Croatian food, cuisine and cooking

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Check out our Croatian courses – perfect for beginners and advanced learners who want to truly experience the country, not just visit. Sharpen your skills for free with our Croatian vocabulary trainer, or find your level with a quick placement test. Also discover the vibrant Croatian communities and cultural offerings in various cities, as well as alternative ways to learn Croatian.

What is Croatian cuisine like?

Croatian cuisine is heterogeneous and known as a “cuisine of the regions”, since each region has its own distinct culinary traditions. It can be divided into a few regional cuisines which all have their specific cooking traditions, characteristic for the area and not necessarily well known in other parts of Croatia.

Mainland cuisine is characterized by the neighboring cultures – Hungarian, Austrian and Turkish, using lard for cooking, and spices such as black pepper, paprika, and garlic. The coastal region bears the influences of the Mediterranean cuisine – Italian and French, using olive oil, and herbs and spices.

Things to try when you’re in Croatia

In Zagreb and Continental Croatia:

• zagrebački odrezak – veal stuffed with ham and cheese and grilled with breadcrumbs
• sarma –Sauerkraut rolls filed with minced pork meat and rice
• štrukli – baked or cooked filled pastry
• krpice sa zeljem – pasta with stewed cabbage

In Istria:

• fuži (with truffles, for example) – a sort of homemade pasta
• maneštra – a vegetable stew made with corn

In Dalmatia and on the islands:

• crni rižot – cuttlefish risotto
• buzara – shellfish sautéed in garlic, olive oil, parsley & white wine
• šporki makaruli – traditional pasta with cinnamon flavored meat sauce (Dubrovnik)
• soparnik – chard filled pie (Dalmatia)
• viška pogača – salted sardine filled foccacia (island of Vis)
• paški sir – famous sheep’s milk cheese (island of Pag)

In Slavonia:

• kulen – spicy pork sausage
• riblji paprikaš (also called fiš-paprikaš) – spicy fish stew

What does a typical Croatian always have in their kitchen?

It’s hard to imagine that there is any Croatian anywhere in the world who doesn’t have at least one of these three things in their household:

• Vegeta – a powdered seasoning made from a mixture of spices and various dried vegetables. It was invented in 1959 and now sold in around 40 countries worldwide.
• Bajadera – a milk chocolate praline from nougat, enriched with almond, hazelnuts or walnuts.
• Pelinkovac – a bitter liqueur based on wormwood. The alcohol content is 28%-35% by volume. It has a bitter, herby taste, similar to that of Jägermeister.