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German Onion Pie (Zwiebelkuchen) | The Cozy Harvest Recipe You’ve Never Tried
Oct 12, 2025
In this tasty video, I am baking a traditional German Onion Pie — known in Germany as Zwiebelkuchen. This cozy autumn dish comes from the wine regions of the Rhine and Swabia, where it’s served during grape harvest festivals with a glass of young wine (Federweißer). It’s a rustic, savory pie made with caramelized onions, cream, and bacon, baked in a buttery crust until golden and fragrant. In this video, I’ll share the story behind this beloved harvest recipe, and then walk you through the simple, modern version you can make at home. It’s hearty, comforting, and perfect for fall gatherings. ✨ Recipe Highlights: – Traditional German harvest dish – Buttery crust + creamy onion filling – Great served warm with wine or cider – Perfect for cozy fall weekends Thanksgiving plate: https://tinycottagekitchen.etsy.com/listing/4366296787/thanksgiving-turkey-dinner-plate-10 Full Recipe https://www.daringgourmet.com/zwiebelkuchen-german-onion-pie/
View Video Transcript
0:01
Before kiche and before modern
0:04
casserles,
0:06
there was schweilken,
0:08
the German onion pie. Its roots go back
0:12
to the wine regions of southwestern
0:14
Germany, especially the areas of rine
0:18
and
0:20
where onion harvest and grape harvest
0:23
happened side by side in autumn.
0:27
Farmers would celebrate both with a
0:29
glass of beater viser, a just fermenting
0:33
young wine and a slice of warm onion pie
0:37
fresh from the oven.
0:40
Traditionally, this was a baker's pie. A
0:44
simple yeasted dough rolled thin, topped
0:47
with caramelized onions, bacon, and a
0:50
creamy custard.
0:52
The filling was humble but deeply
0:55
flavorful. meant to feed vineyard
0:58
workers at the end of a long day.
1:02
Each region had its own touch. Some used
1:06
carowway for bite. Others added sour
1:09
cream or speck.
1:11
Middle rine and upper rine valleys are
1:14
especially known for their vineyards,
1:17
castles, and wine festivals.
1:20
the kind of settings where Bill Cucin
1:23
traditionally appeared alongside young
1:27
wine. Over the centuries, Shibil Cukin
1:31
evolved into a beloved fall dish that
1:35
bridges rustic farmhouse cooking with
1:37
cafe comfort. It's still baked today to
1:42
mark the grape harvest festivals.
1:46
A dish that celebrates abundance,
1:48
warmth, and gathering.
1:50
In this video, I'm going to test a
1:52
recipe for this dish. As the
1:55
ingredients, although simple and
1:57
familiar, they intrigue me. If you're
2:00
new here, hi. I'm Stephanie and this is
2:03
Cooking 100-year-old Recipes where I
2:06
talk food history, test vintage and
2:09
historic recipes, and a few other things
2:12
that may tickle my taste buds from time
2:14
to time. If you like that sort of thing,
2:17
consider subscribing and hit the like
2:19
button to support the channel. I do
2:22
appreciate you. Now, let's get cooking.
2:28
Now, the first step is to get my pie
2:31
crust made and press it into a spring
2:34
form pan and then chill it before par
2:36
baking it. No soggy crust allowed here.
3:02
Now, because this is onion pie, of
3:04
course, we need a lot of onions. 2 and
3:06
1/4 lbs. So, I'm going to put a plate on
3:09
my scale and just put onions on here
3:12
until I reach that amount. So, let's go
3:14
to the pounds.
3:17
Two.
3:38
Let me see what other one I have.
3:40
Actually have this one here. And it's
3:42
starting to feel like wonder if this is
3:45
older one. Um, I'm going to use part of
3:48
this one that isn't getting soft.
3:53
Yeah. But firm end. Where's my knife?
3:56
Let's cut it open. See what I have.
4:22
All right, great. Let's get to chopping
4:25
these babies. So, I'm going to put them
4:29
on a cutting mat just for ease of
4:32
transfer. They get cooked in the
4:34
skillet.
4:37
I've got my two little wet paper towels
4:40
so that they don't make me cry. They go
4:42
to the moisture in the towel instead of
4:44
to my eyes.
4:47
Or so the tail goes. But it seems to
4:49
work.
5:39
Now, before I put the onions in the pan,
5:42
I'm going to cook the bacon. So, I've
5:46
frozen and I have my I've cut bacon.
5:48
It's folded in half and I froze it. So,
5:50
now it's partially thawed. I'd say about
5:53
40% thaw just so I can get the knife
5:55
through it. And I'm just going to cut it
5:57
up into very small pieces.
6:22
Once the bacon is rendered well and be
6:26
to color quite a bit, you add in 2
6:28
tablespoon of butter. And this will help
6:30
the caramelization process of the
6:33
onions.
6:44
[Music]
7:20
All right. While all the onions and
7:21
bacon caramelized, I'm going to get the
7:25
the rest of the filling mixture
7:27
together. So, it's four eggs,
7:31
2 tablebspoon of flour,
7:44
A teaspoon of carowway seeds.
