{"id":170,"date":"2023-09-11T01:21:29","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T01:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/squarespace.joannawhiteart.com\/wp\/2023\/09\/11\/aldi-deutsche-kuche-cheese-spatzle-review\/"},"modified":"2025-03-31T18:10:44","modified_gmt":"2025-03-31T22:10:44","slug":"aldi-deutsche-kuche-cheese-spatzle-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snarklesauce.com\/blog\/2023\/09\/11\/aldi-deutsche-kuche-cheese-spatzle-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Aldi Cheese Sp\u00e4tzle (Deutsche K\u00fcche) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Author\u2019s note: I have no affiliation with <\/em>Aldi<\/em><\/a>, and I wasn\u2019t compensated in any way for this review.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sad beige food.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After my positive experience with Aldi\u2019s frozen Mushroom Schupfnudeln<\/a>, I had high hopes for this similar Cheese Sp\u00e4tzle meal. Both products are from the Deutsche K\u00fcche brand, and both are sold during Aldi\u2019s popular German Week<\/a> event. They both feature a creamy-cheesy sauce base, and both have a type of noodle as the main ingredient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, I think something went terribly<\/em> wrong! Aldi\u2019s Cheese Sp\u00e4tzle was a \u201cyuge\u201d let-down. So much so, I could not even finish my small plate, and I did not eat any leftovers. Part of me hopes<\/em> this is just an unfortunate fluke, and not how the meal typically tastes. But, I don\u2019t really want to buy another one to find out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I suppose the first sign of trouble was that the meal was extremely<\/em> freezer burnt. There were huge amounts of ice crystals and slush, and the sauce pellets were crumbling<\/em> and looked corroded from the freezer damage. This is exactly the opposite of my experience with the Mushroom Schupfnudeln, which was impressively fresh for a frozen meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Freezer<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s one of those badly freezer-burnt sauce pellets. You can see the center is buckling outwards and crumbling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And here\u2019s one of the ice-crusted sp\u00e4tzle noodles. It\u2019s pointy and twisty, like something the Night King would use as as weapon in Game of Thrones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Cooking<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The second sign of trouble for this meal is perhaps the cooking instructions. I would typically use a pan on the stove, but the preferred<\/em> cooking method for Aldi\u2019s Cheese Sp\u00e4tzle is microwave<\/em>. So I used the microwave, but it made me cringe a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Microwaved<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I cooked the meal in a microwavable glass bowl for 8 minutes on \u201cHigh.\u201d I stirred it at 4 minutes, 6 minutes, and 8 minutes, and then I let it sit for 2 minutes before serving. It was bubbling and boiling in the bowl by the 8 minute mark. It\u2019s definitely quick and simple to prepare, although not visually appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Another sign that something might be wrong is how brown my meal looks. It isn\u2019t<\/em> the cheesy-cream color of the picture on the bag, but rather an old, deep tan\/brown. Because I\u2019ve never cooked this meal before, I can\u2019t tell if this is a normal color variation, or if mine went \u201cbad.\u201d In case you\u2019re wondering, the expiration date on my bag is almost 2 years from the date of purchase, so this isn\u2019t anywhere near expiring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It didn\u2019t taste rancid, exactly. It didn\u2019t taste bitter, or rotten, or anything. It just tasted \u201cnot good.\u201d Sort of mildly gross. A bland kind of \u201cnot good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bag says there are 5 servings of 1 cup each, but the cooked amount is smaller. I couldn\u2019t eat mine, so this is irrelevant. Because the serving sizes are so small, I think this would work best as a side dish with some meat or other protein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The cheese sauce is runny, even after sitting for a while. There\u2019s a little bit of stringy mozzerella evidence, but mostly it is a thin, cream-type sauce. It has a distinct sour vinegar bite (from the balsamic vinegar<\/a> in the sauce), which I would normally relish \u2014 I LOVE vinegar and most tangy tastes \u2014 but even that wasn\u2019t delicious here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The flat, square onion pieces are a prominent speed bump in the gustatory misadventure. Onions are one of my favorite things in the world, but even the many little chunks of browned onions in the sauce did not tempt me to continue eating this. They had a strange texture \u2014 not crunchy, but not soft, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Close-up<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Honestly, my favorite part of this dish is the noodle texture. The noodles are lumpy, bumpy, and firm. Fun to bite. I love the chewy texture. The shapes reminded me a bit of meal worms, however, which got a little weird after a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned that sp\u00e4tzle (or spaetzle) noodles<\/a> are made from thin egg dough that is poached in water, like a dumpling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nutrition Facts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As a side dish, this provides some decent nutrition, particularly 7 grams of protein and 2 grams of fiber, with only 4 grams of fat. It doesn\u2019t have enough protein (or calories, to be honest) to be a proper dinner, however. Despite the whopping 500 mg sodium, I ended up adding extra salt and pepper to mine, because it tasted bland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The 20 ounce bag cost $4.99. This is made in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nutrition<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients in Aldi Cheese Sp\u00e4tzle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Ingredients<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here are the ingredients:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n