EAT IN ASIA / Destinations / Other destinations / Europe / Hungary
TOP 10 Most popular Hungarian dishes
Thinking about Hungarian dishes usually makes people think about spicy peppers and red sauces. But how is it in fact? Is Hungarian cuisine full of paprika and is it extremely spicy? What do they eat usually and what are their current culinary preferences? What ore our favorites? To find out more – read this article!
1 Pizza
Pizza corners are almost everywhere. No matter how big or small the city or village is, you will find a pizzeria. Small pizzerias just selling pizza slices, pizzerias operating as a delivery restaurant or regular size pizzerias. All of them extremely popular among Hungarians. So loved and so easy to find. Menus can vary from very basic with just a standard list of pizzas like Margherita, Pepperoni, Capricciosa and so on, to very local ones like a Hungarian one. Magyaros Pizza was our choice as we wanted to try both something local and well known. This one eaten in Debrecen was really cool. Its diameter was 32 cm, on a thin dough and with a reasonable amount of ingredients – not too much on it and also not almost deprived of them. Well balanced and, generally speaking, not spicy as the name might suggest. The only spiciness was obtained from the paprika, that could easily be removed and did not leave any spicy aftertaste. I preferred to keep it on my triangles when my husband decide to remove it and give it to me. Yes, this paprika was spicy, however combined with all other ingredients, for me was nicely tuning the whole taste. On the bottom was, as in a regular pizza, a tomato sauce and cheese. Apart from it, this Hungarian-style pizza included sausages, bacon, red onion and what is interesting – on top of it was a broken fried egg. A nice combination of different flavors. I would call this pizza a ‘Farmer’s pizza’. To sum it up – a very good choice for anyone that likes meat and grandparents’ cooking.
2 Burgers
Burger bistros are second on the list. Very liked and very popular. Starting with some really simple burgers, through more compound and finishing on very sophisticated ones. All of these we tried were at least of a good quality, while some of them were exceptional in the meaning of ingredients and way of serving it. What is needed to be said is that no matter where you buy them, whether it is on a stall or in bistro or in a restaurant, they will usually be nicely served and not only wrapped in a piece of paper. Serving them on a wooden board with some potato slices or fries was tempting and giving a very good impression. Happily, after trying them, the first impression was not disappearing.
The burger that we would highly recommend is the one we ordered in Gyor – Dodge pulled pork Challenger. The burger was filled with a marinated for 8 hours pulled pork and fresh vegetables like an iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber. On the bottom of the burger was coleslaw salad topped with this pulled pork meat. Then came grilled gouda cheese, while fresh vegetables were creating the next layer. All that was cover with some fried bacon slices and fried onions. The BBQ sauce with adding special flavor so typical for American-style dishes. Tasty, crunchy and fresh! Add to it a home-made bun and you have delicious burger with a good quality meet.
3 Fried Trappista cheese
Fried cheese is something you probably know from Slovakia or Czech Republic. Here in Hungary, you can find it too, so don’t worry if you are a bog fan of it. Rántott sajt, as it is called in Hungary is served, more or less, in the same way you probably know it. Either in one bigger piece, or, what is more common, in two or three smaller pieces – cubes or triangles. Cheese is breaded in breadcrumbs, flour and egg and then fried till it is golden. As a side dish you will probably get French fries and a mayo dip. Sometimes the sauce will be a Tatar or a Greek-style one. In Hungary the used cheese is a Trappista cheese, that is not only one of the cheapest ones, but also the most popular one. Trappista cheese, known as a Trappist cheese, is a cheese made from cow’s milk. It is semi-hard and originally produced by Trappist monks, from which this cheese’s name derives. Although these monks lived in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Banja Luka, the Trappista cheese is widely popular in other neighbour countries. You can find more information about vegetarian dishes in the post: Non-meat and fish meals in Hungary.
