German frikadellen with buttered potatoes
Juicy German pan-fried beef patties with onion, mustard and marjoram, served with buttery parsley potatoes.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.00 a serving
- 560 calories
- Good the next day
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ lb baby potatoes
- 1 slice white bread
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 tbsp butter, divided
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
From your pantry
- 2¼ tsp salt, divided
- 1 tsp dried marjoram
- ½ tsp paprika
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 560 calories, 27 g protein, 35 g carbs and 34 g fat, and costs about $3.00 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No baby potatoes? Red potatoes or Yukon Gold potatoes work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Put the potatoes in a pot with 1 teaspoon salt and cold water to cover. over high, then boil 15 minutes, until a fork slides in easily.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heatTimer: 15 min
While they cook, tear the bread into pieces, cover it with water for 5 minutes, then squeeze it as dry as you can.
Timer: 5 min
Dolly’s tip: Soaked bread is the German trick for patties that stay juicy and soft.1 tablespoon butter in a large over medium and cook the onion 5 minutes, until soft. Scrape it into a large bowl to cool a little.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Add the beef, squeezed bread, egg, mustard, marjoram, paprika, pepper and 1 teaspoon salt to the bowl, and mix with your hands until combined.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Shape into 8 flat patties about ½ inch thick.
Heat the oil in the over medium and cook the patties 4 to 5 minutes per side, until deep brown and 160°F inside.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium heatTimer: 9 min
Dolly’s tip: Medium heat lets the middles cook through before the outsides burn.Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
the potatoes and them with the remaining butter, the parsley and ¼ teaspoon salt.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Serve the frikadellen with the potatoes and extra mustard on the side.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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