Whether it's a traditional recipe that's been enjoyed for generations, or a recent import that a nation has adopted as its own (German döner kebab, anyone?), every European country has an all-time favourite dish. Want to take your taste buds on a culinary journey across the continent? We’ve searched for the food each country loves most – from hearty comfort dishes and street stall snacks to celebratory centrepieces.
Click or scroll through our gallery to discover every European country's most popular dish – counting down to the most iconic (and best-loved) of all.
We’ve based our ranking on data, reviews and discussions of the best food throughout Europe, as well as on the opinions of our expert team. This list is unavoidably subjective.
Shopska salad – named after the Shopluk region of Bulgaria, where it was created – shows off all the colours of its home country's flag, featuring white onions, green cucumber and red tomatoes, plus either green or red peppers. A delicious spin on a Greek salad, it was invented to promote local produce and help bring in tourism in the 1950s. Still popular today, the salad is finished off with a good crumbling of sirene (a cheese similar to feta) and a dressing of sunflower oil. In restaurants, it's typically served with vinegar on the side.
You’ll find these spiced fish sandwiches on the table at special events across Estonia, from weddings to New Year’s Eve – but not for long. The open sandwiches, which feature marinated sprat fillets, sliced boiled eggs and toppings such as spring onions and herbs, disappear quickly as guests eagerly tuck in. Kiluvõileib (pronounced 'kill-oo-voy-layb') may not be as well known outside of Estonia as other delicacies like the blood sausage verivorst, but locals love this well-kept secret.
A labour-of-love dish that sees beef tenderloin cooked up with an array of root vegetables, svíčková na smetaně (pronounced 'svitch-ko-va na smet-ah-neh') is a classic Czech meal. When the meat is tender, the vegetables are mashed together with double cream and made into a sauce to be drizzled over the finished dish – which is traditionally served with bread dumplings, whipped cream and cranberry jam. Other cuts of meat can also be used, including the cheaper ‘false tenderloin’. These days, you'll often find vegetarian versions on restaurant menus, too.
Used to make everything from open sandwiches to this tasty Lithuanian snack, rye bread is considered an everyday staple in Nordic and Baltic countries. The recipe for kepta duona is simple: slices of rye bread are fried until crispy, then rubbed with garlic – and some versions are finished with cheese or mayonnaise for extra flavour. It’s a snack that’s easy to prepare and just as easy to eat, especially when paired with the fermented drink gira (made from rye bread, honey and spring water).
Kaiserschmarrn is a traditional Austrian dessert of scrambled pancakes. Gently sweetened, it’s made with dried cranberries or raisins, and it's typically served with apple sauce on the side. The name comes from kaiser, the German word for ‘emperor’ (after the Austrian emperor Kaiser Franz Joseph I) and schmarrn, a word used to describe a scrambled or shredded dish. The pancakes get their characteristically fluffy texture from egg whites, which are whisked until stiff, then folded into the other ingredients.
Afelia is a traditional Greek Cypriot dish of beautifully braised pork. Cooked in dry red wine with coriander, salt, pepper and olive oil, there isn’t much to it; however, it’s still bursting with flavour despite its short ingredients list. The meat is first marinated overnight, then simmered in the marinade until it turns brown and tender. A staple of the Cypriot dinner table, it’s usually served with bulgur wheat or potatoes, with a touch of yogurt providing the perfect creamy finish.
Salmon has a starring role in many of Finland’s traditional dishes, including the soup lohikeitto (or laxsoppa, to Swedish-speaking Finns). Seasoned with black pepper and allspice, the creamy chowder pairs chunks of flaky fish with potatoes and leeks – and it's best served garnished with plenty of fragrant dill. As with any dish that’s so simple to make, everyone has their own interpretation of how exactly it should be prepared. Whatever ingredients are included, it’s worth going to the effort of making your own fish stock for better flavour.
Luxembourgish speciality Judd mat Gaardebounen pairs smoked pork collar with broad beans in a creamy sauce. The recipe involves cooking the pork with leeks, cloves, celery and carrots, sometimes with the addition of a bouquet garni (a bundle of herbs tied with string) and some local Moselle wine. Meanwhile, onion, butter and meat stock are cooked together with the beans. There’s some debate as to how the dish got its name – judd might have come from judía, the Spanish for bean.
