10 Easy Belgian Recipes to Cook at Home

The easiest Belgian recipes to cook at home are Brussels waffles, stoemp, dame blanche and salade liégeoise, and each one is ready in about 30 minutes with equipment you already own. The 10 recipes on this page run from those four up to Flemish stew, which is simple to assemble and then braises for 3 hours on its own. None of them needs a technique you do not already have, most of them come from one specific Belgian city rather than from the country as a whole, and between them they cover a starter, a soup, two main courses, a salad, a vegetable dish and a pudding. Six have full recipes on this site, linked in each section below.

Belgium is a small country with an unusually strong food identity, and the reason is partly geography. It sits where French cooking meets Dutch and German cooking, and it kept the best of both: French technique, northern ingredients and portion sizes. It also has a coast, a beer culture that goes back centuries and regional dishes that belong to single cities. Waterzooi is from Ghent, salade liégeoise is from Liège, and the chicon was found in a cellar in Schaerbeek.

Most of these dishes are old, and most of them are cooked at home more often than in restaurants. Opinions on how to make them vary from household to household, sometimes street to street, so treat the recipes below as the version that works rather than the only version there is.

The 10 recipes below are grouped by how much of your attention each one needs, so you can pick by the time you have rather than by the dish.

1. Steak tartare

Steak tartare is raw beef, chopped fine by hand and seasoned at the table, and it is easier to make than it looks. The Belgian version is close to the French one: good beef chopped rather than minced, mixed with shallots, capers, cornichons, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, egg yolk and plenty of pepper, then eaten with fries and bread. Belgium also has its own supermarket cousin, filet américain, which is the same idea sold ready-mixed by the tub.

The only real constraint is the meat. Buy from a butcher you trust, tell them what it is for, keep it cold on the way home and chop and serve it the same day. Beef fillet or a lean piece of rump works; anything sinewy does not. Chop it with a knife rather than in a food processor, or the texture turns to paste.

One correction worth making, because the internet repeats it constantly: steak tartare was not invented by Mongol or Tatar horsemen tenderising meat under their saddles. Food historians treat that as a legend with no evidence behind it. The dish is a French restaurant invention of the late 19th and early 20th century, and it took its name from the tartare sauce it was originally served with, not from the riders. It is a better story than the myth, and it has the advantage of being true.

Check this steak tartare recipe.

2. Waterzooi

Waterzooi is a Ghent stew of chicken or fish in a broth thickened with egg yolk and cream, and it is the most comforting thing on this list. The base is a stock with leek, carrot, celery and potato, cooked until soft, then finished off the heat with a liaison of egg yolks and cream so the broth turns silky rather than curdling. Serve it in a deep bowl with bread.

Chicken waterzooi is what you will be given today, but fish came first. Ghent sits where the Leie meets the Scheldt, and when the dish took hold the rivers supplied it: pike, perch, eel and whatever the day brought. The chicken version spread later, partly because river fish stopped being reliable.

The two things that go wrong are both about heat. Take the pot off the boil before the egg and cream go in, or the yolk scrambles, and do not reheat it hard afterwards for the same reason. Beyond that it is forgiving, and any green vegetable in the fridge can go in.

Check this waterzooi recipe.

3. Dame blanche

Dame blanche is Belgium’s national sundae: vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and hot chocolate sauce poured over it at the table. The sauce is the part that matters, and it is dark chocolate melted with butter, sugar and a little water or cream into something glossy enough to pour and thick enough to set slightly on the cold ice cream. It arrives in a small jug so you pour it yourself, which is half the appeal.

The name comes from the opera. François-Adrien Boieldieu’s La Dame blanche opened in Paris in 1825 and was one of the most performed works of the century, and the dessert was named after it, as several 19th-century dishes were. Nothing to do with folklore or wise women, which is the version you will find on a lot of menus.

You will meet it in almost every café in Belgium and it will be slightly different in each one. Add a cherry, toasted flaked almonds or a wafer if you like. What you should not do is pour the sauce in advance, because the contrast between hot sauce and cold ice cream is the entire dish.

