Typical food in Austria: 18 dishes to try, 7 I ate myself

Typical food in Austria is built to keep active people going through cold winters: Kaspressknödel (fried cheese dumplings), Tiroler Gröstl (pan-fried potatoes with bacon and egg), Tafelspitz (beef simmered in its own broth) and Kaiserschmarrn, a shredded pancake big enough to count as dinner. I love food. Man, do I love food. But I usually only eat small portions of it. All day long, that is. So when I got to Austria and saw the gigantic portions there, I knew I had to adapt. After you’ve taken an hour or two to digest, I think that is.

Now, the portions of the food in Austria might have been a bit oversized for me, but I did eat some delicious things while I was there and I tried a whole range of new dishes to refill my energy levels after doing some winter activities.

Not all of these dishes were typically Austrian, but I do want to share them with you so that you can try them on your Austrian holidays. The first seven are the ones I ate myself on a trip through Tyrol. The rest are the classics you will meet on almost every Austrian menu, and I have added what each one actually is, so you know what is arriving at the table.

What is Austrian cuisine?

Austrian cuisine is a group of regional cooking traditions rather than one national menu. Austrian cooking splits into Viennese cuisine, which grew out of the cooking traditions of the Habsburg Empire and its imperial court, and the regional kitchens of every Austrian state, from Vorarlberg and Tyrol to Styria and Carinthia. Each region cooks its own dishes and puts its own spin on the shared ones using local ingredients.

The cuisine shares a lot with its neighbors, above all Hungary, Bavaria, Bohemia and northern Italy. The Hungarian link dates from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and it explains why Gulasch is a popular Viennese dish. Outside Austria, the food is famous for 2 things: pastries such as Apfelstrudel, Sachertorte and Kaiserschmarrn, and the Wiener Schnitzel. Up in the Alps the cooking gets simpler and heavier, with dumplings, cheese, bacon and potatoes made for cold days outdoors.

Austrian cuisine by region

Austrian cuisine changes with the region: Vienna cooks the imperial classics, Tyrol and Vorarlberg cook for the mountains, and the south and east lean on pumpkin seed oil, curd cheese and apricots. The signature foods of 7 regions are listed in the table below.

Typical Austrian dishes at a glance

The 16 Austrian dishes on this page are summarized in the table below, with what each one is, where it comes from and whether it was eaten on the Tyrol trip. Ribs and the hamburger are left out of the table because they are not Austrian dishes.

Typical Austrian food: 7 dishes tried in Tyrol

The seven dishes below are the ones I ate on my own trip, in the order I met them. Each one comes with what it is made of and how it turns up on a menu, because Austrian menus rarely translate themselves.

1. Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiserschmarrn is a thick, shredded pancake torn into pieces in the pan, dusted with icing sugar and eaten as a dessert or as a full lunch. Kaiserschmarrn tastes eggier and richer than a crêpe, and it comes with fruit on the side, traditionally a plum compote called Zwetschgenröster. I had mine with apple mousse. Yum.

The name comes from the Austrian emperor: Kaiser means emperor and Schmarrn is a colloquial word for a mess or a mishmash. Franz Joseph I, who ruled from 1848 to 1916, had a serious sweet tooth and the dish was named for him.

I’ve also tried a more sophisticated version of Kaiserschmarrn once but must say I liked the original better.

Want to try your hand at Austrian desserts at home? Toni Mörwald and Christoph Wagner’s Austrian Desserts cookbook collects more than 400 cakes, pastries, strudels, tortes and candies, and it comes in Kindle, hardcover and paperback.

2. Ribs, a Tyrolean menu staple

Ribs are not a typically Austrian dish, but they are all over Tyrolean menus and they were my first proper dinner on the trip. The first night I was in Austria I went to a place that served big slabs of ribs on slices of a tree trunk.

I’m not a big meat eater, but these ribs were very good. They came with a simple salad and some fries, and I didn’t even touch the fries because, again, the portions were so huge that it felt like a waste to eat anything but the meat. I did have some salad, though. You know, to compensate.

