushrooms and prunes.¹˒² It is sour from the fermented cabbage, smoky from the bacon and sausage and earthy from the mushrooms, with a little sweetness from the prunes. In English it often goes by the name hunter’s stew.³˒⁴
No two pots are quite the same. Published recipes use pork, beef, game or leftover roast meat, different sausages, and anything from twice as much fresh cabbage as sauerkraut to mostly sauerkraut.¹˒²˒⁵ They agree on one thing: bigos tastes better on the days after it is made.¹˒²˒⁴
History and Cultural Roots
The oldest Polish bigos had no cabbage in it. In Compendium ferculorum, published by Stanisław Czerniecki in 1682, it is a dish of boned fish cooked in olive oil with lime, olives and wine. According to Culture.pl, sauerkraut took the place of lemons in bigos only in the 18th century.³
By 1834, when Adam Mickiewicz published Pan Tadeusz, the poem that Culture.pl says every generation of Poles has studied since, sauerkraut was at the heart of the dish. In Book Four, after a bear hunt in the Lithuanian forest, the hunters warm bigos in pots over a fire, and the narrator says words can hardly convey its wondrous taste, colour and smell. It starts with chopped sauerkraut, he explains, which closes around the best pieces of meat as it cooks.³˒⁶
Bigos also belongs to Christmas. On Wigilia, the meatless Christmas Eve supper, a meatless bigos with mushrooms and prunes can be one of the dishes; the meat version is eaten on the days of Christmas that follow.⁷˒⁸
Traditional Bigos Recipe
This recipe was compiled by Heritage Healthy Kitchen from a comparison of published recipes; the sources are listed at the end of this article. Figures that are Heritage Healthy Kitchen’s own estimates rather than taken from a published source are marked as such.
The published recipes combine fresh cabbage and sauerkraut with two or three kinds of meat, smoked bacon and sausage, between 15g and 80g of dried mushrooms and a handful of prunes. They simmer the stew for anywhere from 1 to about 4 hours and reheat it the next day.¹˒²˒⁴˒⁵ This version stays close to the larger Polish recipes, scaled to 8 servings.¹˒² The exact weight of each meat, the 250ml of soaking water and the number of servings are Heritage Healthy Kitchen estimates within that range.
Ingredients
Serves 8
- 30g (1 oz) dried forest mushrooms, such as porcini¹˒⁴
- 150g (5 oz) smoked bacon, diced¹˒²
- 500g (1.1 lb) pork shoulder, cut into 2cm (¾ inch) cubes¹˒²
- 300g (11 oz) beef chuck or shoulder, cut into 2cm (¾ inch) cubes¹˒²
- 2 tablespoons (26g) lard or oil¹˒²
- 750ml (3 cups) beef broth, or water¹˒⁵
- 750g (1⅔ lb) fresh white cabbage, finely shredded¹˒²
- 750g (1⅔ lb) sauerkraut, squeezed and roughly chopped¹˒²
- 80g (about 12) pitted prunes, chopped¹˒²
- 3 bay leaves, 3 allspice berries, 3 juniper berries and ½ teaspoon caraway seeds¹
- 2 onions, diced¹˒²
- 250g (9 oz) smoked Polish sausage (kiełbasa), diced or sliced¹˒²
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)¹˒²
- 150ml (⅔ cup) dry red wine (optional)²
- Freshly ground black pepper, and salt to taste¹
Instructions
- Soak the mushrooms. Break the dried mushrooms into pieces, cover them with about 250ml (1 cup) of warm water and leave them for at least an hour, or overnight.¹˒²˒⁵ Lift them out, keep the soaking water, and chop the mushrooms.²
- Brown the bacon and meat. Heat 1 tablespoon of the fat in a large frying pan and fry the bacon for about 5 minutes, then move it to a large heavy pot. Brown the pork and beef in batches in the rest of the fat and add them to the pot.¹˒²
- Simmer the meat. Pour the broth or water over the meat, bring it to a boil, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.¹
- Add the fresh cabbage. Stir in the shredded fresh cabbage, cover and cook for about 30 minutes.¹
- Add the sauerkraut and mushrooms. Add the mushrooms with their soaking water, leaving any grit behind, then the sauerkraut, prunes and spices. Stir well and cook for another 30 minutes.¹˒⁴
- Add the onion and sausage. Soften the onions in the frying pan, then brown the sausage, and add both to the pot with the tomato paste and wine, if using. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 1 hour, stirring now and then so the bigos does not catch on the bottom. Season with pepper and, if it needs it, salt.¹˒²
- Rest and reheat. Let the bigos cool, refrigerate it overnight and reheat it slowly the next day, stirring, until it is hot all the way through. Serve with dark rye bread or potatoes.²˒⁴˒⁵
Kitchen Tips
Taste the sauerkraut first. Some sauerkraut is much sourer and saltier than others. Squeezing out the brine is a middle way; for a very mild bigos, rinse the squeezed sauerkraut in cold water and squeeze it again, and for a sharper one, leave some of the brine in.²
Check the mushroom water. The soaking water carries much of the mushroom flavour, so it goes into the pot. If it tastes bitter, leave it out.²
Stir from the bottom. Bigos is thick and catches easily. Keep the heat very low and stir it every half hour or so with a wooden spoon.¹˒²
Add the wine at the start or the end. If you use wine, pour it in right after the last ingredients, or about 2 hours before you switch off the heat on the day you serve the bigos.²
Nutritional Information
Per serving (1 of 8)
- Calories: approximately 480–590 kcal
- Protein: approximately 26–31g
- Total fat: approximately 33–41g
- Saturated fat: approximately 12–14.5g
- Carbohydrates: approximately 21–25g
- Dietary fiber: approximately 7g
- Sodium: approximately 1,310–1,600mg
Nutritional values are estimates based on standard ingredient databases (USDA FoodData Central), without the optional wine, and will vary with the meat, the sausage and the sauerkraut. Cooked with water instead of ready-made broth, a serving has about 1,110mg of sodium.
