Food in Germany

On this page you will find information on food in Germany for Kids. Often we are asked which food to try when in Germany or which German food is really popular also with kids in Germany. So here we share information on typical Food in Germany that kids love to eat.

Typical German Food

Germans love to cook and they enjoy eating out too, especially in summer in one of the many street side restaurants or so-called beergardens. Remember beer gardens don't only serve beer but are mainly enclosed garden restaurants and they often serve the most typical German food and most popular German meals. Here you can try traditional dishes, some of which you might already know as they are popular all over the world.

In this article you will learn about typical German food and dishes so next time you are in Germany you know what to order in a German restaurant or beer garden, bakery or café.

Enjoy the meal! or Guten Appetit! as the Germanys would say.

Berliner

Let's start with something sweet! The typical German donut called Berliner is usually filled with strawberry, raspberry or apricot jam and covered in powdery icing sugar. See the hole in the donut, that's where they filled in the jam.

Berliner or Krapfen

Berliners are made with cake flour, egg, milk, sugar, butter and yeast and are fried in hot oil. These round donuts are referred to as Krapfen in southern Germany. Once mainly prepared for the carnival season, Berliners are now available throughout the year and most bakeries and supermarkets.

Schnitzel

Now we come to a main meal that is offered on most menus in Germany. Schnitzel is a slice of veal or pork meat that has been tenderised and thinned by hammering with a special kitchen hammer on the steak. The resulting thin slice of meat is then breaded and fried in hot butter or oil. Decorated with slices of lemon that are then squeezed over the meal, Schnitzel is usually served with potato fries or potato mash, or depending on region, also served with Spätzle or dumplings.

Pork Schnitzel

Just beware that German schnitzels are huge and very filling! Chicken schnitzel are not really popular in Germany and not usually found on traditional menus.

By the way, potato fries or chips are referred to "Pommes" or Pommes Frites" in Germany in a special German pronunciation:-)

Sausages - Currywurst

The most popular fast food is Currywurst. Pork sausages are eaten in various forms, in this dish the sausage is cut in smaller pieces and served with curry powder, tomato ketchup and potato fries with mayonnaise. This snack is known as "Currywurst mit Pommes rot-weiss", which is chunks of curried sausage with chips, tomato ketchup (red) and mayo (white).

Currywurst - sausage with potato fries, mayo and ketchup

In Germany, sausages are served in all sizes and are made with all kind of meat. Almost every region has their own specialty sausage, such as Nürnberger Bratwurst (small sausages from Nuremberg), Thüringer Rostbratwurst (longer variety from Thuringia), Pinkel (smoked Kaszanka eaten in northern Germany) or the typical white Weisswurst in Bavaria that is served with sweet mustard, as you can see in the image below:

Weisswurst with sweet Bavarian mustard and red radishes

Pretzels

The German pretzel is called Brezel or Brezn depending on location. Pretzels come in all shapes and sizes in Germany as well. However, the typical soft bread dough is twisted in a knot like shape and then dipped in lye to give the pretzel its distinctive taste and look. Usually pretzels are soft and quite salty if you don't remove all the coarse salt that is sprinkled on top.

Brezel

Pretzels are sold in bakeries, supermarkets, most school cafeterias and are served in many Southern German restaurants or beer gardens instead of bread. They are also eaten as a typical lunchtime sandwich often simply as "Butterbrezel" or filled with cheese or ham.

Maultaschen

The large pasta pockets called "Maultaschen" (pockets that fill your mouth) are filled with a variety of fillings are popular in many regions, but especially in southern Germany. Common fillings are minced meat, spinach or mushrooms.

Maultaschen with fried onions

Maultaschen are served either in clear broth or in browned butter with fried onion. Sometimes you will find sweet variations for dessert, when maultaschen are filled with apple or berries and served with cream.

Käsespätzle

Käsespätzle means Cheese noodles and are definitely not like your usual mac n' cheese dish. This pasta dish is made with home made egg noodles topped with tasty cheese and is served with roasted onion strips.

