[Guest post by Deb’s mom!] Last year, I briefly told you the story of how my mother jokes that she married my father for his family’s noodle kugel recipe. But then, as if just to be cruel, I tried my own spin on it with cream cheese and dried cherries. Was it delicious? Oh, heck yeah. Are you long overdue to get a taste of the real deal? Most certainly so. Please welcome my mother herself here today in her first-ever guest post, finally sharing with you the noodle kugel recipe you are owed.
Growing up in a German family, I had many noodle puddings. Shortly after becoming engaged to my now-husband, we were at a family buffet party, where everything was homemade and beautifully displayed. It was at their party that I first encountered the noodle pudding. I thought this was the best food I had ever tasted.
I asked a relative for the recipe on the spot. There was a lot of commotion amongst the people at the party that day, and as I have been telling my daughters for the past 30 years, the aunt told me that I would have to marry my now-husband to get the recipe. The rest is history.
I have often stated that if I were stranded on an island and could only take one food with me, it would be this version of noodle pudding. You be the judge.
Previous guest posters: Jocelyn, Molly and Deb’s dad
One year ago: Hello Dolly Bars
Two years ago: Lemon Pound Cake
My Family’s Noodle Kugel
1 pound wide egg noodles
8 eggs
2 cups sugar (Mom uses 1 1/2 cups)
2 pounds full-fat cottage cheese, creamed or large curd
2 sticks (1 cup or 8 ounces) melted unsalted butter or margarine (Mom uses 1 1/2 sticks butter)
2 teaspoons vanilla
Dash of salt
Optional: 2 cups canned cherry pie filling (Comstock is specified)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Parboil the noodles (five to seven minutes).
In a very large bowl beat eggs until fluffy. Add the sugar gradually, then the cottage cheese, margarine or butter and vanilla. Stir in the drained noodles.
Pour into a 9×13-inch pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, or until kugel is set. If using the cherry pie filling as a topping, pour it over at the one-hour mark, then bake it for an additional 30 minutes.
Deb note: Your baking time may, of course, vary. Check for doneness at one hour and go from there. Our oven, always running cool, took almost two hours to bake this. At home, my mothers inferno of an oven does it in an hour.
About the topping: Okay, so apparently, the original version of this recipe has the cherry pie filling (from! a! can!) as a topping and apparently, my father says that some segments of my family still bake it this way. I have yet to see it, and my mother has never used it. Should you want to try some version of this but avoid the mystery-in-a-can stuff, a quick cherry pie filling can be made with a bag of frozen sour cherries cooked with half a cup of water in a saucepan for about 10 minutes. Mix 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch and stir these into the pot. The mixture will thicken within a couple minutes. Cool before using.
That looks like an exceptionally rich and sinful kugel, almost custard-like. I make a mean kugel myself but it uses half the amount of eggs, butter, and sugar for the same amount of noodles. Mine must be the “diet” version! I will definitely give this one a try!
I didn’t know noodles came in pudding form… but this looks amazing!
I’m confused. I’m German and have never heard of noodle kugel or noodle pudding. I assume it’s a dessert? Sounds delicious.
“Check for doneness” ??? What exactly should I be looking for? Thanks Deb’s Mom for another treasured family recipe. Although marrying a family member sounds good to me.
2008….but maybe someone is reading this. Stick a sharp knife inside, if it comes out clean (greasy, but not milky) it is done.
I’m reading! Thanks for the tip.
It sounds like a sweet lasagna. My gran made sweet tamales . Can you add raisins or would that be blasphemy ?
Looks wonderful will be making this for a potluck.
I live in the “Cherry Capital of the World” (Traverse City, Michigan) and I put some dried cherries in my kugel before baking. Adds just the right amount of sweetness and surprise to this dish. LOVE IT!!
Yes, add golden raisins! But I like the sound of dried cherries or the sour cherries. Some of my Jewish friends add raisins (yum) or pineapple (blach). I add cinnamon to the mixture, as well as as a cinnamon sugar sprinkled topping. All good.
I add raisins. Yum
Can I make this in advance ? One day ? Two days ?
Me too. Thanks for the recipe!
still reading :-)
I don’t get it – is it a dessert or an entree? I love all the ingredients, so I’m sure I’ll like it either way, but I need to know for planning purposes ;)
This is a sweet version, but i have it for breakfast lunch and dinner. Savory kugel is also a thing.
It’s a side dish or a dairy dinner for us Jews.
Yes, yes, yes. That’s how my mom served it, a side dish.
Hers was not sweet. Lithuanians do not like sweet kugel.
Oh, my family would love this! I’m going to give it a try in the next month to test it on them before serving it with dinner for Hanukkah this year! Yum!
Yum! Looks a lot like my grandma’s, except hers had cornflakes on top for some reason…
I like that Deb’s mom instructs us to use FULL FAT cottage cheese – this is excellent!! I will definitely make this soon – all the markets’ craziness is making me crave comfort food – and i can’t think of anything better than noodle kugel!
My mother-in-law uses this identical recipe… complete with the cherry pie filling (from a can!) on top. The first time I spent Rosh Hashanah with his family while we were dating, I was so surprised to see cherries on top of a noodle kugel and thought they must be the only people in the world to do that. Apparently, his family must be somehow related to yours.
You want to bake the kugel until it is set.
So many people leave me comments that their baking times were longer or shorter than my own that I am beginning to leave that warning at the bottom of recipes. Ovens can vary wildly. A cake can take 30 minutes in one oven and 60 in another. If you’re not yet sure how your oven runs, or if you know it’s calibration is off, it is always best to begin checking at the 2/3 mark.
The kugel is sweet, like, almost dessert-level sweet. Yet, it is traditionally served with dinner. It is all very confusing. So, if you’re not beholden to any particular kugel tradition (sweet kugel with dinner), I see no reason not to serve it with dessert.
Looks great Deb and Deb’s mom!
Have an easy fast.
Thanks for posting this. I’ve been looking for a new noodle pudding recipe. I can’t wait to try it.
wow what a strange recipe . Never heard of something like that but anyways there s always the first time. And it seems so good too :)
Sounds way better than the one very bland noodle kugel I tasted years ago. Can you give us the scoop on your cream cheese and dried cherries version? That appeals to me and my hubby won’t eat anything that has had cottage cheese even mentioned in the same room with it.
I love a good kugel. Just a few questions on the recipe – the variations as to amount of sugar and butter – are those Deb v. Mom or Mom v. Grandma/Dad’s Mom – and what difference do they make in the final product? Is there a reason why one of you reduces or increases? TIA.
Kugel….. YUUUUUM! My grandma makes it with golden raisins. So. So. Good.
Never even heard of kugel until Deb posted about it a while back, but it sounds so intriguing that I’m thinking hubby’s taste buds may be in for a new experience soon. Thanks so much for sharing a family recipe with us!
Question> What is creamed cottage cheese? I cannot make sense of the term “creamed cottage cheese.” It’s made from milk..4%, which isn’t cream, and is the highest fat content I’ve ever seen available in stores. Am I confused that this term could mean fat content vs the technique of “creaming”? This confusion has kept me from making any recipe requiring “creamed cottage cheese’ my whole life. I’ve asked and asked, and looked it up online and the answers just haven’t been conclusive enough to make it click! If you don’t “cream” this stuff in a pudding or cake, do the curds disolve or will the pudding or mixture stay lumpy? Help me, PLEASE!
Some cottage cheeses have large curds, others are more creamy. (Not with cream, just creamy in texture.) Either will work.
The lessened sugar is my mother and my adaptation of the original. We both prefer desserts and such that are not overly-sweet. This is still a good bit sweet. If your palate is like ours, go with the lesser version. If you don’t mind things fully-sweet, go for the full two cups.
Oh, you’re killin’ me with the eggs and cheese!
