Food of Germany
German cooking is hearty and comforting, with bread, potatoes, cabbage, pork and sausages at its core, and strong regional traditions from Bavarian dumplings to Rhineland roasts and Baltic fish. Bakeries sell hundreds of kinds of bread and rolls, and the main meal often includes a meat dish, a starch and a vegetable. Cake and coffee in the afternoon are a daily ritual.
Sauerbraten
Marinated beef roast braised until tender in a tangy, spiced sauce.
How to make Sauerbraten- Main dishes (8)
- Breakfast (5)
- Street food (6)
- Soups (4)
- Salads (4)
- Breads (3)
- Desserts and sweets (8)
- Drinks (6)
- Fruits and produce (6)
Staples
- rye bread
- potatoes
- pork
- cabbage
- sausages
- asparagus
- wheat flour
Signature flavors
- caraway
- mustard
- marjoram
- juniper
- parsley
- horseradish
- nutmeg
Main dishes
Marinated beef roast braised until tender in a tangy, spiced sauce.
Key ingredients: beef, vinegar, onion, cloves, gingersnapsFull guide →
A thin breaded veal or pork cutlet fried golden and served with lemon.
Key ingredients: veal or pork, breadcrumbs, eggs, flour, lemonFull guide →Bavarian roast pork with a crackling crust and dark gravy.
Key ingredients: pork shoulder, caraway, garlic, onion, stock
Thin beef slices rolled around bacon, onion and pickle, then braised.
Key ingredients: beef, bacon, onion, pickle, mustard
Roasted pork knuckle with crisp skin and tender meat.
Key ingredients: pork knuckle, caraway, garlic, salt
Lightly cured and smoked pork loin served with sauerkraut.
Key ingredients: smoked pork loin, sauerkraut, potatoes
Swabian pasta pockets filled with meat and spinach, served in broth or pan-fried.
Key ingredients: pasta dough, ground meat, spinach, onion, parsley
Soft egg noodles dropped from a board into boiling water.
Key ingredients: flour, eggs, milk, nutmeg, butterBreakfast
Fresh crusty rolls with butter, cheese, cold cuts and jam.
Key ingredients: bread rolls, butter, cheese, ham, jam
Oats with fruit, nuts and milk or yogurt.
Key ingredients: oats, fruit, nuts, yogurtFull guide →
Bavarian white sausages with sweet mustard and a soft pretzel.
Key ingredients: veal sausage, sweet mustard, pretzelFresh creamy quark served with berries and honey.
Key ingredients: quark, berries, honey
Dense dark rye bread served with cheese and cold cuts.
Key ingredients: rye, sourdough, butterStreet food
Grilled sausage in a roll with mustard.
Key ingredients: sausage, bread roll, mustardFull guide →
Sliced sausage in tomato-curry sauce with fries.
Key ingredients: sausage, curry sauce, friesFull guide →
Sliced spit-roasted meat in flatbread with salad and sauce, a fixture of German streets.
Key ingredients: meat, flatbread, lettuce, tomato, yogurt sauceFull guide →
Crisp fries with mayonnaise or ketchup.
Key ingredients: potatoes, oil, mayonnaise
Fried grated potato fritters served hot at fairs.
Key ingredients: potatoes, onion, oil, applesauceSugar-roasted almonds sold at markets and fairs.
Key ingredients: almonds, sugar, cinnamon, vanillaSoups
A hearty lentil soup with smoked sausage and vegetables.
Key ingredients: lentils, carrots, potatoes, sausage, vinegarA creamy potato soup with sausage slices.
Key ingredients: potatoes, leeks, carrots, sausage, marjoram
Thick split-pea soup with smoked pork.
Key ingredients: split peas, smoked pork, carrots, celeryClear beef broth with liver dumplings and chives.
Key ingredients: beef broth, liver dumplings, chivesSalads
Potatoes in a warm, tangy broth-and-vinegar dressing.
Key ingredients: potatoes, bacon, onion, vinegar, mustardFull guide →Thinly sliced cucumbers in a creamy dill dressing.
Key ingredients: cucumber, sour cream, dill, vinegar
Shredded cabbage with vinegar, oil and caraway.
Key ingredients: white cabbage, vinegar, oil, caraway
Sausage salad with onions and pickles in a vinegar dressing.
Key ingredients: sausage, onion, pickles, vinegarBreads
A knotted soft bread with a dark, salty crust.
Key ingredients: flour, yeast, lye or baking soda bath, saltFull guide →
A dense, flavorful sourdough rye loaf.
