Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kniddelen
Luxembourg's comforting flour dumplings, spooned into simmering water and tossed with crisp smoked bacon and cream.
Luxembourgish · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min
~1136 cal · 42g protein · 90g carbs · 67g fat · 3g fiber · 4g sugars · 34g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kniddelen are humble flour dumplings that are a true Luxembourgish classic, quickly whipped up from ingredients found in every farmhouse kitchen: flour, eggs, milk, curd and a little cream. A soft batter is dropped by the spoonful into simmering water and cooked until the dumplings bob to the surface.
Traditionally food for the colder months and a treat after a long winter walk, they are tossed with cubes of crisp smoked bacon and its dripping, often loosened with cream. The most-quoted recipe comes from Ketty Thull, perhaps Luxembourg's most famous cookery writer, and for many the dish recalls a grandparent's table.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1 cup quark or curd cheese
3/4 cup milk
9 oz smoked bacon, diced
3/4 cup cream
to taste salt and pepper
Instructions
1
Whisk the flour, eggs, quark, milk, salt and pepper into a smooth, semi-firm batter.
2
Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle simmer. Dip two spoons in the water, then use them to scoop and scrape portions of batter into the water.
✎ Chef’s note
Dip the spoons in the hot water between each dumpling so the batter releases cleanly.
3
When the dumplings float, cook 2 minutes more, then lift out with a slotted spoon and keep warm. Repeat with the rest of the batter.
4
Fry the diced bacon until crisp and the fat has rendered.
5
Toss the kniddelen in the pan with the bacon, add the cream, season, and warm through before serving.
Luxembourg (Ketty Thull style).
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Luxembourg City. Luxembourg City feasts on judd mat gaardebounen, smoked pork collar with broad beans, treated as the national dish. Its kitchen borrows freely from France and Germany, in river fish, black pudding with apple, and quetsch plum tart.
🗺️
Luxembourg. The Moselle valley on the eastern border is the country's vineyard, planted to Riesling, Auxerrois, Rivaner, Elbling and the Pinots, and its wines end up in the cooking as often as in the glass. The kitchen sits on a language border too, taking pastry and technique from France and smoked pork, dumplings and river fish from across the German side.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Luxembourg
Judd mat GaardebounenLuxembourg's national dish: smoked pork collar simmered tender and served with a creamy broad-bean stew.
Kachkéis (Luxembourg Cooked Cheese)Aged curd melted down on the stove with butter and caraway into a glossy, tangy spreadable cheese, poured out to set and eaten on bread with mustard.
BouneschluppA green bean soup with potato and smoked sausage, the national soup of Luxembourg.
Browse all Luxembourg recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Whisk.
Storing it: Uncooked parcels freeze well and cook from frozen. Cooked ones keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and steam or pan-warm to serve.
Make it a Luxembourg meal
QuetschentaartDessert
BouneschluppLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kniddelen?
Luxembourg's comforting flour dumplings, spooned into simmering water and tossed with crisp smoked bacon and cream.
Where does Kniddelen come from?
Kniddelen is a Luxembourgish dish from Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.
Can Kniddelen be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kniddelen recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Kniddelen safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Kniddelen take to make?
About 45 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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