Check this dame blanche recipe.

4. Chicken vol-au-vent

Chicken vol-au-vent is a puff pastry case filled with chicken, mushrooms and small meatballs in a creamy sauce, and in Belgium it is an everyday dish rather than a formal one. It appears on brasserie lunch menus with fries beside it, and it is what a lot of Belgian families eat on a Sunday. The sauce is a chicken velouté loosened with cream, with lemon and nutmeg to stop it being flat.

The pastry cases are the only fiddly part, and nobody in Belgium makes them. Buy them ready-baked from a bakery or a supermarket, warm them through in the oven and fill them at the last minute so the base does not go soft. Make the filling first, keep it hot, and assemble as you serve.

Check this chicken vol-au-vent recipe.

5. Flemish stew

Flemish stew is beef braised slowly in dark Belgian beer, and it is the dish most people mean by Belgian food. It goes by carbonnade flamande in French and stoofvlees or Vlaamse stoverij in Dutch. The comparison people reach for is boeuf bourguignon, but the flavour is not French at all: where the burgundy version is built on red wine, this one is built on beer, vinegar, mustard and something sweet.

The sweet-and-sour balance is what makes it. Brown the beef hard first, soften a lot of onions in the same pot, then deglaze with a dark Belgian ale, add a spoon of vinegar, a spoon of Liège syrup or brown sugar and a bay leaf, and lay a slice of bread thickly spread with mustard on top. The bread breaks down over the long cook and thickens the sauce, which is why the dish needs no flour. Then leave it alone on a low heat for two to three hours, until a spoon goes through the beef.

Use a dark ale rather than a lambic or a strong blonde: a Belgian brown or an abbey dubbel gives depth without turning bitter. Serve with fries, or with mashed potato if you want it gentler. Like most braises it is better the next day.

Check this Flemish stew recipe.

6. Salade liégeoise

Salade liégeoise is a warm potato salad from Liège, made with green beans and bacon and dressed while everything is still hot. It is a main course rather than a side in Belgium, and it takes about half an hour. Boil new potatoes and cut them while warm, cook the beans until they still have bite, fry lardons of bacon until crisp, and use the bacon fat with vinegar and a chopped onion as the dressing so it soaks in rather than sitting on top.

The dressing is where families disagree, even within Liège itself. Some use wine vinegar, some raspberry or cider vinegar, some add a spoon of the potato water, some finish with parsley. A hard-boiled egg cut into quarters on top is common but not universal, so add one if you want the salad to stretch further.

Serve it warm, not chilled. Straight from the fridge the bacon fat sets and the whole thing goes dull.

Check this salade liégeoise recipe.

7. Asparagus Flemish style

Asparagus Flemish style is white asparagus served with a warm sauce of crumbled hard-boiled egg, melted butter, parsley and lemon, and it is the Belgian spring dish. It is called asperges op Vlaamse wijze in Dutch and asperges à la flamande in French, and it is the standard way the vegetable is eaten in Belgium.

White asparagus is the same plant as green, grown under a ridge of soil so the light never reaches it and it never turns green. That is why it costs more, why it is sweeter and milder, and why it is nicknamed white gold. It needs peeling from just under the tip downwards, because the skin is tough, and it wants a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil. The Belgian season runs from spring until about midsummer, and the traditional last day of cutting is Saint John’s Day, 24 June.

The sauce is closer to a chopped egg dressing than to hollandaise, and it is far easier: hard-boil eggs, chop or press the whites and yolks separately, melt plenty of butter, and fold everything together with parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper off the heat. Pour it over the drained spears while both are still warm.

8. Belgian endive in the oven

Chicons au gratin is Belgian endive wrapped in ham, covered in cheese sauce and baked, and it is the home-cooked dish Belgians miss when they move abroad. Endive is witloof in Dutch and chicon in French, and it is the pale, bitter, torpedo-shaped chicory head. Braise or blanch the heads first to take the edge off the bitterness, squeeze them dry, roll each one in a slice of cooked ham, lay them in a dish, cover with béchamel and grated cheese and bake until the top browns.