Key ingredients: rye flour, sourdough, carawayA crisp-crusted morning roll topped with seeds.
Key ingredients: wheat flour, yeast, sesame seedsDesserts and sweets
Chocolate sponge layered with cherries and whipped cream.
Key ingredients: chocolate sponge, cherries, cream, chocolateFull guide →
Thin pastry rolled around spiced apples, raisins and breadcrumbs.
Key ingredients: apples, pastry, cinnamon, raisinsFull guide →
Sweet yeast cake with almond-honey topping and custard cream.
Key ingredients: yeast dough, almonds, honey, custardA creamy German cheesecake made with quark.
Key ingredients: quark, eggs, sugar, lemon, butter crustJelly-filled doughnut dusted with sugar.
Key ingredients: yeast dough, jam, sugar
Fluffy shredded pancake with raisins and powdered sugar.
Key ingredients: eggs, flour, milk, raisins, butter
Soft spiced honey cookies from Nuremberg.
Key ingredients: honey, almonds, spices, flourRed berry compote thickened and served with cream or vanilla sauce.
Key ingredients: red currants, raspberries, strawberries, vanilla sauceDrinks
Filtered coffee served at the afternoon coffee-and-cake break.
Key ingredients: coffee, milk
Apple juice mixed with sparkling mineral water.
Key ingredients: apple juice, sparkling water
A mix of cola and orange soda.
Key ingredients: cola, orange sodaA gentle fennel infusion often served after meals.
Key ingredients: fennel seeds, hot water
Thick hot chocolate served with whipped cream.
Key ingredients: dark chocolate, milk, creamElderflower cordial diluted with cold water.
Key ingredients: elderflower, sugar, lemon, waterFruits and produce
Orchards of the Rhine and Lake Constance produce crisp apples.
Key ingredients: strudel, juice, compote
Tart cherries used in Black Forest cake and compote.
Key ingredients: cake, jam, juice
Zwetschgen plums are baked on yeast-dough cakes.
Key ingredients: plum cake, jam, compote
Spring's prized white asparagus served with potatoes and butter.
Key ingredients: boiled with butter, hollandaise, ham
Local strawberries appear every early summer.
Key ingredients: with cream, cake, jam
Tart stalks baked in cakes and cooked into compote.
Key ingredients: compote, crumble, cakeDish guides from Germany
More cuisines of Western Europe
Descriptions written by Intercontinental Chef. Dishes are listed as commonly eaten today; many are shared across neighbouring countries.
- Heldrunger Sauerbraten 2: Dr. Bernd Gross, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Wiener-Schnitzel02: Kobako, CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Unsliced Flank Roulade: Robspinella, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 00ane Haxen: Erich Ferdinand, CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Kassler: No machine-readable author provided. Achim Raschka assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Maultaschensuppe: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Spätzle-02: Kobako, CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)
- ElSolBread03: AlejandroLinaresGarcia, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Dorset Cereals muesli: Mx. Granger, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Weißwurst-1: Rainer Z ..., CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Pumpernickel: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- German Bratwürste: Gerbis, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 20220430 currywurst: Ziko van Dijk, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Doner Kebap in Hanoi: Dragfyre, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- French Fries: StockSnap, CC0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Reibekuchen mit Apfelmus: Martin van Baal, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Hernekeitto: User:Opalaisen, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Potato salad (1): SajjadF, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 2015-12-20 Spitzkohlsalat mit Möhren anagoria: Anagoria, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Wurstsalat-1: Rainer Z ..., CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- BrezelnSalz02 (cropped): Sundar1, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Market Bread, Riga, Latvia: Ken Eckert, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Black Forest gateau: Mikelo, CC BY-SA 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Strudel: che, CC BY-SA 2.5 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Bienenstich 140531 AW: Alice Wiegand, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 2015 0731 Kaiserschmarrn Apfelsoße Edelweisshütte Sölden: Takeaway, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Lebkuchen-pile: Cnbrb, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- TEDxAMS2011 044: Vera de Kok, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Apfelschorle: Bundesstefan, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Paulaner Spezi: ShepHale, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Chocolate cup Chantilly porcelain 18th century: World Imaging, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- 95apple: Agricultural Research Service (Research agent of United States Department of Agriculture), Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Prunus cerasus - Köhler–s Medizinal-Pflanzen-113: Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen, Public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
- Plums African Rose - whole, halved and slice: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Asparagus-Bundle: Evan-Amos, CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Garden strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) single2: Ivar Leidus, CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
- Rheum rhabarbarum.2006-04-27.uellue: Dieter Weber (User:Uellue), CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)
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