It’s time for an egg custard meal you remember mainly from your childhood! Šunkofleky, Czech ham and noodle bake, a tummy-warming blend of pasta with smoked meat and plenty of eggs.
➜ What Is Šunkofleky?
Šunkofleky (plural) is a famous Czech ham noodle casserole dish that is very easy to make. They are cooked pasta in a square shape, richly buttered, with diced smoked meat and eggs. The blend is then baked in the oven.
Baked šunkofleky are cut into pieces and can be garnished with parsley sprig. Dill pickles are traditionally served with šunkofleky.
➜ Pronunciation
I recorded a short audio clip on pronouncing the Czech word "šunkofleky" (ham and noodle casserole).
Interested in Czech cuisine? Discover more authentic Czech food!
➜ Ingredients
This recipe contains only essential ingredients, but the result is marvelous.
- Cooked Fleky-pasta; or any pasta you have on hand
- Piece of smoked bacon; will be cut into pieces
- Eggs
- Butter; for rich flavor
- Salt and pepper; to taste
And that’s all. Incredible, isn’t it?
✅ You’ll find the exact amount of ingredients below in the recipe card, which you can also print out.
➜ Which pasta is best for Šunkofleky?
Šunkofleky is made out of pasta, known in the Czech Republic as „fleky“ or „flíčky“. They are wide noodles cut in squares, and their name is contained in the dish’s name.
You can also use plain wide noodles or elbows pasta as well.
The egg custard finds the ins and outs, making for a compact finished product that doesn´t crumble while it´s served on the plate.
Meat For Šunkofleky
Although šunkofleky could be translated as „ham and pasta, “the best meat to put into them is smoked meat.
A whole piece of bacon (not sliced) is ideal, which we’ll then dice. Cubed bacon is fried on a pan in a small layer of fat before adding it to the pasta, pronouncing the smoked meat's taste.
Baking
Šunkofleky aren’t baked for long. Noodles are already boiled, and the meat is pre-fried. We need the eggs holding this meal together to be baked enough.
Šunkofleky are baked in an oven preheated to 350 °F (180 °C) without hot air circulation. They’re added to a well-buttered baking dish.
It takes about 20-30 minutes to bake them. It depends on the baking mold’s material and on the height of the layer of šunkofleky you’re baking.
For example, in my cast iron baking dish, it takes about 5-10 minutes more to bake them since cast iron takes a while to heat.
➜ Cook’s Tip
- The lower the layer of pasta, the quicker they’ll be finished.
- Šunkofleky are baked in a baking dish without a lid. I do not recommend turning hot air circulation on while banking since the surface of the pasta dries out, and its top layer becomes hard.
More Czech dishes:
- Rajská omáčka - Czech sweet tomato gravy
- Smažený sýr - breaded and fried cheese (in Czech known as "smažák")
- Holandský řízek – Dutch or Holland Schnitzel (but typical Czech!)
Tried this recipe?
Leave a review down in the comments! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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Šunkofleky – Czech Ham and Pasta Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 lb (450 g) pasta fleky widenoodles cut in squares, or simply wide noodles
- 9 oz (250 g) bacon in one piece half fat half lean
- 8 whole eggs
- ½ stick (55 g) butter unsalted some more to grease up the baking dish
- salt
- pepper
- parsley strig to garnish
- pickles
Instructions
- Grease the baking dish thoroughly with butter. I used a 9x12 inches cast iron casserole dish.
- Heat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) without hot air circulation.
- Cook the pasta in salt water al dente, following the manufacture’s instructions.
- Meanwhile, dice the bacon into pieces about ½ inch in size and fry them in a pan with butter.
- Crack the eggs into a separate bowl, beat them gently with a fork, and flavor them with salt.
- Strain the pasta, put it into a larger bowl, and mix in butter, until it dissolves.
- Mix the still-hot pasta with fried bacon, flavor with salt and pepper, add eggs.
- Layer the pasta blend into the greased dish and bake for 30 minutes until the surface turns to gold.