The bitterness is the point and also the risk. Cut a small cone out of the base of each head before cooking, since that is where most of it sits, and drain the heads properly, because water in the dish will thin the sauce and split it. Mashed potato on the side is not optional in most Belgian households.

The vegetable itself is a Belgian accident. In the 1830s a farmer named Jan Lammers in Schaerbeek, near Brussels, left chicory roots in a dark cellar and came back to find pale, tightly furled leaves growing from them. Growers worked out how to do it deliberately, and the chicon has been on the Brussels list of intangible cultural heritage since 2021. You will not often find it on a restaurant menu, because it is understood as something you eat at home.

9. Brussels waffles

Brussels waffles are the light, rectangular waffle with deep pockets and crisp edges, and they are the fastest Belgian recipe on this page. They are not the same thing as a Liège waffle: a Liège waffle is made from a heavier dough studded with pearl sugar that caramelises on the iron, while a Brussels waffle is made from a thin batter and comes out hollow and crisp. Most recipes sold abroad as “Belgian waffles” are a thicker American hybrid of the two.

The batter is flour, milk, melted butter, eggs and a raising agent, and the step that matters is separating the eggs. Whisk the yolks into the wet mixture, beat the whites to stiff peaks in a clean bowl and fold them through at the end. That is what gives the inside its open, almost hollow texture. A yeasted batter left to rise for an hour gives a deeper flavour, and both versions are traditional.

Cook them in a well heated iron for 3 to 5 minutes until golden, and serve them with nothing more than icing sugar. In Belgium a Brussels waffle is a snack rather than a breakfast, and the fruit, cream and chocolate towers sold to visitors are a tourist habit rather than a local one.

10. Stoemp

Stoemp is potato mashed with vegetables, butter and cream or milk, and it is the everyday Brussels and Flemish supper that almost never appears on menus abroad. The vegetable changes with the season and with the household: carrot, leek, savoy cabbage, spinach, celeriac or sprouts all work, and the point is that the vegetable goes into the mash rather than beside it.

Boil floury potatoes with the vegetable cut small enough to cook in the same time, drain them well, then mash with a generous amount of butter, a splash of warm milk, salt, pepper and a scrape of nutmeg. Leave it coarse. A stoemp mashed to a purée loses the texture that distinguishes it from ordinary mashed potato.

Serve it with a sausage, with bacon, with black pudding, or with a fried egg for a meatless version. Stoemp is also the dish that makes sense of a Belgian fridge at the end of the week, because it turns whatever vegetable is left into a meal.

Which Belgian recipe is best for a beginner?

Start with stoemp or dame blanche. Stoemp is boiling and mashing, and it forgives a rough result because it is supposed to be coarse. Dame blanche needs no cooking at all beyond melting chocolate. Both give you a genuinely Belgian dish on the first attempt, which Flemish stew and vol-au-vent do not.

What is a typical Belgian dinner at home?

A typical Belgian weeknight dinner is stoemp with a sausage, or Flemish stew with fries, or chicons au gratin. None of them is restaurant food. The dishes Belgians actually cook on a Tuesday are the potato-and-vegetable ones, and the braises appear at the weekend because they need the time.

Are there vegetarian Belgian recipes?

Stoemp, asparagus Flemish style and dame blanche are vegetarian as written, and stoemp takes a fried egg in place of the sausage. Belgian endive in the oven is usually wrapped in ham, but the gratin works without it if you salt the béchamel a little harder to make up for what the ham was contributing.

Which Belgian recipes work for children?

Brussels waffles and dame blanche are the two children ask for again, and both are assembly jobs a child can help with. Stoemp is the useful one for a family meal, because the vegetable disappears into the potato.

What are the most common ingredients in Belgian cooking?

The ingredients that turn up in almost every Belgian recipe are potatoes, onions, butter, cream, eggs, bacon and beer. Beyond those, the vegetables that define the cooking are leeks, endive, Brussels sprouts, white asparagus, salsify and celeriac, most of them cold-weather crops that grow well in Flemish soil.

