German Week comes around at Aldi twice a year, typically once during the spring and again during the fall. It’s a great time to stock up on German favorites such as schnitzel, pickles, savory and sweet strudel, cream cakes, jaffa cakes, soft pretzels, sandwich biscuits, frangipane tarts, doppel keks, peanut puffs, indulgent cakes, and more.
Sometimes I spot some unusual items during German Week. Most recently, this schupfnudeln caught my attention. Schupfnudel (or schupfnudeln in the plural form), also referred to as fingernudel or finger noodle, is a dumpling or thick noodle that is often hand rolled into its unique long, slender shape. They can be made from rye or wheat flour and egg, or sometimes from potatoes. (The Aldi version is made with potatoes.) They’re traditionally served either as a savory dish with foods such as sauerkraut, or they can be served sweet with poppy seeds, cinnamon, and sugar.
The schnupfnudeln I found at Aldi comes in two savory varieties, and I simply couldn’t pass one of them up. One comes with a mushroom sauce, which is a fairly standard-sounding thing. The other is served with a pickle and cheese sauce.
I bought both and was especially curious about the pickle cheese schnupfnudeln. I wasn’t sure if it would taste good. I like pickles, and I like cheesy pasta, but pickles mixed with cheese and pasta sounded like something I might have craved when I was pregnant with my kids. People on reddit have mixed opinions about it, either loving it or hating it. My family gave me funny looks when they saw the pickle cheese schnupfnudeln, but I’ll try anything from Aldi once.
Deutsche Küche Schupfnudeln cost $4.29 for a 20-ounce package at the time of publication. As mentioned above, these come in two varieties: Mushroom Schupfnudeln featuring “Alsatian gnocchi with mushroom in a creamy sauce” and Pickle Cheese Schupfnudeln featuring “Alsatian gnocchi with a creamy cheese sauce and pickled cucumbers.”
These are sold frozen and are a product of France. (Not every item in the Deutsche Küche product line is actually from Germany; some of them are just German-inspired.)
These are an Aldi Find, so they’re only in stores for a short time. Each store gets one shipment during German Week, and after they sell out, they’re gone until the next German Week. Aldi doesn’t offer online ordering for products that aren’t in stock at your local store.
If you’re watching out for allergens, both of these contain egg, milk, and wheat.
The packages have directions for heating in a microwave or skillet.
To microwave, open the bag and pour the frozen contents into a microwave-safe bowl. Place the bowl in the microwave and cook on high (900W) for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let stand 1-2 minutes before serving.
To heat in a skillet, open the bag and pour the frozen contents into a warm skillet on the stove top. Cook covered on medium heat for 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let stand 1-2 minutes before serving.
I opted to heat these in skillets on my stove top. They were easy to heat and consist of the frozen noodles along with several frozen spheres of sauce.
Keep reading for more information about each variety, and especially for our thoughts about that pickle cheese schnupfnudeln.
Deutsche Küche Mushroom Schupfnudeln:
Deutsche Küche Mushroom Schupfnudeln ready to serve.
This features soft, tender noodles in a creamy sauce with decent-sized chunks of mushrooms and various herbs and spices. I am particular about how I like to eat mushrooms, and this dish is okay. Even some of my family members who have so-so opinions about mushrooms came back for some more of this. If you like mushrooms, this is worth a try.
Deutsche Küche Mushroom Schupfnudeln nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
A 1-cup serving has 170 calories, 7 grams of total fat (9% DV), 3 grams of saturated fat (15% DV), 540 mg of sodium (23% DV), 24 grams of total carbohydrates (9% DV), 4 grams of total sugars, and no added sugars.
Deutsche Küche Pickle Cheese Schupfnudeln:
Deutsche Küche Pickle Cheese Schupfnudeln ready to serve.
This seemed to have more sauce than the mushroom variety, and you can see it in the photo above. We all knew this was different as soon as I poured it into a warm skillet. It’s like macaroni and cheese, but we could smell the bits of diced pickles. It gave off a tangy scent every time I lifted the lid to stir it.
This was very unique, but it was also all right. I don’t know that I’d buy it again, but it was fun to try. Similar to the mushroom schupfnudeln, this features large tender noodles. The sauce is plenty cheesy, and the diced pickles give it some texture, similar to the pickle relish some people like to put in deviled egg filling. It’s rich, cheesy, salty, and a bit vinegary. If you like trying novel foods … well, I don’t need to say anything more.
Deutsche Küche Pickle Cheese Schupfnudeln nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
A 1-cup serving has 220 calories, 11 grams of total fat (14% DV), 6 grams of saturated fat (30% DV), 690 mg of sodium (30% DV), 24 grams of total carbohydrates (9% DV), 4 grams of total sugars, and no added sugars.
The Verdict:
Deutsche Küche Schupfnudeln comes in mushroom or pickle cheese varieties. It features long tender potato-based gnocchi in a creamy mushroom sauce or a cheesy sauce accented with diced pickles, almost like someone spooned some dill relish into a bowl of macaroni and cheese. The mushroom schupfnudeln is good if you’re a fungi fan. The pickle cheese schupfnudeln is an adventure for your taste buds. It’s not bad, just cheesy and tangy and very different. If you’re devoted to the Deutsche Küche German food product line at Aldi, this is worth trying at least once.
After reading in English novels about cheese and pickle sandwiches, which seem to be ubiquitous over there, I gave them a try. Bread, a swipe of mayo, cheese, pickle relish (either sweet or dill). Not bad!