14 Best Polish Food You Need to Try in Poland

Polish cuisine has evolved over the centuries, offering diverse meals similar to neighboring nations’ cuisines. The food here is rich in meat, vegetables, and herbs that make up delicious dumplings, hearty soups, and flavorful comfort food. So, if you are traveling to the country and wonder what is the best Polish food you can try, this complete guide covers the staples I have tried in various cities. 

Traditional Polish foods typically use chicken and pork, while mushrooms, cabbage, and potato are common vegetables. Polish dishes also extensively use eggs, butter, cream, seasoning, cereals, and pasta. Much like Georgian cuisine, Poland also has meals typical to a specific region. 

Several trips to Poland allowed me to try traditional Polish dishes in Krakow, Warsaw, Poznan, Wroclaw, and Katowice. Therefore, this best Polish food list has my personal favorites and must-tries on your next trip.

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Understanding traditional Polish cuisine

In the Middle Ages, the Polish national dishes were based on agricultural produce and cereal crops, meats of farm and wild animals, fruits, forest mushrooms, berries, honey, and local spices. The salt mined in the Wieliczka salt mine was one of the prime seasonings. 

With the close trade relations with Turkey and the Caucasus countries, the price of spices, such as black pepper and nutmeg, was lower here than in the rest of Europe, leading to the popularity of spicy sauces. 

Under the Partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, traditional Polish cuisine became greatly affected by the cuisines of surrounding empires, including Russian, German, and culinary traditions of the countries under the Austro-Hungarian empire.

Today, a classic Polish dinner comprises soup, a main course, and a dessert. Tomato soup with sour cream is one of the most popular ones that Poles enjoy at lunch or dinner. The Polish main dishes usually include meat, such as a breaded cutlet or a roast, with some coleslaw-like side or a sauerkraut. The side dishes are typically boiled potatoes or buckwheat. As for the dessert, Poles love their fruit compote, poppy seed pastry called makowiec, or cheesecake. 

The country also has traditional festive Polish meals only cooked on specific occasions, such as Christmas Eve or Easter. But my favorite Polish holiday tradition is Tłusty Czwartek, or Fat Thursday, observed on the last Thursday before Lent, comparable to Pancake Day. 

Traditionally, Fat Thursday is a day to enjoy cakes and sweets before the forty days of fasting observed among Catholics until Easter Day. Therefore, it moves according to Easter dates and in 2024, it falls on February 8. The most popular Polish food for Fat Thursday is Polish doughnuts, or pazcki, and faworki, or angel wings. 

For those who want to make some of them at home and are looking for books with the best Polish food recipes, Amazon has many choices in paperback and Kindle versions. A few of them even cover more than 100 most popular Polish dishes. 

Best Polish food to try on your next trip

Bigos

Bigos, often called hunter’s strew in English, is the best Polish food and is considered Poland’s national dish.

This hot meal is made of assorted meats chopped in bite-size pieces stewed with sauerkraut, shredded fresh cabbage, and spices and can be enriched with extra vegetables. The meats may be pork, beef, veal, poultry, and charcuterie, including Polish sausages kiełbasa. 

The mixture of sauerkraut with spices and freshly shredded cabbage is pre-cooked in a bit of water before adding meat slices and then left to simmer for several hours.   

The flexible recipe for bigos allows for many variants, where people may use whatever ingredients they have. Moreover, there are regional variations of bigos, too. For example, in Greater Poland, it has a tomato paste flavored with garlic and marjoram. In Silesia, it is mixed with their typical dumplings, either with kluski or kopytka. 

Pierogi

My favorite and best Polish food I can enjoy non-stop is the Polish dumplings known as pierogi. Unlike Georgian Khinkali, pierogi here are entirely different and made from unleavened dough filled with various stuffings that can be sweet or savory. 

The traditional Polish pierogi recipe calls for potato, cheese, sauerkraut, ground meat, mushrooms, and berries. Savory pierogi often have sour cream or fried onions as the topping. 

Pierogi was a peasant food that became Polish popular food in the 17th century. This staple can be enjoyed nationwide, the most famous being pierogi ruskie, made of minced and boiled potatoes and fried onions. 

Kielbasa

Kielbasa is any meat sausage from Poland and another staple of local cuisine. They come in dozens of fresh or smoked varieties made from turkey, pork, chicken, beef, or veal, and every region has its own specialty. 

The most popular kiełbasa is called Kiełbasa Polska or Kiełbasa Starowiejska, the latter translated as Old Countryside Sausage. It is often served garnished with fried onions or in the form of cut-in pieces. It can also be included as an ingredient in soups, such as zurek (see below), cooked with sauerkraut, or added to stews like bigos. 

Kotlet schabowy 

Kotlet schabowy is another best Polish food you must try on your trip. This breaded pork cutlet, similar to Viennese schnitzel, is among the top 10 Polish foods, making it widespread at traditional restaurants and milk bars. 

Some of the Polish food recipes books from the 19th century feature different recipes of cutlets, including schabowy, marking the dish’s origins. 

Pork tenderloin, pounded with a mallet to make it thinner, is then marinated in milk and onions. Once ready, the meat is coated in flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs and fried in lard or oil. 

The typical side dish for Kotlet schabowy is boiled or mashed potatoes, fried mushrooms, or cooked vegetables. 

Zurek 

Zurek is a traditional rye soup and another of the best Polish food I tried on my last visit. Historically, western Slavic countries made fermented cereals like wheat, rye, or oatmeal to create soups afterward. And Polish zurek is no exception. 

The soup is typically made of soured rye flour and sausage, but like many other Polish foods, this one also varies regionally. Depending on the restaurant, sometimes zurek is served in an edible bread bowl. In northeastern Poland, zurek comes with halved boiled eggs, while in Silesia, it comes in a bowl poured over mashed potatoes. 

