20 Best German Foods: A Travel Journalist’s Field Guide
Let me be straight with you: German cuisine is far more than the beer-and-sausage caricature that most travelers arrive expecting. After years of covering European food scenes, I can tell you that Germany’s culinary landscape is rich, hearty, and surprisingly diverse — built on agricultural traditions but deeply shaped by centuries of immigration. The result is a food culture that spans everything from grandmotherly comfort dishes to street food born of postwar necessity.
What makes Germany genuinely interesting for food-minded travelers is the range. This is a country of food markets, beer gardens, wine festivals, food museums, and high-end restaurants. Germans appreciate a well-prepared, well-served meal as much as a quick bite on the go. So if you’re planning a trip — haben sie hunger? — here is a working list of traditional German dishes worth seeking out.
Königsberger Klopse
Named after the former East Prussian capital of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia), these meatballs in creamy white sauce with capers are beloved by grandmothers and chefs alike. The meatballs are traditionally made with minced veal, onion, eggs, anchovies, pepper, and other spices. The sauce’s capers and lemon juice give this filling comfort food a surprisingly elegant finish.
During the era of the German Democratic Republic, officials renamed the dish kochklopse (boiled meatballs) to avoid any reference to its namesake, which had been annexed by the Soviet Union. Today, you can find königsberger klopse under their traditional name in most German restaurants, but they are especially popular in Berlin and Brandenburg.
Maultaschen
From Swabia in southwestern Germany, maultaschen are like ravioli but bigger — typically palm-sized, square pockets of dough with fillings ranging from savory to sweet, meaty to vegetarian. A traditional combination is minced meat, bread crumbs, onions, and spinach, seasoned with salt, pepper, and parsley. They’re often simmered and served with broth for a tender, creamier treat, but are sometimes pan-fried and buttered for extra richness.
You can now find maultaschen all over Germany, even frozen in supermarkets, but they remain most common in the south. In 2009, the European Union recognized maultaschen as a regional specialty and marked the dish as significant to the cultural heritage of the state of Baden-Württemberg.
Labskaus
Labskaus is not the most visually appealing dish — let’s be honest about that — but it is a delectable mess that represents the seafaring traditions of northern Germany like nothing else. In the 18th and 19th centuries, ship provisions were mostly preserved fare, and the pink slop of labskaus was a delicious way of preparing them. Salted beef, onions, potatoes, and pickled beetroot are all mashed up like porridge and served with pickled gherkins and rollmops.
It has long been a favorite of Baltic and North Sea sailors. Today the dish is served all over northern Germany, especially in Bremen, Kiel, and Hamburg. And while modern ships now have refrigeration, labskaus remains popular as a hangover cure.
Bratwurst
There are countless cured, smoked, and other varieties of wurst across Germany, so for this list, the focus is on bratwurst — fried sausages that represent some of the best German street food. There are more than 40 varieties. Fried on a barbecue or in a pan, bratwurst is served in a white bread roll with mustard on the go, or with potato salad or sauerkraut as an accompaniment for German beer.
Notable varieties include Fränkische bratwurst from Franconia, with marjoram as a characteristic ingredient; Nürnberger rostbratwurst, small in size and mostly from the grill; and Thüringer rostbratwurst from Thuringia, which is quite spicy. Thuringia is also home to the first German bratwurst museum, which opened in 2006.
Currywurst
Practically synonymous with German cuisine since 1945, currywurst is commonly attributed to Herta Heuwer, a Berlin woman who in 1949 managed to obtain ketchup and curry powder from British soldiers, mixed them together, and served the result over grilled sausage — instantly creating a German street food classic.
Today, boiled and fried sausages are both used, and currywurst remains one of the most popular sausage-based street foods in Germany, especially in Berlin, Cologne, and the Rhine-Ruhr region, where it’s usually served with chips and ketchup or mayonnaise, or a bread roll. It is not the most sophisticated of dishes, but a filling street snack born out of necessity about which all of Germany is still mad: some 800 million are consumed per year.
Döner Kebab
Döner kebab was introduced to Germany by Turkish immigrant workers in the 1960s and ’70s. One of the earliest street sellers was Kadir Nurman, who started offering döner kebab sandwiches at West Berlin’s Zoo Station in 1972. From there, the dish first took both West and East Berlin by storm, then the rest of Germany.
From its humble Berlin beginnings — when a döner kebab only contained meat, onions, and a bit of salad — it evolved into a dish with abundant salad, vegetables (sometimes grilled), and a selection of sauces. Veal and chicken spits are widely used, as is the ever-popular lamb, while vegetarian and vegan versions are becoming increasingly common.
Schnitzel
Some might argue that schnitzel is Austrian and not German, but its origins are actually Italian. This controversy hasn’t stopped the breaded and fried meat cutlets from becoming popular everywhere in Germany. While the Austrian or Vienna schnitzel is by law only made with veal, the German version is made with tenderized pork or turkey and has become a staple of most traditional restaurants.
Whereas Vienna schnitzel is served plain, Germans love to ladle a variety of sauces over theirs. Jägerschnitzel comes with mushroom sauce, zigeunerschnitzel with bell pepper sauce, and rahmschnitzel with a creamy sauce. All go well with fried potatoes and a cold lager or a Franconian apple wine.
Spätzle and Käsespätzle
Spätzle originally come from Baden-Württemberg. Essentially a sort of pasta, the noodles are a simple combination of eggs, flour, salt, and often a splash of fizzy water to fluff up the dough. Traditionally served as a side to meat dishes or dropped into soups, spätzle can be elevated by adding cheese: the käsespätzle variant is extremely popular in southern Germany, especially Swabia, Bavaria, and the Allgäu region.
Hot spätzle and grated granular cheese are layered alternately and decorated with fried onions. After adding each layer, the käsespätzle goes into the oven to avoid cooling and to ensure the cheese melts. Käsespätzle is a popular menu item in beer gardens in summer and cozy Munich pubs in winter.
Rouladen
Rouladen is a delicious blend of bacon, onions, mustard, and pickles wrapped together in sliced beef or veal. Vegetarian and other meat options are now widely available, but the real deal is rinderrouladen (beef rouladen), a popular dish in western Germany and the Rhine region. This is a staple of family dinners and special occasions, usually served with potato dumplings, mashed potatoes, and pickled red cabbage. A red wine gravy is an absolute requirement to round off the dish.
Sauerbraten
Sauerbraten is regarded as one of Germany’s national dishes. The article source material was cut short here, but this pot roast — typically marinated in vinegar or wine before slow cooking — is essential to any serious exploration of German food. If you encounter it on a menu in the Rhineland, Bavaria, or elsewhere, order it.
The Takeaway
Germany’s food culture rewards travelers who go beyond the obvious. Yes, the sausages are excellent and the beer is world-class, but the real story is in the regional specialties — the labskaus of the northern ports, the maultaschen of Swabia, the currywurst stands of Berlin. Each dish tells you something about the people and the place. That’s what makes eating your way through Germany worth the trip.