3. Schlutzkrapfen tris

Schlutzkrapfen are half-moon filled pasta from Tyrol, closer to mezzelune than to ravioli, usually stuffed with spinach and a soft curd cheese and served with melted butter. Schlutzkrapfen turn up on Italian-influenced menus as a “tris”, which simply means a plate with three different fillings.

Mine had spinach, pumpkin and Austrian cheese, served with spring onions in melted butter. Delicious, but heavy. Definitely not something you want when you’re on a diet.

4. Kaspressknödel

Kaspressknödel are flat, pan-fried cheese dumplings from Tyrol, made from stale bread, cheese, egg and herbs, pressed into discs and browned in butter. Kaspressknödel are usually served either floating in a clear beef broth or next to a salad, and one of them will keep you full for hours. Seriously.

I always thought dumplings were an Asian thing, but as it turns out they are also typical food in Austria. I had mine in soup.

5. Schnapps

Schnapps in Austria means clear fruit brandy, distilled from apricots, pears, plums, gentian root or almost anything else that grows, and it usually lands around 40% alcohol. Schnapps is what a Tyrolean meal ends with rather than what it starts with.

I rarely drink alcohol and don’t like the taste of it, so I was a bit wary of doing a tasting. Now, it is far too strong for me, but I had a great time, because before I got to try several flavors I was given a set of little bottles with scents in them and had to guess what each scent was. So much fun.

Afterward, when I got my Schnapps, I also tried guessing the flavor. Sometimes you could tell, sometimes it was hard. One time I got a Schnapps that had the same flavor as one of the scents I’d smelled but didn’t smell anything like it. Pretty interesting.

6. Tiroler Gröstl

Tiroler Gröstl is a pan of sliced potatoes fried with onion and bacon or leftover roast, topped with a fried egg, and it is the Tyrolean answer to a hearty lunch. Tiroler Gröstl was the first thing I ate when I arrived in Austria.

I’d been traveling for almost 8 hours and was starving when I made it to my hotel in St Johann in Tirol. I needed a decent meal, and this pan of potatoes, bacon and egg definitely was decent. I tried my best to finish it because it was so good, but had to acknowledge defeat near the end.

One note if you go looking for that hotel: it opened as the Adeo Alpin and now trades as the COOEE alpin Hotel Kitzbüheler Alpen, on Speckbacherstraße in St Johann in Tirol, so an older guide will send you searching for a name that no longer exists. It still sits at the foot of the Kitzbüheler Alpen ski area, so check dates at the COOEE alpin Hotel Kitzbüheler Alpen if you want to eat your Gröstl where I did.

7. Hamburger

A hamburger is not traditional Austrian food, I know, but sometimes you just crave something. After three typically Austrian lunches and two typically Austrian dinners, I needed this, and it was very good. The meat was juicy and full of flavor, which coming from someone who barely eats meat is saying something.

More Austrian traditional foods you can’t miss

The eleven dishes below are the Austrian classics, listed with what each one is, where it comes from and when you are most likely to find it. None of these were on my Tyrol trip, so treat them as the menu-reading guide rather than as my own tasting notes.

8. Martinigans

Martinigans is roast goose with an aromatic stuffing, and it appears on Austrian menus for a few weeks around 11 November. Martinigans is the dish to order if you visit Austria in November.

The name comes from Martins-Gans, or St Martin’s goose, prepared for the feast of St Martin on 11 November. The custom goes back centuries, and the goose was traditionally the last big meal before the run-up to Christmas.

9. Riebel

Riebel is a Vorarlberg breakfast dish of cornmeal cooked in milk until firm, then crumbled and fried in butter until the pieces go golden. Riebel is filling, cheap and about as regional as Austrian food gets, since it depends on Riebelmais, an old local maize.

Riebel can be made sweet or savory and it works for lunch or dinner as well. The sweet version is served with applesauce, cheese and fruit, and it is often just dusted with sugar and cinnamon. The savory version comes with mushrooms and cheese alongside a meat dish.

10. Strauben

Strauben is the Tyrolean funnel cake: a loose batter poured in a spiral into hot oil, fried until crisp, and served warm. Strauben belongs to fairs and festivals rather than restaurants, so look for it at a Christmas market or a village celebration.

