You must have read the word ‘rouladen’ on a menu, but if you don’t know what it is, you’re missing out on one of the best german traditional dishes. This german dish features thin strips of meat, most commonly beef.
These rolled beef strips have bacon, pickles, and onion filling. Rolled meat strips are cooked until they turn golden brown. Then roulades are served with a rich gravy.
So if you want to know how to make rouladen german food, here is the complete authentic recipe.
Table of Contents
How to Make Rouladen German Food?
This complete recipe will help you how to make rouladen German food at home! Here is a list of ingredients that you need for this recipe.
Ingredients for Rouladen
- Eight slices bacon
- Eight slices top round beef (meat should be about ¼ inches thick)
- Eight medium pickles
- ⅓ cup yellow mustard
- One medium-sized onion
- Salt to taste
- Pepper to taste
Ingredients for the Gravy
- One tablespoon cooking oil
- One tablespoon butter
- One onion
- One clove of garlic
- One large carrot
- One medium leek
- One large celery stalk
- One bay leaf
- One tablespoon tomato paste
- Four tablespoons butter
- One cup dry red wine
- Two cups beef broth
- One teaspoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- Cornstarch or flour
- Water
Recipe for Rouladen
First, place the slices of top round beef on the kitchen counter. Then, use a meat mallet to pound the beef slices gently and keep the beef slices on a tray.
Cover it with two teaspoons of yellow mustard, salt, and black pepper. Next, place the bacon slices on each beef slice.
Make sure that bacon and beef slices are of the same length. Now, slice the pickles and chop the onions.
Then place the sliced pickles and chopped onions on each meat slice. Now, carefully roll these slices. Make sure to tuck in the sides. Finally, place a toothpick into the rouladens to maintain their shape.
Now, heat the canola oil and butter in a skillet. Keep the heat on medium. Place the rolled beef strips on the skillet.
You have to cook all sides until they’re brown. Then, cover the skillet for five minutes to cook the meat.
Well-browned meat will make your gravy flavorful, so make sure the beef is cooked well. Once the meat is ready, set it aside.
Then chop the onion and garlic. Finally, add the onions to the skillet. You can add more butter or oil if needed. Cook the onions for about five minutes before adding chopped garlic.
Cook for another minute. Meanwhile, slice the leek and celery and finely chop the carrot. Add the vegetables to the skillet and cook for another five minutes.
Then pour red wine and bring the dish to a boil. You have to reduce the heat to medium and simmer the vegetables for two minutes.
Then, add the tomato paste, bay leaf, beef broth, salt, pepper, and sugar. Mix the ingredients well. Add the rouladen to the pot.
Cook the rouladen for one hour on low heat or until it is fork-tender.
Recipe for the Gravy
Once the meat rolls are fork-tender, remove them from the pot and set them aside. Strain the broth and vegetable mixture. Then pour the strained liquid back into the skillet.
The next step is to thicken the gravy. For this, you can use cornstarch or flour.
Whisk about two tablespoons of cornstarch with four tablespoons of water. The measurements depend on the quantity of the gravy so add cornstarch accordingly.
Slowly pour the cornstarch slurry and stir continuously. If you like thick, creamy gravy, you can also add some heavy cream or sour cream to the mix.
When the sauce becomes thick, add chilled butter. Whisk the mixture constantly. After the butter melts completely, add some mustard, salt, and pepper to taste.
Then carefully remove the toothpicks from the rouladen and return the rolls to the sauce. Heat the dish for two minutes before turning the flame off.
You can serve the rouladen and gravy with rice, potato dumplings, or boiled/mashed potatoes.
Side Note
How to make rouladen German food? This recipe prepares about four servings – with two rouladens per serving.
- Prep time: 30 minutes
- Total cooking time: 2 hours
- One serving has about 400 calories
Side Dishes With Rouladen
How to make rouladen German food? The side menu usually includes potato dumplings or mashed potatoes. But, of course, you can serve it with roasted vegetables too.
German Potato Dumplings
Ingredients
- Three medium potatoes
- One cup white flour
- ⅔ cup dry bread crumbs
- Three eggs
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- One teaspoon salt
- 10 cups of water
- ½ cup butter
- One tablespoon chopped onion
Recipe
Place the potatoes in a pot. Add water and bring it to a boil. Let it boil until the potatoes are tender.
Once the potatoes are tender, drain the water. Then peel the skin of the potatoes and mash them.
Add flour, eggs, salt, nutmeg, and bread crumbs. Mix well and shape the potato mixture into balls.
Boil ten cups of water in a pot. Add the dumplings and simmer for seven to eight minutes. To check the dumplings, insert a toothpick in the center of the dumpling. If it comes out clean, turn off the flame.
In a separate saucepan, heat the butter and add chopped onion. Stir fry over medium heat. When the butter becomes golden brown, remove from heat and stir in the bread crumbs. Serve sauce with the dumplings.
The prep time for this recipe is ten minutes, and the cooking time is about fifteen minutes. Imagine having this to warm up before visiting a German Christmas market.
Oven Roasted Vegetables with Rouladen
German Rouladen is now served as a festive dish with a side menu of oven-roasted vegetables. Here is our favorite recipe for oven-roasted vegetables:
Ingredients
- One pound carrots
- One large sweet potato
- One pound parsnips
- One small butternut squad
- One teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- Three tablespoons olive oil
- Two tablespoons parsley
Recipe
How to make rouladen German food? Here is the recipe. First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Then peel the carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, and butternut squash. Deseed the butternut squash.
Next, cut the vegetables into cubes. When you bake them, they will shrink, so do not make them extremely small. Instead, you can cut them into cubes that roughly measure about two to three inches.
Place all the vegetables in a single layer on a baking sheet. Then drizzle olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Toss the vegetables well.
Bake them for 25-30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.
Sprinkle parsley before serving them with the German rouladens.
The prep time for this recipe is ten minutes, and the baking time is approximately twenty to thirty minutes.
We hope that these recipes will help you cook the most delicious German rouladen with side dishes!
