Pork Patties – Czech Vepřenky

Join me for a bite of Czech-style pork patties, called Vepřenky. The recipe is straightforward to prepare, and the fried patties have an absolutely delicious flavor.

What Are Czech Vepřenky

Vepřenky are Czech homemade pan-fried pork patties. Fried patties are on one side spread with mustard and topped with onion rings. They are served as a main dish with potatoes or as a snack between two slices of bread.

Cevapcici, ground meat in the shape of small sausages, is prepared similarly.

Language corner: Vepřové in Czech means pork in English.

Ingredients

• Ground pork; should contain around 20 % fat
• Sweet ground paprika; use the Hungarian ground paprika if you can, it has a solid sweet taste
• Salt
• Cubed white bread; such as the French baguette, or the Czech white bread called rohlík or houska
• Cold water

Next, you will need:

• Vegetable oil; for pan-frying – e.g., sunflower oil, canola
• Yellow mustard; to spread on fried patties
• Onions; sliced into thin rings; for garnishing

✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.

Instructions with Photos

STEP 1: Cube the white bread, place the cubes in a bowl and cover them with water. Let the bread soak in the water for about 10 minutes. Then remove the bread and squeeze out the excess water.

STEP 2: Put the ground pork in a bowl, add salt, sweet ground paprika, and cold water. Mix everything with your hands, knead well between your fingers until you get a smooth meat mass.

STEP 3: Add the squeezed bread and stir once more to combine. Do not knead the meat for too long; the mixture should be cold, it cannot get warm.

STEP 4: Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium heat. Pour oil into the pan.

STEP 5: With wet hands, shape the meat mixture into patties 3-4 inches in size, about ⅓ inch thick.

STEP 6: Fry in heated oil on each side for about 3 minutes.

Serving

Before serving, brush one side of each pork patty with yellow mustard. Arrange on a plate with the side dish, sprinkle the patties with onions cut into thin rings.

Pork patties are served warm, you can use boiled or mashed potatoes, poured with melted butter as a side dish.

Vepřenky patties are a perfect on-the-go meal. Czechs eat them smeared with mustard, garnished with onion rings between two slices of rye bread and have a tasty snack when they go on a family trip.

Similarly famous dish for trips is Czech řízek, breaded pork Schnitzel.

Cook’s Tips

• Use a non-stick frying pan and flip the patties carefully; sometimes, they tend to stick to the bottom of the pan.
• If you are not sure that you seasoned the ground pork enough, fry a small sample of the meat in a pan. Flavor to your liking if necessary.
• Before you start shaping the pork patties from the meat mixture, soak your hands in some cool water. The cakes will not stick to your hands as much.

More Czech dishes

• Vídeňská roštěná – slow roasted beef steaks with onion rings
• Chlupaté knedlíky – Czech-style potato dumplings
• Buřtguláš – sausage goulash
• Karbanátek – pork and beef burger