Oktoberfest Menu Ideas: 9 German Recipes for Your Celebration

by: Lydia Fulson  /  Writer, Artist, Traveler, Granddaughter & Ever-Learning German Cook

Planning an Oktoberfest celebration at home? You don’t need to cook every German dish you can think of. Even though there are so many good ones.

Planning the perfect party is easier than you think. Here's what to do:

Put warm pretzels on the table while everyone gathers and watch the heads turn.

For dinner, choose a couple of hearty sides to serve with your favorite sausages, schnitzel, or pork roast. Then perhaps an apple strudel or cheesecake to finish the meal.

What a wonderful way to welcome everyone to your festive gingham table. (It's not Oktoberfest if there's no blue and white checkered gingham tablecloth!)

Once you’ve chosen your dishes, use this Oktoberfest Food per Person Guide to work out how much to prepare.

If you’d rather have one Bavarian menu already chosen for you, use Oma's German Oktoberfest Party Menu.

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Below are nine of Oma's German recipes that work especially well for an Oktoberfest menu. Some are Bavarian favorites cherished by our family. Others are traditional dishes that simply belong beside sausages, roasts, and all that wonderful gravy. 

Choose recipes that suit your family, your guests, and the time you want to spend in the kitchen. No one expects you to make all nine! It's up to the chef.

How To Build Your Oktoberfest Menu

The best and easiest way to plan your Oktoberfest feast is to start with the main dish. Serving bratwurst or another kind of sausage? Southern German potato salad and sauerkraut make a naturally perfect combination.

Planning a pork roast, schnitzel, or another dish with gravy? Homemade spätzle and red cabbage will fit beautifully beside it. It doesn't get more Oktoberfest than that.

For a meatless meal, try cheese spätzle as the main. Add a fresh salad or one of the vegetable sides below. Voila, the perfect party meal!

Oktoberfest Pretzels and Starters

1. Bavarian Pretzels (Laugenbrezeln)

Kick things off with warm, salty pretzels that no one can resist!

These Bavarian pretzels are soft and chewy inside with an irresistible golden crust. Oma's recipe skips the traditional lye bath and uses baking soda instead, making it much easier and safer to prepare at home.

Serve them warm with German mustard for a real treat. You can also slice them open and spread them with butter, just as they are enjoyed in Germany.

Show off your baking skills and make large pretzels for an impressive presentation, or shape them a little smaller when serving a crowd.

2. Potato Pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer)

Crispy potato pancakes are one of those German foods that disappear almost as quickly as you can make them.

Oma's kartoffelpuffer has crispy edges and just a hint of onion. She grew up eating them with applesauce or a sprinkling of icing sugar, but they can also be served with sour cream for a savory Oktoberfest dish. All are common, and all are tasty.

For a party, make smaller pancakes so they are easier for guests to serve. Since it can take a bit to make the next batch, you can keep them crisp by placing them on wire racks in a warm oven while you cook. Just don’t stack them on top of one another, or they can get soggy.

Hearty Oktoberfest Side Dishes

3. Homemade Spätzle

Spätzle are tender egg noodles that are especially good with anything with gravy. Unbelievably lecker.

The dough is mixed, pushed through a spätzle press or another, simpler kitchen tool, and dropped into boiling water. I say simple, as the presses can take a bit of elbow grease to use! The finished noodles are buttery, slightly chewy, and ready in about 30 minutes.

Serve them with schnitzel, goulash, or another hearty main dish. You can also make the spätzle ahead and reheat them in butter when it is time to eat.

You may want to make a double batch. Leftover spätzle fried in butter the next day are almost reason enough to make them in the first place.

4. Southern German Potato Salad

Now this is a must-have at your Oktoberfest party.

This isn’t the creamy northern German potato salad Oma grew up eating. Instead, southern German potato salad is made with a warm vinegar-broth dressing, onions, and mustard. It is savory rather than creamy, making it particularly good with bratwurst and other types of sausage.

The warm dressing is poured over cooked potatoes so they can soak up the flavor. Let the salad rest before serving, then taste it and adjust the vinegar, mustard, and seasonings as needed.

It is designed to be served warm, although the leftovers are also delicious cold the following day.

5. Easy Sauerkraut

What would an Oktoberfest sausage plate be without a heaping pile of sauerkraut?

Oma's easy-cooked sauerkraut is tangy, slightly sweet, and savory. It takes about 30 minutes and is especially good with bratwurst, roast, potatoes, or dumplings.