Fried courgette flowers have found their way onto fancy restaurant menus around the globe, but they've been enjoyed in Monaco and nearby regions of France for much longer. Before being fried, they might be stuffed with cream cheese – and common seasonings include garlic, salt and parsley. Covered in a light batter (similar to Japanese tempura batter), they’re fried, then served in salads or as a snack. Courgette flowers have male and female varieties; however, male flowers are often harder to find, so female flowers are more common.
A national dish of Bosnia and Herzegovina, sausage-like ċevapi (pronounced 'che-vah-pee') has Turkish origins. The grilled meat delicacy, which is similar to a kebab, arrived in the country around the turn of the 16th century – but it wasn’t until the 20th century that ċevapi really became popular. It can be enjoyed either on its own, or stuffed into a flatbread with onions, kajmak (a creamy dairy product) and ajvar, a condiment made with bell peppers and aubergines.
Sometimes referred to as a Macedonian pizza, pastrmalija (pronounced 'pas-ter-mal-ee-ya') is a doughy delight that comes topped with a satisfying combination of meat and eggs. Usually oval-shaped, a little like a Georgian khachapuri, the shallow pie comes with strictly no cheese and no tomato. The dish is inspired by the Turkish pide (a flatbread pizza), with a name that comes from pastrma, meaning cured lamb. However, these days, pork and chicken are preferred over lamb – and other toppings may make an appearance, too.
Iceland’s pylsur sausages feature not one, not two, but three meats: lamb, pork and beef. To make the country's own spin on the hot dog, a pylsur is slotted into a bun, then topped with both raw and fried onions, apple-sweetened ketchup and remolaði (a sauce inspired by French remoulade, featuring mayonnaise flavoured with vinegar, pickles and onions). The small chain Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur, which has stands in Reykjavík, is the place to go to try them. In operation since 1937, it’s frequented by locals and tourists alike.
There’s one big reason why tacos are so popular in Norway: tacofredag, or taco Friday. Like its neighbour, Sweden, Norway has a habit of enjoying Tex-Mex food on Friday evenings – the perfect time to get together with friends and family and share a meal. The tradition began in the 1990s, with Norwegians originally enjoying hard taco shells from cooking kits and salsa from a jar. However, these days, people like to get a bit more experimental with their tacos, swapping hard shells for soft tortillas, and switching things up with fillings of chicken or fish. Plant-based tacos are becoming increasingly popular, too.
Ciorba Radauteana – chicken soup from the town of Radauti – is creamy, garlicky and even slightly sweet. All of this flavour comes from the addition of rich egg yolks, sour cream, plenty of garlic, and a dash of vinegar or lemon juice, which work together to create a distinctly tangy taste. Though it's a much-loved dish throughout Romania, its history isn’t a particularly long one. It was invented by a chef in the 1970s who, after testing the recipe on her family, added it to the menu at her restaurant. The soup was originally made with turkey, but chicken is now far more common.
Putting two basic elements together can often create the most delicious and popular meals. In France, roasted chicken (poulet) and chips (frites) are a match made in heaven. A salad on the side can add some colour, and there might be a sauce too, but neither are essential to make this dish fabulously tasty. A whole chicken, roasted until the meat falls off the bone, and a batch of hot and crispy chips is enough to feed the family – and naturally, everyone thinks their own family recipe is the best.
A comforting, cheesy bowl of pasta is a perennial favourite in the small country of Liechtenstein. A local take on the dish käsespätzle, it sees cheese and spätzle dumplings (called knöpfle in Liechtenstein) baked and topped with fried onions – and it's sometimes served with an apple sauce or potato salad. Also loved in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, it’s made with mild cheeses that melt wonderfully, such as Emmental, Appenzeller and Gruyère, as well as the fresh cheese sauerkäse. The knöpfle are usually made by passing a thick batter through the holes of a knöpflehobel (knöpfle slicer), but a colander can work in a pinch.
What could be better than a full Irish breakfast? A full Irish breakfast turned into a sandwich, of course. Best of all, this hefty handheld snack can be customised to suit just about anyone's taste. It involves putting whatever fried elements of a cooked breakfast you like into a bread roll – think sausages, bacon, mushrooms, eggs, black or white pudding and tangy HP brown sauce. It makes the traditional breakfast perfectly portable, so it's a great option when you're on the go.
