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Spätzle (Spaetzle) (homemade southern German pasta)

This is a wheat flour and egg based homemade pasta, originally from the South-West of Germany (Swabia which used to be a Land of its own but now is part of Baden-Württemberg). Spätzle are usually served with the Sunday roast.

For all of your hunting for a spaetzle press - I now have a link to a UK supplier that does a potato ricer with an attachment that works well for spaetzle! You can find it here (this is a UK website). Thank you Joan Wells for letting me know!

Ingredients (per person)

• 100 g strong wheat flour
• one egg
• a pinch of salt
• some lukewarm water
• a knob of butter

Preparation

Preparing the Spätzle
	Here are our ingredients (with the Spätzle press left of the salt shaker)
	Add the egg and a pinch of salt to the flour.
	Stir with a wooden spoon.
	Add some lukewarm water and stir again until the consistency is right.
	This is what the dough should look like when you have reached the right consistency. If you have added too much water, you can balance that out by adding a bit more flour. I tend to let the dough set for about half an hour before proceesing.
	Bring lots of water with a pinch of salt added to a boil. Now place the Spätzle press over the saucepan and put one portion at a time into the press.
	Press the handle down. When you are at the end of its course, cut off the hanging Spätzle with a knife or a spatula. Traditionally, bits of dough are put on a wooden board and scraped into the boiling water using the back of a knife ... I've done that before, but it is very time consuming and also requires a fair amount of practice - so best use a Spätzle press as shown here.
	Your hob should be on full power. After about 30 seconds, the Spätzle will start to surface.
	When they have all surfaced, take them out trying to drain off as much of the water as possible. Make sure you have taken them all out, bring the water back to a boil and process the next batch.
	Put them in a dish and add a knob of butter if you like.
	Mix the melted butter into the Spätzle and serve. Alternatively, you can put the buttered Spätzle into the oven at 200 degrees centigrade for 15 to 20 minutes and then serve.

Best with ...

Stew, roast, anything that produces a nice gravy!

Please leave some feedback by rating this page (1=worst 10=best)! If you have a question, please use the Contact Form to ask me directly via email as I will be able to reply to you if you use that.

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Optional Comment

Rating 9.61/10 with 242 individual rating(s) given. Minimum rating 2, maximum rating 10

Comments:

