Mohnnudeln – Austrian Poppy Seed Noodles

Mohnnudeln are Austrian potato noodles coated in poppy seed butter. It’s a dessert that is also served as a main dish. Serve it with apple sauce or plum compote!

About the recipe

Mohnnudeln are a classic Austrian recipe served as a dessert or a meatless dinner. Mohn means poppy seed and Nudeln means noodles. The dish consists of Schupfnudeln (potato dumplings) with sweetened poppy seed butter. This recipe is particularly beloved by children.

This recipe for Austrian Schupfnudeln is similar to the German Schupfnudeln recipe, but there are a couple of differences (more on that at the end of the post).

Ingredients

Below you will find information about the ingredients and how to prepare the recipe. For the measurements and detailed instructions scroll down to the printable recipe card.

Here’s what you need to make this easy recipe:

• potatoes – must be starchy/mealy potatoes such as Russets, don’t try to use baking/salad potatoes for this recipe
• egg yolks – you can use egg whites to make Kokosmakronen (German coconut macaroons) or Nussmakronen (German hazelnut macaroons)
• flour
• butter
• salt and pepper

• poppy seeds – must be ground, you can purchase ground poppy seeds or grind whole poppy seeds in a food processor
• butter
• powdered sugar and honey to sweeten
• cinnamon and vanilla for flavor

How to make Mohnnudeln step-by-step

Make the Schupfnudeln:

STEP 1: Cook the potatoes: Your potatoes should be evenly sized because we will be cooking them in peels. If some of your potatoes are much larger, cut them in half so that all the potatoes are of similar size. Add the unpeeled potatoes to a large pot and cover with cold water. Salt the water. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20-25 minutes or until easily pierced with a fork.

Drain the potatoes and let them cool slightly.

Make the potato dough:

STEP 2: To a large bowl (or on a clean countertop), add egg yolks, salt and pepper. Whisk the egg yolks.

STEP 3: Mash the potatoes:

If using a potato masher: Peel the potatoes: holding one potato in a piece of paper towel, and a small pairing knife in the other hand, scrape the skin off the potatoes. Mash the potatoes and make sure there are no lumps.

If using a potato ricer (recommended!), you don’t have to peel the potatoes, the peels will stay inside the potato ricer.
Allow the mashed potatoes to cool (they can be just slightly warm). To cool the potatoes quicker, you can spread them on a baking sheet.

STEP 4: Add the mashed potatoes, flour, and melted butter.

STEP 5: Combine all the ingredients until a smooth dough comes together. Don’t knead it for too long, or the noodles will be tough.

Shape the noodles: Divide the dough into 8 parts.

STEP 6: Roll each part into a 1-inch (2-3 cm) thick rope and cut the rope into 10 pieces.

STEP 7: Roll each piece on the counter into a cylindrical shape, and then gently press and taper the ends. Repeat with the remaining dough.

STEP 8: Cook Schupfnudeln: Bring a large and wide pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Carefully add the Schupfnudeln to the boiling water in batches, ensuring they have enough space to cook without sticking together. The water should only very gently simmer, it should not boil rapidly! Cook each batch for 5 minutes (you can taste-cook 1-2 noodles first to see how it’s working in your kitchen). After about 1-2 minutes of cooking time, stir your Schupfnudeln gently with a wooden spoon to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Using a slotted spoon, remove the cooked Schupfnudeln and transfer them to a plate.

TIP: In a large and wide pot, you can cook about 16 noodles at once, so you will cook them in 5 batches. Make sure your pot is wide. If you have a smaller pot, you need to add less noodles at once. Not enough water/not wide-enough pot + too many noodles = temperature drops too much and noodles may fall apart.

STEP 9: Make the poppy seed coating:

If you only have whole poppy seeds, you need to grind them. You can do that in a food processor, coffee grinder, or meat grinder (plate with the smallest holes).

In a large pan or pot, melt the butter. Add the honey, cinnamon, vanilla, salt, and poppy seeds, cook for 1-2 minutes.

STEP 10: Stir in powdered sugar and take off the heat.

STEP 11+12: Assemble: Add the cooked Schupfnudeln to the poppy seed butter and stir to coat.

Serve Mohnnudeln sprinkled with more powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

Mohnudeln are served with apple sauce, apricot compote, or plum compote (quickly stewed apricots or plums).

What is the difference between Austrian Mohnnudeln and German Schupfnudeln?

Mohnudeln (Mohn = poppy seeds, Nudeln = noodles) are simply Schupfnudeln with sweetened poppy seed butter. The Austrian Schupfnudeln and German Schupfnudeln are identical in terms of appearance but the recipes are slightly different.

There are as many Schupfnudeln recipes as there are households but after researching dozens of German and Austrian recipes I can say that German Schupfnudeln are more potato-heavy while Austrian Schupfnudeln recipes call for more flour.

Another difference is a lot of Austrian recipes call for egg yolks, and not whole eggs, and there is almost always melted butter in the dough. Many recipes call for „griffiges Mehl” which is a flour that is not so finely ground as all-purpose flour or they call for semolina flour (Wiezengrieß) to be added. I included just all-purpose flour in my recipe for convenience (yours and mine ;)).

After testing both the German Schupfnudeln recipe and Austrian Schupfnudeln which have almost twice as much flour, I was convinced that the Schupfnudeln with more flour will be more chewy or tough but that was not the case. I tested them side by side and there was really no difference except that German Schupfnudeln tasted more like potatoes while Austrian noodles had a more neutral taste and were less potato-heavy. I think it’s up to your preferences what you like more. I like both types equally.

Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!