Smacznego!
Polish cuisine is hearty and substantial, reflecting the country’s agrarian heritage. It features an abundance of meat, especially pork and beef, as well as a variety of grains and vegetables. Potatoes are a staple food in Poland and are used in many traditional dishes. Dairy products, such as sour cream, cottage cheese, and butter, are also commonly used in Polish cooking.
Polish cuisine can vary depending on the region, but it is overall hearty, comforting and often involves some type of meat, potatoes and gravy. It has influences from surrounding countries, but maintains its unique character and flavors.
Polish cuisine has also been influenced by neighboring countries, such as Ukraine, Germany and Belarus. This is particularly evident in the use of smoked meats and sausages, as well as hearty grains such as barley and rye in dishes.
Poland has a diverse culinary tradition, with many local and regional specialties. Each region and community had its own ways of cooking, ingredients, and dishes that were passed down for generations. Therefore, it’s a rich and varied cuisine, reflecting the country’s history and cultural heritage.
Polish cuisine is also known for its use of various herbs and spices, such as marjoram, dill, and caraway seeds, which are used to flavor many dishes.
Bread & sausages
One of the most famous dishes in Poland is pierogi, which are dumplings filled with a variety of ingredients such as potatoes, cottage cheese, sauerkraut, or meat. They are often served with sour cream and can be boiled or fried. Other popular dishes include bigos, which is a hearty stew made with sauerkraut, meat, and various vegetables.
Poland is also known for its hearty soups such as the traditional chicken noodle soup, “rosół" or the beetroot soup, “barszcz" which is served often with dumplings and boiled egg.
Meat dishes such as pork cutlet “kotlet schabowy", “schabowy" or roasted pork knuckle “golonka" are also a staple in Polish cuisine. The traditional side dishes often include potatoes, whether mashed or fried.
Pickles are a mainstay of Polish cuisine, particularly pickled cucumbers and herring and you will find a variety of pickled goodies in or accompanying many different dishes. Generally speaking, Polish cuisine is substantial and high in calories and often contains a lot of meat. A favourite snack is bread and sausages.
Poland is also known for its sweets, especially traditional piernik, gingerbread, and kremówka, a cream pie, which are enjoyed by locals and tourists alike.
Below you will find the 12 most popular dishes in Poland. For those of you who are coming to Warsaw or are here already, check out these local cooking experiences.
Learn even more about Poland, beyond its culture and monuments, on a traditional Polish food tour where you’ll come in contact with the local kitchens.
Pierogi
Pierogi are filled dumplings made by wrapping unleavened dough around a savoury or sweet filling and cooking in boiling water. They are often then pan-fried before serving. Typical fillings include potato, quark, sauerkraut, ground meat, mushrooms, or fruits. Savoury pierogi are often served with a topping of sour cream, fried onions, or both.
Golonka
The name golonka refers to the pork hock, or pork knuckle, which is usually seared and slowly cooked until tender. It is usually served whole, on the bone, alongside boiled potatoes, cabbage, a variety of cooked vegetables, and horseradish or mustard sauce. Golonka is often served at weddings and other special occasions and is served in most Polish restaurants.
Kaszanka
Kaszanka is a traditional blood sausage in east and central European cuisine. It is made of a mixture of pig’s blood, pork offal and buckwheat stuffed in a pig intestine. It is usually flavoured with onion, black pepper, and marjoram. Kaszanka may be eaten cold, but traditionally it is either grilled or fried with some onions and then served with potato and sauerkraut.
Barszcz
Borsht, or barszcz in Polish, is an umbrella term for several soups based on sour broth. It was originally made from hogweed; however today pickled beetroot is the main ingredient giving the soup a distinctive red colour. An alternative is white barszcz which is made from soured wheat flour.
Bigos
Bigos is a Polish dish of chopped meat of various kinds stewed with sauerkraut and shredded fresh cabbage. It is served hot and can be enriched with vegetables, spices or wine. The recipe for bigos allows a great number of variants, often simply using what ingredients are at hand.
Gołąbki
Gołąbki is the Polish name of a dish popular in cuisines of Central Europe, made from boiled cabbage leaves wrapped around a filling of minced pork or beef, chopped onions, and rice or barley. Gołąbki are often served during the Christmas season and on festive occasions such as weddings.
Kiełbasa
Kielbasa is any type of meat sausage from Poland, and a staple of Polish cuisine. Kielbasa comes in dozens of varieties, smoked or fresh, made with pork, beef, turkey, lamb, chicken or veal with every region of Poland having its own speciality. Kielbasa is one of the most traditional foods served at Polish weddings.
Kotlet Schabowy
Kotlet schabowy is a Polish variety of pork breaded cutlet coated with breadcrumbs similar to Viennese schnitzel, but made of loin (with the bone or without), or with pork chop. There’s also the Polish variety of the chicken breast cutlet coated with breadcrumbs looking somewhat similar, or the turkey cutlet coated with breadcrumbs made the same way.
Naleśniki
Naleśniki are traditional, thin pancakes from Poland, which may come in sweet or savory versions. Sweet naleśniki are usually filled with fruit, jams, preserves, or other sweet fillings, while the savory varieties may contain ingredients such as cheese, meat, sauerkraut, mushrooms, or ham. Sometimes, naleśniki can be filled with a combination of cottage cheese and cinnamon sugar, when they are known as blintzes.
Placki
Potato pancakes, literally translated in Polish as placki ziemniaczane, are often served in Poland topped with meat sauce, pork crisps or goulash, as well as sour cream, apple sauce, mushroom sauce and cottage or sheep’s cheese or even fruit syrup. Traditionally, potato pancakes are eaten on Fridays as a meat substitute for Catholics.
Żurek
Żurek is a soup made of soured rye flour (akin to sourdough) and meat (usually boiled pork sausage or pieces of smoked sausage, bacon or ham). In Poland it is sometimes served in an edible bowl made of bread or with boiled potatoes, poured over mashed potatoes or eaten with halved hard-boiled eggs. It is traditionally eaten at Easter.
Zapiekanka
A zapiekanka also known as Polish pizza, is a toasted open-face sandwich made of a sliced baguette or other long roll of bread, topped with sautéed white mushrooms, cheese and sometimes other ingredients such as ham. Served hot with ketchup, it has been a popular street food in Poland since the 1970s.
Polish food Tours & Experiences
Taste the best of Polish cuisine in Warsaw, experience local culture and get to know the history of Poland linked to its food on this 4 hours off the beaten tourist path food tour. With the help of a retro minibus, your foodie-guide will take you to much more exciting and tasty places than typical walking food tours do: the best farmer’s bazaar, traditional pastry shop, local restaurant and pub.