A couple of years ago, I set about making my own spaetzel from scratch, and it was pretty simple and very tasty.
Thing was, it was kinda labor intensive, dropping the noodles into the boiling water and fishing ’em out as soon as they float to the top was a bit of a last minute flurry of activity that, quite frankly, I can do without.
Then, I was at the market and came across bagged spaetzel; and the ingredients list was nicely simple and real, so…
I decided to give ’em a try.
Great decision!
You empty the bag into boiling salted water and cook for 25 minutes or so.
No standing over the pot and instant scooping of dumplings after they make their way to the surface; just a stir or two and then a nice drain at the end.
Really, every bit as good as my homemade, and, consider this list of ingredients:
I can work with packaged food like this!
Now, you could simply cook the spaetzel, drain it, then toss it with butter or gravy or whatver you have going on with your main 
course but, the back of the bag also offers ideas to dress things up a bit, so, here’s what I did with ours…
Cook and drain the spaetzel, then toss the hot dumplings with butter and season with black and Aleppo pepper. I used nicely salted water to cook the spaetzel, so chose not to add any more.
I then added some chopped basil and shredded quattro formaggi cheese from Trader Joe’s and tossed to blend.
No basil and no quattro formaggi? No worries! Simply use your fave cheese and whatever herbs and seasonings you think will work well with dinner.
Pop into the oven and bake until the cheese has melted and the spaetzel is heated through.
One of our new favorite pasta delivery systems. I might even try them with marinara at some point.
Go ahead, enjoy your spaetzel, and mebbe let your friends and family think it’s made from scratch.
Just remember to hide the bag.