Angie
I married into a Russian Jewish family and they never, ever make the sweet kind. Only the savory! For years I didn’t even know there was a sweet kind. I asked my husband’s grandma’s about it and they told me that savory kugel was what their mother’s made, so that’s what they make too. Does anyone have a story like that? It always makes me laugh because I like both!
The joke in my family is that I come from a “mixed marriage”: my Father is Litvak and only had salty kugel (thin noodles) growing up; my mother is Galiciana and loved sweet kugel. So my mom always made what my dad liked and I discovered sweet kugel late in life. And I like them both!
my family uses a similar recipe but replace half of the cottage cheese with cream cheese and adds a handful of golden raisins and dried apricots. soo good! i love the crust that forms on top. creamy, sweet, and litte crunch!
I’m a potato kugel person myself, but this would be amazing for a break-the-fast celebration.
I think I just gained weight reading this, but what the hell…
There’s a jar of cherry pie filling that’s sat in my cupboard, just waiting for the right recipe… thank you!
Oh, my, I haven’t had kugel in 40 years…I was “adopted” by a co-worker’s family when I moved to New York to work in the late ’60s, and everything I ate at their dinner table was new and unfamiliar to me, a Deep South transplant. I ate so much of this stuff (yes, the sweet version…with raisins) the first time it was served to me, I thought I might slip into a coma. It was sublime, and I WILL make some before the week is out. Wow, thanks for kicking that memory front and center again.
Deb, thank you for these great Jewish holiday recipes! I actually found this site not too long ago when my daughter had a craving for noodle kugel–which I googled and very happily found the former recipe with the dried cherries. I made it and it was wonderful–I’ll try this version next to compare. Unfortunately tomorrow our friends already have a kugel coming to break fast…hope you have an easy fast!
*deb, too! is jumping up and down, screaming with happiness!*
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Deb! I made your Challah, and the apple cake last weekend- both were so awesome. My husband, son and I were fighting over the last chunk of challah! (son won).
This transplanted, Lutheran New Yorker is so happy to see this recipe. I haven’t had kugel since I left Long Island in 1973- and I am so upset that I don’t have any cottage cheese! Guess what will be baking in my oven on Saturday!
Deb, too!
Noodle (Lokshen) Kugel is an art – I’ve had many bad ones and good ones – well, not so much. When you find a good one – hang on to it.
I’m adding this to my “to make” list. My BF Jim loves egg noodles. Actually he prefers them plain with a little butter. bllaaaaacch. I have to try this. Great post!
Oh. My. Thighs.
I will have to try this one, though we made two kugels (one with and one without raisins-instead of cherries) from the recipe you posted, Deb, and they were amazing. Best kugel ever.
wondering if I can mix everything tonight and bake in the AM? too tired to wait for the hour (give or take) for the baking process…..
Can this be made the night before and refrigerated until the next morning
Shouldn’t be a problem with this recipe. Maybe keep the noodles a tiny bit more al dente so they don’t seem soggy? Then again, noodle kugels are supposed to be soft…
Oy! I have gained weight since I started viewing your site! Going to have to dust and remove the cobwebs from my treadmill I suppose as I cannot seem to NOT try your recipes! ;)
Hi Deb’s Mom! Can’t wait to try a noodle pudding for the first time!
Hi Suzen — Yeah, definitely. Or, if you’re concerned about the noodles getting to prematurely gummy, you can leave them separate until you’re ready to bake it. Just toss them with a little oil so they don’t all clump together.
Thank your mother for me, Deb! I want to make a huge batch of this tomorrow morning. Somehow, it seems like an eminently brunch-worthy dish. I have 2 pounds of creme fraiche burning a hole in my fridge, so this might be a good excuse to tamper with your family recipe instead of going to the grocery store.
Deb,
I do a similar kugel, but add apples and raisins to the mixture for an even sweeter kugel.
I LOVE IT!
Enjoy it to break fast with your family.
Stacey Snacks
“zoe October 8, 2008 4I don’t get it – is it a dessert or an entree? I love all the ingredients, so I’m sure I’ll like it either way, but I need to know for planning purposes ;)”
Zoe, funny you should ask. Back in 1977, we had a family gathering and SantaMom made this kugel with the cherries on top. Some friends from England were staying with us, and they commented something to the effect:
“You Americans always have ‘sweets’ with your meals. Shouldn’t this be dessert?”
So you see, it is a perplexing problem … but I’ll somehow manage to live with it. Perhaps the solution is to have it for two courses? :-)
This looks amazing. I just found this website by accident the other day, and I have to agree with another reader that this is the PORN of food. I can’t help checking in daily to see what is posted. Always a treat, I wish I had two extra days a week to cook because of this inspiration I find in this blog.
Cheers!
I’ve been hoping the ‘original mom’s’ recipe would be appearing soon, in addition to the first one you posted. My five year old and I are hoping to make it this weekend – the idea of a noodle pudding being planted by the kids book “Grandma and the Pirates,” by Phoebe Gilman, which we read a couple of weeks ago. I only knew that ‘noodle pudding’ was really a kugel because of you ;-)
Its a cute book – if being a Grandma is somewhere in your mom’s future you may want to get a copy: “The scent of Grandma’s cooking draws three hungry pirates to her seaside home. After devouring fresh noodle pudding, they stuff all the cupboard contents, Grandma, and her parrot into a sack and row back to their ship. Granddaughter Melissa arrives too late to intervene, but swims out to the pirate ship after dark, where the wakeful “Boss Pirate” captures her, too. Several attempts to escape fail, until finally Melissa tricks the pirates into disembarking on a treasure hunt and sails off without them.”
This kugel looks amazing – I wish I had seen this earlier today when I was trying to decide on a kugel recipe for tomorrow’s kugel-off (a bake-off with kugels). I usually make my mom’s recipe, but she’ll be making it and I was trying to come up with something sinfully rich, which this one seems to be. Next time for sure!
My mother’s kugel recipe is similar but even richer. I mean, it’s sweet like yours, but she also put in sour cream with the cottage cheese to make that real THUD factor. To sweeten it more she adds golden raisins and orange marmalade. The marmalade adds an incredible tang and the golden raisins are kind of a sweet surprise in every bite. With this recipe, she won the shul kugel cookoff several years in a row.
Question> Do you eat it cold or room temp or warm? You didn’t say. Here’s the thing..I made the kugel for the very first time, ever, so I don’t know what to do with it now.
Just to let you know..it smells so wonderful I can barely wait to try it and it’s beautiful too, but I didn’t have a pound of cottage cheese. So.. I used the 16oz’s I had and 16oz’s of mascarpone (whick was about to expire)…so it’s sort of a compromise between your other recipe and your Mom’s…sorta.
Nevermind! I answered my own question. Eat it warm or cold.
So..I ate some warm. It’s REALLY good. Really sweet even with only 1 1/2 c sugar, I might even take it down another 1/3 cup. It’s really supposed to be a side dish, huh? I guess it’s not a stretch..Southerners eat pineapple casserole with holiday meals, and that’s like a sweet bread pudding almost.
I think the cottage cheese would have made it more moist. The mascarpone made it a little dry,( like a mac and cheese that everyone wants creamier)..this could have been more moist. But, I suppose if you use the cherry topping, it would have gotten moisture from that, so the recipe seems as if it’s made to use with the topping. Or, at least used with the cottage cheese. I’d make it again..in fact, I’ll make it for Thanksgiving. So..thank you Deb and her Mother As I type, my son is in the kitchen slurping up great gobs of it, making mmmmm sounds!! It’s a keeper!
Does this count as your mom doing your homework for you? ;) The recipe looks great! I love those crunchy tops.
Here is a stupid question… is it a main dish or a dessert?
