How to make the tastiest Käsespätzle

Käsespätzle (they are also known as Käsknöpfle) or simply noodles with cheese in Austria are adored by both adults and children. This dish is sure to be on the menu of any traditional restaurant. It is often prepared at Christmas markets and served as a snack on small paper plates.

What is Käsespätzle

Käsespätzle has taken root both in Austria and in Germany. These are delicious homemade noodles made with cheese. A simple traditional dish that can be found in every Austrian house, where it is customary to arrange family dinners. Käsespätzle has a rustic origin, therefore the recipe for cooking is extremely simple. The dough needs flour, eggs, vegetable oil, salt/pepper and a little water. To enhance the taste, the finished noodles are sprinkled with grated cheese and thinly sliced onions lightly browned in a frying pan. If it is the season, it is served with a lot of herbs.

How to make Käsespätzle

So basically Käse – cheese, spätzle – noodles. So to prepare this dish you first need to prepare spätzle.

Spätzle are dumplings made of very soft, breakable, semi-liquid dough that is rubbed through small holes directly into boiling water. The dish is popular in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Hungary and is called differently there.

These dumplings are cooked very quickly, literally 2 minutes, and then they are taken out and greased hot, for example, with butter. You need a minimum of ingredients for the preparation of the spätzle, and the dish is prepared very simply and quickly. And at the same time, you will get delicious, soft, tender dumplings, which can be served as an independent dish with cheese and butter or can be used as a side dish to meat or fish.

Prepare the dough for the spätzle.

• You should start cooking with the preparation of flour. To do this, using a sieve, sift it from flour lumps, simultaneously saturating it with oxygen.
• Then wash the eggs under running water, break them into a separate cup and beat them with a whisk or a regular fork until smooth.
• Then add them into the flour.
• Fill with water, add salt to taste and start mixing with a fork or whisk.
• Mix the mass until a homogeneous, sticky dough is formed without lumps.

Prepare the onions.

• Next, peel the onion from the husk, rinse it under cold running water and place it on a cutting board. With a sharp knife, cut the onion into thin half-rings, cubes or pieces of any other shape. And then put it on a separate plate.

Prepare the cheese.

• Cheese for this recipe can be used any which you like best, but preferably hard varieties. So, grind it with a grater with large holes into chips or cut it into small pieces on a cutting board. Put the prepared cheese on a clean plate.

Boil the spätzle.

• Now turn on the temperature of the stove to a high level, pour water into the pan and put it on the burner. Bring the liquid to a boil, salt it and proceed to the formation of the spätzle. For their preparation ща spätzle, there are special kitchen appliances, if you do not have them, you can use either a colander with large holes, or a flat grater, or a large slotted spoon. In our case, we are using a colander.

• Put a colander on a pan of boiling water and pour out the dough in parts. With a knife or a kitchen spatula, we pass through a colander, cutting the dough and forming a spätzle.

• Сook them after floating up for 3 – 4 minutes and remove them into a separate plate with a slotted spoon. Then pour the dough into the colander again and repeat the cooking process.

Prepare a Käsespätzle.

• Put the frying pan on medium heat, pour vegetable oil and spread the chopped onion.

• Fry it until golden brown for 10-15 minutes, while stirring it with a wooden spatula so that the vegetable does not burn.

• Spread the ready-made spätzles, mix them with onions, add cheese and cook the dish for another 1-2 minutes or until the cheese completely melts.

Serve Käsespätzle.

• Spätzle with cheese served hot as a second course for lunch or dinner. They can act as a separate dish. Also, they will be an ideal side dish for any meat or fish dishes, as well as seafood. Hearty, delicious homemade noodles with melted cheese are ready!
• Bon Appetit!

Expert tips on Käsespätzle

• Spätzle can be boiled in meat or vegetable broth or in water with the addition of bay leaf, pepper, peas, as well as any other aromatic spices.

• Fresh herbs, such as parsley or dill, are often added to the dough for making spätzle.

• The dough can be cooked not in the water, but in milk, then the noodles will have a more delicate, mild taste.

• For piquancy, you can add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic to the onion.

Can You Buy Spätzle?

Yes, if you wish, you can buy ready-made spätzle. They are sold in dry form, as well as pasta and you will need to boil them to prepare a Käsespätzle. You can also buy refrigerated or frozen spätzle.

Ingredients

• Eggs
• Wheat flour
• Pure water
• Cheese
• Onion
• Salt
• Vegetable oil

Instructions

Mix flour, eggs, salt and water to a smooth dough, and then squeeze the dough through a special sieve into boiling, slightly salted water. Bring to a boil until the spätzle float to the surface, remove with a slotted spoon and allow the liquid to drain.

Grate the cheese and mix well. Put the spatula and cheese in layers in a fireproof form, greased with fat. There should be a layer of cheese on top. Serve on warmed plates with fried onions, sprinkled with chives.