This is a vegan version of the classic Cheesy Spaetzle – a traditional Austrian/German dish! Topped with fried onions and chives. You don’t need eggs for the fluffiest spaetzle if you know my two tricks!
Spaetzle is a typical dish in the German and Austrian area but in traditional recipes, spaetzle are loaded with eggs. I never thought I could veganize this recipe, but turns out, it’s really easy and tastes just as delicious!
For this recipe, I’ve served the vegan spaetzle with a homemade vegan cheese sauce, green leafy salad, and fried onions, but the base recipe for spaetzle can be used for so many other variations! I often serve them with goulash or other creamy sauces like with mushrooms.
You should totally try this recipe for vegan Cheesy Spaetzle though because it’s so good!
How to make vegan Spaetzle that taste and look like the real deal
We’re using two ingredients to make that happen:
- Kala Namak aka Himalayan Black Salt, in its rock-form it’s violet to black, when ground it’s pink in color. Due to its high sulfur content, it’s perfect for all dishes that profit from an “eggy” taste and smell.
- Turmeric powder: When ground it has a deep orange, yellow color which makes it perfect for adding a nice golden/yellow touch!
When you love making spaetzle, you should definitely invest in a spaetzle making device: I’m using a Spaetzle Maker, but there are other options out there as well, such as a spaetzle lid or a spaetzle press.
More Vegan Spaetzle Recipes
I love making spaetzle. I grew up with it and I didn’t want to give it up just because I went vegan. So I just made vegan spaetzle that are just as delicious. Here are more vegan spaetzle recipes I have on the blog:
- Spinach Spaetzle – beautiful green spaetzle!
- Vegan Egg Spaetzle with a creamy avocado sauce
Love it? Rate it!
I hope you enjoy these Vegan Cheesy Spaetzle as much as I do! Let me know if you give it a try!
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Cheers, Bianca
Cheesy Spaetzle (vegan, egg-free)
Ingredients
Vegan Spaetzle
- 2 cups all-purpose-flour
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon kala namak (key ingredient for an eggy taste and smell!)
- 1 cup water + more for the pot
- 1 teaspoon chives – fresh or dried
Vegan Cheese Sauce
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or vegan butter (EarthBalance, Alsan,..)
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
- 1/4 teaspoon paprika powder
- ground pepper
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1/2 cup water
Fried Onions
- 1 red onion
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- frying oil
Instructions
Vegan Spaetzle
- Fill a large pot with water until it’s 3/4 full and bring it to a boil.
- Mix flour, turmeric powder and kala namak in a bowl. Add 1 cup water for the spaetzle dough and whisk until it’s a sticky and slightly runny dough.
- When the water is boiling you can put the spaetzle maker on top of the pot. Add in the dough and move the spaetzle maker up and down until all the dough is in the water.
- The spaetzle will swim on the surface once they are ready.
- Use a slotted spoon to transfer the spaetzle to a sieve, rinse and drain and then add them back into the pot. Now we’re making the cheesy sauce and fried onions!
Vegan Cheese Sauce
- Heat the coconut oil or butter in a small pot on low heat.
- Add the salt, pepper, paprika powder, curry powder & garlic powder.
- Add the flour and whisk.
- Add nutritional yeast, whisk again until clumpy.
- Add the water and whisk on low heat for a few minutes. If it gets too thick you can add a little bit more water and whisk again.
- Pour it over the spaetzle and combine. You can re-heat the spaetzle together with the vegan cheese sauce at this point.
Fried Onions
- Cut the onions into rings and put them in a large bowl.
- Add the flour and salt and combine until the onions are coated.
- Heat the frying oil in a small pot or pan, fry the onions until crispy and brown. Place them on a kitchen paper to remove excess oil before adding them to the spaetzle. Sprinkle the spaetzle with chives and enjoy!
Jon
Tuesday 20th of April 2021
Doubled the recipe 4 cups of Flour to 2 cups of water, dough came out as thick as bread dough, needed to add over a cup of water to make it thin enough to use my spaetzle maker. Perhaps weights added to the recipe might make it work better for doubling. Thanks.
TJ
Tuesday 4th of August 2020
What are the greens (salad) that this dish is served with in the picture. There is no mention of the greens used..
Bianca
Monday 10th of August 2020
I served the spaetzle with a side of lamb's lettuce (corn salad).
Damien
Sunday 5th of July 2015
Hi, I juste tryed this recipe as I love spätzle (and cannot eat it anymore since I started to be vegan). But it was like an "epic fail".
I used a pasta sieve but it appears it was very too thin... I would like to know which consistence the past should have? (I added a little bit of flour because it was very too liquid).
I will not give up but if you can give me some tricks :)
bianca
Monday 6th of July 2015
Hi Damien! First of all thank you so much for reporting back to me and I'm so sorry the recipe didn't work out on the first try. You can see the consistency of the batter it should have in the Spinach Spätzle Post on the third picture. It should be gooey/slimy. I may have messed up the measurements in this recipe (so sorry!, I'll update the post now), so I'd suggest using 2 cups of flour (and 1 teaspoon of salt) and 1 cup of water, whisk it. And then slowly add more water (if you need to) until you reach the consistency shown in the picture. The chickpea flour isn't necessary, so you can omit it. Basically you can make super minimalistic spätzle with flour, salt and water. The spätzle making device is vital however, I've tried making spätzle using a steaming lid once and it was a huge mess and didn't work at all because the holes were too small. I'd imagine it would be really hard with a pasta sieve as well, but there are different ones, so I don't know if the holes are big enough. By the way you can see the dimensions of the holes in the fourth picture in the spinach spätzle post. There are different devices to make spätzle: A Spaetzle Board, a Spaetzle Press, a Spaetzle Lid or like I did, a Spaetzle Maker. I hope it helps and let me know if it works or if it doesn't and if I can help you with this. Spätzle is one of my favorites dishes so I want you to be able to enjoy it too! :)
janet @ the taste space
Saturday 3rd of January 2015
I once tried making spaetzle with only chickpea flour. It was very bad. I look forward to trying it out and reading more of your blog. :)
bianca
Saturday 3rd of January 2015
Thank you so much for your comment! You can sub the chickpea flour with soy flour, if you prefer that :) But nevertheless you won't taste the chickpea flour in this recipe. I can imagine how it tasted only with chickpea flour :D it's so nasty (I've tried something similar once). If you do try it, I'd love to hear how it turned out!