Aww, so lovely to see a guest post from Deb’s mom!! :0)
Just as a note – I am German and living in Germany and have never tasted a sweet something with noodles before! Although I have heard of “sugar noodles” from friends who grew up in the GDR. And mabye some others. But it IS new to me! On the other hand, sweet main dishes are quite common here – rice pudding, pancakes, Kaiserschmarrn (which translates to “cut-up and sugared pancake with raisins” – pfeh), you name it. Thanks for the guest post :)
I haven’t had noodle pudding in way too long. When I was a little girl in Brooklyn, all the neighbors use to get together to compare their noodle puddings. I never heard a story such as your moms. How romantic:) Thanks for sparking my memory plug and thank you to Cris, the reader who suggested the book.
Mmmmmmmm.
We are not Jewish, but in the little villages of Transylvania (Carpathian Mountains) especially my mom’s side (both parents from small villages…) they love mixing noodles with cottage cheese, sometimes sugared sometimes not. Also noodles with oil, sugar and very finely ground walnuts from the tree in the orchard. Ahhhh, the memories.
I will have to make this one day, I hope my mom will love it! I think she will………
So my family roots are Midwestern Norwegian Lutheran, and while we have many yummy dishes – lefse, kringla, rice pudding, etc. – there is a dearth of sweetish side dishes to serve at holidays. The only two I can think of are jello salad (beurk, especially the orange with carrot gratings) and cookie salad, which is composed of mandarin orange sections and broken up Oreos bound together with CoolWhip. All this to say that I think I want to be Jewish. Lokshen kugel looks SO much better. Perhaps I can introduce a multi-cultural element into the next holiday…
Sweetish? I thought you were Norwegian! 😁
I see this is an old comment string, but I couldn’t help myself. Peace and blessings from a Californian Methodist Norwegian
We do ours with a graham cracker cookie crumble on top…just to make it even sweeter!
How do your relatives feel about sharing this with the world on the internet rather than through marriage (although the cherry fillng in a can thing can’t be the best kept family secret, eh?)?
Didn’t know you were from a German family
Since I live in Munich, I have discovered these noodle puddings and I adore them!
I briefly dated a man from a Jewish family about 20 years ago (I was quickly ousted by his Mom). But, I have spent the last 20 years thinking about the noodle kugel she served at the one dinner I made it to. It was not sweet. It was creamy and amazing and not sweet. I had no chance of getting the recipe because I didn’t have the option of marrying…But I’ll try this one. Thanks so much!!!
you are so nice to share these family recipes! I wish i had more people to cook for. Maybe I could cut the recipe way back and make a mini one just for me? it looks so yummy.
Comfort Food?
yes please!
Looks so yummy!
oh man. i was *just* talking about my own mama’s noodle kugel yesterday. i think its pretty much the greatest thing on earth and is almost the exact same recipe. ‘cept she uses a can of crushed pineapple, golden raisins and a dash of cinnamon.
(i think the nytimes did a piece on kugels last year?)
see, i had been talking about this kugel because i entered it in the williamsburg brooklyn casserole cook off last year, CONVINCED that i’d have it in the bag vs these bizarre hipster/vegan-ized meat from a box in a pyrex with potato chips.
but alas, the ‘sweet’ casserole was no match for hamburger helper. im avenging my honor this year around, you can be sure.
this looks fantastic and I love that she wouldn’t give it to you unless you married in the family!! :)
I’ve never heard of Kugel before, looks delicious thoush!
I have got to try this for holiday time, and yes with the topping! I will atempt to make it without the can version. Let’s see if this is what I would like to have as my only noodle pudding stranded on an island. Let’s also see if my husband’s side of the family, German, what else would a Munster be, recognizes this receipe! I think it will be a surprise, no need to tell them I am making it.
Yum – I LOVE kugel!!! Just wanted to add that I once used a similar kugel recipe & made it w/ full fat ricotta rather than cottage cheese (purchased ricotta by mistake) and it was delicious!
My family makes almost the exact same recipe, we use sour cream instead of cottage cheese and as a topping its crushed cornflakes mixed with sugar and cinnamon for a nice crunchy top.
De,
This is very much like my familys kugel recipe, thought we use less butter and add sour cream. Creamy!
For the new to kugel folks, I’m with Den – you can serve this anytime. We use it as a breakfast/brunch or lunch dish, with a fruit salad. And I sadly confess that cold chunks of it eaten straight from the fridge at 1am are very very good.
I meant I’m with Deb! DEB!
Boy you give folks the preview option and they don’t even use it. For shame.
I am very intrigued by the Kugel recipe and as I type it is sitting in my fridge waiting to be cooked later this afternoon. I made the old school no topping one. My dilemma is, what do I serve it with? Is it a dessert? Is it a side? My husband thinks pork chops would go well with it, but he thinks pork chops go well with anything:) LOVE, LOVE Smitten Kitchen!!!!
hemm it looks delicious, maybe i’ll try to persuade my mom to make it too, yummi yummi love it
I have to tell you, it’s melded overnight. It’s not too sweet after all. It’s really good cold too. So, I had small serving that I knocked the chill off in the microwave. I poured a little light cream over it..and sprinkled it with a little cinnamon. It’s perfection!
Why I have I never heard of this kugel and all its dairy goodness?? I suppose my German great-grandma may have made one, but she measured with her hands and never wrote down recipes so they’re all lost now. Thank you for passing this on!
I just made the kugel for my father to break fast tonight. I am not fasting, so I’ve already tried it and it is MAH-velous! Thanks! I followed the recipe exactly, but next time I think I’ll add a little cinn, my mom likes it with raisins (I dont).
Love your site! I’m not Jewish, but I’m so intrigued by this kugel thing that I know nothing about. If you were me, which kugel would try for your introduction into the kugel world; your version from a previous post or your mom’s? Thanks!
mmmmmm….this looks almost exactly the same as my mom’s recipe, but she uses cream cheese and sour cream instead of cottage cheese. i may need to have a kugel-off. with me as the sole judge.
My mother’s kugel is has cottage cheese, sour cream, milk and only 4-1/2 tablespoons of sugar. It also has cornflakes on top. I prefer something less sweet. Her recipe comes from the Elegant but Easy Cookbook and I think it is the best of breed. The recipe is on my blog:
http://baronesstapuzina.wordpress.com/2007/05/17/whos-marian-and-how-can-i-thank-her/
We should have a kugel-off sometime. There are hundreds of different recipes floating around.
Just came back from eating my mom’s kugel (who took the recipe from my grandmother) – made with cinnamon, sour cream, and raisin additions and a graham cracker crumb crust (used to be corn flakes, too, but those got lost somewhere). MMMMMM. But even better than that was a blintz souffle – blintzes baked with a sour cream and liquer egg mixture. Break fast = my favorite holiday meal.
I also brought along your apple cake from a few posts ago – a super big hit!
This looks delicious, but it also looks like it has…upwards of 6000 calories and nearly 300g of fat. Yikes! That’s really really rich, even if you serve it to ten people. I’m not at all on a diet, and I eat dessert all the time…but still.
I’m not sure I’d want to eat this after a meal, but it just occurred to me that you could just eat this as dinner and dessert *combined*! It would be like having pasta with a savory cream sauce for dinner, and then having a sweet buttery fruit dessert…only at the same time.
:)
i love this post! my favorite thing has been reading all of the posts and seeing how everyone else makes their kugels! your kugel recipe looks amazing. i will have to try it. mine is somwhat different as i use apples, sourcream, less sugar, less eggs and add cinnamon and nutmeg, and sugar/cornflake topping. yumm. thanks for sharing your family recipe! l’shana tova.
Thanks for sharing yet another one of your family’s recipes, Deb! It’s great to see the MOT fare getting some major time in the spotlight! Like one of the other commenters above, my Russian and Romanian family makes only savory kugel, and I didn’t even know there was such a thing as sweet kugel until I was about 16! My mom (and both grandmas) use noodles, an egg or two, schmaltz, salt, lots of pepper, and a dusting of matzo meal on the top for crunch.
