What is Käsespätzle?

Fresh egg noodles scraped into boiling water, layered with alpine cheese and buried in crispy onions.

Where does Käsespätzle come from?

Käsespätzle is a German (Swabian) dish from Swabia, Germany.

Can Käsespätzle be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?

Yes. This Käsespätzle recipe includes ingredient substitutions to make it vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, or egg-free — including several of those at once, such as gluten-free and dairy-free together.

How long does Käsespätzle take to make?

About 50 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.

Käsespätzle — a Swabia, Germany recipe

Name: Käsespätzle
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: German (Swabian)
Ingredients: 2.5 cups all-purpose flour; 4 eggs; 1/2 cup sparkling water; a good scrape nutmeg, freshly grated; 2.5 cups Emmental or Bergkäse, grated; 2 yellow onions, sliced; 3 tbsp butter; 2 tbsp chives, snipped

Europe → 🇩🇪 Germany → Swabia

Käsespätzle

German (Swabian) · medium · serves 4

prep 25 min · cook 25 min

~468 cal · 15g protein · 68g carbs · 15g fat (estimated, per serving)

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Pan of cheese spätzle topped with fried onions and chives

🇩🇪 Swabia

Swabians say a proper cook scrapes spätzle by hand off a wet board, and grandmothers judge the batter by the sound it makes falling. Käsespätzle is the mountain-hut version — Germany’s answer to mac and cheese, older and unapologetic.

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Make it yours

Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.

🥕 Vegetarian

🌱 Vegan

🌾 Gluten-Free

🥛 Dairy-Free

🥜 Nut-Free

🥚 Egg-Free

Ingredients

Serves 4 —

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2.5 cups all-purpose flour

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4 eggs

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1/2 cup sparkling water

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a good scrape nutmeg, freshly grated

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2.5 cups Emmental or Bergkäse, grated

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2 yellow onions, sliced

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3 tbsp butter

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2 tbsp chives, snipped

Instructions

1

Fry the onions slowly in the butter until deep gold and starting to crisp, 15 minutes.

2

Beat flour, eggs (or aquafaba mix), sparkling water, nutmeg, and salt into a thick, elastic batter that tears slowly off a spoon.

3

Scrape ribbons of batter off a board (or press through a spätzle press or colander) into boiling salted water. Lift them out as they float.

4

Layer hot spätzle and cheese in a warm pan, repeating so the cheese melts in seams through the noodles.

5

Bury under the onions and chives. Serve immediately, ideally after a long hike.

Swabian mountain-hut cooking.

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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination

📍

Swabia. The home of spätzle, scraped fresh off the board.

🗺️

Germany. Beyond the beer halls: serious regional home cooking.

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Europe. Village recipes guarded for generations.

The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.

👩‍🍳

Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker

Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →