Sauerkraut and Sausage Knoephla Skillet Dish

Cream, sausage, butter, and knoephla dumplings make up this luxuriously guilty pleasure. Sauerkraut and Sausage Knoephla Skillet Dish is serious German comfort food and a great single skillet dish for a weekday night or when you want something a bit special.

In our exploration of Knoephla soup and my traditional Knoephla soup recipe, I found a German Knoephla recipe that I have fallen in love with. It is not a soup, but a skillet dish that has knoephla dumplings, sauerkraut, and sausage.

This Knoephla Sauerkraut and Sausage recipe still has the creamy, buttery feel of the soup I make, but adds some other excellent German flavors. This is an easy-to-make meal and if you already love sauerkraut, this skillet dinner is totally worth a try. Enjoy our Knoephla Sauerkraut and Sausage recipe.

Knoephla Sauerkraut and Sausage Overview

Growing up, I only knew knoephla as a soup recipe, but have since learned that it really is just the dumpling. While it is the awesome soup I know and love, there is more to these little buttons than meets the eye. There are many recipes that can be made with knoephla dumplings, and it only makes sense. The dumplings themselves are tasty and can take on the flavor of whatever surrounds them.

This nice, creamy skillet dish with dumplings, sauerkraut, and cream. It is faintly reminiscent of a creamed corned beef recipe that my aunt used to feed me. No, it isn’t Irish, but there is a cabbage element with the sauerkraut. Yes, we use sausage instead of corned beef, which makes it different, but still lends to a comforting meat flavor.

Basically, we are taking some of the tasty elements of the soup I know and moving them to a skillet. Then, adding some more traditional German flavors. Oh, and butter. More butter. mmmm.

Are the Dumplings the Same As The Ones From Soup?

The dumplings in this recipe have the same ingredients from the ones we used in our traditional knoephla recipe, but I did slightly change up how they were cut. I am ok with having some fairly large dumplings in the soup, but it didn’t feel right in this recipe. I cut the dumplings quite a bit smaller to about half an inch.

Frying Knoephla Dumplings

One noticeable difference between the soup and this skillet dish is how we treat the dumplings. Instead of just boiling the dumplings, we are going to fry our dumplings in butter.

We still boil them, but then also fry them to add a bit of crispness to the dumplings. The idea here is that we will get some of the little hard fry bits on the outer crust of the dumplings. I think there can be a fine line here between a nice crust and burning. Make sure to mix up your dumplings when they are frying and if it starts to get too brown, perhaps it is time to add the cream.

Can I Substitute Other Sausages for German Smoked Sausage

Yes. I would say that almost any cured sausage would be a good substitute for a package labeled as ‘German Smoked Sausage’. Sausage, in general, is pretty awesome and would be good in a kraut, cream, butter, and dumpling mix.

Honestly, this was an unexpected delight in this series and I found a new appreciation for both knoephla and for sauerkraut. This is an easy recipe that can be made fairly quickly. Most importantly, it is yummy as heck. So, eat up aspiring German eater… make this Knoephla Sauerkraut and Sausage Skillet Dish today! 

Products I Used In This Recipe

• Large Pot
• Cast Iron Skillet
• Chef's Knife
• Strainer

Recipe Tips

• You can really use any cured sausage in this dish.
• I use a cast iron skillet, but any sizable pan should work.

Did You Make This Recipe?

Spectacular! I love that you gave it a try and if you liked it, let me know. You can leave a comment and rating below to let me know how it worked for you. If you could share this on your Facebook or Pinterest, it would be greatly appreciated. If you like what we are doing here, please subscribe to get updates via email, follow me on Instagram, and follow me on Pinterest.

Print