Knödel are bread dumplings typical of the region Trentino-Alto Adige, a region in northern Italy bordering with Switzerland and Austria. These Knödel, also known as Italian canederli are served with brodo soup (Chicken Italian Soup), instead of beef stew, goulash, like in the case of Austrian or German Knodel.

This is a great recipe when you want to try something different and you have stale bread that you want to finish. As you guys know, I am trying to always make something out of leftovers. So this is a great solution, together with meatballs and other recipes (more on that to come).

Knödel Ingredients

This follows the original registered knodel recipe of the Region Trentino Alto Adige

Stale Bread: if you don’t have it you can use any white bread.
Speck: main ingredient for this recipe. Ideally you would find Speck from Trentino, but I understand that’s kinda impossible when you live abroad like me. So, try to find something else pancetta or smoked bacon with little fat inside.
Onions: I recommend to use white or yellow onions.
Eggs: must ingredients to help shaping the knodel’s balls’
Milk: use to softened stale bread
Butter: use to sauté onions
Black Peppers, Chives & Parsley

Knödel (Italian Canederli)

Recipe by GiadaCourse: SoupsCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Easy

Servings

servings

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

hour

minutes

Ingredients

250g Stale Bread, diced
150g Speck diced very small
50g White onions, chopped
2 Eggs (medium)
200/250ml Milk
1 Spoon Butter
Black Peppers
2 Spoons Parsley
1 Spoon Chives

Directions

Cook the speck. Sauté onions with speck and butter, over a low heat. Keep mixing it and be careful not to burn the speck. Cook it for 8 minutes.
Prepare the mixture. In a large ball mix the bread with milk, but pay attention to start little by little. The quantity of milk may differ based on the type of bread you use. You need to get a mixture that’s not too sticky nor too dry. A mixture that you will able to shape into small balls easily with your ends. Add the rest of the ingredients, eggs, chives and parsley.
Shape the mixture. Mix well and shape the mixture into small balls. Traditionally knodel are quite big, but in my family we like them a bit smaller. In this way you don’t need to break them with the spoon, but you can enjoy one or two knodel with each spoon.
Cook. These knodel are cooked into Brodo, the Italian chicken soup with vegetables. Bring the brodo to a boil, add the knodel and cook for about 8-10 minutes.
Serve it hot.