This recipe starts with jarred sauerkraut and turns it into a proper traditional side dish. It can also be made vegetarian or vegan by using oil instead of butter or bacon drippings. That makes it an easy addition when your family or guests have different dietary needs. 

6. Red Cabbage With Apples (Rotkohl)

Red cabbage brings the best pop of color to an Oktoberfest plate, along with the sweet-and-tangy flavor Germans know so well.

This rotkohl is slowly braised with apples, onions, vinegar, and a touch of spice. It works particularly well with roast pork, rouladen, sauerbraten, goulash, or any main dish with a rich gravy. It's a match made in heaven.

This is one of the best recipes on the menu to prepare ahead. The flavor becomes even better after it has had time to rest, and the cabbage reheats beautifully. Even when cold, it tastes like the best candy.

Oma usually makes a large batch because in our family, one helping is never enough. Justifiably so, with something this good!

A Meatless Oktoberfest Main Dish

7. Cheese Spätzle (Käsespätzle)

Cheese spätzle is often called German macaroni and cheese, although it has a character all its own.

Homemade spätzle are layered with Emmental cheese, covered with caramelized onions, and baked until everything is hot and cheesy.

Serve käsespätzle as a hearty side dish or let it take the place of the meat. A fresh green salad beside it is really all you need to make the perfect meal.

You can make the recipe with homemade spätzle, but store-bought spätzle will save time when you are preparing several Oktoberfest dishes at once.

Oktoberfest Desserts

8. Easy Apple Strudel (Apfelstrudel)

It's not an Oktoberfest party without it!

This easy apple strudel uses frozen puff pastry, so there is no need to spend forever stretching homemade dough while you've got party prep to do! The result is flaky pastry wrapped around a sweet-tart apple filling.

Serve the strudel warm with whipped cream, ice cream, or homemade vanilla sauce. If dinner is running late, don’t worry. The strudel will wait quite happily until everyone has room for dessert.

This recipe is ready in less than an hour, making it manageable even when you are preparing several other dishes.

9. Cheesecake (Käsekuchen)

This cheesecake is quite different from the dense cream-cheese version commonly served in North America.

Traditional käsekuchen uses quark, which gives the filling a lighter, fluffier texture and a gentle tang. Easy is the way to go, and this version uses crushed cookies as the base instead of a traditional knetteig (kneaded dough) crust.

It tastes just as good as making it the longer way and the preparation is much simpler.

Bake the cheesecake early enough to let it cool all the way through before serving. It is an excellent choice when you would rather have dessert finished before your guests arrive.

Three Easy Oktoberfest Menu Combinations:

You can mix and match these recipes, but here are a few ways to put them together without ending up with far too much food.

Oktoberfest Sausage Menu:

Begin with warm Bavarian pretzels and German mustard.

Serve your favorite bratwurst or other sausages with southern German potato salad and sauerkraut. Finish the meal with cheesecake, which can be prepared earlier.

German Roast Dinner:

Put pretzels on the table while the roast finishes cooking.
Serve pork roast or another gravy-rich meat with homemade spätzle and red cabbage. Warm apple strudel makes a fitting dessert.

Meatless Oktoberfest Menu:

Start with pretzels or small potato pancakes.

Make cheese spätzle the main course and serve red cabbage or a fresh green salad beside it. Finish with apple strudel.

What Can I Prepare Ahead?

Several of these Oktoberfest recipes can be prepared before the party begins.

Cheesecake can be baked ahead and kept chilled. Red cabbage is also an excellent make-ahead choice because its flavor gets stronger as it rests. Homemade spätzle can be cooked earlier, refrigerated, and warmed in butter shortly before dinner. Sauerkraut may be prepared ahead and reheated.

For southern German potato salad, boil the potatoes and prepare the onions earlier in the day. Make the warm dressing and combine everything closer to serving time. Save the potato pancakes for the last minute whenever possible. Bavarian pretzels are also especially good when served warm from the oven.

Enjoy Your Oktoberfest Feast

An Oktoberfest celebration at home does not have to be complicated.
Choose the dishes your family already loves or try one recipe that is new to you. Set out the mustard, pour your favorite drink, and enjoy a classic German meal together, for a classic celebration.

For even more ideas, visit Oma's collection of traditional Oktoberfest food recipes.

Prost!

Frequently asked questions about Oktoberfest menus

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Hi, I'm Oma Gerhild! As a food writer and cookbook author, I'm always looking to find ways to pass on my German heritage using local ingredients. Quick and easy. That's my goal. Wunderbar food. That's the result.