I recently added these German potato dumplings to my repertoire of potato side dishes. They are served with melted butter drizzled over them and crunchy croutons on top, although bacon, sautéed onions, and mushroom sauce are also tasty on top. To make the potatoes nice and dry, roast them rather of boiling them if you have the time. They go well with sausage and red cabbage, in my opinion.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 55 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 large dumplings |
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds russet potatoes
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 2 cups fresh bread cubes
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg, or to taste
- 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives, or to taste
Instructions
- Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with salted water; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until just tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and let cool until easily handled.
- While the potatoes are cooling, melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add bread cubes; cook and stir until golden brown and crunchy, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and use a slotted spoon to transfer croutons to a bowl. Reserve browned butter in the pan.
- Peel potatoes and place into a large bowl. Mash and season with nutmeg, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Add eggs and mash until combined. Stir in flour just until incorporated; do not overmix.
- Bring a pot of salted water to a simmer. Dampen your hands with water and scoop a spoonful of dough onto your palm. Shape dough into a circle, make a light indentation in the center, and place 2 or 3 croutons inside. Pull dough around croutons to seal and roll into a smooth ball. Repeat to make seven more dumplings.
- Use a large spoon to lower dumplings, one at a time, into the simmering water. Cook until they float to the top, 1 to 2 minutes. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes. Flip dumplings and continue to cook until puffed and cooked through, about 10 minutes more.
- Transfer dumplings to a serving plate and drizzle with reserved browned butter. Crumble remaining croutons over top and garnish with chives. Let dumplings firm up slightly before serving, about 10 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 272 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 77 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 104 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 13 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Close to Grandmas recipe but she did a few things differently. Firstly, she used 1/2 raw riced potato mixed with 1/2 cooked potatoes. She chopped bacon into small pieces, browned croutons & diced onions in bacon fat. Used that mixture as the filling. After the water bath, let them rest a few moments while the bacon fat is once again warmed up. Put them on the skillet in the bacon fat to brown them all around. Time consuming but well worth the effort. This dish was served with her famous sauerbraten & of course red cabbage! Anyone who ate my Grandmas potato dumplings ALWAYS came back for more. It is a dish made with plenty of love
This is very close to the recipe passed down in my German family. There are two differences…I rice the potatoes and lay out on a towel for a few hours and I don’t add cayenne pepper. I make gravy to put over the top.
One of the more accurate recipes on the web, but take it from someone who has enjoyed Kartoffelklösse for almost 70 years, one point differs that affects the texture of the ball. Old German households had ricers. The potatoes were cooked, cooled, riced, and laid upon a towel or sheet pan, and if humidity was high, even oven toasted a bit to dry them. Greatly helps the ‘dough texture’. Also, if any rehydration is needed when making the dough, use the water the potatoes were boiled in sparingly. Plus, a ball can encompass 4-6 cubes with practice.
Potatoes should be cooked just enough so they can be shredded which is more authentic then mashing them. Otherwise recipe is accurate.
Best dumplings ever my grandmother made these and we always poured some gravy over them. Delicious.
I made them as a side dish to go with some fresh lobsters we brought back from a trip to Ct visiting family for Labor Day weekend. I loved them, but my husband said he would just rather have mashed potatoes. But he’s a grumpy Gus as he gets older! He just wants his old recipes over & over which I get tired of so I try new things all the time. Then tell him eat it or go hungry! For someone who would have preferred mashed potatoes he sure did scrape his dish clean though! Lol! But I found them delicious! Which I do most of chef Johns recipes! He’s my go to for new meals!
Can’t have Sauerbraten without the kartoffelkloesses right? Just like the ones Grandma used to make. I cheated and used Texas Toast croutons. I remember how mad Grandma would get if her dumplings fell apart.
This was very bland, wet, and time consuming. I followed the recipe exactly, but it just didn’t have a lot of flavor, and it fell apart easily while boiling. I have been cooking for over 50 years, but I don’t think my German ancestors would have been very proud of my lack of accomplishment here. It’s probably a matter of taste.
no changes, and yes will definitely make again!!
I grew up with my grandmothers potatoe dumplings. A most important ingredient left out was the onions !! Please sauté till brown almost crispy lots of onions and pour over the dumplings. Even at times incorporate in the dumplings. Make sure you salt the dumplings a little. There is no blandness especially if you use yellow potatoes
The dumplings were fantastic. They were easy to make. Will make them again. But I will want gravy for them next time.
Overall, a nice change from the usual. The nutmeg adds an unexpected flavor to the potatoes, but in a good way. I added some garlic salt to mine to kick up the flavor just a touch. Not bad.
It was perfect! Great flavor. The only change I made was to add a little more flour to make a firmer potato ball. We had these with Rouladen (another Chef John recipe). Yum! Great job again, Chef John!
This is an amazing side dish exactly as written. Chef John got me wondering about the croutons in the middle. I did some research and as I somewhat suspected they are there to help the dumpling cook evenly and not end up with a raw middle. No more wondering.
Absolutely fabulous! I love Chef John’s recipes
This was a great dish to add with my Beef Rouladen! The croutons in the middle made it more flavorful. Will be making this again soon!
I love these! For Christmas I’ll be making them with the Sauerbraten short ribs. I was reading a German cooking blog and found a possible reason for the croutons in the center… according to Oma Gerhild, the croutons help ensure the dumplings cook through and through more quickly with no raw dough left in the center! She also suggested making extra so you can cut the leftover dumplings in half and fry in butter the next day! Yum yum yum!
Was wary based on reviews but, turned out really well. I added fresh chopped parsley to the flour/potato mix and, instead of the croutons I added a chunk of cheddar. This meant no browned butter but it was not missed. Made my dumplings a little larger and got seven instead of eight.
Dry, bland, and heavy. Croutons absorbed all butter making them greasy. A lot of work for a less than edible side!
I have been looking for this recipe for a long time. Came out perfect. Took less time to boil and did not need as many bread cubes.
This is okay as a side dish, but quite heavy. It was quite bland, but I’ve been assured by Germans and friends who’ve been to Germany that the real thing is quite bland too, so that isn’t a fault of this particular recipe.