Easy German Spaetzle Recipe – ready in only 15 minutes and a great German side dish for all kinds of recipes! It’s super easy to make from scratch and downright delicious.
Spätzle is a special kind of egg noodle that is often enjoyed as a side dish with gravies or sauces but also the main ingredient in other dishes like the famous Käsespätzle. Toss them with a little bit of melted butter and you have an easy but so delicious side dish that the whole family enjoys! They taste like chewy egg noodles and can be made savory but also sweet.
Have you tried spaetzle before? No? Then prepare yourself for an amazing treat. This easy homemade spaetzle recipe is the only one you ever need and a great alternative to rice, noodles, or potatoes. It can be made in advance which makes preparing a meal for the whole family less stressful.
Germany has great cakes like my German Apple Streusel Sheet Cake and my Plum Cake with Streusel but there’re also many delicious savory dishes like Schnitzel, pork roast, and dumplings.
Spaetzle are one of my favorite dishes! They make a great side for everything that comes with a sauce or gravy like goulash or beef stroganoff but are also a delicious main dish with melted cheese and crispy fried onions or with a simple mushroom gravy.
The word Spätzle literally means “little sparrows” in English but they are also called Knöpfle in Germany because they look like little buttons. You can get them in many different sizes and shapes in Germany.
My mother-in-law always makes a bigger version that is called Spatzen (“sparrows“). They taste like the little ones but are sized like small potatoes and you don’t need special equipment to make them.
A few years ago we always bought pre-made spätzle because we thought making them at home from scratch was too difficult and time-consuming. But after making the first batch, we can’t eat the pre-made ones anymore. It’s so easy to make them at home and they taste so much better! Spaetzle are made with flour, eggs, and milk (or water) – you could say they are German egg noodles.
The easiest way to make them at home is by using a spaetzle maker. There are many different ones but the one we use is a board with holes in it which comes with a scraper (like this one). It’s super easy to use even if you’ve never done it before!
But you can also make spaetzle without a press and use a colander or steamer with large holes instead. You probably have one of these at home anyway!
HOW TO MAKE SPAETZLE FROM SCRATCH
You put a few spoons of dough on the board and slide the scraper back and forth, the batter drops through the holes into the simmering water and after a minute or so the spaetzle are done. You need to use a big pot because they will rise to the surface when they’re done.
After you used about half of the batter you probably need to drain the first batch to make room in your pot for the other half otherwise they will stick together and don’t cook completely. If you don’t use them immediately add a little butter while they’re hot and store them in an airtight container.
To reheat, melt some butter in a pan and toss them in it to warm through. They’ll get a bit crispy which makes them even more delicious in my opinion. And if you have leftover spaetzle you need to try my easy Kaesespaetzle recipe.
The batter for this easy German side dish is mainly made of eggs and flour. In Germany, you can buy special Spätzle flour which is a little bit coarser than all-purpose flour but normal all-purpose flour will do the job just fine. But please don’t use self-rising flour for this recipe or you’ll end up with a big mess.
You could make them only with eggs but it’s easier to add a little bit of water or milk. There seems to be a big discussion if water or milk is better (or more traditional) but I like to make mine with milk because they taste better in my opinion but if you’re allergic to milk you can easily substitute the milk in my recipe for water.
You could also add some more spices to the batter but traditionally spaetzle don’t have much taste of their own because they are supposed to be eaten with flavorful foods like gravy or cheese. One way to spice things up a bit is to add herbs like parsley, chives, or basil to the batter.
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Easy German Spaetzle Recipe
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs, milk, and salt. Stir until the batter is well combined and develops bubbles. You can also use a mixer. The batter should neither be too thin nor too thick or it will be difficult to make the spaetzle with your spaetzle maker. Let the batter sit for 5-10 min.
- Put a colander into a bowl to drain the Spaetzle once cooked and bring a large pot of water over high heat to a boil, add about 1 Tbsp of salt to the water, and reduce temperature to a simmer.