4 Roasted pork with fried onion, bacon, and potatoes
This meal, arriving in different variations is very popular in Hungary too. Not only because of the pork, that is so liked, but also because of the whole composition of ingredients. This dish includes almost everything, that Hungarian people love in their cuisine – pork meat, fried onions, bacon, and potatoes. Add to that some hot peppers and that is what they love!
We tried it in Tapolca close to the lake. A nice view, good weather and a hearty meal was something that we enjoyed a lot after a long way in the car. The meal was served on a regular size plate and placed in layers on it. At the bottom was this roasted pork meat. Then came fired onion topped with nicely cut bacon and some small, green pepper rings. The whole dish was sprinkled with some chilli powder and garnished with baked potatoes served in small pieces. Slightly spicy and very aromatic thanks to the composition of onions, peppers, and bacon.
5 Chicken with cheddar cheese and ham
Chicken dishes come in their popularity just after pork meals. Fried, rolled, stuffed, or cut and breaded – just as you wish. This time being in Győr we picked a lighter supper. Chicken breast was filled with cooked ham and cheddar cheese. It was rolled, then breaded and cut in half. It came with an iceberg lettuce salad served with rucola, some tomatoes, onions, and balsamic cream. Instead of fries, this dish was served with baked potatoes.
6 Chicken stuffed with peach - Bóbitás csirkemell
Another variation on chicken we selected in Seged - roston sült csirkemell, sajttal, barackkal. This time chicken breast was filled with cheese and peach slices. The meat was thinly cut in half on the shorter side, then stuffed with the filling and breaded. After frying, it was half-cut and served on rice. Melting cheese was flooding out of the breast and covering fruit parts. It was garnished with some baked peach parts and cucumber slices.
7 Roasted pork with mushrooms and dumplings
Our next pick was a pork dish with mushrooms and home-made potato dumplings. Actually, we expected to get something else while thinking about dumpling, but still, it was good. Pork was thinly cut in some pieces and roasted. It was served in a red tomato and paprika sauce mixed with fried mushrooms. Aside were these, so called, dumplings. For us, that were small, potato noodles, a little bit like gnocchi. Home-made, fresh, and moderately spicy. Well balanced, none of the ingredients was too strongly dominating the rest. Thanks to that, fried mushrooms could be distinguished and well-fitting to these potato noodles.
8 Chicken breast with mushrooms and cheese
Another variation on chicken was the dish we got in Tata. Roasted chicken breast topped with mushrooms and covered with cheese slices sprinkled with herbs. All baked, so that the cheese melted and unified ideally all ingredients. As a side-dish came French fries with a tomato garnish. Herbal aromas tuned mushrooms and the chicken breast kept its softness and juicy thanks to the sauce flooding out of mushrooms.
9 Wiener schnitzel
A Wiener schnitzel is always almost on top of every menu. No regular restaurant can go without that position on its list. Wiener schnitzel is usually served in one or two thin pieces. The pork cutlet is breaded and fried on both sides. As that is one of the most popular and well-known dishes, it is preferable served with French fries or potatoes. Just slightly garnished with some tomato or cucumber slices, so that one could enjoy the meat, that plays the main and the most important role. Be careful, sometimes it can be served with a bone! So mind your teeth!
Are you more curious about it? Check the post: Bécsi Szelet - Hungarian Wiener Schnitzel. 
10 Grilled vegetables
And finally, on the list are grilled vegetables. Not that it is because we liked them the least, just landed at the far end on our Top 10 list, because they are treated as a side-dish and not as a regular vegetarian dish. Nicely spiced with herbs, rosemary and thyme are very well distinguishable, and grilled with a lot of oil, these vegetables keep their juiciness and aroma. The most popular of them include eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and onions, but depending on the region and on the restaurant, their mix might be different. Sometimes, you can even find grilled cucumbers. However, what they have in common (we have never had any grilled vegetables without peppers and eggplant), they all do have chopped peppers. Check also or post on how to be fit in Hungary.
This list might be even longer, but as we wanted just to show you what is the most popular and Hungarian-style food, we picked these top 10 dishes. You will also not have problem with finding them in different parts of the country.
