27 Popular Romanian Christmas Dishes
The richness of Romanian gastronomy becomes especially evident during the Christmas season, when cooking plays a central role in the celebrations. Christmas is one of the most important holidays in Romania, carrying deep spiritual, cultural, and family significance. Traditional Christmas cooking is more than just preparing food; it is a ritual that brings together multiple generations and is closely tied to other holiday customs and celebrations.
While some ceremonial practices have faded over time, Christmas cooking remains a core part of Romanian tradition. The dishes prepared for the holiday vary significantly from one region to another, reflecting the country’s geography and history.
Transylvanian cuisine shows strong Hungarian and Saxon influences, Moldavian cooking bears traces of Russian and Ukrainian traditions, while the cuisines of Wallachia and Dobruja have been shaped by Greek and Turkish culinary heritage. Together, these regional differences create the rich and varied Christmas table that defines Romanian holiday food culture.
1. Sarmale
Sarmale are probably the quintessential Christmas main dish in Romania. There’s really no Christmas without them, and they’re incredibly tasty.
Depending on the region, sarmale are made with either sauerkraut or vine leaves; the rolls can be larger or smaller, and the filling may use fattier or leaner pork. In some regions, such as Dobruja, the filling can be fish-based, but this is a regional specialty.
They are traditionally served with a generous amount of sour cream and bread or mamaliga (Romanian polenta).
2. Cozonac
Another traditional food closely associated with Christmas—though just as popular at Easter—is cozonac. It is the most beloved Romanian cake served during the winter and spring holidays. Cozonac is a rich, yeasted cake, typically filled with crushed walnuts, cocoa, Turkish delight, or poppy seeds.
There are notable regional variations as well. For example, the Moldavian version differs from those found elsewhere in the country, using an exceptionally high number of egg yolks—sometimes as many as 20 yolks per kilogram of flour—and requiring a much longer kneading time.
Cozonac dough has a distinctive aroma created by the combination of milk, melted butter, lemon zest, vanilla, and yeast. Traditional recipes may also include lard and buttermilk. The dough is kneaded for up to an hour, filled with walnuts or poppy seeds, and then baked until golden. Once cooled, cozonac should tear easily into long strands, which was the traditional way it was eaten.
3. Pork (Fried, Roast, Stew)
Pork is the meat of choice for Christmas in Romania, and there is a long-standing tradition of slaughtering pigs in the days leading up to the holiday (tăierea porcului de Ignat).
The meat is then prepared in a variety of ways—fried (friptură), roasted, or stewed—while pork sausages, whether fried or boiled, are an essential part of the Christmas table.
One popular pork dish is tochitură. The technique used to prepare tochitură—its name means “molten” in the Moldavian dialect—involves using generous amounts of fresh, fatty pork, cooked slowly in rendered pork fat alongside smoked sausages and other smoked meats. The meat is cooked until deeply browned and crisp.
Tochitură is prepared across all regions of Romania during the Christmas period, though it is served differently depending on the region.
4. Ciorbă Rădăuțeană (Rădăuți Soup)
Soup is always present on the Romanian Christmas lunch and dinner table, and this is one of the most beloved soups in the country. Rădăuți soup takes inspiration from the classic tripe soup but is easier to digest, replacing tripe with chicken. While the original recipe calls for chicken breast only, other parts of the bird can also be used.
Rădăuți soup begins much like a traditional chicken soup. Once the meat and vegetables are boiled, they are removed from the broth; the meat is deboned and cut into chunks, and the vegetables are sliced, with the exception of the onion.
The meat and vegetables are then returned to the broth, which is seasoned with vinegar. The soup is finished with a mixture of egg yolks and sour cream, giving it its characteristic richness. Garlic and pickled red peppers are added for extra flavor. It is traditionally served with freshly baked bread, hot chilies, and sour cream (of course!).
5. Turta Dulce (Gingerbread)
The traditional Saxon gingerbread recipe is a well-kept secret in many Transylvanian families.
The secret of gingerbread lies in the spice, and the nuts used to make the batter. The amount of each spice and the option of using or not using nuts (chopped walnuts or almonds are the most popular options) is a feature of the recipe passed down from one generation to another. Among the most popular spices used for gingerbread are allspice, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise, ginger, and white pepper.
6. Ciorbă de Perișoare (Meatball Soup)
Another very popular traditional holiday soup is ciorbă de perișoare. It is a sour soup flavored with sauerkraut brine and lovage, made with plenty of vegetables and tender meat dumplings.
The recipe begins with preparing the meat dumplings, which are made from minced pork or veal mixed with onions, rice, egg, and fresh herbs. The vegetables—carrots, onions, and peppers—are chopped, sautéed in oil, then simmered in stock. The dumplings are added and cooked until tender. The soup is finished with sauerkraut brine for acidity and thickened with a mixture of sour cream and egg yolks.
7. Sausages
Sausages are so popular around Christmas in Romania that they deserve a category of their own. They come in many different varieties and preparations: smoked (by far the most common), fresh, made primarily from pork, but sometimes from a mix of pork and beef or even sheep’s meat.
