Kishke substitutes

Combine 1 cup all-purpose flour or matzo meal, 1 cup total of finely grated carrot, onion and celery, ½ cup oil or melted schmaltz, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon salt and a good deal of black pepper. Shape into a log on foil, roll tightly and twist the ends. Bake at 350F for 60 minutes, then unwrap and bake 10 minutes more to crust the outside, or lay the wrapped log on top of a cholent and let it cook with the pot.

Best for

cholent topper, Shabbat side dish, holiday table, gravy sponge

This is not an approximation, it is what most people mean by homemade kishke today, since natural casings are hard to buy and the foil roll behaves the same. The only thing you lose is the slightly chewy casing itself. Cut it in thick rounds and it looks exactly right on the plate.

Crush the stuffing mix slightly, stir in the oil and just enough hot water to make it cohere, add grated onion and carrot if you have them, then roll and bake as above.

Best for

quick cholent topper, weeknight Shabbat, when you are short on time

Ten minutes of work and a real time-saver. It comes out saltier and clearly herbier, with the sage and thyme of American stuffing mix rather than the plain paprika-and-onion flavor of kishke, and slightly drier. Skip added salt entirely. Widely used and widely accepted.

The Passover-friendly and pantry version. Crush the crackers or matzo coarsely, work in the fat and grated vegetables, roll in foil and bake as above.

Best for

Passover cholent, Shabbat side, when no flour is wanted

The texture is looser and more crumbly than a flour-based kishke and it browns faster, so check it at 45 minutes. Schmaltz makes it taste noticeably more like the real thing than neutral oil does. Use matzo rather than crackers if Passover is the point.

A baked grated-potato pudding with onion, egg and plenty of fat, cut into squares or wedges.

Best for

Shabbat table, holiday side, cholent accompaniment, gravy sponge

It does the same job on the plate, a starchy fatty square that soaks up gravy, and it is beloved in its own right. The texture is completely different: dense and moist with a crisp top rather than crumbly and pudding-like, and it tastes of potato and onion rather than of flour and paprika. Nobody will call it kishke and nobody will complain.

Toasted buckwheat groats cooked in broth with fried onion, on their own or tossed with bow tie pasta.

Best for

Shabbat side, cholent accompaniment, weeknight side

The starchy, savory, onion-heavy role is filled, and the flavor goes in a distinctly nuttier and more mineral direction. It is loose and grainy rather than sliceable, so it is not a swap where presentation matters, and it is much lighter than kishke because there is far less fat.

The closest thing you can buy ready-made from a kosher grocery or deli freezer.

Best for

cholent accompaniment, Shabbat side, no-cook option

It brings the same starchy, savory, fatty presence and requires only an oven. It is drier and has a distinct pastry shell, so it does not soak up cholent gravy the way kishke does, and it is much more potato-forward. Heat it uncovered so the pastry stays crisp.

Not a real substitute, but worth listing honestly, because a good number of people add kishke to cholent for the fat and savor rather than the starch.

Best for

cholent, when the goal is richness rather than a side dish

This covers the meaty, fatty, seasoned side of what kishke contributes and none of the starch or the sliceable texture. The cholent will be richer and smokier and will have no kishke-shaped rounds in it. Use it alongside a starchy substitute rather than instead of one.