Croatian Cuisine: Best Food Dishes To Try in Croatia

One of the highlights of travelling in Croatia is the food. Meals out range from black risotto and grilled seafood to hearty meat dishes, and they are often good value too. Croatian cooking also draws influences from Italian cuisine and from food across the Balkans.

Where to Enjoy Croatian Food?

As a budget backpacker, you can use the markets to make dishes with local ingredients. Throughout the towns and cities, you can find various street food outlets for cheaper fast food. Also, there are countless restaurants where you can enjoy local cuisine. The restaurants can be cheaper than in Northern and Western Europe.

Food To Try in Croatia

Black Risotto – Crni rižot

Black risotto is a delicious dish with great flavours and is filling too. The local name for this is Crni rižot; the black colour of the rice comes from squid ink, and it is traditionally made with cuttlefish. You can also try squid ink-infused gnocchi and pasta.

Brudet – Fish Stew

Brudet is a traditional fish stew made with several types of fish, vegetables, spices, and wine. In some restaurants, it is priced by weight, and you can choose the fish that goes into it before sharing the finished stew with your table.

Grilled fish with Swiss Chard

Another local classic is grilled fish with Swiss chard, which is both healthy and delicious. I’ve eaten out and cooked with ingredients from the local markets. It’s a simple dish to prepare and packed full of flavour.

Cevapi

Cevapi is a skinless sausage that they grill, sometimes on a barbecue. They often serve it on flatbread with a sauce of your choice. Cevapi is available for takeaway at both restaurants and fast-food outlets. Typically, they serve it in bread with relish and raw onions.

Red Scorpionfish Soup

Red scorpionfish soup is a dish we spotted on menus along the Adriatic coast and even in Zagreb. It is a good option if you enjoy clear, fish-based soups and want to try something a little more local.

Fish Plate

A dish we frequently enjoy in the coastal restaurants is the fish plate. These are usually for two people to share and are delicious. They either include grilled seafood or, sometimes, lightly battered.

Seafood includes sea bass, sea bream, mussels, prawns, squid, and langoustines. Sometimes the fish platters have a surprise in store, including the delicious red scorpionfish. Typically, they serve these with a garnish and a side portion of Swiss chard with potatoes.

Peka – Cooked Under the Bell

Peka is more of a cooking method than a dish; however, the end result is delicious food. The method includes cooking in a pan over coals with a lid also covered in coals. Roast veal and lamb are delicacies, and they’re often slowly roasted with potatoes. The cooking method means the meat is partly baked and partly cooked in its own juices.

We tried Peka at Buffet Trojka, one of the best restaurants in Mali Lošinj, for barbecued cooked meat. They had a three-meat pie that included lamb, veal, and pork. With this were slow-cooked potatoes. They served it on a sharing platter for two with fried potatoes, bread and tomato.

Zagorje-style Strukli

The Zagorje-style Strukli is basically a cottage cheese strudel that is served as a starter or a lunch. The traditional dish of Zagorje-style štrukli is rather tasty; however, it is very filling.

Zagreb steak

A Zagreb steak is like a schnitzel, a popular Central European dish, the difference being the additional ham and cheese inside the crust. I enjoyed this with fries and a beer; it was a tasty main course. The cheese certainly adds to the flavour and the dish’s moistness.

Cres Lamb – Creska janjetina

The lamb from the island of Cres, Creska janjetina, is said to be the best in the country. Creska janjetina is top-quality meat from a local breed, the Cres sheep, which have been raised on the island for hundreds of years. The sheep are free-roaming, and the lambs’ diet of ewes’ milk and aromatic plants from the island helps their flavour. Cres Lamb is known for being lean and having unique flavours.

Octopus Salad

In the towns on the Adriatic coast, they serve a lovely octopus salad. This usually includes broad beans, tomatoes and other salad items. It’s a great starter or a light lunch option.

Busara-style fish

Busara-style fish is a fantastic option for a meal out. They make it from both white fish and shellfish. They cook the fish in a wine sauce with herbs and serve it with pasta. It’s a great dish for sharing, especially the shellfish versions. We enjoyed this during many seaside holidays in Croatia.

Adriatic Squid

Squid is a staple, especially in the Dalmatia region. You can have squid as an appetiser or a main course, and they cook it in a variety of ways. Sometimes they fry it with a light batter, which is my favourite way. Other times, the squid comes grilled or forms part of a sauce or ragù.

Miješano Meso – Mixed Meat Platter

Another popular option when dining at restaurants in Croatia, especially inland, is Miješano Meso. ‘Miješano meso’ is a mixed meat plate or sharing platter. They typically serve these with fries, grilled vegetables, onions and pepper relish.

Meats typically included in Miješano Meso are ćevapi, pljeskavica, chicken skewers, pork, and grilled chicken. These are often good value options, especially if you are hungry. Some posh restaurants have elevated this dish. I enjoyed a mixed meat plate of chicken fillet, pork loin and beef sirloin.

Istrian Truffles

One of the famous local ingredients is the Istrian truffle, a type of fungus that grows underground. These are quite rare and very exclusive. They add great flavour to foods, including meat, and are used in small quantities.

