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  • Top 10 Romanian Foods – Most Popular Dishes in Romania

Top 10 Romanian Foods – Most Popular Dishes in Romania

Posted on Oct 3rd, 2019
by Adina Serban
Categories:
  • Eastern European Cuisine
  • European Cuisines
Papanasi

While Romania is better known internationally for Dracula, Transylvania, and Nadia Comaneci, its lesser- known cuisine is something well worth exploring.

Traditional Romanian food brings together a mix of ingredients and are heavily influenced by Balkan, Turkish, Serbian, German, and Hungarian cuisines. Due to this enriched experience, Romanian food is varied, filling, and very savory.

1. Sarmale (Cabbage Rolls)

This is a real comfort food that you can find at every traditional Romanian wedding, or that you can smell on the street during Christmas and New Year holidays. It is made of minced meat (usually pork or in combination with poultry) mixed with spices, rice, and onions, then rolled up in sour (fermented) cabbage leaves, and boiled for hours in a special sauce made of sauerkraut juice, tomato juice, and other secret ingredients.

In some Romanian regions they use vine leaves instead of cabbage. For fasting or for a vegan choice, the minced meat can be very successfully replaced with a mixture of ground nuts, grated carrots, and chopped mushrooms. Sărmăluțe, as you can find them on restaurant menus, are served with sour cream and hot mămăligă, which brings us to the next staple food.

Sarmale with polenta, sour cream and traditional sausages
Sarmale with polenta, sour cream and traditional sausages; Photo credit: Nitu Iulian

2. Mămăligă (Polenta)

Usually a side dish for sarmale or served plain with sour cream and Romanian cheese, mămăligă is made from corn flour boiled in water with a pinch of salt and a few drops of sunflower oil.

It’s very healthy and also pairs well with gravies or stews. Shepherds like to mix it up with salty sheep cheese and make a specialty called “bulz”.

Check our traditional Romanian polenta recipe >>

Mamaliga (Romanian Polenta); Photo Credit: Fabrice Florin

3. Mici (Grilled Minced Meat Rolls)  

Literally translated as “Small ones” because they used to be only as big as an adult finger, Mici are truly delicious and very popular on barbeques, street food, cottage weekends, and birthday celebrations.

It’s another food that can be smelled from miles away and makes you mouth water; and it is easy to make. All you need is minced pork and beef mixed with garlic, spices, and sodium bicarbonate.

Form the mixture into small sausage-like portions and put them on the grill. Juicy on the inside, crispy on the outside, you can savor them best with only mustard and bread.

Check out our recipe for mititei >>

Mici, mititei
Mici; Photo credit: lauralaurentiu.ro

4. Ciorbă de burtă (Beef Tripe Soup)

For a bold and brave experience when traveling abroad, you have to try one of the most popular soups in Romania – Beef Tripe Soup. While the name may not sound too appealing, it’s a real delicacy and is sure to make your tongue dance.

Considered the ultimate hangover remedy, Tripe Soup is made from the stomach of a cow, vegetables, and special bones, flavored with lots of garlic and soured with vinegar. Hot chili peppers go with it very well.

Check out our traditional Romanian beef tripe soup recipe >>

Ciora de burta
Ciora de burta; Photo credit: savoriurbane.com

5. Pomana Porcului (Honoring The Pig)

This dish comes from an old rural tradition, and the two are best experienced together to get the true taste of it. The tradition takes place in the cold, crispy air of December, when pigs are sacrificed for Christmas dinner.

Fresh meat cut from a recently slaughtered pig is fried in its own fat in a deep pan. This savory food goes down well served with authentic pickles. Restaurants often have this meal on the menu, but if the pig is not freshly slaughtered, it doesn’t have the same taste.

Check out our recipe for pomana porcului >>

pomana porcului
Pomana porcului; Photo credit: reteteculinare.ro

6. Jumări (Greaves)

From the same sacrifice of the pig, Romanians make a crunchy, salty starter called jumări from frying bits of bacon and pig fat.

This is best served warm and always accompanied with raw onions and a shot of țuică, the traditional plum brandy, as a digestive. As delicious as it may be, you don’t want to overdo it if you still want your pants to fit.

Check out our recipe for Jumari >>

Jumari; Photo credit: Unica.ro

7. Cozonac (Sweet Bread)

There is no Christmas or Easter without this traditional Romanian dessert.  The pride of every cook, Cozonac can be a real challenge for a household because it has to be done right.

Kneading the dough is demanding work and the whole process takes a while, but the result is truly rewarding. This Romanian dessert is a type of sweetbread filled with sweet walnut paste, poppy seed paste, or Turkish delight and raisins.

It can also be found all year round in stores or fairs, but nothing compares with the taste of a homemade one.

Check out our recipe for cozonac >>

Cozonac; Photo Credit: Dan Costin

8. Drob de miel (Lamb Haggis)

Lamb Drob is a festive Easter dish that looks like meatloaf with boiled eggs inside. But this tasty appetizer is much more than meets the eye. Minced lamb offal, green onions, eggs, and bread dipped in milk are baked together along with fresh cut herbs, such as dill and parsley, and garlic.

During preparations, special attention is paid to washing the offal. There is also a variation with chicken or turkey liver that some people prefer.  Lamb Drob is served cold.

Check out our recipe for drob the miel >>

Drob de miel; Photo credit: savoriurbane.ro

9. Papanași

Returning to desserts, Papanași always makes you come back for more. Originating from the northern part of the country, this calorie bomb is very popular among all Romanians with a sweet tooth.

It’s a donut shaped cottage cheese and semolina mixture that is first fried and then covered in sour cream and jam, preferabbly blueberry. This sour and sweet combination is a complete delight for your senses and feast for your eyes.