Warming Catalan stew escudella is an Andorran favourite during the winter. It’s a dish that makes use of local, seasonal produce, including a mix of vegetables, meats and sausages. It's traditionally served with the vegetables and broth first, followed by the meat, but many of today’s recipes pile everything into one pot. Though it's popular as an everyday dish, escudella is cooked on special occasions too, usually with better cuts of meat added to make it even more delicious. In January, festivities for Saint Sebastian's Day and Saint Anthony's Day involve churches preparing escudella for their communities.
A type of porridge made from cornmeal, kačamak (pronounced 'kah-cha-mak') makes a brilliant breakfast. The base is simple, but a range of possible mix-ins means you can customise it however you like. Cheese, yogurt, potatoes or creamy kajmak, which is similar to clotted cream, all might be added. Kačamak can be mashed with potatoes and cheese too, resulting in a comforting, rib-sticking meal that’s particularly special during cold winter months.
Originating from Turkey, sarma can be found throughout the countries that were formerly a part of the Ottoman Empire. The Croatian take on the recipe sees cabbage leaves stuffed with a mixture of pork, beef and rice. A must-eat during winter, this hearty dish is traditionally served on New Year’s Eve. The cabbage rolls are often plated up alongside something starchy, such as mashed potatoes, bread or corn bread, with sour cream and other sauces on the side – including a condiment made of horseradish, sour cream, mayonnaise, salt, and apple cider vinegar.
Italian flatbread piadina comes in a range of different regional styles. In San Marino, they’re similar to those you’d find in Northern Italy’s Rimini, made with a dough that’s slightly thicker than average, but still on the thin side. Traditionally made with pork lard, the bread is filled with all kinds of ingredients, though stracchino cheese, rocket and prosciutto crudo is a popular combination. A top street food pick, piadina are regularly folded in half or rolled up so they can be eaten on the move.
Bitterballen may look like they could be made from potato, but their golden breaded exterior actually conceals a meat stew, which is refrigerated until firm, then rolled into balls before frying. Satisfying little flavour bombs, bitterballen are often seasoned with nutmeg or curry powder – and they're a popular bar snack, regularly served alongside other nibbles as part of a bittergarnituur spread. In the past, they would have accompanied bittertje, a type of juniper-flavoured liquor.
Cheese and carbs are always a winning combination. In the Slovakian dish bryndzové halušky (pronounced 'brind-zoh-veh ha-loo-skee'), the carbs come from halušky, a type of soft potato dumpling similar to gnocchi or spätzle – and the cheese is bryndza, a tangy and crumbly sheep’s cheese. Topped with crispy pieces of bacon, the result is a comforting dish that’s a fantastic ambassador for Slovakian cuisine. The dumplings are soft and slightly chewy, while the cheese is sumptuously creamy.
Rugbrød med pålæg (rye bread with cold cuts) is an endlessly customisable breakfast, lunch or snack – which is probably why it’s so enduringly popular in Denmark. These open sandwiches can be topped with just about anything, from smoked salmon and cucumber to ham, cheese, tomatoes, radishes, liver pâté (leverpostej) and slices of egg. Many Danes eat rye bread every day, whether they’re going to the effort of building an elaborate sandwich or merely smearing some butter on a slice.
A staple food in both Moldova and Romania, the polenta dish mămăliga was historically a peasant food. It's still regularly eaten in Moldovan households, but it's also been turned into a more refined restaurant dish in recent years. Cooked as a substitute for bread, it’s thickened so it can be sliced, although it can be prepared so it’s much softer, too. Moldovans traditionally enjoy it with pork or fried fish and mujdei, a sauce made from ground garlic and oil.
Is it a cake? Is it a sweet bread? Whichever it is, potica is Slovenia’s top holiday dessert. Made with a yeasted dough, stuffed with all kinds of delicious sweet fillings, rolled, then baked in a special ring-shaped mould, it’s a treat that most Slovenians won’t be without on festive occasions like Christmas and Easter. Traditional fillings include ground walnuts, hazelnuts and poppy seeds. For those with less of a sweet tooth, savoury versions – which might include the likes of bacon or crackling – are available, too.
