Herbed Spätzle Recipe
Spätzle are little dumplings. They’re often served like pasta, as a side dish to accompany saucy dishes like our Apple-Sage Stuffed Pork Chops with Cider Pan Sauce. Making spätzle batter goes against every batter-making principle you’ve ever learned, as you beat the mixture until it is thick and sticky as glue.
Gameplan: If you are in need of spätzle-making pointers, check out our video on
“How to Make Spätzle.”
Special equipment: You could run the spätzle batter through a colander with large holes, but if you plan on making it often enough, think about getting a spätzle maker.
This recipe was featured in our 2006 Moktoberfest! menu.
- 5 large eggs
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup water
- Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup minced mixed fresh herbs, such as chives, parsley, and thyme
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Combine the eggs, milk, and 1/2 cup water in a large mixing bowl, and beat well with a wire whisk. Add the nutmeg and salt, and season with freshly ground black pepper.
For pointers, view our video on “How to Make Spätzle.” - Add the flour in two parts, using a whisk to mix well after each addition. Mix the batter until it is smooth and all the lumps have disappeared. Batter will be thick and gooey. Stir in the minced herbs, and set batter aside to rest for 30 minutes.
- Bring a large, wide pot of salted water to a simmer. Fill a mixing bowl with cold water and set aside. Place about 1 cup of batter into a spätzle maker set over the pot, and press the batter through into the simmering water. (Alternatively, you may use a metal colander with large holes and a rubber spatula to make the spätzle.)
- Simmer the dumplings until they rise to the surface of the water, then cook them for about 1 minute more. Remove the spätzle to a bowl filled with cold water to cool them. When all the spätzle are cooked and cooled, drain them well and set aside.
- Melt 3 tablespoons butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When it is very hot, add about half the drained spätzle and cook until the dumplings are well browned. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and place in a serving dish. Repeat with the remaining butter and spätzle.
Beverage pairing: Crack open a Duvel, a Schneider Aventinus, or a Stone Smoked Porter.
Riesling, Riesling, and more Riesling! The rich butteriness of this dish screams for a wine with super-high acidity to cut through it and prepare your palate for the next bite. The delicate sweetness of a Riesling from, say, the Mosel region of Germany is the obvious choice. The 2004 Carl Schmitt-Wagner Longuicher Maximiner Kabinett is simply superb.
Using a colander or any other machine is cheating! My Swabian grandmother makes them by placing some of the dough on a wooden board, and cutting tiny slices off individually. Kind of like in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8brHIfPrnE
Mmmm...I just made this and it turned out great! Wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, though. I read all the comments and watched the video before I actually boiled them. I think letting the batter rest helped--it was a little stiffer. I don't have a spaetzle maker so I used an old fashioned colander that looks more like a wire basket and put in about a cup and a half at a time. I did not...+READ
Mmmm...I just made this and it turned out great! Wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, though. I read all the comments and watched the video before I actually boiled them. I think letting the batter rest helped--it was a little stiffer. I don't have a spaetzle maker so I used an old fashioned colander that looks more like a wire basket and put in about a cup and a half at a time. I did not have to push very much with the spatula-- it sort of dripped through on its own with a little help. Keep the water boiling at all times. The reason I made these spaetzle was that my husband did the shopping and bought a cheap rump roast which sat in the fridge for a few days. I thought of brining it and ended up making a sort of sauerbraten and all of the sauce seemed to cry out for something like this. I also made some red cabbage which I just simmered for awhile with some of the sauerbraten cooking liquid. With the combination of spices and sweet sour, it was quite the German repast. And, VERY cheap.-COLLAPSE
I grew up in Germany and spatzle is huge at our house. Our basic recipe (translated and converted from german/metric weight) is one egg to one cup of flour, pinch of salt and add water until "slimy" (direct translation). Usually thats at least 1/4 of a cup.
I have never had success with the type of spatzle maker shown above. there are other versions that look like a short flat colander with...+READ
I grew up in Germany and spatzle is huge at our house. Our basic recipe (translated and converted from german/metric weight) is one egg to one cup of flour, pinch of salt and add water until "slimy" (direct translation). Usually thats at least 1/4 of a cup.
I have never had success with the type of spatzle maker shown above. there are other versions that look like a short flat colander with large holes and a scraper that looks rather like one of those hard plastic pan scrapers. Keep everything greased up and work quickly in small batches to keep it from clogging. I usually do one stroke to smear the dough and press it through the holes, and the scrape it into a ball on the next stroke.
