May a Dutch citizen enter the Netherlands using a foreign passport?

I suppose I may be one of a few people who can actually answer this question from experience – me, some family members, and some friends have all experienced this. This is all assuming your foreign passport is one that you can travel to the Netherlands with.

If you are a Dutch citizen but have never been issued any Dutch identity documents, the border officers won’t see anything out of the ordinary and will admit you to the Netherlands.

If you are a Dutch citizen but have been issued Dutch identity documents – even if these are no longer valid – the border officers will probably be able to see that you are a Dutch citizen. In this case, things get a bit messy. They will probably ask you a few questions about your citizenship and why you do not have any Dutch identification documents. Then they will let you through.

Officially, the law seems to be ambiguous on this point. I’ve heard Dutch government officials give both points. In practice, you will almost certainly be admitted to the country without any fines or legal issues, as the officials will see you are following the spirit of the law if perhaps not the letter.

If you need to be 100% certain, if you hate the legal gray area, or if you absolutely need to avoid any delays, the easiest option is to travel to an adjacent country and then enter over land, where there is no border inspection. For example, Brussels is just 30 miles from the Dutch border and two hours away from Amsterdam, and if you are in the east of the country then Weeze airport is literally within walking distance of the Dutch border. As an added benefit: Weeze and Brussels are both usually cheaper to fly into than Amsterdam.

I, as well as a handful of friends in the Netherlands, have been stopped by police and government officials who demanded IDs several times. In all of these situations I provided only my American driver’s license and was completely fine – even when I mentioned that I was a Dutch citizen. In other situations my friends have used passports from other countries and they have been completely fine. The letter of the law obviously disagrees with these police officers and officials, but in reality Dutch police/officials are very reasonable and only interested in the spirit of the law. The chance of getting a grumpy officer that doesn’t like your situation – and tries to not admit you to the country or send you to jail – are absolutely microscopic.

EDIT: …als je door de douane gaat, zit je op internationaal grondgebied. (…) Dit heeft echter weinig te maken met rechtspraak. In het Verdrag van Tokyo is vastgelegd wie en wanneer jurisdictie heeft. In het geval van Schiphol heeft de Nederlandse wetshandhaving de jurisdictie, welke kan lopen tot in het vliegtuig zelf. Meaning: the law, if any, also applies to passport control at the border.
END EDIT

So you are saying the law states that if you have dual citizenship you are required to show the Dutch ID. I have not been able to pin down the law that states this requirement. The link you posted to an information leaflet of the Dutch government states clearly that you should show your Dutch ID if you have one, but that doesn’t mean it’s the law.
The law that deals with the requirement to be able to identify oneself does not say anything about dual citizens. http://wetten.overheid.nl/BWBR0006297/2014-01-20

On the other hand, on https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/nederlandse-nationaliteit/inhoud/dubbele-nationaliteit it is stated that the Dutch government does not keep track of dual citizenship of its citizens anymore (since 2014). This would explain why the information leaflet tells you to use your Dutch ID: it saves time, for the people that have to make sure you are not breaking any laws for being in NL. If you show the police your US passport and there is no mention of an entry date to Schengen in their system, they have to check that you are not staying in NL illegally and that could just be prevented if they knew that you are a Dutch citizen.

So my answer to your question: you do not get a fine for showing your foreign passport at the border, because you do not break any law by doing that. However, you will be asked your estimated length of stay. If you do not intend to stay any longer than is allowed for any other US citizen, there is no problem. Possibly they recognize you in their database as a Dutch citizen and then if you cannot explain why you didn’t show your Dutch ID, you will have to explain. That’s all. The same goes for ID controls in the country, for example if you commit a traffic offence. There is no law that states that you get fined for showing a foreign ID as dual citizen, but police does have the mandate to control your right to be there. If you cannot prove that you are staying legally they have to hand you over to the “alien police” (yes, that’s what they call it in NL). If you happened to enter for say 30 days, but then stay on for a year because you changed your mind you might get in trouble with the police if you do not show your Dutch ID (because you are not carrying it on you). It has probably happened before and that’s why they don’t like it: it’s a huge waste of time and resources. I’m judging this all based on my experience of living in the Netherlands for 10 years in my youth: There are many rules that you have to follow, but if you do not behave you will only get punished or fined for breaking the law, not for breaking a rule. Of course you don’t make many friends if you break too many rules…

Basically, if you have a Dutch passport, it will not be a problem entering the Netherlands. If you use a foreign passport you might get some additional questions about why you are using that passport and not your Dutch passport.
So, Jan Doggen is right, but i think you might get away using your American id, but i wouldn’t count on that. Just bring your Dutch passport or ID card. Doesn’t cost much extra space but it will make things so much easier.