While best known for its thriving Amish communities, Lancaster is also America’s home for Pennsylvania Dutch cuisine. Here are several traditional Rivvels dutch side dishes to help you maintain a balanced meal.
These loaves are then sliced and either served fried or frozen for storing. While some claim it’s an acquired taste, true Pennsylvania Dutch and pork enthusiasts consider it a staple at breakfast. Its savory taste can be paired with sweet condiments such as maple syrup, grape jelly, or applesauce. Or, keep it savory with the addition of ketchup or mustard. Lancaster’s rolling corn fields yield a high volume of fresh, sweet corn picked at the peak of summer. In this dish, corn is combined with fine egg noodles and rivvels, or small dumplings, as well as diced hardboiled egg.
Red beet eggs, or pickled beet eggs, are a perfect lunch or picnic pairing. Using hardboiled eggs, this recipe combines beet juice, cider vinegar, sugar, and salt to create an unmistakable flavor. Plus, the deep red hue adds color to your plate for a visually appealing display. While the dandelion greens bring a slightly bitter taste, the warm bacon dressing combines sweet and sour notes with a salty bacon crunch to create a mouthwatering dish. This creamy and flavorful spread is the perfect fall dish thanks to its use of seasonal spices including cinnamon and cloves alongside crisp apples, sugar, and apple cider.
Traditional Pennsylvania Dutch pot pie is not encased in a crust. Instead, this comfort food resembles a thick soup or stew. It’s packed with wide, flat noodles, chicken chunks, and hearty vegetables including onions, potatoes, and carrots. Put them together, and you have one traditional dish perfect for serving during fall or winter months. This dish consists of either ham or pork shoulder along with, unsurprisingly, dried apples and dumplings. Keeping with their sweet and sour matchups, this dish pairs tart apples with sweet brown sugar to create the perfect balance of flavors.
Spaetzle consists of an intriguing and delicious cross between small noodles and miniature dumplings. This egg-based pasta often includes a pinch of nutmeg and plenty of butter. After boiling and straining spaetzle, it’s traditionally fried in a skillet with butter before being served. While some mix all the ingredients together, others create careful layers similar to lasagna.