Best German-Inspired Recipes – Easy Oktoberfest Recipes

Some things go perfectly together. Peanut butter and jelly. Bacon and eggs. Sausages and sauerkraut. (Seriously!) In this cozy one-pot dinner, you’ll nestle beer-braised bratwurst and tender baby potatoes into sauerkraut and finish the dish with fresh herbs and spicy mustard. (If you’ve never beer-braised anything before, you’re sure to love it. Try this technique with chicken nachos or cabbage.)

Get the Sausages and Sauerkraut recipe.

Homemade soft pretzels are better than any mall pretzel you can find. Soft and pillowy, they’re a dream for dipping in mustard or nacho cheese. You could even skip the pretzel salt and toss them in a little cinnamon sugar for a sweet treat!

Get the Homemade Soft Pretzels recipe.

In its most traditional form, schnitzel is made with veal, but this chicken version is common throughout Germany and is just as tasty. The key to good schnitzel is pounding the chicken to ensure that the meat is well tenderized and there are no thick and thin parts to ensure even cooking. Serve the finished schnitzel with some roast potatoes or german potato salad and tons of freshly squeeze lemon.

Get the Chicken Schnitzel recipe.

Spaetzle is a traditional German pasta-like dumpling made eggs, and it’s great as a side or a full meal. The joy of spaetzle lies in their irregular shapes and sizes, so have fun with it. The one thing that’s mandatory: Serve spaetzle with a frosty beer.

Get the Homemade Bacon Spaetzle recipe.

Think of this savory variety of a sweet noodle kugel as a giant latke. Grated onion and potato are combined to create a crispy, slightly sweet dish that’s great on its own, but even better with a dollop of sour cream and/or applesauce.

Get the Potato Kugel recipe.

The secret to this gorgeous apple cake? After you peel and quarter the apples, you cut them hasselback-style (yep, just like in these cheesy garlic butter potatoes). That way, you don’t have to worry about stacking the slices, and they stay together perfectly while baking! Dust this with powdered sugar and served with a dollop of freshly whipped cream, or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 😉

Get the German Apple Cake recipe.

Unlike the chilled, creamy, mayo-dressed picnic staple we’re familiar with, German potato salad is served warm, or even hot, with a bacon vinaigrette. I repeat, bacon vinaigrette. If you’ve never made a dressing with bacon fat, you’re in for a treat. The best part of this is that there’s no need to wait for the potatoes to get to room temperature before tossing everything together and heaping it on your plate.

Get the Hot German Potato Salad recipe.

One of our top hall of famers, this dip will get any campfire party started. The pinch of cayenne really adds that special something to this melty, creamy beer cheese. This is best served with toasted baguette, good company, and a cold beer.

Get the Skillet Beer Cheese recipe.

Don’t overlook the humble cabbage! This straight cabbage braise (without meat!) is the perfect way to experience cabbage in all its vegetal glory.

Get the Beer Braised Cabbage recipe.

There’s not much that rivals a thinly pounded piece of meat, breaded and fried until perfectly golden brown. This recipe for pork schnitzel is just that. Pounding the meat until you have a thin cutlet creates a super tender bite. If you have access to a butcher, you can also ask them to do this for you, getting you one step closer to golden brown perfection when you get home.

Get the Pork Schnitzel recipe.

German chocolate cake is a sweet chocolate cake that is filled and frosted with rich, sticky coconut, and pecan filling. Despite its name, the cake isn’t German at all. In fact, it’s an American creation. The cake was originally created using a specific type of chocolate that a chocolatier named Samuel German had created: German chocolate. We call for the use of German chocolate in this recipe (you can find it in most supermarkets), but any chocolate around 48% cocoa will work.

Get the German Chocolate Cake recipe.

It takes almost zero cooking skills to get perfectly charred brats topped with flavor-packed caramelized onions and peppers. First, the brats get burnished on the grill, then they finish off in a simmering beer bath alongside the veg. Use whatever beer you like to drink, but not IPAs (India Pale Ales), which are brewed to be hoppy (i.e., bitter).

Get the Grilled Beer Brats recipe.

Very similar to sugar cookies, spritz cookies are soft and buttery, and perfect for decorating. They come from the German word “spritzen”, which means to squirt—a nod to the process of making these since you load these into a cookie press!

Get the Bourbon-Vanilla Spritz Cookies recipe.

While you won’t need a stand mixer to make this caraway- and flax-studded rye bread, you will need a bit of patience. There’s not a lot of kneading required for it, so it can be a relaxing baking project for when you’ve got a loose and flexible schedule. And worry not, there’s no need to cultivate a sourdough starter for this bread, because instant yeast will do the trick just fine.

Get the Rye Bread recipe.

Why limit these latkes to just the holiday season? We love topping these with sour cream and smoked salmon for an easy weeknight meal. You also can never beat serving these with homemade applesauce for the prime latke experience.

Get the Classic Latkes recipe.

This is one of those classic summer salads that we weren’t sure about until we took a bite for ourselves. Now we’re hooked on the cucumber slices in a lemon juice, Greek yogurt, and dill dressing. Your BBQ guests will thank you.

Get the Cucumber Salad recipe.

Strudel is a layered pastry with all types of gooey fillings. The most popular is apple, and this one is made even more delicious with the addition with cinnamon, lemon zest, and raisins.

Get the Apple Strudel recipe.