Swedish meatballs, or köttbullar, should be served in a very specific way. The meatballs themselves are a mix of beef and pork, seasoned with salt and white pepper (and sometimes allspice). On the side, there should be gräddsås (a creamy gravy), mashed or boiled potatoes and, perhaps most importantly of all, lingonberries. Köttbullar are also a key feature of a Swedish Christmas smörgåsbord.
When summer arrives in Latvia, shashlik is the perfect dish to feed a crowd. Skewered meat is cooked on a barbecue for the whole family to enjoy, with a marinade imparting delicious flavour – and everyone has their own recipe. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Latvia was introduced to shashlik via Eastern Europe. Now a popular choice for summer solstice celebrations, the meaty skewers commonly feature pork; however, any meat or vegetables are acceptable.
In Russia, blini are typically large and thin, although they’re often known to be smaller and chunkier elsewhere. A type of pancake, they’re slightly thicker than crêpes – and they can be eaten with both sweet and savoury toppings, from jam to caviar. They can be made with milk, buttermilk or even fermented kefir, and buckwheat blini are traditional, too. Blini are enjoyed all year, but they’re especially abundant during Maslenitsa, a religious and folk holiday celebrated the week before Great Lent.
Goulash (or gulyás, in Hungarian) takes its name for the Hungarian word for cattle herder – so the traditional soup can be seen as a cowboy’s meal. A soup rather than a stew, goulash combines tender pieces of beef with onions, vegetables such as carrots and potatoes, and sweet paprika. Csipetke, a type of pasta that’s pinched into irregular shapes, is often added, too. No one tends to mess with the basic recipe much, preferring to keep it traditional. But why argue with perfection?
Whether diamond-shaped or round, these savoury Maltese pastries are always delicious. Not to be confused with the Italian pastizz, a type of baked pastry turnover, Maltese pastizzi are traditionally filled with ricotta or curried peas, though other fillings are available in more modern interpretations, too. Even sweet fillings such as Nutella have made the occasional appearance at pastizzeriji, the bakeries where the treats are typically sold. Such is the enthusiasm for pastizzi in Malta that the phrase ‘jinbiegħu bħall-pastizzi’ (selling like pastizzi) is used to describe a product that’s flying off the shelves.
Potato pancakes, known as draniki in Belarus, are a simple dish that can bring so much joy. They're made using quality potatoes – and little else is needed once the potatoes are grated, except for some salt and onion. Instead of adding flour or egg to thicken and bind the mixture, liquid is squeezed from the potato, and the resulting starch is then added back in. After that, all that remains is to fry the pancakes, then serve them hot and crispy with a generous dollop of sour cream.
Tabletop raclette grills are common in Swiss households. On top, a hot plate is used to grill meat and vegetables – while underneath, slots hold small pans with slices of raclette cheese, allowing them to gently melt under the heat of the grill. Once the cheese has melted, sometimes with little pieces of meat and vegetables mixed in, it’s poured onto the plate and enjoyed with boiled potatoes and cornichons. Outside of the home, raclette cheese is traditionally heated as a large wheel and scraped off in layers, ready to be scooped up with crusty bread.
The instantly recognisable bright red of borscht comes from beetroot. The earthy ingredient is married with meat stock and other vegetables to make a sour soup that might also contain meat or fish, and which can be served hot or cold. A huge number of regional variations means everyone has their own way of cooking this popular soup, with different ingredients and cooking methods in nearly every oblast. In 2022, borscht was added to the UNESCO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage to help protect its tradition.
In Portugal, bacalhau – both the Portuguese word for salt cod and a stew made with the fish – is nothing short of an obsession. There are supposedly hundreds of different ways to prepare it, and it’s truly become a quintessential part of Portuguese culture. One of the most popular interpretations is a dish hailing from Lisbon, bacalhau à Brás, which sees shredded salt cod, onions and fried matchstick potatoes bound together with scrambled egg, then topped with a garnish of black olives and flat-leaf parsley.