Keep up the great work, and yay for guest posts by family. Happy new year!
This recipe looks yummy but it seems similar to every kugel I made growing up – really rich and loaded with fat and calories. I gotta tell you, I was totally on that boat until about 10 years ago – I experienced ‘lite & fluffy noodle kugel’ and I’ve never gone back. This kugel is so awesome, I gave the recipe to a friend and she won a “kugel-off” with it. It’s pretty simple – 8 oz egg noodles, cooked al dente, rinsed and cooled, 6 eggs (separated), 8 oz lite cream cheese, 1 pt sour cream (lite OK), 1 c. sugar, 1 tsp each vanilla and cinnamon, zest of 1 orange. Whip egg whites until stiff. In another bowl, beat tog. cream cheese, sour cream and sugar. Add egg yolks, vanilla, cinn and zest. Fold beaten egg whites into mixture. Gently combine with noodles and pour into casserole. And here’s the trick: put in fridge and let sit overnight. Bake just before serving, 1 -1.25 hrs at 325 or until brown and puffy. It’s got loads of flavor but it’s not rich and heavy!
Other than the lite cream cheese and sour cream, it’s almost the same recipe! I don’t think this is very ‘diet/lower fat’. Basically you pretty much halved Debs recipe — however you’d have 12 eggs for the full recipe (more fat than this one) making yours pretty comparable to hers. The amount of sugar is comparable as well and it’s good to cut the sugar as well as the dairy fat. I don’t understand beating air into the whites then letting it deflate in the frig overnight?? Have you actually compared the fat/calories if you cut Debs recipe in half too?? Lite dairy isn’t always better for us ingredient-wise.
I didn’t notice the stick and a half to 2 sticks of butter in the previous poster’s lightened version so that would significantly reduce the fat and calories, but I do agree with your comment regarding lite dairy products.
Looks great and yummy. Will try this recipe. ! Thanks for this great recipe
I love kugel – Growing up Jewish in the San Fernando valley this was a staple in our house holiday’s or not… Our family recipe was pretty similar but she did add sour cream and cinnamon!! Was always amazing… Thanks for reminding me of the Good Ol’ Days!!
oooh…I may have to give this one a whirl! I’m a Hindu who works in a Jewish school, and today I wowed them with Deb’s mom’s apple cake so I’m thinking kugel can’t be far behind! thank you both so much for giving us access to your family recipes during the holiday season. I am in love with the apple cake, I am using it to try and usher in fall here in Texas via wishful baking :) I think it will end up being a weekly staple in my house.
Definitely had noodle kugel to break the fast! I went to a relatives house, it was delicious. If I make my own in the near future, I’ll definitely be consulting your recipe.
Never having eaten kugel before, I realize this is THE kugel to change all that! Wow . . . looks delicious!
So I’ve always disliked the holiday noodle kugel because it is so sweet – how would you suggest modifying this recipe to create a real savory kugel rather than a sweet one? (btw – I love noodles and cottage cheese, could I just eliminate the sugar all together?) THANKS!
My mother used to makea savory kugel with Cream of Mushroom soup and some milk rather than the sugar and other sweet ingredients. She added some extra mushrooms and then baked the mixture in muffin tins so that everyone could get the crispy parts. It was really, really good!
I am so excited about trying the kugel! I have never had one before, but I have been interested in trying one for a while. This recipe has me sold! I was wondering if you could suggest some other dishes to serve with the kugel? Thanks for the recipe and any help you can give me.
This looks awesome but I can’t decide whether my kids will eat it. And a dish like this isn’t something I want sitting around to pick at. And end up eating the whole thing myself. Ahem.
So. Will they eat a sweet noodle dish? Will they eat something obviously containing cottage cheese? These are things I must ponder while buying the ingredients, because this is a recipe I just can not resist…
I made this last night and my family loved it! I did tweak it a little to incorporate the ingrediants I had on hand. I added some sour cream,pineapple and shredded coconut. I also reduced the butter to 1/4 cup. My boyfriend’s daughter is calling it Pina Colada Kugel-lata.
The only thing I would change is I would cook it a little less (I cooked it 1 hour). Awsome recipe!
Shannon, growing up my mom served this to me for my birthday with veal chops (breaded and pan fried). Not kosher, but perfect together!
My mom’s version had 1/2 sour cream 1/2 cottage cheese, 1 apple and 1 snack box of raisins, vanilla and on top sprinkled cinnamon. (I always wanted corn flakes, but she wouldn’t have any of that!)
Sara. one of the most amazing things about is that you cannot see or taste the cottage cheese. Promise! Use the small curd cottage cheese. (Maybe small curd is the same as creamed??)
To lighten this up, it’s easy to replace the cottage cheese (and sour cream, for me) with light versions. I wouldn’t go fat free unless you have to. You also can subsitute eggbeaters or eliminate 1/2 the egg yolks. I use the No Yolk cholesterol-free noodles. The butter adds a lot of flavor but you could reduce that also. Sugar is needed but you could possibly substitute splenda. (When I make it, I use light CC and SC, but keep the butter and sugar. It’s fab.)
I have a kugel recipe that calls for sour cream also and it is so creamy and lucious. This recipe looks wonderful and I will try it with the cherry pie topping, very unique. My husband’s family raves about the kugel and I know they will love this one too. I am new to this blog, after just discovering this site and I am so thrilled to find it. The recipes are amazing and Deb, you are a gift to us all. Many thanks.
I made this on Sunday to go with roasted chicken. It was a huge hit! I was nervous because I served it to Scottish people and wasn’t sure they would get it. But they loved “the pasta” and they all had seconds. I cut back a bit on the sugar and butter and sprinkled the top with cinnamon. It was perfect! Thanks Deb (and Deb’s mom)! Oh, and I had the leftovers for breakfast!
I use The Moosewood Cookbook (new version) kugel recipe and I ALWAYS get rave reviews and – there’s NO butter! I use cottage cheese, sour cream, and cream cheese; I can enven get away with using the lower fat versions of all, but those of us in the know insist there is a difference from the full fat versions. It is so creamy that it doesn’t need butter. Seriously, try it out. And, because there’s not so much oil, it’s not so heavy in the stomach and you don’t feel icky afterwards.
This is the Jewish version of Mac and cheese, big laugh.
Gorgeous photos as always here. How do you turn egg noodles to look so spectacular?!! (I read your post about food photography. I’m still practicing. And getting better. But here it is just amazing!)
Oh, and speaking of jewish sweet kugel served for dinner… I have relatives, they are orthodox, so they probably don’t use dairy ingredients, but they put cinnamon and ground black pepper! which is kind of very interesting! don’t you think? But I don’t have the recipe. Will have to check with them sometime…
I FINALLY made this. I tasted it as a dinner item, and by that I mean….it is a sweet dessert that I ate as dinner. :D
It you are into custards, pastry creams, etc then you will love this as long as the texture of cottage cheese doesn’t bother you. It didn’t bother me and mine came out fabulously.
To answer the person above’s query about kids — I can tell you they love it!
In response to those concerned about using full fat products and butter, I refer you to the best research ever done on how to eat healthy: the Weston Price Foundation (you can google and find their site.) According to the foundation’s research and the book “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, fat does not make us fat. Butter is actually one of the healthiest things you can eat. If you want to be concerned about diet, look more to reducing white flour and sugar.
I followed the information put out by the Weston Price Foundation and lost weight eating full-fat plain yogurt, milk, raw cheeses, butter, coconut oil, avocado, sprouted nuts, grains & granola, delicious rice pasta, meats and much more…
Happy eating all!
Hi,
How long do you beat the mixture after you add the cottage cheese, butter and vanilla–or do you just stir these ingredients with the egg mixture?