Check out our recipe for papanași >>

Papanasi; Photo Credit: Nitu Iulian

10. Salata De Boeuf (Beef Salad)

No dinner party is complete without Beef Salad. This festive dish is really easy to make from ingredients “saved” from making a soup. Along with vegetables and meat cut into small cubes, the dish includes mayonnaise and is completed with pickles.

The original recipe is made with beef, but nowadays many Romanians replace the beef with chicken.

Check out 7 different recipes for Romanian beef salad >>

Salata De Boeuf
Salata De Boeuf; Photo credit: lauralaurentiu.ro

Romanian food may not look very fancy but it’s very tasty and inviting. The recipes are being passed forward through generations without losing their identity or taste.

If you like Romanian cuisine, you might also be interested in the following:

  • Most popular Romanian soups
  • Most popular Romanian cheeses
  • Guide to Romanian wine
  • Top 10 Romanian cookbooks
  • Top 10 Romanian red wines
  • Top 10 Romanian white wines
  • Best foods in Transylvania

Check out our list of most popular foods in neighboring countries:

  • Most popular Hungarian foods
  • Most popular Serbian foods
  • Most popular Ukrainian foods
  • Most popular Bulgarian foods
  • Best wines from Moldova
  • Best sweet Hungarian wines

Adina Serban

Adina has a passion for healthy living and exercise. She has a certificate in plant-based nutrition from eCornell and loves nature. She also loves reading, good coffee and exploring new places.

23 Comments Hide Comments

Lauren says:
April 29, 2022 at 12:49 pm

This was very useful for my research on Romania. Thank you!!!

Reply
Lucas says:
October 8, 2021 at 10:45 pm

You forgot Varse la Cluj(diced cabbage with meat and rice)

Reply
Rile says:
October 3, 2021 at 5:58 pm

1,3 and 6 are not Romanian. Mostly from Balkan( Serbia, Bosnia, Macedonia) it is nothing new that Romanians are stealing things just like language.

Reply
Joro says:
January 16, 2022 at 7:46 pm

To my personal opinion, probably only polenta is Romanian. Greek youghurt sounds also very strange. Why east europeans are so afraid to accept Bulgaria as a factor. History confirms it.

Vasily says:
July 11, 2022 at 9:36 am

That is just uncalled for, Romanians are really warm and nice people. Perhaps you are just jealous on their delicious food. Also, all food in Europe is “borrowed” somehow from other cuisines, you’d be surprised to find out that your glorious cuisine is also “stolen” from Albania, Turkey, Hungary, Bulgaria etc. Also read more about language, as it is based remotely on Latin because the Romans conquered them.

Boom says:
October 14, 2022 at 11:51 pm

Why do you hate? are you really that upset? Did they steal your language? What language should they be speaking? How are #1 #3 not Romanian food?

80085 says:
October 14, 2022 at 11:59 pm

Polenta is Italian, history confirms it LMAO, what you are looking at is Mamaliga, all Eastern European countries have very delicious cuisine, being that they have been influenced by many some of these food may look similar but the taste differ, and a question for you Mr History and Rile who came first, the chicken or the egg? How do you know the other cultures didn’t get inspired by Romanians? if you don’t like the food don’t eat it, stop hating.

MariaMona says:
October 26, 2022 at 6:37 am

They are not stolen. In the Balkans we each have our own variant of the same thing. I know that ”Mici” is Cevapcici, I know that Sarmale is also made in Turkey, I do not know the ”yugoslavian” or serbian version of jumări, although I live close to you in Timișoara, but I know that they make them in the Southern States of USA in the same way. We borrowed things from one another. ”Salată de vinete” is what Persians and other Eastern countries call Baba Ghanoush. We have dishes enharited from those who ruled in these parts – Turks, Austro-Hungarians – we have paprikaș, the Hungarians have goulash, I am sure you have a potato stew with meat and paprika as well.

Hi guys 🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩 says:
September 28, 2021 at 8:08 pm

I love salata de beouf🤤🤤

Reply
Hi guys 🇹🇩🇹🇩🇹🇩 says:
September 28, 2021 at 8:07 pm

Si eu am facut salata de beouf🤤🤤

Reply
None- says:
July 24, 2021 at 12:17 am

Are there any vegetarian options?

Reply
michael says:
January 11, 2022 at 6:20 am

mamaliga

Benamin says:
February 27, 2022 at 11:13 am

Yes, you can make “sarmale” or “salata de boeuf”without meat but they won’t have the same good taste.

Pradeep Madgaonkar says:
March 18, 2021 at 3:21 am

Amazing loved it.

Reply
hii says:
November 22, 2020 at 12:27 am

sarmale are the best and I’m Romanian and I love it

Reply
Ella says:
October 9, 2020 at 6:35 am

Thanks so much I am doing a school project on Romania and this was a big part of my research…
YOU ARE AMAZING

Reply
dasdas says:
September 7, 2020 at 1:53 am

si eu am facut ciorba de burta azi

Reply
Ralph ALDORI says:
August 11, 2020 at 11:24 am

We are searching for the Romanian chocolate imbibed desert small tarts called MACOTA – around cake like – and JOFRE – vertical finger-like delicacy

Reply
Harry says:
August 10, 2020 at 12:22 pm

Good food?

Reply
Muna says:
April 29, 2021 at 7:12 pm

Yes it’s really delicious

Athos says:
May 24, 2020 at 2:18 am

Tochitura Moldoveneasca nu?

Reply
larisa lung says:
May 9, 2020 at 7:26 am

Am facut si eu astazi o oala de sarmale

Reply
JoBarr says:
April 29, 2020 at 12:46 am

Amazing

Reply

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