German recipes
Easy German Recipes to Cook at Home
German home cooking is hearty and practical, built on pork, potatoes, apples, vinegar and mustard. Pork schnitzel is pounded thin and fried in a light breadcrumb crust. The potato salad of southern Germany is dressed while warm with vinegar, stock and bacon instead of mayonnaise, and apple strudel wraps cinnamon apples in thin, crackly pastry.
Together the three recipes make a full meal: schnitzel with potato salad on the side and strudel for dessert. They use supermarket ingredients, with store-bought phyllo standing in for hand-stretched strudel dough, and give exact quantities, timings and doneness checks, including cooking pork to 71°C (160°F).
3 recipes · Updated
Quick answer
Savour's German recipes include crispy pork schnitzel, the quickest at 30 minutes; warm German potato salad with bacon and a vinegar and mustard dressing, ready in an hour including a 15-minute rest; and apple strudel made with store-bought phyllo, which takes 30 minutes to prepare, 45 minutes to cook and 20 minutes to cool.
- Recipes
- 3
- Average total time
- 1 hr 2 mins
- Quickest
- Pork Schnitzel (30 mins)
- Rated Easy
- 2 of 3
- Average calories
- 360 per serving
- Newest
- German Potato Salad
All German Recipes (3)
Frequently Asked Questions
What ingredients do I need to cook German food at home?
Keep waxy potatoes, onions, bacon, eggs, flour, fine dry breadcrumbs, white wine or cider vinegar, whole-grain mustard, butter and ground cinnamon on hand. Add boneless pork loin cutlets for schnitzel, tart apples and a pack of phyllo for strudel, and fresh dill or chives for the potato salad.
Which German recipe should I start with?
Start with pork schnitzel. It is ready in 30 minutes, and the only techniques are pounding the pork evenly and frying it in hot oil. To serve it with German potato salad, start the salad about 30 minutes before the schnitzel so both are ready together.
Can I make schnitzel with veal or chicken instead of pork?
Yes. Wiener Schnitzel, the Austrian original, uses veal cutlets with the same breading and frying method. For chicken schnitzel, pound boneless chicken breasts to 5 mm and fry them until they reach 74°C (165°F). Pork schnitzel is done at 71°C (160°F).
Do I need to make strudel dough from scratch?
No. Traditional strudel dough is stretched by hand until it is almost see-through, which takes practice. Store-bought phyllo gives similar thin, crisp layers, and 8 buttered sheets make one strudel. Puff pastry also works, with a richer, puffier crust and 30-35 minutes in the oven.