Mohnnudeln Might Surprise You As The Perfect Sweet Dinner Option!
Looking for a sweet dinner or unique dessert? Mohnnudeln – literally called Poppy Seed Noodles – might be the thing for you.
Made from a hearty potato-based dough, these Austrian potato noodles – similar to Schupfnudeln – are rolled and boiled then finished in a coating of powdered sugar and ground poppy seeds!
These potato noodles with poppy seeds originate from the Waldviertel region (literally “Forest Quarter”) of northeastern Austria.
Unsurprisingly, this is a region known for the production of poppy seeds – and there are many other great poppy seed recipes that come from this area of Europe. One example is poppy seed strudel.
Mohnnudeln Recipe Tips
When making Mohnnudeln, it’s really, really important to mash the potatoes well. There should be no potato lumps in the dough.
This will make it easier to roll the dough, form the noodles, and cook them. A good way to check for potato lumps is to run your hands through the bowl of dough and squish any remaining lumps.
Related to this, it is important to use starchy potatoes such as russet potatoes. This recipe will not work as well with waxy potatoes.
Also, make sure to use ground poppy seeds and not whole poppy seeds since there’s a huge difference in taste.
You can also adjust the amount of poppy seeds and powdered sugar used for the topping to your liking – in case you want to use more or less.
How to Make Mohnnudeln – Step by Step Instructions
If you want to make some sweet and delicious Mohnnudeln, you can check out the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
For those wanting to follow along with the step by step process, you can see (almost all) the process photos below.
First, boil the potatoes in a pot with water on the stove for around 20-25 minutes (depending on their size) until you can easily pierce them with a fork.
Once fully boiled, remove the potatoes from the pot. Let them cool for a few minutes, then peel them.
Place the peeled potatoes into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Now mash the potatoes using a potato masher or press them through a potato press if you own one.
Make sure that there are no potato lumps left.
Now add the flour, egg, and salt to the mashed potatoes in the bowl.
Mix everything together using your hands until everything is well mixed and you can easily form the dough into a ball.
Split the dough into two equal halves.
Sprinkle flour onto your countertop and roll out on half of the dough into a long sausage.
Keep rolling until the dough has an approximate diameter of 1.5 inches.
Now cut the dough at approximately every 3/4 inch so you have lots of small pieces.
Take a little piece of dough and roll it on the counter top or in your hands. You can use more flour if it appears sticky.
Shape the dough into a noodles that has the approximate thickness of your finger and taper the ends slightly.
Repeat these steps with every little piece of dough.
Once you have used up all the little dough pieces, roll the second half of dough into a sausage, cut it into small pieces, and shape more potato noodles.
Fill a large pot with water, bring it to a boil and add a little bit of salt. Once boiling, turn down the heat to medium-low so that the water is just very lightly boiling.
Add some of the potato noodles to the pot. Let them boil for around 5 minutes – they will float to the top when they are done. Remove the potato noodles with a straining spoon and boil another batch.
You don’t want to boil all the noodles at once since they need enough space to float to the top.
While the noodles are boiling, get a large frying pan and melt the butter in it. Then add the powdered sugar and ground poppy seeds. Gently stir everything together until it is well mixed.
Add the noodles that are done boiling to the pan with the sugar-poppy seed-mixture (turn down the temperature to low!) and gently stir them around until they are coated well.
Plate the Mohnnudeln and sprinkle some more powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!
Storage Tips
Mohnnudeln taste best fresh out of the pan in our opinion but you can store leftovers in a container with a lid in the fridge for 2-3 days.
To reheat them, you can microwave a few in a bowl, or – if you are reheating a larger batch – you can toss them back in a frying pan with a bit of butter.
Mohnnudeln FAQ
The main difference between German Spaetzle and Mohnnudeln is in the dough. Spatezle dough is made from flour and egg while Mohnnudeln are made from flour, egg, and potatoes. In short, Spaetzle are considered an “egg noodle” while Mohnnudeln are considered a “potato noodle”.
Not really. It’s important to grind the poppy seeds because that’s how they release their flavor. Unground poppy seeds can be bitter and won’t offer the Mohnnudeln any of their earthy, rich flavors. It’s also easier to coat the Mohnnudeln in their sweet mixture when the poppy seeds are ground up.
Both Mohnnudeln and Schupfnudeln are Austrian dishes (Schupfnudeln are also very popular in Germany) made from basically identical potato-based noodles. The difference is that Mohnnudeln is served sweet with poppy seeds and powdered sugar while Schupfnudeln can be served savory (fried in butter) or enjoyed sweet – but without poppy seeds.
Related Recipes
If you’re looking for other European dinner dishes that can be served sweet, we’ve got a few more recipe ideas for you!
- Reibekuchen – Our famous German potato pancakes can be enjoyed sweet with apple sauce!
- German Milchreis – Similar to rice pudding, milk and rice make up this simple, sweet dish.
Mohnnudeln
Ingredients
The Potato Noodles
- 1 pound potatoes, starchy (e.g. russet potatoes)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 medium-sized egg
- a pinch of salt
For The Frying Pan
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup poppy seeds, ground
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes for around 20-25 minutes until you can pierce them easily with a fork. Remove potatoes from the pot.
- Let the potatoes cool for a few minutes, then peel them and place the peeled potatoes in a medium-sized bowl.
- Using a potato masher or a potato press, mash the potatoes – ensuring there are no lumps remaining.
- With the mashed potatoes in the bowl still, add the flour, egg, and salt. Mix everything together using your hands until you can easily form the mixture into a ball of dough.
- Split the dough into two equal halves. Sprinkle flour onto your countertop and roll out half the dough into a long sausage shape that has a diameter of around 1.5 inches.
- Then, mark the "sausage" dough every 3/4 inches and cut the dough at these marks into smaller pieces.
- Take each little piece of dough and roll it out on the countertop or in your hands with a little bit of flour. Shape the dough into a noodle that has the thickness of your finger with tapered ends. Once you have used up the first half of the dough, repeat the steps with the remaining dough. This process is identical to how you make Schupfnudeln.
- Get a large pot, fill it with water, and bring the water to a boil. Add a bit of salt, then turn down the heat to medium-low so the water is only lightly boiling.
- Meanwhile, turn on another stovetop burner to medium heat, grab a large frying pan and melt the butter, then add the powdered sugar and the ground poppy seeds. (If you need to grind the poppy seeds, grind them first in a food processor or in a small spice blender). Mix these together until they form a well-mixed coating in the pan. Turn the pan down to low for now.
- Now, add some of the potato noodles to your pot with boiling water – how many exactly depends on the size of your pot – and let them sit for around 5 minutes. They should have room to cook in the pot and not be crowded. Stir occasionally so that the noodles don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. The noodles are done cooking when they float to the top of the water. Gently remove the noodles with a straining spoon, place them in the frying pan (now on low) with the butter-sugar-poppy-seed-mixture, and keep on boiling the next batch until you have cooked all the noodles.
- Once you have cooked all the noodles, gently move them around in the poppy seed topping in the frying pan with the heat on low until they are all sufficiently coated.
- Plate the Mohnnudeln and sprinkle some more powdered sugar on top. Enjoy!
Notes
- You can buy whole poppy seeds and ground them with a coffee bean grinder or food processor. You can also buy ground poppy seeds if you can find them, or use something like a mortar and pestle if you’re feeling ambitious and don’t have a food processor.
Nutrition
This nutritional information has been estimated by an online nutrition calculator. It should only be seen as a rough calculation and not a replacement for professional dietary advice.
