Aldi Cheese Truffle Knöpfli (Deutsche Küche) Review
Seriously fancy mac ‘n cheese.
Have you ever eaten something SO dang good, you spent days afterwards, just thinking about how good it was? That’s how it went down with this Cheese Truffle Knöpfli from Aldi.
I had shamefully low expectations after my disaster with the Cheese Spätzle from the same Aldi Deutsche Küche brand. Maybe my low expectations made this taste better. I don’t know. All I can tell you is that — after gobbling up one bag — I immediately rushed off to buy more. And I almost never do that.
Alright. So what makes this Cheese Truffle Knöpfli so dang good? Well, it’s probably the truffle flavor itself, but there are several other meritorious factors, which I’ll address first.
This was my first experience with “knöpfli,” and I had to google what the heck that even was. Pasta thingies. Delicious pasta thingies. I relished them. They’re apparently a type of fresh, soft Swiss pasta created by pressing dough through a sieve. Aldi’s knöpfli are tender, but slightly chewy —and fluffy — with an almost ribbed texture. The natural, irregular shape is fun to eat. Although the knöpfli is light and spongey, it’s surprisingly filling. More about the nutrition later.
There’s a truly generous cheese sauce. A smooth, but thick, cheese sauce. And this sauce tastes like actual “cheese.” Not just “cheese flavor.” You know. Well, of course you know. We all know. There’s a tangy cheddar taste and a melted, stretchy texture to the sauce, like it would be if you grated fresh cheese into it. The sauce has a delicious, but surprising spiciness; the ingredients list cayenne pepper and black pepper. I loved the subtle tartness from added lemon juice. This is probably the most complex and gourmet-tasting cheese sauce I’ve tried thus far.
Flavorful. That’s the one word I would use to sum this up. The bag says 1% truffle, which doesn’t SOUND like much, but the pungency is delicately rich and not lacking. I’m not a truffle geek, but there are two different types of truffle here: black truffle (Melanosporum) and white summer truffle (Aestivum). Definitely a rich, complex flavor. It’s savory and seductive. The truffles are the best part.
This isn’t a beauty contest, but I’ll add that the finished meal actually looks better than the image on the bag. I don’t know for sure what these dark crunchy specks are — pepper corns or truffle bits — but they add a fun contrast to the appearance.
Cooking Instructions for Aldi Cheese Truffle Knöpfli
The bagged meal is essentially frozen sauce pellets and the frozen knöpfli pasta. If you’re a barbarian, you can opt to microwave this. I chose the skillet cooking method instead.
Medium heat was too high for me; the sauce stuck slightly to the pan during cooking. I recommend cooking at lower heat for longer amount of time. Essentially, you just want to gently melt the sauce pellets and stir it into the pasta. It’s quick and easy. There’s no boiling, mixing, or measuring.
The meal should be served/eaten immediately for best taste. Mine got chunkier and goopier and less smooth as it cooled — which is pretty typical for most mac ‘n cheeses.
I saved some leftovers and warmed them up the next day. The oil in the sauce separated somewhat, and the texture is not nearly as good the second day. I generally love leftovers, but this is an item that is best gobbled up right after cooking.
I’m a single person, so I came up with a strategy to make this a single-serve meal: There are 12-13 sauce pellets per bag. Next time, I’ll count out half the sauce pellets (~6), and guestimate half the pasta, and save the other half in the freezer, for another meal. That way, each serving is cooked fresh each time.
Nutrition Facts for Aldi Cheese Truffle Knöpfli
As a side dish, a 250-calorie serving provides a solid 8 grams of protein, and only 2 grams of added sugar. There’s also 10% of your daily value of Calcium per cup. Predictably, this is heavy on fat, with 13 grams total, 5 of which are saturated fat. I’m “team fat,” so I don’t mind this at all.
Ingredients in Deutsche Küche Cheese Truffle Knöpfli
Here are the ingredients:
- Knöpfli pasta (water, wheat flour, eggs, iodized salt [salt, potassium iodide], salt, spices)
- Water
- Cheddar cheese (milk, salt, lactic starter, rennet, color: annatto extract)
- Semi-skimmed milk
- Black truffle flavoring olive oil (olive oil, Melanosporum black truffle extract, Melanosporum black truffle aroma)
- Onion
- Vegetable oils (sunflower and/or canola)
- Half-and-half
- Sugar
- Broken white summer truffle (truffle tuber Aestivum, truffle juice, salt)
- Modified cornstarch
- Salt
- Lemon juice
- Black pepper
- Xanthan gum
- Cayenne pepper
This is made in France. But it’s German food. Don’t ask questions, just put it in your belly.
Price for Deutsche Küche Cheese Truffle Knöpfli
At $5.49 for an 18 ounce bag, this isn’t a stunning value. But, as a specialty or gourmet item, it’s worth it. Just be prepared for fewer servings than the bag suggests. This works best as a dainty side dish. I got one big meal-sized serving, and one snack-sized serving from my bag. The label says there are 3.5 servings, but those are TINY servings, my friend. Smaller than what you see in the picture below. Small enough to make you cry yourself to sleep tonight.
I bought this during Aldi’s twice-a-year “German Week.” As such, it is not available year-round, but hopefully it will re-appear in about 6 months. I’ll be waiting.
More Reviews of Aldi Products You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other reviews of Aldi frozen stuff I’ve recently written:
- Aldi Fruits of the Forest Strudel (Deutsche Küche)
- Aldi Bienenstich Indulgent Cakes (Deutsche Küche)
- Aldi Donauwelle Indulgent Cakes (Deutsche Küche)
- Aldi Mushroom Schupfnudeln (Deutsche Küche)
Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Aldi, and I wasn’t compensated in any way for this review.