9	Very clear and the pictures are great
10	good simple details
10	Nice and easy recipe to follow - great photos! :-)
10	Brilliant. I have used a Spaetzle recipe for some years and my family have loved it. But I got the dough consistency wrong it was like pasta dough. The result was good though when I cooked them. Some time ago I bought a Spaetzle maker but could not work out how to use it with my recipe. Your recipe works brilliant with it. It was to do with the consistency of the dough. Mine was to stiff. It needs to be more tlike a stiff batter like yours. Your pictures have been a great help. Many thanks
9	I rince the Spaetzle in a second bowl of hot water to rid them of any froth that might stick to them from the boiling water they are cooked in.
10	once you've boiled them, stick them in a pan and fry them with a bit of butter. Makes them a bit crispy, and they're amazing. Also, a sprinkle of nutmeg helps too. Mmm, superlecker! Susan, Edinburgh
10	I hope this tastes like my "Oma's" Spaetzle. She made it with grits on the noodles, I think I know how to do that part. I don't have a press, any alternatives? I have her kruphna recipe. Instead of light and fluffy it comes out thick like pound cake. Any suggestions on that one? I look forward to making this recipe, thank you for posting it, and in such detail. I wish I had studied under her before she passed. Now I am trying to re-make my favorite child hood foods.
10	have you ever tried, layering freshley made spatzli with grated gruyere and caramalised onions. Then put into a moderate oven until the cheese has melted...... can be eaten as a main meal with bag of leaves salad !!!! mmmmmm.....mmmmm fantastic... don't forget loads of freshly ground black pepper...
10	Thank you, a really useful recipe. I love Spaetzle, and bring back a pack from Germany when I visit, but this recipe is lovely, and very authentic.
10	I wanted a potato ricer, and when it arrived it stated that it was also for Spaetzle, I had no idea what this was, so looked on the web and found you. Wonderful thank you for extending my cook book, ACE.
10	Found Spatzle via Lakeland ricer packing then on to Goggle- the above receipe is excellent. Thank you C Dannemann.
10	Thanks for the photos!
10	Thank you. THank you and thank you again. I fed 4 children and 2 adults with 400g flour. 6 clean plates.
10	Thanks again. Havent tried it yet but i knows its going to be great .
10	:0) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10	excellent
10	I've just bought a potato ricer with a spatzle disc. Never having heard of spatzle, I found your site and now can't wait to try it out. Thanks for all the pictures, they make all the difference!
10	Thanks, picture of consistency of the dough very helpful
10	This is the same recipe I use. Thank you so much for the picture of the consistency of the dough. Also I never knew the water should be lukewarm. Cheers from Oz.
10	whoever gave you a null asking what a pinch was or saying they were too long should not be let into a kitchen not to mention near a hob. Cretins.
9	Excellent information! Ricer also good for making the airy mashed potato for gnocci
10	I LOVE spaetzle! This is great, easy to follow recipe.
10	I have made them today tast great....one can make them sort long how ever one likes.....
2	I couldnt understand a word, very unclear,, what is a 'pinch' NULL
10	great recipe ..thanks ... its good and clear to fallow....
5	are we talking spätzel or spaghetti dudeNULL spätzel are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy shorter than this man...
10	This is a very clear and useful recipe. Helped alot Thank you
10	brilliant
10	you should see my spatzel lol
10	I was so happy when I came across this recipe. I had Spatzle in Germany and craved an authentic second best. I even brought back the same Spatzle maker as shown in your above picture. Thank you so much, I made a classic beef goulash to go over it. This was DELICIOUS!
10	Nice and easy recipe
8	They should not look like overgrown fettucine---I find that they come out the correct size if I quickly dunk the bottom of the spaezle press into the boiling water. Then the spaetzle just fall of into the water. I've also found that everybody seems to love them--especially kids---better than mac 'n cheese for picky eaters! Also letting the dough rest for a bit does make a difference---don't skip that.
10	Having seen James Martin recommend a potato ricer last week on the BBC 'Saturday Kitchen' programme, iI ordered one from Lakeland. It arrived today so I shall try to make Spatzle tonight. Thanks for such encouraging and very explicit instructions!
10	Very informative and visually enticing. Prost !!!
10	This is very useful because the consitency of the dough is quite critical and without the picture you really don't know what it should be like neil.boddy@gs.com
10	Thanks to you, I can make pasta. Thaks for the hard work you put in
10	WOW... NICE RECIPE. GREAT PICTURES!
10	I JUST MADE MY FIRST DISH WITH BUTTER AND SWISS CHEESE AND FRIED ONIONS ON TOP. WOULD LIKE THE BREADCRUMBS TOO NEXT
10	Thank You sooo much! I have long been looking a descent reciepy of that "misterious Speatzel-dish" my husband-to-be keeps talking about , even made a blob of gue once:))Sure, it couldn't have beeb more clear than your step-by-step illustrated "dummie's guide"...I shall try right now....
10	Buen site. Me encanta esta receta y la herramienta muy util. La compre en mi ultima visita a Koeln. Gracias por la receta
10	Thank you! Very helpful, especially the photos and description of the correct consistency of the batter. (I was thinking it was more like noodle dough, which would have been wrong!)
7	good info easy done
10	A GEM> You are fantastic. love it. mairead christine.
10	This definitely rates a 12. Thank you very much for loading this recipe up! I am addicted to this dish when I first eaten it as a side to a veal and mushroom dish. I have tried to make the noodles many times and despite the deceptively simple recipe and ingredients, I always getting it wrong. Your pictures are invaluable. I enjoy pan frying the noodles in butter till slightly crispy with some diced kaiser fleisch and onions, then smothered in pork gravy.
10	Just like I remember from when I lived in southern Germany in the late 1970's. Great recipe goes excellent with breaded schnitzel's.
10	made this tonight, used a potato ricer instead of a spatzle press and it turned out really well. Thanks for your recipes, hope you add more soon
8	An interesting presentation for spatzle. I have never seen it as a long noodle like shape similar to fettuccine noodles. My son got all excited for this version so I will try it with my dough recipe.
10	I'm going to try this - looks yum
10	As a young lad, I was given a spatzle press by a German family friend and we made wonderful spatzle. But over the years the recipe was lost and disaster after disaster ensued, normally involving red-faced straining over a boiling pan with a too-stiff mixture. This recipe and pictures are just what I needed - I'm off to make it for lunch with my son now... thank you!
10	Love the pictures! Great recipe!