Semmelknoedel German Bread Dumplings – While visiting family up north, I made these fabulous German bread dumplings, aka Semmelknoedel, to go with a lovely pot of Authentic Hungarian Goulash. As luck would have it, not a single person at the table wanted to spit them out! LOL I guarantee you won’t want to either. 😋
The semmelknoedel are lovely large balls of a bread, egg, butter, and parsley mixture boiled in water to tender perfection. They’re super delicious liberally drenched in the saucy, wine-drenched meat of your choosing. So far, I’ve only tried them with authentic Hungarian Goulash and an Italian Beef Ragú. I loved them with both, but plan to substitute these bread dumplings in any recipe that calls for egg noodles, pasta, or traditional dumplings.

Another meal idea: Drop one in a bowl of chicken broth for a delicious Semmelknoedel suppe similar to Jewish matzo ball soup. ☕
The original recipe was found here, but as usual, I changed things up a bit. 😊
Semmelknoedel German Bread Dumplings
Note: This recipe makes half as many as shown in images.
- 8 cups cubed old bread
- 1/4 cup finely diced onion
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup butter (melted)
- 2 Tbsp. dried Parsley
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- Pot of boiling water.
Put cubed bread in a large mixing bowl.
In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs and whisk in melted butter, onions, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Pour mixture over the bread. Mix and mash with your hands until every single cube of bread is evenly moist. Remove any pieces that are still dry.
Form into tightly-packed billiards-sized balls. They’ll plump up to the size of tennis balls while cooking.
Cover with a clean towel and let sit for 1 hour
Fill a pot (large enough to accommodate the number of balls you plan to make) about 1/2 way to 2/3 with water and bring to boil.
Using a spoon, set dumplings into the boiling water. Once they’re all in, let cook for 20 minutes. If making a double or quadruple batch, let cook for 30 minutes.
Remove from water with slotted spoon and place on a serving dish
Drain off excess water before serving.
Happy eating! 😊
Looks very nice
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Thanks! I love the Old World taste! 🙂
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Will be giving these a try for sure, thanks so much!
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Hi Tracey, I hope you love them as much as I do! They’re perfect for using up old bread before it molds. 🙂
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