Warm your soul and body with this hearty knoephla soup, loaded with chewy herb-infused knoephla dumplings. Step-by-step photos are included!
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You guys, it’s bitter cold up here in North Dakota right now! We’re talking 7°F that feels like -7°F. ❄️Brrr is right!!
I don’t know about you, but this kind of weather calls for a cup of hot chocolate, or piping hot tea, or a bowl of stick-to-your-ribs hearty soup, and a thick blanket, of course! A fireplace would be nice too, but we don’t have one. But lots of snuggles with your newborn is better than any fireplace! Lots of snuggles! (<-As you’ve seen on my snapchat: shineshka) ❤️
Speaking of soups, I absolutely love the sound of simmering soup on the stovetop on such cold winter days. Do you? The steam, the bubbling sound, the hearty aroma filling the house- so comforting!
And today, I’m sharing with you one of my winter favorites, a quintessential North Dakota soup.
Knoephla soup is a creamy dumpling and potato soup originated from German immigrants from Russia. My husband first introduced me to this hearty soup about 6 years ago, and it’s become one of my favorites ever since.
I also like to add chicken in my soup!
Knoephla refers to the type of dumpling in this soup. Don’t let the idea of making the dumplings from scratch scare you off. It’s super easy to make and taste absolutely delicious! Worth every effort, I promise!!
I like my knoephla on a smaller size and infused with loads of fragrant herbs. No special equipment is required here. Since I’m a lazy cook, I used my stand mixer with dough hook attachment, but you can totally kneed the dough by hand.
As usual, here’s step-by-step visual to guide you through the process.
My recipe makes pretty generous portion. But just as many hearty soups, it tastes even better the next day. You’ll be happy to have some leftovers the next day.
Cheers to hearty soup season! Stay warm!
Knoephla Soup, aka Chicken & Dumpling Soup
Ingredients
For knoephla:
- ¾ cup (95g) all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg
- 3 tablespoons milk I use whole milk, but any milk will work
- 2 teaspoons parsley
- 1 teaspoon dill weed
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
For soup:
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons bacon fat divided
- ½ cup (60g) all-purpose flour
- 3 garlic cloves pressed
- 2-3 medium carrots about 1 cup chopped
- 3-4 stalks celery about 1 cup chopped
- 2 medium russet potatoes
- 1 chicken breast
- 4 cups (1L) unsalted chicken stock
- 1 cup (240ml) water
- 2 ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (480ml) milk I use whole milk, but any milk will work
Instructions
- To make the knoephla dumplings, in a large mixing bowl with dough hook attachment, mix together all the ingredients and kneed until elastic dough forms. Alternatively, you can mix everything by hand. Cover the dough and let it rest while you make the soup.
- To make the soup, chop chicken, celery, carrots and potatoes into cubes.
- In a large pot, melt the butter and 2 tablespoons of bacon fat over medium high heat. Stir in the flour and cook for about 2 minutes, or until nice and golden color, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. That’s how you make the roux to thicken the soup. Transfer the roux into a small dish.
- Into the pot, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of bacon fat and pressed garlic. Cook until fragrant, stirring frequently. Add chicken cubes. Add ¼ teaspoons of salt and cook for about 5 minutes, or until fully cooked, stirring occasionally. Remove the chicken onto a plate.
- Add the cubed vegetables into the pot and cook for 2-3 minutes, and then add chicken stock, water and the remaining 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the potatoes are fully cooked.
- Meanwhile, divide the dumpling dough into 2 equal parts. Then roll each dough into long log, about ½-inch thick, and cut into small pieces.
- Once the vegetables are fully cooked, add the roux, chicken, dumplings and milk. Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the dumplings float up on top and fully cooked. Serve immediately.
Tips & Notes
Nutrition
Great thanks so much
I love knoephla soup. My mom was of German decent and WE had Alot of German dishes. We always made it very simple. Chopped onion.., diced potatoes, diced celery, Mom always cut up hotdogs, but I use Oscar Mayer Smokies. Put in enough water to cook potatoes and celery. Add a chicken boullion and 3 cups of milk and 2 or 3 bay leaves. The knoephla mixture is 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 egg, 1/2 tsp salt and just enough milk to make the dough. Let the dough sit covered for about 10 min. Then I take a palm full of dough and a paring knife and and just cut small pieces of dough from your palm and place into the broth. After placing the dough into the pot, cover with lid for 10 min on med heat. Enjoy!
Hi, Vicki! Thank you so much for sharing your version. It sounds great!! Hotdog addition is interesting! Can’t wait to give it a try!
There is an error in the bacon grease amount. It says 4 tablespoons divided but never shows how it is to be divided.
Thanks for pointing it out, Sheilah. I notice it every time I make the recipe, but forget to update it later on. 🙂 I just corrected it. 2 tablespoons are used in the roux in step 3, and the remaining 2 tablespoons in step 4.
Found this recipe over a year ago and have been using it ever since! SOO good!! I’m going to attempt to make a vegan version-Sub milk for dairy free milk, sub butter for vegan butter, sub chicken stock for veggie stock, and sub chicken for extra veggies! Wish me luck 😉
Thank you so much for your feedback, MaTaylie! So glad you love the recipe. Please let us know how your vegan version turned out.
The vegan version actually worked out great! I’m almost starting to memorize this recipe, I’ve made it so many times lol.
That’s awesome! Thank you for sharing, Mataylie! 🙂
Any suggestions on making this in a crockpot??? Looks great, but hoping to serve as an appetizer for part of Thanksgiving!
Hi, Sondra. I’ve never made this in a crockpot. But you can make it today, and warm it up and serve in crockpot tomorrow.
Hi! Is it 4 cups of stock PLUS another liter or just four cups total?
Hi, Sherry. Just 4 cups of stock. Sorry for confusion.
I add a bit of fat and baking powder to my dumplings so they aren’t as dry in the middle. Just a tip. My mom likes them a bit dry, but I don’t.
Cody, I’ll sure try adding fat and baking powder to my dumplings next time. That’s sounds really good. Thank you for the tip!
Can you give more details? Fat as in bacon Fat or butter? How much baking powder?
First tried it at Dickens in Garrison, ND when I first moved here a few years ago. Absolutely awesome soup! Love it.
Yay, thank you, Bri! So glad you loved this fabulous soup that only those in ND know about. 🙂
I’m gonna try this.
My 1st time having Knoephla Soup was at “The Country Kettle” in Beulah, ND. I loved it!.
I’m from Enterprise, MS.
Thank you for sharing.
Melissa Neal
Hi, Melissa. I bet that knoephla was great. I live not very far from Beulah, and I’ll have to check it out sometime. Hope you’ll give this recipe a try. Let me know if you. It’s our favorite.
I made this for dinner last night, but it required some tweaking because your recipe doesn’t indicate when to add the roux back to the soup. The soup was still delicious with my modifications, but I wanted to give you a heads up to correct your recipe.
Hi, Erin! First, thank you for trying my recipe despite my oversight in the recipe. I’m sorry about that! I’m glad you modified the recipe and enjoyed the soup regardless. I just updated it, the roux goes in at step 7. Thanks for letting me know about my mistake. 🙂
This sounds like the perfect comfort food to me! I could definitely go for a bowl of this! Pinning!
It’s definitely comfort food! Thanks for pinning, Michelle!