Discover Bulgarian cuisine

Bulgaria is a Balkan nation with diverse terrain encompassing Black Sea coastline, a mountainous interior and rivers, including the Danube. A cultural melting pot with Greek, Slavic, Ottoman, and Persian influences, it has a rich heritage of traditional dance, music, costumes, and crafts. At the foot of domed Vitosha mountain is its capital city, Sofia, dating to the 5th century B.C.
Bulgarian cooking traditions are diverse because of geographical factors such as climatic conditions suitable for a variety of vegetables, herbs, and fruit. Aside from the vast variety of local Bulgarian dishes, Bulgarian cuisine shares a number of dishes with Persian, Turkish, and Greek cuisine. The cuisine includes a significant contribution from Ottoman cuisine and therefore shares a number of dishes with Middle Eastern cuisine, including moussaka, gyuvetch, kyufte, baklava, ayran, gyuvech, and shish kebab.
In particular, the country is notable as the historical namesake for "Lactobacillus bulgaricus", a microorganism chiefly responsible for the local variety of dairy products. Sirene (сирене), a white brine cheese similar to feta, is also a popular ingredient used in salads and a variety of pastries.

• Banitsa


Banitsa is a traditional pastry dish made in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Budjak and Southeastern Serbia (where it may also be referred to as gibanica), prepared by layering a mixture of whisked eggs, natural yogurt and pieces of white brined cheese between filo pastry and then baking it in an oven. Traditionally, lucky charms are put into the pastry on certain occasions, particularly on New Year's Eve. These charms may be coins or small symbolic objects (e.g., a small piece of a dogwood branch with a bud, symbolizing health or longevity). More recently, people have started writing happy wishes on small pieces of paper and wrapping them in tin foil. Banitsa is served for breakfast with plain yogurt, ayran, or boza. It can be eaten hot or cold. Some varieties include banitsa with spinach "спаначник" (spanachnik) or the sweet version, banitsa with milk "млечна баница" (mlechna banitsa) or pumpkin "тиквеник" (tikvenik).

• Sirene (aka Bulgarian white cheese)


Sirene is also known as "white brine sirene" (Bulgarian: бяло саламурено сирене). It is a type of brined cheese originating from Bulgaria also common in the area of the Balkans. It is made of the milk of goats, sheep, cows, buffalo or a mixture of these. It is slightly crumbly, with at least 46–48% of dry matter containing 44–48% of fat. It is commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. It is used as a table cheese, in salads, and in baking.
In 2023, the European Union recognized sirene as a traditional Bulgarian product, granting it a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

• Kebapche


Kebapche is a Bulgarian dish of grilled minced meat with spices. The meat is shaped into an elongated cylindrical form, similar to a hot dog. Typically, a mix of pork and beef is used, although some recipes involve only pork. The preferred spices are black pepper, cumin and salt. Kebapche is a grilled food. It is never fried or baked.

• Lyutenitsa


Lyutenitsa is a (sometimes spicy) vegetable relish or chutney in Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian cuisines. The ingredients include peppers, aubergines, carrots, garlic, vegetable oil, sugar, salt, and tomatoes. It comes in many varieties: smooth; chunky; with chili peppers or eggplant; and hot or mild. In recent years, industrial production of ljutenica and ajvar has flourished. Large-scale production of both relishes has popularized them outside the Balkans.

• Shkembe Chorba (aka "the acquired flavour")


Shkembe Chorba is a common dish in Balkan, Eastern European and Middle Eastern cuisines. It is widely considered to be a hangover remedy 😉 In Bulgaria, it is made with whole pork, beef or lamb tripe, boiled for a few hours, chopped in small pieces, and returned to the broth. The soup is spiced with ground red paprika which is briefly fried (запръжка), and often a small quantity of milk is added. Traditionally, the soup is served with mashed garlic in vinegar and hot red pepper. There is a variant of the soup with intestines instead of tripe. The soup was very popular with the working classes until the late 1980s, and there were many restaurants serving only shkembe chorba (шкембеджийница, "shkembe-restaurant"). Later they were replaced by fast food restaurants but the soup is still highly regarded, and is part of the menu in any cheap to moderately-priced restaurant.