Food of Bhutan
Bhutanese cooking is bold and fiery. Chilies are treated as a vegetable rather than a spice, and red rice, buckwheat and cheese anchor the meals. Dishes are usually stews of vegetables, dried meat or pork, cooked with local cheese and eaten with rice. Butter tea and rice dishes sustain mountain life.
Ema datshi
Green or red chilies simmered in a creamy cheese sauce, the national dish.
How to make Ema datshi- Main dishes (3)
- Breakfast (2)
- Street food (3)
- Soups (1)
- Desserts and sweets (2)
- Drinks (2)
- Fruits and produce (3)
Staples
- red rice
- chilies
- cheese
- buckwheat
- potato
- pork
- yak
Signature flavors
- chili
- Sichuan pepper
- garlic
- ginger
- butter
Main dishes
Green or red chilies simmered in a creamy cheese sauce, the national dish.
Key ingredients: chilies, datshi cheese, onion, tomato, garlicFull guide →Potatoes simmered in a creamy chili-cheese sauce.
Key ingredients: potato, cheese, chili, onionMushrooms cooked in chili-cheese sauce.
Key ingredients: mushroom, cheese, chiliBreakfast
Salty butter tea sipped through the day.
Key ingredients: tea, butter, saltLeftover rice fried with vegetables and chili.
Key ingredients: rice, vegetablesStreet food
Steamed dumplings filled with cabbage, cheese or pork, dipped in chili sauce.
Key ingredients: flour, cheese, cabbage, porkFull guide →Thin buckwheat noodles served with chili and greens, a specialty of Bumthang.
Key ingredients: buckwheat, chiliBuckwheat dumplings with turnip leaves.
Key ingredients: buckwheat, turnip greens, cheeseSoups
A warm noodle soup with vegetables and meat, popular in cool weather.
Key ingredients: noodles, vegetables, meatDesserts and sweets
Thin buckwheat pancakes enjoyed with butter or honey.
Key ingredients: buckwheat, eggSweet rice cooked with milk and sugar.
Key ingredients: rice, milk, sugarDrinks
Churned tea with butter and salt.
Key ingredients: tea, butter, saltHot milk tea with sugar served with snacks.
Key ingredients: tea, milk, sugarFruits and produce
Crisp mountain apples grown in the cool valleys, eaten fresh or pressed into juice.
Key ingredients: fresh, juice
Sweet-tart mandarins from the southern foothills, a winter favorite.
Key ingredients: fresh
Large black cardamom, a major crop used in cooking and tea.
Key ingredients: spiceDish guides from Bhutan
Explore Bhutan on Geographical EffectMaps, capital and cities, population, climate, landscapes and landmarks.More cuisines of Southern Asia
Descriptions written by Intercontinental Chef. Dishes are listed as commonly eaten today; many are shared across neighbouring countries.
- Ema datshi(Dry red chilli version): Rigzen Dema, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Tibetan butter tea: Yosomono, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Momo nepal: Kushal Goyal, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Thukpa, Tibetan noodle in Osaka, Japan: m-louis from Osaka, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 95apple: Agricultural Research Service (Research agent of United States Department of Agriculture), Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Citrus reticulata April 2013 Nordbaden: 4028mdk09, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 02017 0119 Kardamom, Winter in den Beskiden: Silar, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
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