The batter is simple, calling for flour, egg yolks and salt, with some recipes adding white wine or fruit schnapps. Traditionally it is served with applesauce and dusted with icing sugar.

11. Mohnnudeln

Mohnnudeln are thick potato dumplings rolled into short logs, tossed in ground poppy seeds and sugar, and eaten hot. Mohnnudeln use poppy seed, a traditional Austrian ingredient that turns up in strudels and cakes as well.

They work as an unusual dessert or a light dinner, and don’t be surprised if you see locals ordering them as a main course.

12. Tafelspitz

Tafelspitz is beef, not veal: a cut from the top of the rump, simmered slowly in broth with root vegetables and served with the broth as a first course. Tafelspitz then comes to the table with the sliced beef, roast potatoes, apple and horseradish, and a chive sauce.

It was the favorite dish of Emperor Franz Joseph I, which is a large part of why it became the Viennese restaurant classic it still is. Tafelspitz still appears as “boiled veal” on some menus and in older guides, and that label is a mistranslation.

13. Wiener Schnitzel

Wiener Schnitzel is the most famous Austrian dish: a thin veal cutlet, pounded flat, breaded and fried in butter or lard until the coating puffs away from the meat. Wiener Schnitzel is protected under Austrian food law: to carry the name it must be veal, and the pork version has to be sold as Schnitzel Wiener Art or Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein.

The check matters at the till, since pork is cheaper. It arrives with a wedge of lemon, cranberry jam (Preiselbeeren) and either potato salad or parsley potatoes, and a good one is bigger than the plate.

14. Apfelstrudel

Apfelstrudel is apple, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and breadcrumbs rolled in a hand-stretched dough pulled so thin you can read a newspaper through it. Apfelstrudel is Viennese by reputation, and the oldest known strudel recipe, for a Millirahmstrudel, is a handwritten one from 1696 kept at the Vienna City Library (Wienbibliothek im Rathaus).

Apfelstrudel comes warm, with vanilla sauce or whipped cream. The test of a good one is the pastry rather than the filling: it should shatter, not bend.

15. Sachertorte

Sachertorte is a dense chocolate cake with a layer of apricot jam under a dark chocolate glaze, served with unsweetened whipped cream to cut the sweetness. Sachertorte was, by tradition, created in 1832 by Franz Sacher, then a 16-year-old apprentice in the court kitchen of Prince Metternich in Vienna.

Two Viennese houses spent decades in court over who could call their cake the original: the Hotel Sacher and the pastry shop Demel. Sachertorte is still sold at both houses, both are worth a stop, and the version you prefer usually comes down to how much apricot you like.

16. Käsespätzle

Käsespätzle are soft egg noodles tossed with melted mountain cheese and topped with crispy fried onions. Käsespätzle are the classic cheese dish of Vorarlberg, where menus spell them Kässpätzle, and they are just as common in Tyrol.

17. Knödel

Knödel are Austrian dumplings, and they come savory or sweet. Knödel turn up across the country, and the Kaspressknödel in dish 4 is one Tyrolean example. 3 more types of Knödel are listed below.

• Speckknödel: Speckknödel are bread dumplings with bacon from Tyrol, often served in a clear broth.
• Germknödel: Germknödel are yeast dumplings filled with plum jam and topped with poppy seeds.
• Marillenknödel: Marillenknödel are potato-dough dumplings wrapped around a whole apricot and rolled in buttered breadcrumbs. Marillenknödel belong to the Wachau in Lower Austria, the country’s apricot region.

18. Gulasch

Austrian Gulasch is a thick beef stew that came to Vienna from Hungarian cooking. Gulasch is eaten with a bread roll or dumplings, and the Viennese version is called Saftgulasch.

Every dish on this list belongs to a region, from Riebel in Vorarlberg to Tafelspitz in Vienna, so the food changes as much as the scenery when you cross the country. The dishes that caught your eye make a good shortlist, and if you are still working out where to base yourself, compare places to stay in Austria in the region whose food you want to eat, because Tyrol, Vorarlberg and Vienna do not cook the same way.