Thanks,
Linda
ps. I make a version of this with fewer eggs and often add a dollop of sour cream and then cook, but I am looking for the richest recipe for a friend who is fighting cancer.
My boyfriend was telling me about the Kugel his grandmother used to make so I searched the internet looking for a recipe that matched his description. After seeing the pictures above, I decided I had to try making this one. I couldn’t find large curd cottage cheese, so I went ahead and used the (full fat) small curd. I also added cinnamon and some golden raisins. Since it’s just my boyfriend and I, I halved the recipe and cooked it in a glass 8 X 8 pan and it worked great. My boyfriend absolutely raved about it and said it even rivaled his grandmother’s. Thank you for sharing such a delicious and easy recipel!
I’m not Jewish, but had fond memories of kugel from a bat mitzvah I went to as a child. This was amazing, just as I remembered it. I used low fat cottage cheese because that’s what I had on hand and it was great. It also halved well – oh, and I added about 1/2 cup of golden raisins. Thanks again for this recipe – glad your mom married into a group with such tasty recipes! ;)
I made this dish for the holidays and we cleaned the pan, almost before it cooled! Thank you for sharing all these terrific recipes and for helping me add even more heft to my thighs! (Tomorrow, I walk to town!)
This is the exact same recipe my family has used for many many years. I like a sweeter version. I will make the batter and layer batter with warm apricot jelly in 2 or 3 layers and I top it with bits of butter, brown sugar and crushed corn flakes. Yum!
I will definately have to try this. I make a sweet kugel with raisins, apples and nuts. I made some the other day in one of those GT Express cookers and it turned out good. Only takes about 12 mins to cook small individual size ones. I took some to work for some of make goyum (sp) co-workers. I then had to give one the recipe. That was hard since I really don’t have one, just got the general idea from my mother. I put together a recipe for him and he is going to have his wife try it. Bottom line, I LOVE KUGEL and will try this one.
For those new to kugel: Enjoy it as a side dish, a dessert, or a special breakfast treat!
I have been working on perfecting Kugle over the last couple of years. My grandmother also uses pie filling from a can, but she likes apple. I have never liked that so I made my own changes. I add some sour cream and cinnamon to mine. I also add some extra butter/margarine to the top with a little brown sugar and wheat germ to coat the top.
My family came over to America during World War II, and then proceded to become become Anglican, and to tell noone about the fact that they had been Jewish. Now, all these generations later, my sisters and I always love something that connects us with out Jewish roots on some level. Thanks for the recipe, it is incredible! (your mom is right, I’ll stick to less butter and sugar next time, but it’s still AMAZING.)
I just made this last night. It is incredibly delicious but I may have had a minor heart attack. Next time, I may use less butter. Thanks for the recipe!
I make a similiar Kugel, however I put sliced pinapple on the bottom on my pan, and dot each round slice with a marachino cherry. I save 1?2 the juice from the pinapple can and add it to the receipe, I however never had it with cottage cheese. I will definitely make this cottage cheese version. YUM!
I made this kugel last year and loved it! I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on adding pureed pumpkin to the recipe? Any ideas on how to do that successfully?
Is there a non-dairy alternative so that the kugel can be eaten with a meat Shabbat meal?
Yes! We always had dairy-free (parve) kugel with meat meals because my family kept kosher. Omit the cottage cheese, use margarine instead of butter (1 stick plus 1/2 stick for later), 6 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 1.5 cups sugar, and add 3 shredded apples, and 1TBS cinnamon. You can add a cup of raisins but I omit them. The trick is to put the 1/2 stick of butter or margarine in the baking pan in the heated 350 oven until it sizzles. Then pour in noodle mixture and bake for an hour. The result is an apple-cinnamon kugel that imho is better than the dairy versions.
Instead of 2lbs. of cottage cheese, try beating together 1 C. cottage cheese, 1 C. sour cream and 1 8oz. bar of cream cheese at room temp. Also, 1 stick of butter and 1 c. of sugar are enough.
Nicole:
Just add 1 c. of pumpkin with the dairy. Kugel is very forgiving. Try other additions. 2 c. of chopped apples and 1/2 t. of cinnamon is nice. 1 14-16 oz. can of drained crushed pineapple is good too.
I just pulled this Kugel from the oven….omg…it smells heavenly, and is it delicious! I made it with 1 3/4 C sugar (splittin’ the diff between you guys) and I used 1 lb. small curd cottage cheese, and 1 lb. Ricotta. I checked it at the 60 minute mark, and it was completely baked and golden. My oven might run a little hot, next time it’s made without any cherry topping like today, I will check it at 50-55 minutes. It’s just bordering on being a little dry, but just a smigden. I will definitely be springing this on my husband..he’ll go crazy over it. Thanks again for your wonderful recipe! I’m off to share this Kugel delight with the family…can’t be home alone with this dish! Call me smitten in the (Mi)tten!!
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS. I had Kugel when I was six years old and not since. Always thought about it though but never ran across it again. I found your recipe, made it for my older sister who also remembered it, her husband and my husband who were VERY skeptical and everyone LOVED it. Thank you so much!
when do you add the salt? do you include it with the eggs/cheese/vanilla etc. or are you meant to add salt to the water to boil the noodles?
Deb —
I quietly follow your blog and absolutely love it! Our tastes and familial backgrounds seem very similar, and now I must tell you just another reason why I feel compelled (err…compulsive) about checking and rechecking in on your site: My grandmother and mother make this kugel, complete with the canned cherries, for almost every get-together and very few know what to make of it. I always thought that this was some weird food concoction that was a product of the mixed bag of Eastern European Jews that is my family, but now I have some validation that someone else knows this kugel exists. Although, it seems you have never tasted it, I must attest to the amazingness that exists in the form of egg noodles, cottage cheese, and cherries of dubious origin. Thanks again for all of your time and effort spent in making this blog so excellent!
I LOVE KUGEL! and I especially love this one! Made it for dinner 2 nights ago and it instantly brought me back to my childhood. So delish and easy to make too! The only thing is, the recipe yields A LOT- so i took it to work and shared it with my coworkers. They loved it too :)
I love noodle kugel. It brings memories of my childhood. I made this but changed it by reducing it by half, reduced the sugar to 1/6 cup instead of a full cup, added 1/2 cup sour cream, a handful of chopped dried fruit (apricots, craisins, currents), and 2 small transparent apples, chopped well. It was yummy and enjoyed by all, not to sweet and made a 9″ pie plate’s worth.
I made your recipe this afternoon since it’s the first fall-ish day we’ve had. (Summer temps over 120 here in sunny Palm Springs, CA!) I added some pumpkin puree and cinnamon. The whole house smells delicious now… :D
I made this with your mom’s proportions on sugar and butter for yom kipper break fast yesterday. Mine took roughly 65 minutes to set. Divine. People could not stop eating it. Can’t wait to have some for breakfast.
Served this kugel at 2 yon kippur break fasts last night (yes, I was party hopping) to rave reviews! I thought it was delicious! Thanks!! You saved me!
Just had to chime in–made it yesterday for break fast and I have to say, hands down, best noodle kugel ever. Thanks Deb’s Mom! And I made the cream cheese one you had on in the past, it doesn’t hold a candle to this one. LOVE IT! L’Shana Tova!
Hi,
I’m in New Zealand and I want to make this for a Thanksgiving celebration I’m having. The only problem is I’m worried I won’t be able to find the right noodles at the supermarket here. Do you think I could substitute with a similarly-shaped pasta?
Thanks and happy thanksgiving!
I discovered your blog a few months ago and have been slowly going through it and making some recipes. I took your pumpkin-chocolate brownies to Thanksgiving this year and they were a HUGE hit. My mom has pretty much the same kugle recipe and we have it for Channukah and Passover every year. It’s one of my favorite dishes and yet, whenever I make it, it never comes out the same. Also, instead of cherry filling (which is bizarre to me) my Mom puts cornflakes with a bit of sugar on top and broils it. It makes a nice, sweet crunch and it delicious!
