German Spaetzle Dumplings Recipe

These are wonderful. My kids love them. I do not have a Spaetzle maker, so i use a flat cheese grater. The first few times I made these I burned my hand a few times. *** Last time I used two clothespins to secure the grater to the edge of my pot. It worked perfectly!*** No more burns and the preparation went so much quicker.

Great recipe, the flavor is BETTER! than our favorite authentic German restaurant. The nutmeg makes it so good, my family raved. I served this with pot roast in a red wine, mushroom gravy and roasted asparagus. Thanks for sharing this recipe!! **By the way, a Ziptop bag with 4 or 5 small wholes punched with a skewer was a lot easier to handle than the strainer method. The texture was more authentic as well.

Excellent! I used 1/2 whole wheat flour, so needed to add about 1/4 cup of water since it absorbs more liquid. This dough was thicker than I've made in the past, which was good. I use a potato ricer, and it means that the spaetzles held together well. I cook 1/3 at a time, fish them out with a strainer, and then when all are cooked, saute them in butter and then salt & pepper them liberally (I double the recipe, so it takes at least 2 batches to fry up; they would all get gummy in the saute pot at once). LOVE spaetzle! It's always great with German-type food like sausages with cabbage sauteed in the sausage pan with some s&p and a splash of balsamic.

I love this recipe! I've made it too many times to count usually with some sort of sausage but also with various other meals as a basic side. To fry them up I use only about a tablespoon of butter along with some shredded cheddar cheese and bread crumbs. I eventually obtained a spaetzle press but before then used a series of spoons with holes and several pots of water to compensate for the time it took to press it through.

Great recipe and the flavor is wonderful! I worked at a German restaurant for a while and my boss taught me everything I know about German cuisine. She was from Germany, only having been in the states for 5 years and we always made everything fresh and from scratch. This recipe is a sure winner and may have even more flavor than the spaetzle we made there! Will definitely be keeping this as my main spaetzle recipe from now on. To make this, I used a hand grater to push the dough through. I didn't have a proper spaetzle maker/press that we used at the restaurant, but a hand grater works just the same. Don't follow the recipe time frame, either. As soon as the dumplings float, they're ready for take-out. If your dough seems a little too thick, add a tbsp or two of water. I do this every time I make them and it really helps lighten the texture. You want elastic dough for spaetzle! Also, I know to many people nutmeg sounds like a weird thing to add to dumplings/noodles, but it is KEY with these. It really adds so much flavor and you wouldn't find an authentic German dumpling/noodle recipe without it! Thanks so much for such an amazing recipe!

Made these but used black pepper . Decided to add them into the slow cooker along with my Cross rib roast, about 30 minutes before it was done. They cooked up nicely in the beef juices. i didn't bother browning them in a pan. Served with a quick mushroom gravy. The batter is a bit too runny , so added about 2-3TBSP extra of flour.

Just like Spaetzle in Germany! I've been trying prepackaged Spaetzle noodle dishes from Aldi's and other grocery stores but nothing tastes like the real deal. Finally decided Christmas dinner was the right time to make it from scratch and this recipe was perfect. So happy I found it! We used a gallon ziplock bag with a cut in the corner to dispense the Spaetzle. It will naturally split and separate as it drops into the water. We started with a small slot and increased the size halfway through to give the dish a variety of size and texture. Remember to be patient when sautéing the Spaetzle- it has a lot of moisture so you will want to cook it for a good while until it has been browned. We finished it off with sautéed bacon and onions. Perfect.

This is my second time attempting to leave a review - the site decided to delete my first one when I hit the "made it" button, and wouldn't allow me to leave the dialog box without adding a rating, which was blank and overwrote my first submission - not a very smartly designed website. I referenced Cooking MaMa's review prior to making and found, as she did, that the recipe as stated leaves you with a dough that isn't quite right - it was too sticky to properly work; thus, the rating. However I was able to remedy the problem on the fly by dusting the dough with a little extra flour a few times. I believe I ended up using about an extra quarter cup, give or take. I decided to go more traditional and press the dough out to about 1/4" with my hand and then cut ~1//4" strips with a dough knife, which I then cut by eye resulting in pre-cooked pieces of about a cube shape to about a one inch strip. This method results in less uniform noodles with little pits and grooves that hold sauce well - one of the things I really like about this type of noodle. I tossed about 15-20 pieces at a time into well-salted rolling water and spidered them out once they floated to the top (about a minute or so), and into a colander to drain and cool. The resulting noodle was just al dente', which should be about perfect when I cook them later this evening in herbed (sage, thyme, tarragon) brown butter with porcini.

Pretty good. I make pasta and potato dumplings so I have experience with this type of dough and recipe. First, use less milk about half what is called for. It will make for easier handling. I would use a little less nutmeg - personal preference but maybe 1/4+ tsp would give a nice hint of flavor. I took advice to use pastry bag piping 2 inch pieces into salted boiling water - it worked well. I tried the strainer - complete mess. Zip lock bag would work if you don't have pastry supplies. Texture was perfect - be careful not to over cook. This is a keeper with a little tweaking.

I agree with the other poster, batter is too thin with the listed ratio. I used 1.5 cups flour, and could have added more (I use a Goldspatz short press). Also, I was out of milk, so I used half and half,and was pleased with the way it came out. I like the idea of a little onion powder, but feel that the nutmeg is a must. Reminds of what my mom made when I was a kid

Thank you StickySue for your wonderful advice today on the Buzz. Because I didn’t have a spaetzle maker, StickySue recommended I take a plastic bag and punch 6 to 8 holes in it with a clean knitting needle or pen; spray the inside of the bag very lightly; put the dough into the bag and squeeze into the boiling water slowly. They came out perfect! We thought they made an excellent side dish.

I like this recipe as is. Thank you for sharing.

Bought a spaetlzle-maker just for this. I added prosciutto, chopped jalapenos, and shredded parmesan cheese to this when serving as a main course. This was based on a dish called 'teufelsnockerl' (beware the false hits about a music group!) that I had in Vienna some years ago (restaurant is gone, wasn't able to find it. It was in Favoriten near Rainers Hotel in 2017 if anyone cares). I also prepared it as in the recipe as a side for pork schnitzel, which was about the size of a dinner plate at that restaurant, and somewhat smaller when I made it.

Thank you for your recipe. It turned out pretty good I served them baked in fried onions and finely grated Gruyère. Käsespaetzle were Dad's fave in my growing up years. They serve as a yummy side to thick chops braised in broth and finished in a sweet tomato/red pepper sauce. Some nice dinner music and go Al Fresco on the balcony. Not too shabby as a solo Saturday date night goes. Dinner & a movie! I digress 😎 thank you for your virtual hand in making it a yummy success! 🍽️

Loved it! Very authentic flavor, just like oma made!

Made it for a small gathering — huge success.

Loved the simplicity of it.

It’s been a long time since I made Spätzle and I was surprised how easy it was. My kids loved it and ate six servings apiece!

Very tasty! I doubled this recipe for a group of three and it was the perfect size. For a family of four, I would probably triple it. I found the dough to be very sticky on our spaetzle maker, with a small portion being stuck when finish and wasted, even after scraping attempts. It was my first time using the spaetzle maker so next time I'd add a little more flour to make it a bit less sticky

A really nice German side dish. Simple comfort food!!