The proteins are North Sea fish and shellfish, particularly grey shrimp, mussels and sole, plus beef, pork, rabbit and chicken. Belgian beer is a cooking ingredient as much as a drink, used in braises and sauces where a French recipe would use wine. Nutmeg is the spice that gives Belgian sauces their signature, with cinnamon, cloves and speculoos spice reserved for baking. Almost everything savoury ends up beside fries.

What is the best local food to eat in Belgium?

Listed below is the local food to eat in Belgium.

• Moules-frites. Mussels steamed with white wine, celery, shallots and parsley, served in the pot with fries and a second empty pot for the shells. The season runs from late summer into winter.
• Belgian fries. Fried twice, once at a lower temperature to cook them through and once hot to crisp them, cut around 1 cm (0.4 in) thick and eaten from paper at a friterie or frietkot rather than in a restaurant.
• Belgian meatballs. In Flanders these are beef and pork balls in tomato sauce; in Liège they become boulets à la liégeoise, cooked in a dark sauce made with beef stock and Liège syrup. Both come with fries.
• Carbonnade flamande. The beef and beer stew described above, thickened with mustard-spread bread rather than flour, and eaten with fries or mashed potato.
• Belgian waffles. Two different things with one name: the light rectangular Brussels waffle, eaten warm with icing sugar or fruit, and the dense Liège waffle made with pearl sugar that caramelises in the iron and is eaten in the hand.
• Mattentaart. A small puff pastry tart from Geraardsbergen filled with matten, the curds left when milk is separated, with egg and almond. It carries EU protected geographical indication status, so a real one has to come from the area around that town. Along with the waffle it is the sweet most worth seeking out among the foods of Belgium.

What is the most famous Belgian food among locals?

Fries are the most famous Belgian food among Belgians themselves, sold from friteries and frietkots in every town in the country. Belgian fries are cut thicker than French ones, around 1 cm (0.4 in), from floury potatoes, and fried twice so the outside is crisp and the inside stays fluffy. They are served in a paper cone or a cardboard tray with a fork, and the sauce is a decision rather than an afterthought.

Mayonnaise is the default. Beyond it, the standard board carries andalouse, which is mayonnaise with tomato and peppers, curry ketchup, tartare, samurai, which is mayonnaise with chilli, and a dozen more. A mitraillette takes the whole thing further: a half baguette filled with fried meat, fries and sauce, sold late at night and eaten with both hands.

Other everyday Belgian foods worth knowing are grey shrimp croquettes made with the small North Sea shrimp landed along the coast, speculoos biscuits, rabbit stewed with prunes, and filet américain, the ready-mixed steak tartare sold in every Belgian supermarket.

What food should you not miss when visiting Belgium as a tourist?

The food to eat before you leave Belgium is a waffle, a cone of fries, a pot of mussels, a box of pralines and a beer that is brewed within an hour of where you are drinking it. Those five cover the country in a weekend.

• Belgian waffles. Have both kinds if you can: a Brussels waffle plain or with icing sugar, and a Liège waffle warm from the iron.
• Fries. Buy them from a friterie rather than a restaurant, and pick a sauce you have not had before.
• Moules-frites. Order them in season, take the empty pot they give you, and use the shells as tongs the way Belgians do.
• Belgian chocolate. Pralines are the filled shells the country invented, and every good chocolatier sells them by weight so you can build a small box yourself.
• Belgian beer. Trappist ales, lambics, blonde ales and Flemish reds each come in their own glass, and the café will bring the right one without being asked.

A food tour is the shortcut if you have one day and want the chocolate, the beer and the fries explained rather than just eaten, and the visiting Belgium guide covers the rest of the trip. The Brussels and Bruges food and chocolate tours below are the ones running now, and you can compare hotels in Belgium in the same cities.

Which are the best restaurants in Brussels?

The Brussels restaurants that cook these dishes properly range from a century-old institution to a tavern where you queue. Our full guide to where to eat in Brussels has the whole list; three are worth naming here.