- Let šunkofleky a bit cool down, cut in squares, and put it on the plate. Garnish with green parsley.
- Serve with pickles.
Notes
DISCLAIMER: Because I come from Central Europe, my recipes are based on metric units such as grams or milliliters. Check out how I convert metric units to the U.S. system:
Conversion chart
Vicki Fisher
So happy to find this receipe. Mainly to give to my sons and grandchildren and their friends who always wanted it when they were home or visiting. My mom use to make it all the time as I did and still do. I never knew it was suppose to be baked as my mother always just cooked it in a big frying pan.
Thank-you so much. I will try it the way the recipe is. Can't wait!
Would love more traditional czech family receipes!
Petra
Hello Vicki, thank you very much for your kind comment. Šunkofleky dish is very popular in my family, too. Easy to make and it always tastes great. Let me know if you try the recipe, I would be very happy. More traditional Czech recipes are waiting to be posted here! Many greetings from the Czech Republic, Petra
Ann Ince
Dear Petra- My husband’s maternal grandmother came from northern Italy when she was 5 years old. Both of our families went to the same church and because the families were friends I knew her my whole life(I’m 69 and my husband is 71). She has been deceased years now.
When we were to get married, one of the “rites” was my learning how to make from scratch homemade ravioli.
Another dish was called and spelled “Shunky Flakey”.
I couldn’t figure out why it was called that until tonight when I googled looking for a recipe to compare to the one the grandmother and aunt gave to me.
So the origin has been solved!
We’re making this for our extended family on 2022 New Years Day. Excited to be able to share this with them!!
Petra Kupská
Ann, thank you for your nice words! I'm glad I helped reveal the little secret of the Czech pasta recipe 🙂 Sunkofleky is a popular Czech dish that everyone can easily prepare (and everybody likes it too).
Allison
Petra,
I’m happy to have found this recipe and blog. I have been looking for a recipe like this. When I was a girl I remember making what my Grandma called “ham flakes” casserole with her. I would google it and only find ham casserole recipes with cream soup ingredients. I came across the Czech name of “flicky” seeing a dish offered at our local fish fry and googled that and found your recipe. This is what I remember. Simple noodles, ham and an egg mixture. I look forward to making this soon.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Allison, thank you for your nice comment, I know the word "šunkofleky" is not easy to pronounce in another language. Flíčky (flicky) are smaller fleky. And you are totally right, this recipe is very easy to make! As we say in the Czech Republic: "Za málo peněz hodně muziky", freely translated this means: with only a few things you’ll get a great result! 🙂
Kristyna
I love your story on why you created this blog, and that your son is practicing writing in English. I immigrated from Prague to Oregon when I was younger and now I have two little boys. I came across your blog, and I love it. I grew up eating all these dishes. Tonight I made this one for the boys, I just added a little cheese on top for them. So delicious. Thank you for the recipes, I'll be trying out others as well.
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Kristyna, thank you very much for your lovely comment. I am happy you like this šunkofleky recipe, it is a dish everyone in my family loves as well. The idea with the cheese is great, sometimes, we add some grated Gouda or Eidam, too. Many greeting to Oregon from Liberec, special ones for your sons! 🙂 ????
Patti Komornik
My Mother and Grandmother and now I and my daughter make this often. Never had the correct name for it (we called it fleichsky...phonetic spelling). Recently had an international dinner at our church and found your blog. So happy to find out this is an authentic Czech dish. Made two large casseroles. Everyone loved it. Thank you and your sons. Many blessings to you all.
Petra Kupská
Hi Patti, thank you for your kind comment, which made me happy! This dish is most often called "šunkofleky" in Czech – the name includes two main ingredients: ham and "fleky," which are wide noodles cut into squares. Sending you warm greetings from the Czech Republic, Petra
Sandy
My mom and grandma used to make something similar to this recipe often. It was a very inexpensive meal. They called it flicky. All they used in their version was buttery egg noodles and ham. I didn’t much care for it, but your version with the eggs sounds much better. I will have to give it a try. I am really enjoying reading your recipes. Reminds my of my mom and grandmothers and the good old days. I miss those days.