Byrek goes by several other names, including burek and börek. Found in various forms throughout the Balkans, Turkey and several other countries, it’s loosely defined as a pastry or pie made with thin and flaky pastry, such as filo. Of course, such a widespread dish is bound to have plenty of regional variations. In Albania, cheese, spinach and egg, and meat and onions are both common fillings, layered with golden pastry that’s traditionally rolled by hand. Byrek is often made in individual triangular parcels, so it's the perfect handheld snack.
Not to be confused with the thin flatbread type of tortilla, a tortilla de patatas is an omelette made with potato. The issue of whether onion should be included in the mix is a contentious one, with some saying onion is authentic and others convinced that it's not. Onions or no onions, tortilla de patatas can be enjoyed hot, warm or cold – and it might be cut into wedges or bite-sized pieces. To make sure it gets the respect it deserves, many towns celebrate Día de la Tortilla (Tortilla Day), when people gather to make and eat the traditional omelette.
Pljeskavica (pronounced 'pyes-kah-veet-zah') is sometimes called a Serbian burger, and it’s easy to see why. A mix of pork, beef and lamb, spiced with paprika and black pepper, the meaty patties are occasionally slotted inside lepinja, a local flatbread, to complete the hamburger look. Pljeskavica can be served with onions, kajmak (a creamy dairy product), beans, the pepper and aubergine relish ajvar, or urnebes, a spicy cheese salad. Depending on where you are, you can also get your hands on super-spicy or cheese-stuffed versions.
British people and fish and chips go together like, well, fish and chips. The chip shop staple is consistently chosen by Brits as a favourite dish, even though many don’t buy it as often as they used to (largely due to rising costs). To make the comforting delicacy, a fish fillet (usually cod or haddock) is deep fried in a golden batter, served with hot, fluffy chips, and doused in salt and malt vinegar. Everyone has their own favourite accompaniment, whether it's mushy peas, gravy, curry sauce, tartare sauce or ketchup.
Dumplings are a staple of many cuisines around the world – and pierogi are Poland’s interpretation. Not only are they hugely popular in Poland, but they're also one of the most famous dumpling varieties globally. They can be filled, shaped and cooked in multiple ways, depending on your preference (and on the occasion at hand). Pierogi feature at many Polish festivals and celebrations, including Christmas, weddings and wakes. Potato, quark (a fresh dairy product) and fried onions combine to fill one of the most popular types, pierogi Ruskie.
Germany’s street foods are some of the country's most loved dishes – and, while some remain traditionally German, others have been influenced by flavours, ingredients and cooking methods from around the world. Though they get some tough competition from currywurst, döner kebabs come first in the popularity stakes. Created in the 1970s by Turkish immigrants, they're made by stuffing a flatbread with meat sliced thinly from a spit, then adding salad and lashings of sauce. Billions of euros worth of kebabs are sold every year, and many Berliners see the dish as an icon of the city.
It may be famous around the world these days, but souvlaki is still a favourite street food in its home country of Greece. The recipe sees marinated meat (usually pork or chicken) grilled on a skewer – in fact, souvlaki is a diminutive of souvla, the Greek word for skewer. It comes in many forms, including simple kalamaki, which is cooked on a wooden skewer, seasoned with salt and oregano, then served with lemon and bread. The meat can also be wrapped in a grilled pitta with tomatoes and red onions, plus tzatziki, yogurt or other sauces.
They might be known as French fries to some, but there’s a case for Belgium to claim them as their own. Some argue that they were Belgian all along; however, Belgian cuisine was tied into French, rather than being allowed its own unique identity on the global stage. Regardless of where they’re really from, there’s no denying their popularity in Belgium, where they're known as frites in French and frieten in Flemish. A favourite street food available from friteries (fast food stalls) across the country, the golden chips are traditionally served in cones with plenty of mayonnaise.
It may seem a little predictable, but pizza really is one of the most popular dishes in Italy – specifically, pizza made in the Neapolitan style, with a thin dough and a high, leopard-spotted crust. So sacred is the method of making it, it's received UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status. Traditionally made using San Marzano tomatoes (or tomatoes that grow on the volcanic plains below Mount Vesuvius) and buffalo mozzarella from Campania, this legendary pizza should be eaten fresh from the wood-fired oven while it’s still piping hot.
Now discover the most delicious dishes from around the world