I was trying to explain to my goyish boyfriend what kugel is, so I decided to see if you had some recipes. Looks like he’ll be getting another lesson in Jewish foods very soon…
This recipe was great. My husband asked me to add raisins like his family does, and I think it was a good addition!
Made this today for Easter lunch. YUM! Thanks to your Mom for sharing. I halved the recipe and that’s probably a good thing because I could eat the whole pan myself.
I made this dish a second time tonight! This round was made with half sour cream, half cottage cheese, two heavy pinches of salt, and substituting a quarter of the sugar for honey. Delicious. Thanks, Deb :)
I made this today! I halved the recipe since I have never had a kugel before and wasn’t sure if I’d like it. It reminds me of bread pudding or baked French toast! Very yummy. :)
Wait! Is noodle kugel dessert?
With much appreciation to your mom for sharing a family recipe, I made some modifications that still would not allow this dish to be called “healthy” (which noodle kugel definitely is not, if it’s done right) but at least not quite so sinful without losing the taste of indulgence. I actually was searching for a less decadent recipe after deciding I could no longer abide my cousin’s version with no less than 4 bars of cream cheese, and I don’t like kugels with all the fussy additions (my grandmother hued to maraschino cherries and pineapple). Even my cousin’s recipe only called for 1 cup of sugar, so that is what I used here, along with 8 oz room temp cream cheese, 1 cup sour cream, 2 cups cottage cheese, and 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, and 7/8 pound noodles (had to keep some plain for my ridiculously picky kids who won’t eat kugel, the savages). It’s excellent and still very rich, and while I know I’ve butchered your mom’s recipe, it was a great starting place, and as another commenter mentioned, kugel is very forgiving. Thanks, and shana tovah as this recipe lives on to launch another sweet new year!
Thanks for this recipe! Tastes just like kugel should. I added lemon zest. Used just 1 cup of sugar and it was plenty sweet!
I made this for Yom Kippur on Tuesday night. It was amazing! It reminded me of home and spending the Jewish holidays with my family in the States. I couldn’t find traditional egg noodles so used egg enriched tagliatelle instead, and it did the job just fine. Thanks!
That Noodle KUGEL looks absolutely HEAVENLY!
i can’t wait to try your delicious RECIPE!
Mazeltov!
I just made this kugel (my first one even though my family is Jewish and I’ve enjoyed countless kugels), and it turned out fantastically. I think this recipe is so versatile, mostly because I made a mistake and used half low fat cottage cheese and half cream cheese. I also added cinnamon which was a great touch. I’m happy to say it turned out great. Thanks a ton!
Funny – I had to marry in to get the kugel recipe too. 20 years later and I still can’t get the choc-cheese cake muffins in writing!
The recipe I finally got my hands on is similar, also from a German kitchen and often requested (and I share):
7 eggs
1 pound wide egg noodles
2 cups sugar (1 white, 1 brown)
1 pound cottage cheese
1 pound sour cream
2 sticks of melted butter margarine
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 tsp of salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Parboil the noodles and cover with half the melted butter so they don’t stick.
Beat eggs until fluffy. (one sister in law separates but that seems extreme) Add the sugar gradually, then the cottage cheese, margarine or butter and vanilla. Stir in the drained noodles.
Pour into a 9×13-inch pan. Bake for 1 hour covered with tin foil, then ten additional minutes without.
My M-I-L has also been known to put crumbled corn flakes on the bottom, but my kids do not like any additions. Have also substituted ricotta cheese for the sour cream which seems closer to yours!
Just made this … it is AWESOME! Best thing my family and I have ever tasted! I don’t have enough cottage cheese so I used 1lb cottage cheese and 1lb sour cream. I made it plain without any topping – it is so good I don’t think it needs anything other than a fork! Thank you so much for this amazing and easy recipe! Just curious … do you have any recipes for savory kugel? I would like to try and I’ll bet your recipe would be great!
I prepared this for the first hanukkah night. I follow the exact recipe and it was fantastic. The perfect mix between savory and sweet. Perfectly weird. People loved it. And it was super easy. Who knew I can cook traditional Jewish food. My little girl will be thankful to you Deb!
I just want you to know that I discovered your recipe (and this site) in 2009 and have been making this kugel every year since. I make it exactly as indicated (no cherry topping), and I’ve found that my oven is definitely one of those ice caverns, it takes close to two solid hours. I also try to use organic cottage cheese; the less liquidy it is, the better it turns out. It’s good every time, but definitely the best ones are with the thicker, less liquidy cottage cheese. I don’t expect to see this comment live on, it’s ok :-). I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you; this recipe has become my family recipe, and my little boy thinks I’m the best cook in the world for it! All the best to you! — Hilary
This kugel is addictive. I made it my own by adding some rum soaked raisins to the mix.
Salted or Unsalted butter?
Sonya — We use unsalted. Now edited, thanks.
I whip the eggs and add to the cheese/sourcream etc. mixture. Then divide the mixture in half and mix with noodles. Place in bakeware dish and pile est of mixture on top. Makes it quite spectacular. I also sprinkle blanched almond slices with melted butter on top.
Sorry meant to say egg whites are what get whipped!!
Hi Deb,
Can you make this the night before and reheat it the next day? I’m prepping for erev rosh hashana dinner and want to make sure I have enough time to get this done.
Hilary — Definitely. It reheats like a champ.
Delicious! I added diced up apples and sprinkled the top with cinnamon. Next time I’ll follow your suggestion and use only 1 1/2 sticks of butter. I’d like to cut back on the sugar as well, I did use the whole 2 cups, but I don’t think my family would let me. We loved it and I will definitely be making again. For what it’s worth, I used Daisy brand cream cheese and thought it worked great.
Substitute sour cream for half the cottage cheese. Ad 8oz cream cheese, room temp. Cut the sugar , butter and eggs by a third. Oy!
Add
My Mom’s Kugel is a similar, but with 1 cup of sour cream instead of one of the sticks of butter and the addition of 3/4 cup raisins and a can of crushed pineapple (in juice, not syrup!)….one of my favorite dishes and always a crowd pleaser at a brunch!
Love this recipe! I am as Irish as you can get but my family loves this delicious treat! Also love you sense of humor. My family sound just like yours!
I wanted too make something for Chanukah to go with the Thanksgiving dinner I was invited to. I saw this recipe and followed it exactly. To say it was delicious would be an understatement…everyone loved it!! I should add, I was the only Jewish person there so I was a little nervous as to how it would taste and what they would think, but when it was done and I had a little taste, well, I was extremely delighted with it!!!
I found this on your site years ago now and have been making it at least twice a year for potlucks. One of them is a family affair for Easter and my cousin married a Jewish girl and they come and bring her mother and they love it! They are always impressed and then tell me about their versions of kugel. Plus everyone else loves it too. I never come home with leftovers so I know people like it. Plus I love it as does my hubby so if we ever did have leftovers we wouldn’t be bummed about it! This year I’m making one for a work potluck (as I type this it is baking) and another tomorrow for a family Christmas party! I love this recepie and your website! Yay for Smitten Kitchen!!
Just curious. My family does not like cottage cheese at all is it possible to substitute shredded cheddar and mozza? And if so how much would you recommend I use?
Kerri — Are you okay with ricotta? Cheddar and mozzarella would make it savory; this is sweet so I’m not sure if it would work. In cooking, the cheeses definitely don’t work the same as cottage cheese.
I love tradition and that you, Deb, and your mom shared this. I grew up hearing that I had German ancestory and may have had a fully Jewish Grandmother who died when my own father was a small boy. I always wondered what life would have been to know her. My mother and I had a very deep connection and thus shared family recipes, even yours, hold a lot ofascination to me!