• Comme Chez Soi. Comme Chez Soi has been on the Place Rouppe since 1926 and is now in the hands of chef Lionel Rigolet and his wife Laurence, the fifth generation of the same family to run it. It holds a Michelin star, the dining room is original Art Nouveau, and it closes on Sunday and Monday. Book well ahead.
• Le Rabassier. Le Rabassier is a small restaurant in the Sablon quarter built entirely around truffles, with menus that follow the black and white truffle seasons. It seats very few people and takes bookings weeks in advance.
• Fin de Siècle. Fin de Siècle on the Rue des Chartreux is the opposite: a loud, cash-friendly Belgian tavern serving moules frites, carbonnade flamande, waterzooi and rabbit, with a long beer list and no reservations. Go early or expect to wait.

Who are the most famous Belgian chefs?

Listed below are the most famous Belgian chefs.

• Alain Coumont. Alain Coumont founded Le Pain Quotidien in Brussels on 26 October 1990, on the Rue Antoine Dansaert, after failing to find bread he wanted to serve in his own restaurant. The organic sourdough bakery-restaurant has grown into a chain of more than 200 branches in around 19 countries, built on tartines, soups, salads and Belgian pastries.
• Peter Goossens. Peter Goossens, from Zottegem, held three Michelin stars at Hof van Cleve in Kruisem from 2005 until he handed the kitchen to his protégé Floris Van Der Veken in January 2024; the restaurant was awarded two stars in the 2024 guide under its new chef. Known as the godfather of Belgian gastronomy, Goossens built haute cuisine out of Flemish ingredients, and his young Anjou pigeon with bacon and potato mousseline is the dish he is remembered for.
• Gert De Mangeleer. Gert De Mangeleer, from Torhout, held three Michelin stars at Hertog Jan in Zedelgem and closed it in December 2018 while it was still fully booked. He reopened Hertog Jan in 2021 inside the Botanic Sanctuary hotel in Antwerp and also runs L.E.S.S. in Bruges and the Bar Bulot seafood restaurants.
• Christophe Hardiquest. Christophe Hardiquest, born in Wallonia in 1975, ran the two-star Bon Bon in Brussels for twenty years and closed it in June 2022. He reopened the same address in February 2023 as Menssa, a 24-seat counter restaurant built around Belgian produce, with a plant-based menu given the same weight as the meat one, and it took a Michelin star in 2024. His blood sausage with egg cream is the clearest example of what he does with Belgian classics.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 5 tips below are the points where these particular dishes go wrong, taken from the recipes on this page and from checking the two restaurant details that trip visitors up.

1. Thicken Flemish stew with mustard bread instead of flour. A slice spread thickly with mustard and laid on top of the pot breaks down over the two to three hours it braises and thickens the sauce by itself. Use a Belgian brown or an abbey dubbel; a lambic or a strong blonde turns the whole pot bitter.
2. Cut a cone out of the base of every endive head before it goes in the oven. That is where most of the bitterness sits. Then squeeze the blanched heads dry, because water left in them thins the béchamel and splits it in the dish.
3. Buy white asparagus before 24 June. Saint John’s Day is the traditional last cutting day of the Belgian season, so spears on sale after it have travelled. Peel from just under the tip downwards, since the skin is tough, and simmer them gently rather than boiling.
4. Pull the waterzooi off the boil before the egg and cream go in. The liaison is the only step that can ruin the dish: yolk scrambles in a boiling broth, and reheating it hard the next day does the same thing. Everything before that point is forgiving.
5. Plan a Brussels meal around Comme Chez Soi’s two closed days. It has been on the Place Rouppe since 1926, holds a Michelin star and closes Sunday and Monday, which is exactly when most weekend visitors are free. Fin de Siècle on the Rue des Chartreux takes no bookings at all, so go early there instead of late.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, who is Belgian and grew up eating most of these dishes at home rather than reading about them. The team covers Belgium for independent travellers, including the recipes, restaurants, food tours and hotels worth knowing about, and updates this page when a claim about where a dish came from turns out not to hold up.