You will almost always find sausages on the Christmas table—either smoked and served as an appetizer, or fried and paired with pork dishes and polenta.
8. Salată de Boeuf
Talking about appetizers, salată de boeuf is a very popular appetizer served in Romania, especially at celebrations as well as major holidays like Easter and Christmas. It’s quite similar to the Olivier & Russian salad and while the traditional recipe calls for beef, nowadays chicken is as, if not more, popular than beef.
9. Salată de Icre (Roe Salad)
Roe salad is a very popular appetizer throughout Romania. As the Dobruja region is famous for its fish dishes, it is the place to find the best roe salad. Of course, many stores sell the salad as a ready-made product, but the homemade version tastes better.
Romanian roe salad is usually prepared with carp, herring, or pike eggs, which are mixed with oil and a drizzle of lemon until they turn into a cream. A variation to the dish is adding chopped onions, which complement the taste of the salad perfectly. The salad is consumed on toast or with fresh bread.
10. Salam de Biscuiți (Cookie Salami)
A very popular dessert during the communist regime which continues to be appreciated today, this roll is made using actual cookies (i.e. biscuits) and a simple filling with cocoa, orange and lemon rinds, dried cranberries, dried raisins, and walnuts. These ingredients are combined with milk or sugar syrup, then mixed with the crushed cookies and butter, and rolled into a cake which is kept in the fridge until it hardens.
When cut into slices, the cake resembles salami, hence the name. It can be flavored with vanilla or rum, depending on taste. For many Romanians, the rich flavor of the cake is a beautiful reminder of their childhood, because it was such a popular cake in the past.
11. Tobă
Another very popular Christmas starter is toba, a combination of pork aspic and boiled sausages. It shares the key ingredients with pork aspic (pork skins, feet, ears, tongue, kidneys, heart, and pieces of meat from the knuckles or thigh). Unlike aspic, the contents of toba are stuffed inside a pork’s stomach and smoked.
To make toba, the organs, skins, and meat are all boiled together in salted water, and flavored with pepper and garlic. After boiling, the meat is de-boned, and the organs are cleaned of the skins. Then, all the meat is cut into small pieces. The water is flavored again with salt, pepper, garlic, and sweet paprika, and boiled until it thickens. The meat and flavored water are mixed and stuffed inside a pork’s stomach. Then everything is broiled for another 2 hours in the oven, at 80 Celsius degrees. The next day, after is it cold, the toba is smoked for 2-3 days.
12. Slănină, Caltaboș si Jumări
Slănina, caltaboș and jumări are commonly served as appetizers, alongside smoked sausages, tobă (see above), cheese, and olives.
A recipe of over 1000 years, slănina is similar to Italian pancetta but rougher, saltier, and with almost no meat. It is prepared from the layer of fat between the pork’s skin and meat, and results in a block of fat which can be prepared or melted and turned into lard.
Caltaboș is a traditional Romanian sausage made primarily for the winter holidays, especially around Christmas. It is a boiled sausage prepared from pork offal—such as liver, lungs, heart, and sometimes head meat—mixed with rice or barley, onions, and spices like pepper and bay leaf, then stuffed into natural casings.
Jumări are a traditional Romanian pork specialty made by slowly rendering cubes of fatty pork until they become golden, crisp, and deeply flavorful. Typically prepared during the winter pig slaughter, they are enjoyed warm or cold, often served with bread, onions, and a splash of țuică or wine as part of the Christmas spread.
13. Mămăligă (Romanian Polenta)
It is an easy-to-make cornmeal porridge similar to the Italian polenta and it requires just three basic ingredients: cornmeal, salt and water. It’s one of the most popular side dishes, served alongside fried pork and sausages, stews or sarmale.
14. Prăjituri cu Foi (Layered Cakes)
Alongside cozonac, layered cakes—generally known as prăjituri—are the dessert of choice for Christmas in Romania. There are countless recipes, featuring a wide variety of fillings, from fruit jams to custards, buttercreams, and chocolate-based fillings.
15. Varză Murată & Murături (Sauerkraut & Pickles)
Pickled vegetables and sauerkraut are indispensable on the Romanian Christmas table. There is a long tradition of pickling vegetables and cabbage in Romania, especially since fresh produce was often unavailable during the communist period, forcing people to rely on preserved foods.
They are also highly appreciated for the acidity they bring to traditional Romanian dishes, which are often rich and high in fat.
16. Mashed Potatoes
Mashed potatoes are probably one of the most popular side dishes served during the holiday table. They are easy to make and pair well with traditional Romanian pork dishes.
17. Știuca Umplută (Stuffed Pike)
The main dish in a Dobruja Christmas dinner, the stuffed pike, is a complex food that requires preparation and multiple stages during cooking. A traditional food of Dobruja, it uses a variety of fish with sweet-tasting, fine meat, stuffed with onions, carrots, walnuts, eggs, and fresh greens.