YUM!
I am looking for a recipe for noodle kugel without the cottage cheese and sugar subsitute. I am a diabetic and remember a cheeseless one from chidldhood.
Thank you
Helene M.
This recipe was AMAZING, as is, no additions or substitutions. Pretty sweet, but that’s the way I’ve always loved kugel. I’m making it again for Seder/Shabbat tomorrow, at the request of my host, who remembers this great recipe from last year.
I’d like to make this for Shavuot but we’ll be on vacation for a few days leading up to it. Would this work cooked in advance and then frozen?
I just made this tonight! It’s the first sweet kugel I’ve ever had. It blew my mind. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Made this for break fast last weekend. my boyfriend can’t stop eating leftovers and claiming “this is the best kugel I’ve ever had.” I added a cornflake topping for some crunch, but other than that, the recipe is perfect as is.
Finally a recipe that’s not afraid of calories, I have been eating this my whole life,
Every aunt,grandmother, cousin, makes this in there own way.
It is meant to be sweet and rich. It can be served hot or cold, breakfast lunch and dinner, and the best is 1 large spoonful out of the pan at 3am,
I am a Roma Gypsy, and it is a staple in our baking,
We have never used a topping or cornflakes, we add raisins, pineapples, dried cherries, apricots etc…
I feel the more sugar the better. We use a stick of butter to grease the pan.
Another thing is, do not beat eggs a lot, and don’t pour egg mixture over hot noodles. You will get scrambled eggs!! Lol. I love this “”desert” !!
Enjoy
Sarah b, it can be refrigerated for man days, but I have never tried freezing it.
I also use 1 can sweetened condensed milk. It makes it creamy . We also add carnation milk.
Wow, what a find this recipe is, especially for our Sunday Family Brunch that includes 3 generations now. We couldn’t find sour cherries so made the recipe without topping, baked for an hour exactly……perfection! We’re 100% German and had never heard of Kugel. Imagine!
About the sour cherries, I’ve heard sour cherry juice has several medicinal uses but the West Coast is missing out because we don’t have the frozen cherries or the bottled juice.
Thanks for keepin’ on keepin’ on, Deb.
Deb, this is our favorite!!
This year I need to make it in advance of the holiday. My question is this – do I cook it immediately after I prepare it and then freeze it until needed (knowing that it will need to defrost and be at room temp before i reheat it) or do i prepare it and freeze it uncooked?
If I’m cooking it in advance and freezing it until needed, once defrosted and room temperature, how long and at what temp should I re-heat it (I don’t want to risk drying it out). Thanks so much!
melissa — My mother bakes and freezes this often. Your best bet when reheating defrosted foods is to first let them fully defrost (usually a day in the fridge will do it, if it does not, add a few hours at room temperature) and then gently rewarm it in the 300-350 zone with the foil on except for the last 10 to 15 minutes. I wouldn’t worry about this kugel drying out, however, thank goodness.
can I freeze this kugel?
Judi — Yes, it freezes just fine.
Making this again. After getting lots of great feedback, this is now a family standard. But why does it call for 1 lb of noodles? The noodle packages we can find here are just 12 ounces. Have noodle packages gotten smaller since 2008 like pints of ice cream and containers of yogurt?
Debbie — They may have, but this recipe came into my family in the 1960s, and to those family members, even earlier, so it’s quite possible that the package sizes have changed.
Made this for Rosh Hashanah along with a dozen other dishes. I think this was the easiest among them, and wouldn’t you know, this got the most compliments! Thanks Deb, this is definitely going to be a keeper.
Also, I froze it, reheated it two days later for holidays, then reheated again as leftovers and it was still good!
I too have a similar recipe. It seems apparent that many variations and/or additions make a delicious noodle pudding. In my version we mix 1 large sour cream with brown sugar and cinnamon to taste, place it in a gravy boat pass it around to be used on the side or dollop it on top of the finished noodle pudding when serving. Quite good.
It is really difficult to pick one recipe to post this comment on, but this is the winner. I have been an AVID follower of you and your recipes for years now, and each and every one I make is (a) flawless, and (b) becomes a staple at our table. But there is something more – this recipe, as well as the pull apart rugalah, and the rainbow (7 layer) cookies bring me back to the EXACT tastes of my memory. Growing up a jewish girl in the 5 towns (long island) there are recipes I’ve refused to make for years because i didn’t think i could ever match up to Grandma/Walls Bakery/Woodro Kosher Deli (if you are not familiar with the last two, google, and find your way to L.I.) but you NAILED it, and now I can. It’s crazy. I think I ate half of this kugel myself due to the combination of taste and memory that created heaven on my fork (or sometimes in my hand, not gonna lie). Now living in Pittsburgh, a distinctly not New York kinda place, I never thought this would be possible. All hail Deb (and her mom) for bringing the awesome back to the sauce or something!!!!!!!! <3
How many people does this generally serve? We are having 12-13 adults this year and I am wondering if it will be enough! Have you ever tried to double the recipe? Will I be overloaded with kugel (not the worst thing..)?? Any input appreciated!
Johana, my grandmother is from germany. She is 90 and is still walking and sound under her own steam. I have had cinnamon and sugar rice since a I was little , everytime I was sick or under the weather. Or sweet noodles which I am making now.. :) glad you chimed in. Do they make a sweetened version of spatzle?
First of all let me say I never read blogs, I don’t know why I just don’t like the format – guess I’m old (53) BUT my friends highly recommended SMIITTEN so I decided to have a look.
I made the noodle kugel yesterday for Yom Kippur break the fast. I NEVER try new recipes for the first time entertaining, but I was making Deb’s Challah and her Babka so figured WTF already on her website. The kugel was “the best I’d ever had” those were the comments. Personally I think the 2 cups of sugar is WAY to much, Deb’s mother does 1 1/2 cups…….I’m thinking 1 1/4 would be plenty. I will make this again. BTW great challah recipe ( I added some honey ) and the babka was delicious – although time consuming, hard to roll out refrigerated dough, and messy, it was really delicious.
I’m trying this for this Memorial Day weekend get together. Thank you for this. It sounds just wonderful. I’ll post the reactions of the guests sometime next week. I already know I’ll love it. I love all kinds of puddings. Especially bread.
I have never had kugel. Forgive me, but I am from Idaho (and that should explain a lot, haha, especially if you consider that I never saw any other lettuce options besides iceberg in the store until my late teens, and even then it was limited to Romaine and the talk of the town). I am fascinated and would like to try it, but have a question about the assembly…do you think I could blend the eggs, cheese, butter and vanilla in my VitaMix so the cottage cheese isn’t chunky? While I adore large curd cottage cheese, I don’t know if the texture in the baked product would bother me (it does if people use it in lasagna, for that I must use ricotta).
Pineapple is the key to the best noodle kugel in my opinion of 45 years of eating it. Pineapple and cottage cheese.
Can I use ricotta cheese instead of cottage cheese? I have a 3 lb bucket in the fridge I don’t know what to do with lol. Thanks!
What? No cream cheese?
Oy! Should this be floating in butter when cooked? I just pulled it out of the oven and the kids are standing over the stove with forks in hand waiting for it to cool! Love your site! xo
My husband had to pour off some butter from the top tonight, but it was absolutely delicious! Tasted like blintzes, but with minimal work. Hope your kids enjoyed it.
Hi Deb,
This recipe looks wonderful. Could I prepare this the night before and bake in the morning? Or does it need to be baked right after being assembled ? Thank you
Do you have to use cottage cheese? Any substitutes? Not a fan of cc 😒
Could I bake it for just 45 minutes, and then refrigerate it and finish the baking the next day (when I want to serve it)? That way it would be ready and my kitchen would be clean when company arrives?
the ads are ruining the experience on Smitten Kitchen. they make the page shake. The noise is ridiculous and I promise you are losing fans….