Petra Kupská
Thank you very much for your kind words. Flicky (flíčky) is a diminutive of the word fleky, the shape of pasta typical for the Czech Republic. If you decide to try this dish, I would be very grateful for your feedback.
I like to believe that we have a childhood associated with fond memories of our parents who prepared delicious dishes for us. And Czech cuisine has always offered really delicious meals 🙂
E.houdek
I’m so glad to find this recipe! This was a meal my grandfather would make the day after Christmas. This recipe and houska bread were stable meals in with bohemian / Czech grandfather.
Petra Kupská
Happy to hear this! Exactly as you write, both recipes (sunkofleky and houska/vanocka bread) are very popular among Czechs even today 🙂
Sherri
I have a question! My grandmother coming from there ❤️ made this dish growing up and I can’t get it exactly right. She is passed now and her recipes were by her memory. Did you ever milk to this dish?? I think she used milk and she used the fattiest part of the ham and ground it I believe.?
Thanks so much! Can’t wait to try yours but maybe me always trying to use milk is where I am going wrong!! ❤️
Petra Kupská
Ahoj Sherri, thank you for your lovely comment! The recipe for sunkofleky is very versatile; I'm sure every mom or granny used their own process and slightly different ingredients. I imagine your grandmother added a little milk to the recipe, the result might have been more tender. The same with the type of ham: the Czechs always processed the whole ham, including the fattier parts, which were added to this kind of meal (casseroles etc.). The fat adds flavor to the food, plus the pasta is not as dry. My honest tip: Don't use the fan-forced function when you're making sunkofleky in the oven. The circulating air will dry out the food, and the pasta will be hard on the surface. Wishing you luck! 🙂
Adam
Do you think I could use left over flat lasagna noodles broken into smaller pieces instead of Fleky?
Petra Kupská
You probably can, but I find it easier to use fusilli or farfalle (pasta shapes). If you feel like trying homemade pasta, check out this recipe:
https://www.cooklikeczechs.com/egg-noodles-for-soup/
Simply cut wider strips from the rolled-out dough and then cut those into squares (fleky). The homemade pasta in this recipe is incomparable to store-bought, I'm happy to confirm!
Dona
I’ve searched forever for this recipe! My grandma and aunt used to make this, knew how to pronounce it but didn’t know how to spell it!
I just happened to come across it when I was looking at your liver dumpling recipe!
Thank you! I’ll be making it very soon (with ham though, just like grandma)
Petra Kupská
Thank you, Dona, for your nice comment! I think sunkofleky is a typical Czech meal, best tasting made by moms or grannies (in my experience 🙂 I will be very happy if you like the dish as much as you remember your mom and aunt making it!
Stacie
My family has Bohemian roots. I grew up eating this made with packaged egg noodles and diced hot dogs since it was a cheap and easy way to prepare it. Oddly enough, we ate it with ketchup, not pickles. I wanted to see how it was traditionally prepared and served. I look forward to trying this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Petra Kupská
Hi Stacie, thank you for your nice comment! Sunkofleky has many options to make them. You're right that this is a cheap meal that you can work all sorts of leftovers into, and yet they'll still taste wonderful 🙂 Good luck with the cooking and let me know how you liked it!
Diana
My mom, who came from Czechoslovakia, made this often when I was growing up, especially after Easter with leftover Easter ham. She did it a little differently. She separated the eggs and beat the egg whites into soft peaks and then folded them into the mixture of noodles and ham. Then she mixed the yolks with a fork and folded them in.
I find Mrs. Miller's Pot Pie Square, which are an Amish noodle, work well.
Petra Kupská
Actually, sunkofleky is a food made from leftovers, and there are numerous recipes for them. You can't go wrong with any of them, in my opinion. Thank you also for the specific tip on noodles, because Czech "fleky" pasta is not easy to find in the shops abroad!