There are loads of dishes in the country’s restaurants that use truffles as an ingredient. This includes pasta with truffle sauce or truffle-stuffed ravioli. You can also buy entire truffles at markets, especially in the Istria region. These are typically grated and added to dishes. I also enjoy buying fresh pasta infused with truffles, including ravioli.

Burek

Another firm favourite street food is burek, a meaty pastry dish that you can buy warm in most bakeries. Some supermarkets also sell burek; however, it is not as nice as it is fresh from the bakery. Basically, this is meat and spices in a flaky pastry, making it a fantastic lunchtime snack. They also make a cheese version using a feta-like cheese. You can buy burek as slices of a large pie or as individual snail-shaped units.

Blitva

A common side dish is Mangel or Blitva, which is rather tasty and something I now prepare at home or when travelling. Basically, it’s boiled potatoes and Swiss chard flavoured with olive oil and garlic. Many restaurants in the country offer it as a side option, and it is served with many other dishes. It goes very well with fish dishes, including the grilled fish platters.

Perkelt od Soma

Perkelt od soma is a traditional dish that originates in the Slavonija and Baranja regions of Croatia. Hungarian cuisine influences the cuisine of the Eastern regions of Croatia. Perkelt od soma is similar to the Hungarian pörkölt stew.

They make Perkelt od soma with sliced catfish cooked with onions, garlic, hot paprika, sweet paprika, and bacon. They traditionally serve this with noodles, cheese, and bacon combined. We enjoyed this at a riverside restaurant in Osijek, the biggest city in the Slavonija region. I found it delicious and hearty, and I’m keen to try other restaurants’ versions of the dish.

Pljeskavica

A dish you will see many times in restaurants and takeaways is Pljeskavica. Pljeskavica is the Croatian equivalent of a burger and tastes delicious. You can order Pljeskavica as a main, and it sometimes comes as part of a meat plate.

They make pljeskavica using a combination of two or more meats, including beef, veal, lamb and pork. They typically serve this with onions, fries and sometimes the popular pepper relish.

Slavonski Čobanac

Čobanac is a staple of traditional Eastern Croatian cuisine, including in Slavonia and Osijek. This is a slow-cooked dish that takes several hours to develop the flavours and tenderise the meat. It usually includes a variety of meats, including veal, beef, and wild game.

They cook this with lots of onions and both sweet and hot paprika. The paprika gives it an excellent flavour, and the slow cooking makes the meats very tender. I enjoyed my first Slavonski Čobanac at a traditional restaurant in Osijek, which is famed for the dish.

Sarma – Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

Sarma is a dish popular in southeastern Europe, including Croatia. It’s similar to the sarmale of Romanian cuisine. Each country has slight variations of the dish. Sarma is made from a mixture of ground beef, ground pork, and rice wrapped up in sauerkraut/fermented cabbage leaves.

It is a popular dish in Croatia during winter and for celebrations throughout the year. However, some restaurants serve this year-round. In Croatia, they traditionally serve sarma with mashed potatoes and cornbread. Some regions also add a kick and serve it with a horseradish relish.

Mussels

Mussels are a popular dish on menus in Croatia. They traditionally cook this with wine, garlic, olive oil, and salt. These are served in their shells and make a great dish to share with some bread to mop up the juices.

Local Cheeses

Croatia has plenty of local cheeses worth trying, whether at markets, in specialist shops, or on restaurant cheese boards. I especially liked the harder cheeses, particularly Paški sir from the island of Pag, which is crumbly, tangy, and easy to keep picking at.

Juha od Oslića

In addition to the scorpionfish soup, there are other traditional fish soups, including Juha od oslića. There are lots of variants of these, and the ones I’ve enjoyed have been great for lunch or as a starter. Traditional Dalmatian fish soup includes hake, garlic, various vegetables, tomato, rice and olive oil. Seasonings include lemon juice, parsley and bay leaves.

Kulen

Another Croatian speciality is kulen, a spicy sausage from the Slavonia region of Croatia. Kulen is a sausage made from prime cuts of pork and cured with spices such as garlic and paprika. Kulen is excellent on its own; however, it seems to find its way into other dishes, including stews. I enjoyed this on various charcuterie boards throughout the country and purchased some from the markets in Osijek. It is similar to the spicy sausages from Hungary and chorizo.

Charcuterie

A great way to try some local specialities is to order a charcuterie board at a restaurant. We tried a few in different regions of Croatia, and they were enjoyable. These include various local cheeses, hams, and cured sausages, such as Kulen, a spicy sausage.

I found that the Istrian hams from the boards were my favourite, alongside Pag cheese. They often served the charcuterie with bread, olives and some salad.

Dalmatinska Pašticada

Another dish I enjoyed during my winter break was Dalmatinska pašticada. Pašticada is a beef dish that is traditionally served at Dalmatian weddings and celebrations. I enjoyed this first in a restaurant in Trogir.

The meal takes lots of preparation to cook. First, the whole eye of round beef is pierced and stuffed with garlic cloves, carrots, celery, and bacon, then marinated in wine vinegar overnight. It is then seared and simmered with aromatics for a few hours. They are cut into thick slices and cooked in the resulting sauce. The beef is then served with the sauce and gnocchi. I really enjoyed this and found it tasty and filling.