- Press batter through a spaetzle maker, a large holed sieve or colander into the simmering water.
- Work in batches, after using about 1/3 of the batter stop adding new spaetzle and let them cook for about 2-3 minutes, or until they float to the top. Stir occasionally. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the spaetzle to the colander so that excess water can drip off.
- Serve the spaetzle immediately or saute them in butter to crisp them up a little. If you don't serve or saute them right away, add 1 or 2 Tbsp of butter to the hot spaetzle to prevent them from sticking together.
Notes
- This makes a big batch of Spaetzle that is perfect for a big family dinner. You can also half the recipe by adjusting the servings below the image in the recipe card.
- You can use milk or water to make Spaetzle. Using water is more traditional but they taste richer with milk which I prefer. You can also use a combination of water and milk.
- Clean used equipment with cold water, the dough is very sticky and gets stickier when using hot water.
- Leftover Spaetzle can be stored, tossed with some melted butter or oil, in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. To reheat, saute them in some butter.
- Instead of a spaetzle maker, you can also use a colander with large holes and a silicone spatula or scraper.
- UPDATE 10/23/19: The recipe has been re-tested because of reader feedback and the amount of milk has been increased from 1/3 cup+2 Tbsp to 3/4 cup of milk.
Nutrition Information
Here are a few more delicious German recipes:
Sol D says
I also use a cutting board and a soup spoon, works great for cutting them in the water. Takes time but that’s how my mom used to make them! Will try with rouladen and red cabbage!
Food7788 says
Love this! I make double the recipe and freeze portions. Favorite dish in the house
Miracle Rivas says
I love this, I have to do it soon:)
Diane says
I was wondering if these could be made and dried prior to boiling? Like a macaroni or other pasta noodle for cooking at another time? Would a dehydrator work for this? Has anyone ever tried to dry them? Thanks for any feedback. 😊
Julia Foerster says
I have never dried them so I’m really not sure. But you can freeze them for up to 6 months! Just run cold water over the boiled spaetzle, then arrange the cold spaetzle on a baking pan, freeze them for a few hours, then put them in containers and freeze. This way they don’t stick together and have the best texture later. Hope this helps!
Doug says
your site is amazing!
This tastes great and stores well.
Can’t go wrong having this handy.
I have both a spaetzle press and a ‘large hole’ grater style unit.
The press makes fine noodles; the grater makes nice little sparrows!
Consistency is key – too wet and it literally drips through the holes – too stiff and it’s a bit of a mess getting it through the holes.
Glad you made Canada your home.
Personally, Berlin is one of my favorite cities in the world.
Gbalkam says
Haven’t made this yet, but seems a lot like a recipe i used to use. (that one had a touch of cinnamon)
I found the dough hooks on my mixer very handy.
Also the cooked noodles can be bagged and frozen. Coat in a bit of butter or oil while hot, let cool, bag, freeze. Thaw completely before reheating. That is how they did it at the restaurant I worked at anyway. They actually made long noodles, rather than the small dropped ones. I have found you can use the cut and flick method. (put dough on floured cutting board, cut small strips with a knife and flick them into the boiling water.
Petra says
Hi I‘m from the black forest. It’s interesting to read that you’re making the Spätzle with milk. No one here in my surrounding is using milk. But some even don’t use water, they only use eggs instead of other liquids.
A specialty of the black forest is to toast breadcrumbs in a pan with heated butter (don’t forget stirring 😀).
After this procedure you can make fried onion rings (mix 2 onions cut into rings with 2 tsp flour, sweet paprika, salt and pepper).
Sprinkle the Spätzle with both ingredients and garnish with parsley. I also like Apfelspãtzle, that isn’t a typical dish of my region.