Also, if your spatzle is coming out too gummy I would 1) make sure you are cooking them long enough 2) work in smaller batches, using a set in pasta drainer to pull them out as you finish, so they don't layer on top of each other and 3) adjust your recipe, you may be using too much water.-COLLAPSE
It is a messy process but so worth it. I think Spaetzel can be frozen after it is boiled. has anyone ever tried freezing? I saute onions in the butter before I put the noodle in and it's delicious.
yum! i just made this tonight with a tofu schnitzel (i'm vegetarian). the spaetzle was awesome though very messy and somewhat tedious to make. i got a spaetzle maker for $7 at the broadway panhandler in manhattan. two tips: 1) get a HUGE pot for the boiling, the biggest pot you have in your kitchen, because the dough will drip down the sides and if you use a small pot, you will end up with a real...+READ
yum! i just made this tonight with a tofu schnitzel (i'm vegetarian). the spaetzle was awesome though very messy and somewhat tedious to make. i got a spaetzle maker for $7 at the broadway panhandler in manhattan. two tips: 1) get a HUGE pot for the boiling, the biggest pot you have in your kitchen, because the dough will drip down the sides and if you use a small pot, you will end up with a real catastrophe on the sides of the pot and on your stove; and 2) definitely only put a cup (or less) at a time into the maker. there is a temptation to rush because it's so time consuming but don't, because the dough will run out along the sides and you'll end up with huge glops in the water, which taste fine but are kind of scary.-COLLAPSE
Just tried this recipe. I halved it (sort of, given the 5-eggs thing) -- and it still made a HUGE amount. But it was delicious. The recipe itself was very easy to follow. And the colander-method actually worked, though it was a little bit messy. That part was more time consuming than difficult. But we loved the results. MMMMM.
here's a suggestion: often first time spaetzle cooks wind up with a gooey soft mess. Whether you use a spaetzle maker or a colander over simmering water, it really improves the "al dente" texture if you add a little white cornmeal to the batter. And if you make the classic "cheese spaetzle", so popular in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, sautee and bake those spaetzle with your choice of...+READ
here's a suggestion: often first time spaetzle cooks wind up with a gooey soft mess. Whether you use a spaetzle maker or a colander over simmering water, it really improves the "al dente" texture if you add a little white cornmeal to the batter. And if you make the classic "cheese spaetzle", so popular in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, sautee and bake those spaetzle with your choice of cheeses, and then top them with crispy fried onions ! Yummy !!!-COLLAPSE
Here is the recipe we use, I am new to this website and do not understand how to enter a recipe, can anybody tell me please.
Thanks
2 Large Eggs
½ Cup water
1 ½ Cup Flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
2 Tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Beat eggs and water in the mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to mix well. Bring a pot of water...+READ
Here is the recipe we use, I am new to this website and do not understand how to enter a recipe, can anybody tell me please.
Thanks
2 Large Eggs
½ Cup water
1 ½ Cup Flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground nutmeg
2 Tablespoons finely chopped parsley
Beat eggs and water in the mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients and continue to mix well. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
Drop small bits of batter into boiling water, either from a spoon or with a spaetzle maker. The Spaetzle is done when they float to the surface. With a slotted spoon, lift them from the water and put them in a strainer to drain some more.
Serve as a side dish, sprinkle with melted butter. You can also top it with browned bread crumbs.
You may also put the spaetzle in a baking dish and top it with shredded cheese of your choice and place it under the broiler for about 1 minute.
If spaetzle is for later use: Get a container of Ice water and drop the spaetzle in it immediately after removing them from the boiling pot. Drain in a strainer and toss with a small amount of oil, and transfer to a zip lock bag and refrigerate. To reheat them later: put a small amount of butter in a frying pan and fry until heated.-COLLAPSE
For perfect spätzle, I definitley recommend buying a dedicated spätzle maker like the one listed above. While you're not going to be using it for anything but spätzle, but it's an inexpensive piece of equipement that will really help the dish turn out well. Also, watch our video on the subject, also linked to from the recipe above.
I would like to make this, but it would make way too much for our small household. How to halve this particular recipe is not immediately obvious, but I guess I'll use 2 or 3 eggs and try from there. Any suggestions?
dinin_and_dishin: It would be great to talk to you in Home Cooking about what problems you encountered making spaetzle. We play around with it at home but are certainly no experts, and it's worked out really nicely. Maybe the water wasn't boiling, or your pan was too small?
The Inn has German Cooking classes, last month it was Spaetzle making! Will try yours, have you tried Kase(sorry no .. umlaud avaiable here) Spaetzle yet?
dinin and dishin: This recipe is a great intro to spatzle making, so definitely try it out. If you want some pointers, check out our spatzle-making video that we link to in the recipe.
Go and try out the best German Restaurant in NH called Alphorn Bistro.
It is fantastic. A must do. There are so many fantastic dishes to try out. Go the the website
at www.innatdanbury.com The Oktoberfest there is FANTASTIC and they have a Fest and Stay package, or a drink and don't drive package!
I absolutely love spatzle, but I have never been all that successful trying to make it. I bought a spatzle maker, but no luck--actually, it was a total disaster. The best I've managed so far is to use a ricer. But this was an exceedingly messy, slow and painstaking effort. After reading this, I'm going to give it one more try with the colander. Even with my failure to execute the fine art of...+READ
I absolutely love spatzle, but I have never been all that successful trying to make it. I bought a spatzle maker, but no luck--actually, it was a total disaster. The best I've managed so far is to use a ricer. But this was an exceedingly messy, slow and painstaking effort. After reading this, I'm going to give it one more try with the colander. Even with my failure to execute the fine art of making spatzle, it still tastes good...if I can overlook the mess.
Reading the recipe, it sounds simple, just push it through a colander, but I'm pretty sure it won't be as simple as described. Maybe someone can post some details on the secrets of spatzle making.-COLLAPSE