Storage and Reheating
Cool the bigos and refrigerate it within 2 hours. It keeps in the fridge for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for 3 to 4 months.⁹ Reheat it slowly, stirring, until it is steaming hot all the way through; Polish cooks say it gets better over the following days.¹˒²
Looking for a Lighter Version?
The Healthy Bigos recipe keeps the cabbage, sauerkraut, mushrooms, prunes and spices, uses pork tenderloin and lean beef instead of pork and beef shoulder, smoked turkey sausage instead of pork kiełbasa, a third of the bacon, rapeseed oil instead of lard and water instead of broth. A serving has about 310 kcal and 4g of saturated fat instead of about 535 kcal and 13g.
Traditional Bigos
Ingredients
For the stew
- 30g (1 oz) dried forest mushrooms, such as porcini
- 150g (5 oz) smoked bacon, diced
- 500g (1.1 lb) pork shoulder, cut into 2cm (¾ inch) cubes
- 300g (11 oz) beef chuck or shoulder, cut into 2cm (¾ inch) cubes
- 2 tablespoons (26g) lard or oil
- 750ml (3 cups) beef broth, or water
- 750g (1⅔ lb) fresh white cabbage, finely shredded
- 750g (1⅔ lb) sauerkraut, squeezed and roughly chopped
- 80g (about 12) pitted prunes, chopped
- 3 bay leaves, 3 allspice berries, 3 juniper berries and ½ teaspoon caraway seeds
- 2 onions, diced
- 250g (9 oz) smoked Polish sausage (kiełbasa), diced or sliced
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
- 150ml (⅔ cup) dry red wine (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper, and salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak the dried mushrooms in about 250ml warm water for at least an hour or overnight. Keep the water and chop the mushrooms.
- Fry the bacon in 1 tablespoon of fat for about 5 minutes, then brown the pork and beef in batches in the rest. Put everything in a large pot.
- Add the broth or water, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.
- Stir in the fresh cabbage, cover and cook for about 30 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms with their water, the sauerkraut, prunes and spices. Cook for 30 minutes.
- Soften the onions, brown the sausage and add both with the tomato paste and wine, if using. Simmer on low heat for about 1 hour, stirring now and then. Season.
- Cool, refrigerate overnight and reheat slowly the next day. Serve with rye bread or potatoes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What meat goes into bigos?
Usually a mix: pork and beef, smoked bacon and smoked sausage. Recipes also use game, leftover roast meat or poultry; one published bigos uses turkey instead of pork and beef.¹˒²˒⁵˒¹⁰
Should bigos use fresh cabbage, sauerkraut or both?
Most recipes combine the two, and the more sauerkraut you use, the sourer the stew. For a bigos made only from fresh cabbage, one Polish recipe adds about 1kg of grated sour apples to every 2kg of cabbage near the end of cooking.¹˒²
Can I leave out the wine and tomato paste?
Yes. Both are optional, and one Polish cook leaves out tomato altogether, noting that old Polish cooking did not use it.²
Why make bigos a day ahead?
Polish recipes say bigos tastes best on the following days. It is reheated slowly on the second day, and some cooks reheat it on the third or fourth day as well.¹˒²˒⁵
How long does bigos keep?
Up to 3 to 4 days in the fridge or 3 to 4 months in the freezer.⁹
What do you serve with bigos?
Dark rye bread, potatoes or potato dumplings.²˒⁴
Further Reading & Sources
The recipe is a compilation based on the published recipes listed here; these links are provided for readers who want to explore further.
- “Bigos.” Kwestia Smaku, December 9, 2020, updated November 14, 2022 (no author given). kwestiasmaku.com
- Ania. “Bigos.” AniaGotuje.pl, February 25, 2020, updated November 27, 2025. aniagotuje.pl
- “What’s So Special About BIGOS?” Culture.pl, December 10, 2022, updated January 8, 2024 (no author given). culture.pl
- Shingler, Tom. “Bigos (Polish hunter’s stew).” delicious. magazine, updated May 26, 2025. deliciousmagazine.co.uk
- Anna. “Polish Hunter’s Stew (Bigos).” Polish Your Kitchen, December 7, 2015. polishyourkitchen.com
- Mickiewicz, Adam. Pan Tadeusz, czyli ostatni zajazd na Litwie (1834), Book Four, “Dyplomatyka i łowy.” Full text at Wolne Lektury. wolnelektury.pl
- “Wigilia.” Wirtualne Muzeum Polonii, Faculty of Journalism, Information and Book Studies, University of Warsaw (no author or date given). muzeumpolonii.uw.edu.pl
- mmr. “Bigos – najważniejsze danie bożonarodzeniowe. Mięso z kapustą o kilkusetletniej tradycji.” Haps.pl (Gazeta.pl), December 21, 2019. haps.pl
- “Leftovers and Food Safety.” USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, updated July 31, 2020. fsis.usda.gov
- Shaw, Hank. “Polish Bigos Stew.” Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, November 30, 2020, updated June 6, 2022. honest-food.net
Disclaimer
The information in this article is provided for educational and informational purposes only. Heritage Healthy Kitchen makes no representations or warranties regarding the accuracy or completeness of any content on this site. Nutritional values are estimates only and will vary depending on the specific ingredients, brands, and measurements used. This content is not intended as dietary, medical, or professional nutritional advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare provider regarding any dietary needs or health conditions. Heritage Healthy Kitchen is not responsible for any outcomes resulting from the use of recipes or information published on this site.
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