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Ravioli isn’t reserved for Italy. Germany has its own delicious ravioli, but they call it Maultaschen. This Traditional German Maultaschen Recipe is spectacular and can be served with soup or just some nummy butter. Get this recipe from the Swabian region of Germany.

Maultaschen in two bowls of soup.
Maultaschen is such a tasty German-style ravioli.

🇩🇪 What makes this recipe special?

Alright, folks. Today, we are going to make what amounts to German ravioli! Maultaschen is a traditional German dish from the Swabian region, much like our Spaetzle recipe and the traditional Knoephla soup recipe. 

Maultaschen really is a flavorful little pillow of tasty goodness, and I had a lot of fun reproducing this traditional dish. This was really a fun one to make, and it was great experimenting with our traditional Maultaschen recipe.

Table of Contents

🥟 Ingredients

This is really just a BIG ravioli, but with more of a German flair. The pasta is pretty close to what you might find with it’s Italian cousins.

  • 2 cups flour
  • 3 eggs + 1 egg for egg wash
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • Bacon
  • Ground burger
  • Nutmeg
  • Parsley
  • Onion
  • Spinach
  • Heavy cream
  • Italian style breadcrumbs
  • salt and pepper
  • Six cups of any broth or stock. We used our homemade chicken stock.
  • Green onions

See the recipe card for quantities.

For the pasta, we roll out our own by hand. You can use store-bought fresh pasta sheets.

🍲 Instructions

I already described it as a German ravioli, and it is exactly that. It differs from the ravioli that we might recognize in a few ways. Most noticeably, they are bigger.

The Maultaschen I made was three inches by five inches. Then, the filling is generally a mixture of minced meat, smoked meat, spinach, bread crumbs, and spices. Finally, this dish is traditionally served in a bowl of broth.

I really enjoyed exploring this recipe and coming up with a recipe that tastes great, has a Ramshackle spin, but still honors the recipe. You, too, can make this tasty traditional German pasta.

I have to be upfront that I don’t use a pasta-making machine for this recipe. What does that mean? Well, mostly, it means making my pasta dough is more of a pain in the butt. It takes more time and there is more waste. You can, however, make excellent egg noodle pasta without a pasta maker.

Or, consider getting a pasta maker and rolling out the sheets that way. 

I will outline the recipe below, but it is vital that you have patience if you are rolling it out by hand. We want to get this dough as thin as we can and you have to spend some time caring for and rolling this dough out.

Once it is rolled out, take a knife and make a big rectangle out of the dough. Then, cut accordingly. Sizes can vary, but you want them to be a larger rectangle shape. I loosely measured out 3 x 5 inch squares.

Process for making maultaschen.
Cooke the spinach and then cook the filling. After rolling out the dough, add the filling and then boil.

I had quite the time getting my filling proportions right for the amount of pasta that I made. I was able to get 6 maultaschen from my dough recipe. That means I had to scale my filling to best match those sizes. I scaled back from a full pound of ground meat to ¼ lb of ground meat.

Broth for Maultaschen

One way this traditional dish can be served is with butter. Another way, and what I like better, is to serve it in a broth. You can use really any kind of bare broth or stock, but I chose to use the chicken stock we previously made.

One thing that I really like about serving this in a broth is that it almost turns into kind of a surprise soup! It faintly reminds me of Italian wedding soup once the dumpling is all broken up and floating around in the broth.

🤷 Substitutions and variations

There are a few different ways you can change this up.

  • Dough – We roll our own, but you could use store-bought pasta sheets. 
  • Hamburger – Ground pork or ground sausage would work well for this recipe.
  • Spinach – Kale could work well for this recipe. 
  • Broth – I use chicken broth, but any broth could be used. Heck, you could just eat the maultaschen by themselves. 

📦 Storage

This recipe is best used right away, as fresh pasta is involved. That said, you could make the filling beforehand. Then, within a few days, make the pasta, fill the maultaschen, and boil.

The raw ravioli with stuffing could also be frozen and then boiled at a different date. That said, I have not tested this. 

🎓 History tidbit

According to this historical account, this was a popular dish during Lent. It has meat, though, which is against Lent’s tradition.

It is popular, however, because the pasta covers the meat. A tongue-in-cheek joke implies eating is ok, as the meat is hidden from God. No matter what you do (or do not) believe, this is a little funny, and Maultaschen is delicious. 

❓ FAQ

What are Maultaschen?

Maultaschen are German-style ravioli that are commonly stuffed with a meat and spinach filling but have been known to have other fillings. Even sweet fillings like apple and cinnamon. 

Where are Maultashchen from?

They are from the Swabian region of Germany.

bowls after maultaschen have been torn apart and topped with bacon

📝 Tips and tricks

  • If rolling your own pasta, use a pasta maker or make sure to roll your dough thin.
  • Don’t like some of the seasonings? Leave them out. 

🛠 Products used in this recipe

😋 Did you make this recipe?

That is awesome, and thank you so much for giving this Traditional German Maultaschen recipe a try. If you could leave a rating in the comment area below, it would be greatly appreciated. This lets me know how I am doing and also helps others decide if they want to make this recipe. Most of all, thanks for visiting Ramshackle Pantry.

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Maultaschen in two bowls of soup.

Traditional German Maultaschen Recipe

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.7 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Ben Myhre
  • Prep Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Yield: 6 Servings 1x
  • Category: Pasta
  • Method: Boil
  • Cuisine: German
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Description

Maultaschen is a delicious German dish. These ravioli-like pillows of awesomeness can be served plainly with butter or in a bowl of broth. Either way, they are delicious.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 2 cups flour
  • 3 eggs + 1 egg for egg wash
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

For Filling:

  • 3 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
  • 1/4 pound ground burger
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/2 medium onion, diced
  • 2 1/2 ounces spinach
  • 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
  • 2 Tablespoons Italian style breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
  • 1/4 pepper, or to taste

For Serving:

Instructions

  1. Add dough ingredients (minus one egg for egg wash)  to stand mixer.
  2. Mix with dough hook (or by hand) for 10 minutes and until smooth
  3. Now would be a good time to cook the bacon if it isn’t already
  4. Also, fill a pot with water and place on high for cooking spinach
  5. Wrap and put dough in the fridge for 30 minutes
  6. Once water is boiling, add spinach
  7. Boil spinach for three minutes
  8. Drain and run cold water through.
  9. Once spinach is cooled, dice
  10. In a large pan, brown burger on medium-high heat.
  11. When about half done, add in onions and cook.
  12. When nearly done, add spinach, breadcrumbs, nutmeg, parsley, bacon, and cream to mixture and cook until everything is heated and the hamburger is done.
  13. Place in a bowl and put in the refrigerator.
  14. Once dough has been in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, remove.
  15. On a floured surface, roll out dough to be as thin as possible or use a pasta maker. Have patience. This may take some time if you are rolling out by hand.
  16. Once rolled, cut into an even number of 3-inch x 5-inch sheets
  17. Place a few tablespoons of filling in center of one sheet. Enough to comfortably fill this like a ravioli.
  18. Egg wash edges and place a second sheet over top.
  19. Use fork to crimp edges and set aside
  20. Repeat for all Maultaschen dough. You should have at least 6 Maultaschen.
  21. Bring large pot of water to gentle boil.
  22. Add Maultaschen and cook for 10 minutes
  23. Warm broth or stock
  24. Using slotted spoon, remove Maultaschen and place in a bowl of stock or broth
  25. Top with green onions and serve

Notes

  • If rolling your own pasta, use a pasta maker or make sure to roll your dough thin.
  • Don’t like some of the seasonings? Leave them out.

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