Käsespätzle

The egg pasta is not rolled or shaped like your usual pasta but the soft dough is "shaved" and the strips of dough are dropped into the boiling water from a special pasta board. The cooked pasta is then fried in a hot pan and cheese is melted into the pasta dish. Freshly roasted onion slices are added onto the top of the cheesy spätzle.

Depending on the region the spätzle are prepared, the noodles can look like little knobs or little dumplings and in other regions they look like thicker and longer threads of string.

Spätzle are also served to children in many southern German restaurants without cheese. Children enjoy Spätzle usually with Bratensoße (which is the brown sauce served with roast meat dishes) and this is called on menus: Spätzle mit Bratensoße.

Dumplings

Dumplings in Germany are made with a large variety of ingredients: potatoes, bread rolls or even liver and meat. The dumplings in northern and eastern Germany are referred to as Klöse or Klopse and in central and southern Germany as Knödel.

Semmelknödel - bread dumplings with mushroom sauce

Potato dumplings are called Kartoffelknödel, but there are also Semmelknödel which are dumplings made with bread rolls, Breznknödel are made with pieces of pretzels or Leberknödel which are made with ground liver and bread crumbs.

A very popular specialty are Königsberger Klopse which are meat dumplings in a creamy sauce that has been prepared with capers. You will find this dish mainly in Germany's north and eastern federal states. These meat dumplings are served with boiled potatoes and red beets.

Königsberger Klopse - Meat balls

Meat: Roasts, Knuckles and Rolls

Schweinebraten mit Kartoffelknödel - roast pork with potato dumplings

Schweinebraten oder Schweinsbraten (roast pork) as well as Schweinshaxn (pork knuckles) are very popular in Southern Germany while Rinderbraten (beef roast) is more popular in Northern Germany.

Rouladen are another typical German meat dish and are thin beef rolls filled with gerkins, onions and mustard.

Rindsroulade - beef roll

Meat dishes are usually served with sauce and potatoes, that either simply have been boiled, roasted or fried and there are mashed potatoes, dumplings or potato salad too. Sometimes cabbage, either red (Rotkraut) or white (Sauerkraut or Weisskraut), is served with the meal.

Apfelkuchen or Apfelstrudel

Apple cake is a traditional dessert which is served pretty much everywhere you go in Germany. There are several varieties of Apfelkuchen, sometimes the cake is prepared with a yeasty dough and covered with apples and comes in a flat square shape, other preparations include a dough cover (gedeckter Apfelkuchen) or sweet batter or almond crumble referred to as "Streusel" (Apfelstreuselkuchen).

Our favourite apple cake comes in the form of the south German strudel (Apfelstrudel) which is made with a very thin pastry that covers the apples like a thin pastry wrap. This sweet dish is served with vanilla sauce, vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Oh so yummy!

Apfelstrudel with Vanilla sauce

Guglhupf

This typical German cake is baked in a special "Guglhupf" baking form. The cake was originally made with yeast dough but now also sponge cake can be referred to as Guglhupf.

Today Guglhupf cake is synonym for many in Germany with marble cake as this two-coloured cake is mainly baked in this special shape.

Guglhupf marble cake

For marble cake the baking form is filled with two batters, a light coloured pastry batter and a dark batter made with dark cocoa powder to give that special marble pattern of the cake.

Black Forest Cake

Last but not least, one of the most popular food exports from the German cuisine: Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte.

Black forest cake

Black forest cake or Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte is a delicious dark chocolate sponge cake that usually has at least three layers and is filled with cherries and whipped cream. Decorated with chocolate shavings or sprinkles and whipped cream this is a dessert that is traditionally German.

Food in Germany | Useful resources

Find more information on French food on these excellent websites:

Germany Tourism. "Recipes from Germany" GermayTravel. Last accessed 19 September 2024
München Stadtportal "Bavarian Cuisine." Muenchen.de. Last accessed 19 September 2024
Oktoberfest Magazine. "Eat & Drink. Beer gardens" Oktoberfest.de. Last accessed 19 September 2024

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Image Credits on Food in Germany: shutterstock.com

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