Potato Dumplings Spessart Style

The recipe for the potato dumplings Spessart style originates from the beautiful mountain region named “Spessart” in Germany, a so called “Mittelgebirge” (medium range) in the German states of Bavaria and Hessen. The mountains Vogelsberg, Rhön and Odenwald are at the border. The highest Spessart mountain is the Geiersberg with 586 meter. Interestingly it was the home of the young Grimm brothers in the 1790s before they moved to the city of Kassel.

The tale of Snow White may have been originally located in the Spessart near the city of Lohr at the river Main. So this authentic German dumpling recipe might bring some magic to your table. Happy Cooking!

Ingredients Potato Dumplings Spessart Style

(for about 6-7 dumplings)
800 g potatoes, peeled and weighted
1 egg
1 tsp salt, flat
150 g potato  starch
fresh grated nutmeg to taste
1 German roll (2 days old)
2 tsp butter
chopped parsley
some potato flour

Cooking Instructions

– Peel potatoes, cut in pieces and boil them in salt water until they are soft.
– Drain potatoes, squeeze them right away through the potato press. Let cool off a bit, then spice with nutmeg, salt and add the egg and potato flour, knead until you get a smooth dough.
– Cut the roll in very small cubes and roast or brown them with 1 tsp butter.
– Moist the hands and take some of the dumpling dough, press slightly flat and squeeze a few bread cubes into the dough, then form a nice round dumpling. Continue until the dough is gone.

– Fill a big pot with water, add some salt, bring to a boil.
– Turn the dumplings in potato flour and with a big spoon, place them carefully into the water (don’t dump them).
– Reduce heat and let dumplings simmer for about 20 min. Don’t bring it to a boil otherwise dumplings will fall apart.
– Chop parsley, melt remaining butter and brown slightly, briefly turn parsley in the butter, set aside.
– The dumplings are done when they will swim on the surface.

– Remove them with a slotted spoon and keep them warm in a bowl. Sprinkle with butter-parsley then serve with a nice gravy dish such as goulash, beef rolls or beef roast.

Click here for the Beef Roast Recipe

– Click here for the Goulash Recipe –

Instead of parsley you can roast bread crumbs and serve them with the dumplings.