Knödel
large round poached or boiled potato or bread dumplings, made without yeast

Knödel (German: [ˈknøːdl̩] ; sing. and pl.) or Klöße (German: [ˈkløːsə] ; sing.: Kloß) are boiled dumplings commonly found in Central European and Eastern European cuisine. Countries in which their variant of Knödel is popular include Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Similar dishes can be found in most other European cuisines, such as Scandinavian, Romanian, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian and Belarusian cuisines. Usually made from flour, bread or potatoes, they are often served as a side dish, but can also be a dessert such as plum dumplings, or even meat balls in soup. Many varieties and variations exist.
Etymology
The word Knödel is German and is cognate with the English word knot and the Latin word nōdus 'knot'. Through the Old High German chnodo and the Middle High German knode it finally changed to the modern expression. Knödel in Hungary are called gombóc or knédli; in Slovenia, cmoki or (vulgarly) knedl(j)i; in the Czech Republic, knedlíky (singular knedlík); in Slovakia, knedle (singular knedľa); in Luxembourg, Kniddel(en); in Bosnia, Croatia, Poland and Serbia, knedle; in Bukovina, cnidle or cnigle. The same German roots are found in these Romance languages: France has quenelles, and large gnocchi are called canederli [kaˈneːderli; kaˈnɛːderli] in Italian; bales is the Ladin word for the same dish.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Knödel” is large round poached or boiled potato or bread dumplings, made without yeast. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Knödel, large and round, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q158382. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Knödel” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.