Julia Foerster says
Yes, I talk about that in the post, I prefer milk but replacing milk with water or using only eggs are also options that might be more traditional depending on the region in Germany. I love some roasted breadcrumbs on my spaetzle or noodles, too. So delicious!
douglas says
my mother being swiss made knephly (pardon my spelling) they were spatzle she served the covered in fried bread crumbs in brown butter, pardon my arteries but very delicious. My father would warn me not to eat too much the first day because they were even better the second day when everything was fried in brown butter
ursula says
This recipe is enough for an army. You may want to half it.
But it works great, I used it and it turned out well. Thank you!
Monica B says
This is very similar to what my mother and grandmother always made (they are German). I have a spaetzle maker that I bought on one of my yearly visits but I much prefer the way they use to do them which is using a cutting board and cutting by hand directly in the boiling water. I liked the way the sizes and shapes turned out doing it that way. Unfortunately, I have not mastered it. My grandmother is no longer with us and my mother is in her early 80’s and no longer cooks as much as she use to because of the work involved. I will be making these again tomorrow with Rouladen and red cabbage (froze some I made over the winter). Delicious!
Stevan Woller says
Yes, Rouladen and Red cabbage. Simmer forever and the sauce is to die for.
The only recipe I don’t remember is mom’s chicken Ragu. I’m missing a little something but not sure what period maybe pickles maybe capers maybe the right type of capers.
Sol D says
I also use a cutting board and a soup spoon, works great for cutting them in the water. Takes time but that’s how my mom used to make them! Will try with rouladen and red cabbage!
allison rohrer says
Delicious and easy!!! Just like Oma makes
Beth Phillips says
This recipe was perfect and I want to share how much fun spaetzle is to make with the spaetzle maker!!! I had the idea to make homemade spaetzle in my homemade chicken soup and it is the perfect chicken spaetzle soup with your recipe! Thanks so much!!!
American Oma says
My daughter married an Austrian, and lives there. She gifted me with a Spätzle maker and I am hooked! Better than egg noodles with beef stroganoff. This recipe was great…I did have to add a fair bit more milk…like a little over twice the recommended. Perhaps if I had sifted the flour before measuring…or it could be that I live at 5280 feet above sea level. In any case, this recipe was perfect…just enough salt to flavor it.
Karin Pereira says
You can also fry them in butter and egg. They are great with cucumber salad made with sour cream.
Helen A says
This is another way to process the spaetzle. I put my dough onto a sandwich size plate holding it over your pot & with a butter knife, I flatten the dough to the edge of the plate then cut it as thin as I can…dip the knife into the boiling water to release the dough. Continue till your pot is pretty full
Cook till they float..remove to LG warm bowl w/butter in it. stir to keep them covered w/ butter. Add more dough to your plate repeat until all dough is gone.
Enjoy
Donna says
Absolute delicious my parents had a supper club that served Hungarian Goulash with spaetzel-my dad was the chef-born in Austria-this spaetzel was as delicious and a favorite-this is now a Christmas Eve tradition
Samantha Putler says
Good basic recipe. Easily scalable. I cook my spaetlze in chicken broth instead of water for extra flavor.
Farmhand says
Perfection
Jan says
I bought a spaetzle maker and tried the recipe but substituted half whole wheat flour. Because of the whole wheat I added another half cup of milk. I have never made these before but came out great.
Archie1954 says
What about boiling them in Chicken broth?
Julia Foerster says
You could do that for sure. I’ve never tried it because traditionally it’s a plain side dish like pasta but it could work well depending on what you serve with it.
Chance says
It was pretty good. Sauteed with butter and coriander.
Unfortunately, I skipped to the recipe and just made it. Didn’t see that, AFTER the recipe is described, another step to increase the amount of milk is added. Wonder if it would’ve been better like that commenter described.
Julia Foerster says
I’m not really sure what you’re referring to, Chance. The notes in the recipe card below the instructions just say that the amount of milk was increased when the recipe was retested compared to an earlier version of the recipe. All the measurements listed in the ingredients section are correct, there is no additional step to increase anything. So if you used a 3/4 cup of milk you did everything right.