What is a Fleischküchle?

In other parts of Germany, they are known as Bulette or Frikadelle. Many people believe they are the reason the Hamburger exists today—when German immigrants brought the “Hamburg-steak” to America and eventually combined it with a bun. When I was a child, my parents would actually make Hamburgers using Fleischküchle instead of a plain beef patty, which is a variation I highly recommend trying!

The Bread Hack: The dry bread part is usually handled by buying “Knoedelbrot” in Germany. In the US, I did not find an equivalent to just buying a bag of cubed dry bread, but there is a simple solution: Just buy bread, cube it, and let it go stale (white bread works best!).

It’s the perfect way to use up a loaf that’s past its prime. At my childhood home, we always kept old bread rolls and bread slices, storing them away to be used when needed. As soon as it seemed like we had more than we would ever need for Fleischkuechle, Maultaschen, or Knoedel, we would grind them down into breadcrumbs for our next Schnitzel session. Nothing went to waste.

Fleischküchle can be used as a finger food snack served cold, as well as part of a warm dish, like Kohlrabi with Fleischküchle or as mentioned above as a more hearty patty for your next home-made Hamburgers!

Print Recipe

Fleischküchle: A Swabian classic

This is a super easy Fleischküchle recipe. Fleischküchle are also known as Frikadellen or Buletten.

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time24 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Finger Food, Main Course

Cuisine: German, Swabian

Keyword: appetizer, easy, german, german appetizer, main course, swabian

Servings: 6 servings

Calories: 375kcal

Author: Hannes

Ingredients

• 5 oz of cubed dry bread
• 1 lb Minced pork-beef mixture
• 1 cup onions chopped
• 1/2 cup Parsley chopped
• 4 Eggs
• Salt and pepper
• Potentially breadcrumbs to adjust the texture

Instructions

• Soak bread in warm water, then squeeze completely dry. It is important that all the liquid which can be squeezed is out of the bread! Briefly sauté the onions in some oil/butter.
• Mix meat, squeezed bread, egg, onions, parsley, and spices.
• Form into flat patties.
• Pan-fry in oil/butter until dark brown and crispy (approx. 6 mins per side).

Notes

This recipe yields approximately 12 small Fleischküchle. You can make “mini” Fleischkuechle and serve them cold for finger food or as a appetizer.

You can coat the Fleischküchle in the breadcrumbs to give them an even crispier texture!

When using ground turkey adjust the amount of bread since turkey brings in a very “wet” texture. Alternativeley when your meat dough is too liquidy you can treat it like a pancake dough and scoop it into your pan.

On the search for a Swabian side to go with your Fleischküchle? Check out my recipe for Swabian Potato Salad.

Looking for other German Appetizers? Checkout those puff pastry snack snails!

I hope you enjoyed my families recipe for Fleischküchle. Got any comments? Leave them below!