That’s it, I’m hungry now. I’ll let you ponder over these dishes while I go grab a bite.

What to drink in Austria

Austrians drink coffee in coffee houses, young wine in a Heuriger, Almdudler when they want something soft and Schnapps at the end of a meal. The 4 drinks to know are listed below.

• Coffee: Coffee comes in named styles in Austrian coffee houses, above all in Vienna. The Melange, half coffee and half steamed milk, is the classic order, and coffee traditionally arrives with a glass of water.
• Wine: Wine is made in regions such as the Wachau, Styria and the vineyards around Vienna, and a Heuriger is a wine tavern that serves the owner’s own young wine with cold food.
• Almdudler: Almdudler is Austria’s own soft drink, flavored with alpine herbs.
• Schnapps: Schnapps is the clear fruit brandy of dish 5, at around 40% alcohol.

Don’t forget travel insurance

Travel insurance covers you if part of your trip gets canceled, if you get sick or hurt abroad, and sometimes even if your electronics break or get stolen. Hope for a smooth trip, prepare for the worst. I make sure I’m covered on every trip I go on.

Don’t have travel insurance yet? Take a look at SafetyWing’s nomad insurance, which offers flexible plans you can sign up for while you’re already on your trip. SafetyWing was the first travel insurer to cover COVID, and when I got COVID they reimbursed all of my expenses without making a fuss. Their customer support team is good and I can personally recommend them.

I was invited on the #inAustria trip by iambassador in partnership with the Austrian National Tourist Office. As always, anything I write about this trip is my opinion only.

Austrian food FAQ

What is the traditional food of Austria?

Traditional Austrian food is hearty regional cooking built on meat, dumplings, potatoes, cheese and pastry. Wiener Schnitzel, Tafelspitz, Tiroler Gröstl, Knödel and Apfelstrudel are the classics to start with.

What food is most popular in Austria?

Wiener Schnitzel is the most famous Austrian dish: a breaded veal cutlet that has to be veal to carry the name. Tafelspitz, the beef dish Emperor Franz Joseph I favored, is the other Viennese classic.

Is Austrian food similar to German food?

Austrian food is closely related to German food and shares a lot with Bavarian cooking next door. Austrian cooking carries more Hungarian, Bohemian and Italian influence from the Habsburg years, which shows in dishes such as Gulasch.

What is a typical breakfast in Austria?

A typical Austrian breakfast is bread rolls with butter and jam, or with cold meats and cheese, plus coffee, tea or juice. Riebel, a fried cornmeal dish, is the regional breakfast in Vorarlberg.

WonderfulWanderings Pro Tips

The 3 tips below come from the week I spent eating through Tyrol and from re-checking the one hotel this page names.

1. Order one course fewer than you think you want. I arrived starving after 8 hours of travel and still could not finish a single Tiroler Gröstl, I left the fries untouched next to the ribs, and one Kaspressknödel in broth held me for the rest of the day. Austrian mountain portions are sized for a day on the slopes, not for a day of sightseeing.
2. Book a Schnapps tasting even if you do not drink. The tasting I did opened with a tray of little bottles of scents to identify before any glass was poured, and that guessing round was the part I enjoyed. The Schnapps itself sits around 40% alcohol, so a non-drinker can play the first half and sip the second.
3. Search that St Johann hotel by its current name. The Gröstl in this post was eaten at a hotel that opened as the Adeo Alpin and now trades as the COOEE alpin Hotel Kitzbüheler Alpen on Speckbacherstraße, rated 8.4 from 1,754 reviews. Old booking links still resolve, but a search for the old name alone returns nothing.

Save this guide to Pinterest so the dishes are ready when you plan the trip. Pin the Austrian food guide.

About the author. This guide is written and maintained by the Wonderful Wanderings editorial team. Wonderful Wanderings was founded in 2012 by Sofie Couwenbergh, and the first seven dishes on this page are ones she ate on a winter trip through Tyrol with the Austrian National Tourist Office. The team covers Austria and Austrian cuisine for independent travelers, including the regional dishes, the hotels and the food tours worth booking, and updates this page when names, regions and recipes need correcting.