This is delicious, and reminds me of a dish one of our Hungarian church ladies used to make when I was a kid. I made this as is, just half the amount. It took 1 hour in my oven. Next time, I will try adding crushed canned pineapple since I think that was an ingredient in the ones I used to eat! Thank you for sharing!
How about a recipe for the corn flake cinnamon butter topping please
I have a question: Can I prepare the kugel the night before and bake it the next morning?
I’ve made this multiple times as written and it’s amazing. I opt for the lesser amounts of sugar and butter and it’s plenty rich and delicious. I secretly told my sister I think its better than Mom’s.
I’ve halved the recipe and baked it for exactly an hour in an 8×8 pan at 350 F on the convection setting. Keep an eye on the top browning – it will be amazingly crunchy on top.
So sorry for your loss, Deb. You’re dad sounds like a peach 😙. The kugel sounds amazing.
Love this recipe and want to make it again for tomorrow’s family gathering! Can you make this a day ahead or will it dry out and not be as good?
What no cinnamon?? I’ve only had it with and it’s awesomeness in your mouth! You should all try adding some!
I came to the US as an immigrant from England, with my husband and 2-year old daughter. We arrived in CT in March, and it was cold and snowy. One thing that saved my sanity was a neighbor inviting me to join her bowling group – all Jewish ladies except for me. It was a blast, and I still remember fondly the noodle kugel one of the ladies made for some event. I’ve wanted to recreate it for YEARS, and I think this recipe will do the trick, especially with raisins! Thanks, Deb.
I have seen various references to frozen sour cherries over the years and I have yet to find any in the supermarket–I’ve been to numerous local chains, Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, etc. and come up empty. It seems I could purchase them from online fruit companies, but the way folks reference frozen sour cherries in the stories I’ve read, it sounds like this is something I should be able to procure pretty easily. Where can one actually buy frozen sour cherries? I’ve almost reached desperation mode, as I absolutely LOVE sour cherries and would love to be able to get my hands on them any time of year!
(Also, my friends and I just saw you at the MFA in Boston last night–and one of them also went with me to your book signing at the Brookline Booksmith recently. thanks for gracing Boston with your presence, we really enjoyed it!)
I made your kugel. I checked it after an hour and it was very brown so I took it right out of the oven. The flavor was good but it was very dry. Is it supposed to be moist? I poured half and half over it and it was good. My question is , did I just bake it too long or use the wrong noodles or both? I used Amish style enriched extra wide egg noodles made with durum flour and egg yolks. I want to make this again but need to know how to fix dryness. Thank you. Maurine
It shouldn’t be dry but perhaps it overbaked?
My grandmother made hers with thinly sliced granny Smith apples, golden raisins and a little lemon juice. I only use only one cup of sugar mixed with cinnamon to taste. Also use farmers cheese when I can find it instead of cottage cheese. Also have used ricotta.
Hi Deb! Shana Tova! I’m thinking of trying this with Jovial gluten free egg tagliatelle and lactose free cottage cheese that’s small curd. Any thoughts about whether these two will work with the rest of the ingredients?
I haven’t used either of these ingredients, however, since the butter and eggs do a lot of the lifting here, I think you’ll be okay.
Please tell me, is this served as a side dish or dessert? I have heard both.
Could these be baked in a muffin tin for individual portions?
I love this thread! I’ve been craving noodle kugel so hard, so I’m making it tomorrow night as a main dish for the Yom Kippur break fast. But I’m a bit stumped about what to serve alongside it. Any suggestions for a complementary salad or something like that?
My Mom makes a cottage cheese strudel that probably tastes just like the mixture for the noodles. I’m definitely going to make this for her. She’s 85 now and doesn’t have the energy to make her strudel.
My family recipe is almost the exact same. The recipe uses your moms measurements for sugar and butter. And In substitution for cottage cheese I use 1/2 lb of cream cheese and 2 cups of sour cream. I swear mine is the best so going to have to make both now and do a taste test at my breakfast.
I just finished my Break the Fast for 40 people. My version has slightly less cottage cheese but 8 oz. of cream cheese. Also it says it melt 4 TB. of butter on the bottom and 4 TB in the mixture. The best part is that you can make it ahead and freeze it either cooked or uncooked. Uncooked is ver hard to get into the freezer but I think it is better. My recipe comes from my next door neighbor, Netta. It was 45 years ago and she was the Rabbi’s wife. I have made it every year for the High Holidays and it wouldn’t be the same without it.
So you made a completely different kugel.
I love reading the comments to see variations on a recipe- thank you for sharing!
Happy New Year!! I have an old Joan Nathan recipe that I’ve made for years that is somewhat similar, except you separate the eggs and beat the whites until stiff. It makes it a little lighter. This year I made it gluten free for Rosh Hashanah for a dear friend and family member. I used this fresh egg pasta that once I added it to the rest of the ingredients and baked it, you wouldn’t know it’s gluten free. It also uses crushed graham crackers for a topping, which I also used gluten free, and then I took some inspiration from you and added dried cherries to the mix. It was so good that even my mother in law was praising it (and no one makes noodle kugel better than her in her opinion!). Thanks for always inspiring us to cook and try something new.
We prefer apricot/orange instead of cherry.
A sweet way to bring in the new year!
When I was a child my neighbour used to make this. I thought it was the most heavenly thing ever! As I recall they ate it with the main course, not as a dessert. It was sweet but not overly. Is this version meant to be served as dessert?
really good recipe. even works with fusilli pasta. i cut the sugar to only 1 tbs and for us it was just perfect! sprinkled top with a little sugar and cinnamon, too. thanks deb
Deb,
I am diabetic. Is there any way I can use a sugar substitute with the same results?
I think so in this recipe.
I adore this recipe. Can I make ahead and bake off day of?
I made this kugel for our building’s Break The Fast supper, it was terrific! Everyone loved it and I received tons of compliments, can’t ask for anything better.
Thank you.
P.S. Now for the potato kugel.
Love your recipe for the noodle kugel, now looking for what could be a “savory” kugel. Have you made something like this?
I haven’t made one but I have eaten them! Maybe with spinach? I bet Leah Koenig has one in one of her books or newsletter.
I got some sad news yesterday that my freshman roommate from Brandeis has passed away. On the phone with another alum reminiscing about her, I recalled the time she taught me, her very non-Jewish roommate, how to make a noodle kugel. So I decided that I had to make one now, though I only dimly recalled the recipe. Smitten Kitchen to the rescue–somehow I knew you’d have a kugel recipe in the archives. I have all the ingredients except for cottage cheese, but I do have whole milk ricotta, so tomorrow three of us will be on Zoom making kugels in honor of Miriam.
Crazy about oven temp.
I have made this numerous times at our home on Cape Cod and it is always 90-100 mins. Today I made it in another state, in another kitchen and it was browned and ready in exactly 1-hour.
Can I assemble this in a dish and refrigerate it and then bake it the following day? Thanks!
Yes, you can. I’d give it a stir before baking just in case all of the batter has slipped to the bottom.
So delicious. Used Deb’s mom’s measurements but added some leftover apricot spread from Purim. Was delish!
Hi. This is delish and close to my bubbe’s recipe except instead of cherry pie filling, we use either crushed or tidbit canned pineapple. Perhaps, if you do not favor the canned cherry pie filling you could try it. The canned pineapple does not have as much additive in it as pie filling would? I personally prefer the tidbits because every now and again, when you take a bite, the tidbit provides a juicy explosion in your mouth that pairs well with the noodle kugel. It is quite yummy.
I only have 1 lb cottage cheese, can I sub the other lb with Ricotta?
Yes
I think it would be just fine.
Is this Kosher for passover?
No, noodles aren’t kosher for Passover.