What to Eat in Ukraine

10 Best Top Foods You Must Try in Ukraine

Borscht / борщ український

Borscht is a sour vegetable soup made with beets and vegetables and usually served with sour cream, it includes beetroots as one of the main ingredients, which gives the dish its distinctive red color. In the region of Polesie, around the border between Belarus and Ukraine, the hot borsch, is offered in the ceremony of the "night of the ancestors" because according to a traditional belief, the soul of the deceased is carried to the sky by the steam that rises from bowls of hot borscht.

Chicken Kiev / котлета по київськи

Chicken Kiev is a dish made of chicken fillet pounded and rolled around cold butter with herbs, then coated with eggs and bread crumbs, and either fried or baked.

lunch dinner egg chicken

Varenyky / вареники

Varenyky is a dish made by wrapping unleavened dough around a savory or sweet filling and cooking in boiling water. The dough is a simple mix of flour, water and salt. Depends on the type of dumplings (sweet or savory) they can be filled with potato, sauerkraut, ground meat, cheese, berries or fruits. The dumplings may be served with a topping, such as melted butter, sour cream or fried onion with fried salo. I recommend you to taste varenyky with cherries or blueberries with sour cream.

lunch snack breakfast dessert vegetarian option

Deruny / деруни з сметаною

Deruny are fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, matza meal or flour and a binding ingredient such as egg, often flavored with grated garlic or onion and seasoning. They may be topped with a variety of condiments, such as sour cream or cottage cheese.

potato breakfast vegetarian

Holubtsi / голубці з сметаною

Holubtsi is a dish consisting of cooked cabbage leaves wrapped around a variety of fillings like meat with rice, carrot, onion and spices.

snack meat vegetarian option

Syrniki / Сирники

Syrniki are delicious fried pancakes, garnished with sour cream, varenye, jam or honey. The cheese mixture may contain raisins for extra flavour.

dessert sweet breakfast vegetarian

Kholodets / холодець з м'яса

Kholodets are jellied forms made from meat with spices, herbs and carrots.

lunch dinner snack beef pig

Mlyntsi / налісникі з сиром

Mlyntsi are thin pancakes usually made from wheat flour and folded to form a casing and then sautéed or baked. Depends on the type of dumplings (sweet or savory) they can be filled with ground meat, mushrooms, tvorog, berries or fruits. The mlyntsi may be served with a topping, such as melted butter, sour cream or honey. Mlyntsi with chicken and champignons or with tvorog(a type of cheese) and raisins are very tasty.

snack lunch dessert chicken vegetarian option

Green Borscht / щавлевий борщ

Green borscht is soup based on sorrel leaves and broth, usually includes other ingredients such as egg yolks or whole eggs (hard boiled or scrambled), meat, potatoes, carrots, usually served with sour cream. In restaurants u can find different types of this soup, but I recommend you to try green borscht with finely chopped hard-boiled egg and sour cream, it's much tasty than other variants.

lunch dinner meat potato vegetarian option

Salo / грінки з салом

Salo are cured slabs of pig fat, if you don't want to eat just raw salo, try toast with salo and garlic or try fried salo with fried onion.

lunch dinner snack pig

What to Eat in Belarus

By Andrei Nevar and Elena Malets