Original Runza® sandwich | Runza (2024)

FAQs

What is in the original runza? ›

Every Runza^® Sandwich starts out as an Original: a perfect blend of spices to season the ground beef, mixed with cabbage and onions, inside bread that we bake at our store every morning. Sure, you can add toppings.

A midwest thing since 1949

We started in Lincoln, Nebraska, then expanded throughout the state and into some neighboring states. To keep it fresh, we choose not to go national.

Many sources agree that Sally Everett invented the name "runza" although it is likely she adapted it from an existing name for the sandwich; either the krautrunz, an older, different German name for the bierock, or the Low German runsa, meaning "belly", alluding to the gently rounded shape of the pouch pastry.

in 1966, and started franchising restaurants in 1979. As of November 2020, there are eighty-six Runza restaurants operating: eighty in Nebraska, two in Iowa, two in Colorado, and one in Kansas. The restaurant chain is still owned by the Everett family, and Sally's grandson Donald Everett Jr. serves as President.

While traditional runzas are filled with ground beef, onions, and cabbage, there are many variations to the filling that can be used to make unique and delicious runzas.

The Kansas crowd kept preparing bierocks as they had for years, passing down the recipe and solidifying its place in Kansas' history. In Nebraska, however, the bierock morphed into something called a runza. Runzas have the same ingredients but are usually rectangular and can include extra ingredients like cheese.

Bierocks—pronounced bee-rock and also known as runzas—are a German/Eastern European roll that made its way to the American Midwest. They're similar to the Russian pirozhki, another popular European meat-stuffed pastry. They vary in shape, but the most popular ones are usually round or rectangular.

About Runza. ^®

We opened our first restaurant in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1949, and are still a family-owned business serving communities in Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Iowa and South Dakota.

their Chili!

Frikadellen, the original hamburger, are served like a flattened meatball with string beans and salad. I also like to use this recipe to make Swedish meatballs (but omit the paprika). My aunt in Hamburg, Germany, taught me this recipe, and I've been making it ever since.

What is pastrami in German? ›

noun [pəˈstrɑːmɪ] geräuchertes, stark gewürztes Rindfleisch.

In my time, the late 1930s and all of 1940s, it says that if you lived near a sugar beet factory, you probably were very familiar with Krautburgers, a favorite beef, cabbage, onion, wrapped and baked in bread dough. This was lunch for the Germans from Russia, who owned and worked in the beet fields.

Subway has announced that it's being sold. Subway has sold itself to private equity firm Roark Capital, ending a six-month long search for a buyer.

Where Did the Runza Originate? It's the cabbage that roots this delicacy firmly in the Nebraska soil, where German-Russian immigrants settled in the late 19th century. One of the recipes they brought was the bierock, a pocket-pastry sandwich filled with savory ingredients, sometimes including sauerkraut.

“The late Sarah 'Sally' Everett of Lincoln coined the name Runza as an abbreviated approximation for what her family called the cocoon of dough enveloping a cooked mixture of ground beef and chopped cabbage. Everett opened the first Runza restaurant in Lincoln in 1949 with her brother.”

Frings — a side that resulted from a customer comment card and is a half-and-half mix of Runza's crinkle fries and onion rings — debuted in 2002. Nowadays, burgers, chicken strips, salads and more are offered.

Both the Bierock and the Runza sandwich have German-Russian roots going back to the 18th century. This unique recipe was passed down from one generation to the next, eventually finding its way to the Midwest of America and particularly to the states of Kansas and Nebraska (but with different names).