Germany's Largest Maultaschen Festival

A City Celebrates Its Favorite Specialty

Maultaschen are the Swabian national dish — the pasta pockets filled with meat, spinach, bread, and onions, which legend has it were invented by monks in the Maulbronn monastery to circumvent fasting ("Maultaschen certainly don't see a fasting day"). In Metzingen, the Swabian wine town with the world-famous Outletcity, this classic will be celebrated in grand style from 2025 onwards: The Maultaschen Festival, in its second edition from June 19th to 21st, 2026, claims the title 'Germany's Largest Maultaschen Festival'. A culinary event that secures a clearly identifiable summer date for the city between Reutlingen and Tübingen.

Maultaschen in All Variations

On the city center mile around the market square, regional restaurateurs and Maultaschen manufacturers present their range: classic Swabian Maultaschen with broth, with onions in the pan, 'in the Kittel' as a soup garnish, with Kratzete (grated pancakes) or with sauerkraut. Vegetarian versions with spinach-cheese, mushrooms, or pumpkin. Sweet versions with quark filling as dessert. Vegans will find Maultaschen with lentil or tofu-spinach filling. There are Maultaschen burgers, Maultaschen meatloaf, and creative crossover dishes. Accompanied by Swabian wines from Metzingen's own vineyards (the town is located on the edge of the Reutlingen Apple Museum and produces its own wine) and Trollinger from the region.

More Than Just a Food Market

The Maultaschen Festival is explicitly also a knowledge and experience festival. Cookbook publishers present Swabian cookbook classics, spice merchants offer blends for Maultaschen fillings, and kitchen outfitters showcase the right tools — from dough cutters to pasta machines. Live bands, Swabian music groups, comedy acts, and children's programs entertain on the main stage. Local clubs and cultural organizers participate, and Outletcity Metzingen adjusts its opening hours. The opening on Friday, June 19th, 2026, at 4:30 PM kicks off the weekend.

A City Reinvents Itself

Metzingen is known nationwide primarily as an Outletcity — with Hugo Boss as its flagship and one of Europe's largest outlet locations. The Maultaschen Festival is part of the city's cultural policy strategy to build its own gastronomic and cultural identity alongside its shopping reputation. The combination of Swabian tradition (Maultaschen) and an internationally oriented city image (Outletcity, brand city) gives the festival a special character — a Swabian-cosmopolitan fusion of home and globality.