Traditionally, zurek is an Easter dish in Poland, but today, it is widespread in many restaurants nationwide. It’s also considered one of the best Polish comfort foods for many locals. 

Barszcz 

Barszcz is a Polish version of the known Borscht soup. However, it is very different from the Ukrainian one. 

This ruby-colored beetroot soup combines meat and vegetable stock and uses different vegetables than other Borscht variations. What makes this different from others is that Polish barszcz is strained from all the ingredients, meaning you only sip the broth without boiled vegetables. 

Like zurek, barszcz is also a festive meal commonly prepared for Christmas Eve dinner. However, you don’t need to wait for that time of the year as most of the restaurants in all the Polish cities have it on their menu. 

Another difference among Polish and other Borscht soups I’ve tried is that Poles serve it in a soup bowl or a mug. And unlike others, Poles don’t use sour cream, either. 

The Christmas Eve barszcz may be made from fish broth instead of meat, but it always has uszka inside, which are small dumplings usually filled with minced meat or wild forest mushrooms. 

Zapiekanka

A zapiekanka is a famous Polish food enjoyed on the go or as a quick bite since the 1970s. This toasted open-face sandwich calls for a half slice of baguette, sautéed champignon mushrooms, and cheese topped with a sauce of your choice.  

However, today, there are several varieties of zapiekanka with different ingredients, such as ham, chicken, salami, bacon, tune, spinach, etc. 

The word zapiekanka derives from the verb zapiekać, meaning to bake a dish until the point where its ingredients combine and has a crisp brown crust on the top. The word also may refer to diverse casseroles and other dishes made in this manner. 

A typical zapiekanka can be up to 50 centimeters long, making it a very filling yet simple street food. 

Rolada with Silesian dumplings

One of the best Polish foods I’ve tried in Katowice was a Rolada with Silesian dumplings, a regional Polish meal famous in Silesia. 

Rolada is a rolled meat dish made of thin slices of beef, flavored with pepper and salt, and stuffed with vegetables. The traditional side dish of a rolada is kluski śląskie or Silesian dumplings made of potato. 

When served, the dish has flavorful gravy and boiled red cabbage. It is one of the typical Polish comfort foods consumed on Sundays and feast days in many Silesian families. 

Placki Ziemniaczane

Placki Ziemniaczane, or Polish potato pancakes, is another staple of the local cuisine served with meat sauce topping, pork crisps, or goulash. Sometimes, it comes with sour cream or mushroom sauce. 

In the 19th century, due to various economic difficulties, these potato pancakes often replaced bread among the peasants. Their popularity is also closely connected to the world’s largest Jewish communities growing in Poland. 

Oscypek 

Oscypek is a smoked cheese of salted sheep milk native to the Tatra Mountains but sold nationwide. Since 2008, Oscypek has been recorded under the EU Protected Designation of Origin, and the person who makes it even has a name called “baca,” a term also meaning a shepherd in the mountains. 

Similar cheese also exists in the Slovak Tatra Mountains, called oštiepok, but the ingredients and the making process differ from the Polish one. In Poland, it’s made from at least 60% sheep’s milk, must weigh between 60 and 80g, and be between 17 and 23cm. The cheese has its production period from late April to early October, when the sheep are fed on fresh mountain grass. The cheese is then smoked for 14 days. 

Osypek is a traditional holiday cheese and a popular snack at Christmas Markets if you travel to Poland in winter. At the markets, Osypek is often pan-fried and served with cranberry jam on the side, making it the ultimate and best Polish food. 

Obwarzanek Krakowski 

An Obwarzanek Krakowski is a pretzel-like round bread native to Krakow with a protected geographical indication status. 

Sold at various kiosks and stalls across the Krakow city center, it is good street food and a snack to try in Krakow. The preparation process includes boiling a breaded dough and then topping it with poppy seeds, salt, or sesame before baking. 

The end product has a subtle sweet taste while being chewy under a crunchy golden crust, resembling Turkish simit. 

Rogal Swiętomarciński

Rogal Swiętomarciński, or St. Martin’s croissant, is another regional best Polish food I think everyone should try. Originally from Poznan, St. Martin’s croissant is a pastry boasting protected designations of origin and protected geographical indication that EU Law protects. 

Even though the croissant was baked mainly on November 11 to commemorate St. Martin’s Day, it is now sold in various pastry shops across the city. It has a particular recipe to follow, and only a handful of bakeries make the authentic rogal swiętomarciński; therefore, look for a specific certificate stating so. 

The filling of the croissant consists of white poppy seeds, nuts, raisins, and sugar, then coated in icing and sprinkled with more nuts. It is big, weighing at least 250 grams, and incredibly filling. 

And if you are in Poznan, one of the best things to do is to book a visit to the Croissant Museum to learn more about its history and preparation techniques. 

Pączki 

Pączki is deep-fried Polish doughnuts with various fillings. With the flattened ball shape, the doughnuts have confiture or other sweet stuffing, with wild rose petals and stewed plum jams being classics.  

Depending on the type, they are also covered with glaze, icing, or powdered sugar. Unlike many deep-friend doughnuts, paczki is not oily because of the added grain alcohol in a small amount to the dough before cooking, preventing oil absorption. Therefore, the doughnuts are fluffy and soft with crispy golden outside. 

Sernik

Poland has its own cheesecake called sernik. It is one of the most popular desserts in the country, made from twaróg, a dairy product similar to quark and cottage cheese. Like typical cheesecake, it can be baked or no-bake. 

The recipe for sernik can be flexible and might be flavored with lemon, orange peel, or vanilla. Some bakeries also add raisins or fresh fruits to it. The topping is usually chocolate, coconut flakes, or nuts.