Kitchen Basics: Spaetzle

Making spätzle is something that I wager most Americans don't have any idea about doing. But they should, because spätzle is a delicious starch that you can make in minutes without having to take a trip to the grocery store using ingredients already on hand.

Spätzle are fine dumplings made from a dead simple batter extruded through small openings into boiling water. They cook in seconds. In short, nothing could be easier.

For years, I had seen references spätzle that implied that you needed a special tool, a spätzle maker, to make them. But when I thought about it, I decided that I had enough tools on hand already, that I did not need to add yet another specialized tool to my arsenal, just to make spätzle. You can see below that I repurposed my potato ricer for the job.

Ditto for the restaurant. It seems that during the winter, we pretty much made spätzle daily. And we never counted a spätzle maker in our inventory. We always put a perforated bottom hotel pan over a pot of boiling water and used a bench knife to force the batter through into the water.

If you don't already have something you can repurpose at home, don't fear. Spätzle makers are inexpensive.

Spätzle Batter Ready to Cook

Spätzle Batter

The batter for spätzle could not be any simpler. The following recipe is based on a cup of flour, which will make enough spätzle to feed two people amply.

2 large eggs

1/4 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 cup all purpose flour

Beat the eggs well, then add the milk and salt and whisk together. Add the flour and whisk until smooth.

This is the basic formula for unflavored spätzle. You can scale it up pretty easily. Just watch the salt as you make a larger and larger batch. We always seasoned it to taste at the restaurant.

One thing to note is that once you start making spätzle, you might find that you want the batter thinner or thicker to work better with your equipment. Add milk by dribbles to thin and flour by teaspoons to thicken as needed.

Many recipes call for flavoring the spätzle. A few grinds of fresh nutmeg are traditional. I've made them with all kinds of flavorings including fresh dill and lemon zest. Once for a hoisin-glazed duck leg and rare grilled duck breast, I did spätzle flavored with orange zest and five spice powder. The sky is the limit as far as flavorings go.

Loading Batter in my Ricer

Spätzle Cooking; Ready to Remove

Drained and Transferred to an Oiled Sheet Tray

The cooking process is easy. Put a small quantity of batter in your maker. Over gently boiling salted water, extrude short dumplings into the water. You may need to slice them off the bottom of the extruder with a knife to get them to drop into the water, but if the batter is thin enough, they should drop in on their own.

When the dumplings float, they are ready to remove from the water. They will float in seconds. You may need to stir them gently if they want to stick to the bottom of the pan. Scoop the dumplings out, draining them well, and put them on an oiled sheet tray. Continue until you use all your batter.

You can make spätzle the day before, but unless you store them spread out on a sheet tray as above, they will stick together unless you toss them in oil. In general, they are best fresh. At the restaurant, we would make them in the late afternoon and leave them on sheet trays to dry a bit. Any leftovers at the end of service went into staff meals.