To prepare the dish, the pike is cleaned of its scales, and the meat is cut from the bones. Then the ground meat is mixed with the vegetables, and this mixture is stuffed inside the fish. The skin is sewn together, and the pike is cooked in the oven, together with carrots, onions, and small potatoes. 10 minutes before the dish is ready, the fish is splashed with white wine so that the flavors mix. Served with lemon wedges and oven-baked vegetables, it represents a light main dish for Christmas.
18. Piftie Porc (Pork Aspic)
Romanian Christmas aspic is usually prepared with pork. The only exception is the Dobruja region, where fish meat is used for most types of food. It is made using pork feet and ears, and, of course, pork meat. Pork aspic is usually served as a Christmas dish at the start of the dinner, but in some regions this dish is actually reserved for New Year’s Eve or the first week of January.
19. Chicken Soup w/ Semolina Dumplings: Supă cu Găluşte
Another popular traditional chicken soup is supă de găluște, made with semolina dumplings. It’s light, comforting, and a favorite among children.
20. Ischler Cookies
These popular Christmas cookies are the perfect blend of crunchy, nutty, and chocolatey goodness. They are unlike anything you’ll find in the store and they look stunning on your Christmas cookie plate.
21. Borș Moldovenesc (Sour Moldavian Soup)
Moldavian cooking places great importance on cooking methods, particularly when it comes to achieving the sour taste characteristic of certain soups. In this regional cuisine, a clear distinction is made between supă and ciorbă: supă is a sweet, clear soup obtained from boiling meat and vegetables, while ciorbă is a soup with an added sourness, achieved using ingredients such as lemon juice, vinegar, or green mirabelles.
Borș is another type of sour soup, distinguished by the use of borș—a fermented sour liquid made from wheat and yeast. The best borș is traditionally homemade throughout Moldavia.
A Moldavian sour soup is prepared much like a classic chicken soup. Once the meat and vegetables are tender, tomatoes or tomato juice are added, followed by the borș, with the level of sourness adjusted to taste. Depending on preference, the soup may also include noodles. For the best flavor, fresh lovage is added at the very end, after the heat has been turned off.
22. Zacusca
A dish with Turkish origins, zacusca is an autumn tradition in Romania, when the smell of the cooking vegetable fills up the streets in both cities and villages. It is consumed during autumn and winter months, and it represents an important vegetable source during the harsh winter months, when, traditionally, there are no fresh vegetables available.
The dish is also part of Christmas meals, as a starter, as it offers a fat-free alternative to the heavy pork dishes.
23. Borș Oltenesc de Praz (Wallachian Leek Sour Soup)
As Wallachian cooking is mainly based on vegetables, it is lighter than the dishes specific to the other parts of the country. The western part of Walachia is especially fond of leeks, a vegetable that can be found in many dishes from this area of the country. Also, Wallachian cooking has many dishes made with fresh vegetables and fruit, so it offers a great variety of foods during summer and fewer staple dishes during winter.
The leek sour soup is made with leeks, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, and snap peas. After the vegetables are boiled and soft, the sour brine (borș) is added, together with fried bacon, and parsley for flavor.
24. Praz Umplut (Stuffed Leek)
This is another version of the very popular cabbage rolls, in which the cabbage is replaced with leek stems. The recipe has a Moldavian origin, but it became increasingly popular in the Wallachia region, where leeks are more popular.
For the recipe, the leek stems are emptied and filled with a mixture of chopped veal, peppers, tomatoes, and chopped leeks. The stuffed leeks are then boiled in soup and wine and then cooked on an open fire until they are slightly browned. This food represents a lighter version of the stuffed cabbage rolls, as the leeks are fresh and the meat is lean, unlike the minced meat used for the stuffed cabbage rolls which combine pork and beef.
25. Hencleș | Lichiu
Another popular Transylvanian specialty, hencleș (also known as lichiu), is a dessert that combines a soft cozonac-style dough with a rich, pudding-like custard made with plenty of eggs and double cream. It is traditionally served in the weeks leading up to Christmas and is especially popular during the Advent period.
26. Baigli (Hungarian Nut & Poppy Seed Roll)
This cake of Hungarian origin is very popular in Transylvania and it’s made using a dough similar to cozonac, but with a smaller amount of yeast, so it won’t puff up as much, and with fewer eggs. Also, the dough is kept in the fridge so that it won’t rise. The dough in baigli won’t be as fluffy as that of cozonac, but flakier. This results from mixing two types of fat (butter and lard), whereas for cozonac only butter is used.
The baigli filling is very similar to that used for cozonac. As the dough is not as puffy, the filling is as thick as the dough. Walnut or poppyseed cream is used to fill the dough, which is then rolled into long cakes that are baked until they become golden brown. As baigli uses a smaller amount of yeast, it is easier to digest.
27. Walnut Cookies
Walnut-shaped cookies (nuci) are traditional cookies made from a tender biscuit dough, baked in special molds and filled with cocoa, sweet creams or caramel-like fillings. They are especially popular at Christmas, when they are prepared in large batches and shared with family and guests as part of the festive dessert spread.
Related: Traditional Romanian Desserts
Related: Popular Romanian Cookies
