German Onion Pie {Zwiebelkuchen}
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This savory Onion Pie is known as Zwiebelkuchen in Germany, translating to “Onion Cake.” It’s a pie with caramelized onions, bacon and topped with an egg mixture.
In Germany this German Onion Pie {Zwiebelkuchen} translates to an Onion Cake.
I have never been to Germany myself, but my Mom and Joe have been loads of times. This is them enjoying Oktoberfest last year.
When they returned home, Joe told me about this “Onion Cake” they had at a B&B they stayed in in Gau-Bickelheim, Germany.
“Onion CAKE?!?!” was my first thought and “blech!!” was my second. Turns out, it’s not really a cake at all. It’s a savory pie, similar to a quiche. Now we’re talking, I told him. He had gotten the recipe, and asked me to make it for him. I decided I would wait, until the Vadalia onions were in season, because, I just love them so!
The recipe starts out with 2 pounds of onions. I know that sounds like A LOT of onions, but look at how much they cook down! The only fat you are cooking with is the 5 ounces of bacon.
Here are the onions all caramelized with the bacon pieces, ready to go into the pie crust!
Fill up the pie crust — while you enjoy the heavenly aroma in your kitchen!
Over the top a slightly seasoned mixture of egg and sour cream is poured over and the “cake” bakes up for about 40 minutes in the oven.
I was concerned that it was getting too brown. My Mom assured me that it looked just like the one they enjoyed in Gau-Bickelheim. Let it sit for about 5 minutes before slicing it.
It was a wonderful meal. We will be having this often.
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German Onion Pie {Zwiebelkuchen}
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust
- 2 pounds onions sliced or chopped
- 5 ounces bacon chopped
- 1 cup sour cream
- 4 eggs
- paprika
- salt
- caraway seeds optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a 9" deep dish pie plate with a pie crust. Set aside.
- Saute onions and bacon until onions are a nice caramel color and bacon is cooked. give it a sprinkling of paprika and salt.
- Pour onion/bacon mixture into pie crust.
- Mix sour cream and eggs together and pour over onion mixture.
- (if you are using caraway seeds sprinkle some over the top)
- Bake for 40 minutes. Let set for 5 minutes before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
Not knowing the background of this recipe and following a recipe that was somewhat vague, I sliced my onions and left the bacon in more bite sized pieces. I started doing a bit of research and found this recipe/write up from another site with their version of this onion cake. They chopped the onions and the bacon a little finer, and made this in a spring form pan. You might also want to pre bake the crust just slightly to prevent the crust from slumping.
I thought you may like to read the traditional post, I know that I did!
Zwiebelkuchen (German Onion Pie) by The Daring Gourmet
In the mood for German food? Check out my other German recipes!
This German quiche-like pie looks delicious. It seems that most European cuisines have some version of this – different names and certainly different add-ins, but all basically an egg pie with a crust. Love the combination in this one of caramelized onions and bacon.
Thank you!
Sounds wonderful! I love caramelized onions!!