Spätzle (Spaetzle - 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. You can find it here.

based on 435 reviews

Ingredients for 4

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Ingredients
400	grams	plain flour
4	eggs	egg	(200 grams)
1 1/4	tablespoon	butter	(16 grams)
1/4	teaspoon	salt	(2 grams)
200	mls	water

Salt content: 0.2% (by weight, not counting salt in other ingredients)

Method

Step-by-Step Instructions

	Here are our ingredients (with the Spätzle press left of the salt shaker).
	Add the egg and a pinch of salt to the flour.
	Mix with a wooden spoon until you have a smooth paste.
	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 proceeding.
	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 / 400 Fahrenheit / Gas Mark 6 for 15 to 20 minutes and then serve.

9	Great i needed a quick& easy recipe, but what about without a press?
10	Undefined
10	awesome!!!!I hav'nt had Spaetzle since the early 80's. Can't wait to enjoy it!!! Thanks
10	Having grown up in a German household eating this every other Sunday along with other special occasions I gotta say this is a brilliant easy to follow recipe. Thanks for sharing :-)
10	thank you so much...it's taken me ages to find this recipe.
10	Used many times the measurements are spot on. Amazing! Try mixing the mix with fine blended spinach
10	Really good and easy recipe to follow. Use to make it with my aunt in Austria and forgot the recipe and this was spot on.
10	Love it..best receipe ever..easy to follow
10	At last I have found an original recipe, delicious, never again will I buy noodles, lovely in tomato sauce and stirfries, in fact any way you would normally use noodles.
9	a good pinch of Nutmeg...( Muscatnus ) is very importend...WL
10	thank you for showing me in easy stages how to make it now i can try it for myself and family.
10	If you don't have a press, a potato ricer works perfectly.
10	Thank you,made this dish with chistmas dinner for my family,they loved it.Thank you again.
10	GREAT! WE'RE HAVING THEM WITH POT ROAST FOR CHRISTMAS EVE DINNER.
10	On my way to my Grandma's and was looking for a way to spell spaetzle and how it is indeed made. Real easy and the above steps prove it so.
10	nice and clear
10	Thanks .Brilliant info.
10	I always wondered what this stuff was really called. My grandmother uses this in her homemade chicken and noodles(this being the noodles). There are only two of her grandchildren that know how to make this and now one of them knows what it is called. Thank you!
8	If no press available force through a colander with the back of a spoon.
10	Thanks, very clear explanation.
7	What should one do if no press is available?
10	wonderfull!
10	Really good. Appreciate the photos. Much easier to mix all the ingredients in the FOOD PROCESSOR, though! We pressed the dough through an ICING TUBE - and it worked well.
9	Really super. That it's a great recipe simple and usefull. Thanks very much.It's the best but I can't put the note 10.
10	Very helpful! I had just made the dough, and it seemed too soft, but the photos here were reassuring. Cheers!
10	Brillian recipie. About to attempt it myself. If you dont have a press, try pushing the dough through a colander with a blunt knife,o r similar flat object. works pretty well as a stand-in :)
10	I have been making spaetzle for years as it is so quick and easy to do. What I like to do is add roasted pureed garlic and coarse black pepper to the dough. Once it is boiled, fry it in garlic butter and add a little fresh chopped dill. Yummy.
9	Excellent but it won't let me give more than 9!
7	TIP: butter should be included in the mix when making the dough. The consistency is a lot easier to work with.
10	Excellent!! Thank you
10	Another great way to get the spaetzle press is through a German tupperware dealer. They have a spaetzleria, which is way easier to clean than the press. May be possible to get it through Tupperware anywhere...
10	been looking for a good recipe since I visited Germany thank you
9	Delicious !
10	10
10	It's her first time to taste some traditional Beef stew and she abesoutlly loves it..here in the Philippines we have our own version of beef stew we called it BAKARETA closely the same except it has liver spread and milk/cream..I'm so sorry for my English..thanks again sir goodluck
10	where can i get a press??? great article though...thanks
10	thanks.
10	Awesome directions, thanks very much.
10	The best recipe ever, so simple yet satisfying. Will use it over and over, perfect winter dish. We had it with roasted pork fillets and home made gravy and red wine. Heaven
10	Simple and easy to follow. For those who might find it bland as is, serve with beef rouladen. The rouladen's sauce/gravy would be nice with the spaetzle.
10	Easy!!!! Made it with butter and poppy seeds
8	Thanks for a good recipe. I didn't know that I would need a press so I would have appreciated a bit more detail on how to do it without.
9	Nice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10	Great recipe. But if you use lukewarm milk instead of water it is even better.
2	Just Kidding
10	Fantastic! I was going to have them with a sauce but when i tasted them with just butter they were SO good tt the sauce might have overwhelmed their delicate scrumminess!!
10	thank you so much for the photos respecting the consistency of the dough.....I have the sliding maker to make the shorter ones and it seems I have never been able to get the right consistency
10	Excellent tutorial -- thank you
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10	Great to have the recipe at long last!