7:58
Let's see. A cup and a half of sour
8:00
cream.
8:22
He needs two teaspoon of salt.
8:35
Go a little scant on that. I'm very
8:36
sensitive to the taste of salt these
8:39
days.
8:41
and freshly ground pepper.
9:06
So, I'm at about 8 minutes now with
9:09
these and they're still just letting off
9:12
their water. So, I would imagine it's
9:14
going to take the full 30 minutes, maybe
9:17
35 minutes to get to a caramelized
9:20
state. And they're going to reduce quite
9:22
a bit.
9:25
Right, this is looking pretty good.
9:27
Smooth.
9:36
Y.
9:41
So, I'm going to let the onions continue
9:43
to cook down. And they do have to cool
9:45
off a bit before they go into this
9:47
mixture so it doesn't cook the eggs. Um,
9:49
let's look at my crust. I think it's
9:52
ready to be
9:55
um freed from the beans.
10:08
Yep. Perfect baked. Just have a tiny bit
10:11
of color on the edges.
10:15
And I keep my pie beans in a jar.
10:23
[Applause]
10:50
All right. So, my onion mixture has
10:52
reduced quite a bit, caramelized. I have
10:55
a microphone on now, so I might sound a
10:57
little bit differently.
11:00
Right, I've got my oven preheating to
11:03
400. Let me see where it's at now.
11:11
Getting there. Okay, now let's get these
11:14
onions into
11:16
the
11:18
mixture. cooled quite a bit of color and
11:22
they cooked down
11:24
by
11:26
more than half. I'd say 60% reduction.
11:35
Lots of flavor.
11:55
Just stir to combine.
12:05
It's really like an onion batter at this
12:07
point. It's quite thick.
12:10
And then the flour is in there that's
12:12
going to bind even more. Curious about
12:15
how that texture is. So, it's just the
12:17
sour cream, eggs, flour,
12:20
and some seasoning. All right. So, I've
12:23
got my crust on a baking sheet.
12:40
in case we have any leaks going on.
12:43
Now, the recipe I'm following says to
12:46
use a 10 or 9 in spring form pan.
12:50
I'm uh the one I have here is 8 and 12
12:52
in. So, I might have some extra filling.
12:56
Let's see how we do. should come up
12:59
pretty close to the top.
13:06
Oh, I think we'll be all right.
13:17
I'm happy to have too much pie crust
13:20
instead of too little. I just love pies.
13:23
Savory and sweet. I'm going to give it a
13:26
shake.
13:29
I think that's a good ratio. What do you
13:31
think? Yeah.
13:34
All right. So, it bakes in the oven for
13:36
about 50 to 60 minutes. I'll probably go
13:40
on the lower end because I have a little
13:42
bit of a smaller
13:44
uh vessel than what is recommended. I'll
13:46
check on it at 50 minutes.
13:53
All right, I have unmolded it. I did
13:55
need to cover it about 20 minutes into
13:58
cooking because of the parbake. The
14:00
edges were I could smell them and no one
14:03
likes a burnt pie crust, right? So, I've
14:05
got um
14:08
I've got it unmolded so you can see
14:10
that's how it's supposed to be served.
14:12
And I've got my little bit of wine
14:14
because this is dish served with wine. I
14:17
love a good food and wine pairing. So,
14:19
let me just move everything. My These
14:22
Thanksgiving plates are available in my
14:23
Etsy shop. I designed these a few weeks
14:25
back. Aren't they pretty?
14:32
Cut this
14:41
flaky crust.
14:43
I'm curious to try it with the yeast
14:46
dough version. The yeast crust.
14:50
I'm sure that's delicious. Yeasted bread
14:53
is always so nice, but so is a flaky pie
14:56
crust. All right, let's see how this
14:58
unmolds. So, I've let it cool for about
15:01
an hour. It's slightly warm. It's just
15:03
above room temperature right now.
15:07
See what the inside looks like.
15:14
Give it a taste.
15:17
Yeah, it's um it doesn't look eggy like
15:20
you would think a kiche would look.
15:22
It just looks like a batter around those
15:25
onions and the bacon,
15:37
very savory, complex. The carowway seed,
15:40
why am I digging into that? The carowway
15:42
seeds give a distinct yet subtle
15:46
sweetness, believe it or not.
15:50
And then of course caramelizing the
15:52
onions gives a lot of depth of flavor.
15:56
All right, let's sip of wine.
16:03
I think that's
16:05
son blanc. It would be really good with
16:08
a relingling.
16:12
Mhm.
16:13
Delicious.
16:15
Yes. Two thumbs up.
16:20
I wouldn't add cheese or anything to
16:21
this. This has a very distinct
16:24
flavor profile and cheese would
16:27
interfere with that. This is not a
16:29
kiche. It is definitely a onion pie.
16:32
Yummy.
16:33
[Music]