Traditional Dutch recipes. While foods in their diet are somewhat similar, there are some great recipes & foods you will enjoy. Read this article to see what you might like to try that will be a little out of the ordinary.
Dutch food culture is more than pancakes and cheese, though these are a couple of the most well-known dishes you can find here.
The Netherlands offers a culinary experience unlike any other because of its diverse history, with all the cultures that have impacted Dutch cuisine living in relative proximity to one another.
If you’re a tourist and you want to explore the best Dutch food, check out our list of different types of Dutch food!
10 Best Traditional Dutch Recipes From Holland
1. Creamy Advocaat Liqueur Recipe
The Dutch Creamy Advocaat Liqueur recipe was the star of one of the most enjoyable food tours I’ve ever experienced in Amsterdam. As we walked through the city’s cute streets, we were all eager to try the best places to eat, from secret cafes to local markets. One interesting thing, though, was learning from a local expert how to make the famous Dutch Creamy Advocaat Liqueur.
We got together in a cozy café and were introduced to advocaat, a rich and silky egg-based liqueur that is usually drunk with a spoon or mixed into cocktails. The group couldn’t stop talking about how smooth and custard-like it was. We all had a good time tasting it and learning about the interesting history behind its making. The Dutch Creamy Advocaat Liqueur recipe wasn’t just given to us; we were shown how to make it, which helped us understand all of its parts better.
2. Hachee Stew Recipe
Hachee is a stew made with beef that is cooked slowly. It has a special combination of sweet and sour tastes. While we followed the recipe, we received useful tips for preparation to make sure everything turned out well. One of the most important tips we learned was to cook the beef until it is nicely browned before adding the liquid. This step improves the deep, rich flavor that is important for the Dutch Hachee Stew Recipe. The teacher also said that using a pot with a thick bottom helps keep the temperature steady, which lets the meat become tender slowly and evenly.
3. Boterkoek (Dutch Butter Cake) Recipe
4. Farmer’s Cheese Soup (boerenkaas soep) Recipe
5. Dutch Baby Recipe
6. Dutch Apple Pie (Appeltaart) Recipe
The group began the day by going to a busy local market, where sellers showed fresh fruits and vegetables, baked items, and local specialties. For the Dutch Apple Pie Recipe, we saw the ingredients like apples, cinnamon, and butter in various stalls, discovering how important it is to choose good ingredients. Fresh apples, particularly the tart Granny Smith type, are very important for the flavor of the pie. Their sourness balances the sweetness of the sugar and spices, creating a filling that is well-rounded. Using pre-packaged or older apples does not provide the same bright flavor.
When we went to our next place, a little café, we all came together to see the pie being made. The guide highlighted how important a good crust is. In this Dutch Apple Pie Recipe, the crust is made using cold, diced butter and flour. It is important to keep the butter cold to get a flaky texture. If the butter gets too soft, the crust will be dense instead of light and crispy. We discovered a useful tip: handle the dough quickly and use ice water to keep everything cool and easy to work with.
7. Dutch Musterdsoep or Zaanse Mosterdsoep Recipe
8. Dutch Stamppot Recipe
9. Asparagus with Vegan Hollandaise Sauce Recipe
10. Poffertjes or Dutch Mini Pancakes Recipe
Poffertjes are delightful Dutch mini pancakes that are fluffy, buttery, and bite-sized. This traditional Dutch recipe involves making a batter with flour, yeast, milk, and eggs, which is then poured into a special poffertjes pan with small, shallow indentations. The pancakes are cooked until golden brown and puffed up, resulting in a soft and pillowy texture. Poffertjes are typically served with a dusting of powdered sugar and a pat of butter, making them a beloved treat in Dutch cuisine, especially during festivals and special occasions.
The Dutch Poffertjes Recipe came to life in a delightful cooking class in Amsterdam, where a group of food enthusiasts gathered to explore traditional Dutch cuisine. The atmosphere was filled with excitement as everyone got ready to learn how to make these small fluffy pancakes. The class included teaching, working together, and a lot of laughter, which made it a fun experience.
History of Dutch Food
Dutch cuisine like other European Cuisine is a product that has been formed based primarily on available products. Much of it has been shaped by its great availability to seafood products and local farming to a lesser degree. Dutch food has also been shaped by the earlier times when they were a larger seafaring nation both colonizing other areas and bringing back spices to the Netherlands. Since most of the former traditional Dutch Recipes were plain this was a happy change for them.
Most traditional Dutch Recipes are simple “Meat and Vegetable” consumers served with bread and wine. The diet also makes use of the abundant types of dairy products, especially cheese. During the 1300s to 1500s when the Dutch were colonizing and exploring the diet began to change and expand. The Dutch East Indies company and its colonies began bringing in more people and recipes from the colonies and the diet became more international.
Dutch Food Today
Traditional Dutch Recipes and Foods are not a well known or frequently used cuisine but that is a pity. Much like England, it is mostly known for its plain, not too flavorful, outcomes, probably because potatoes are the main ingredient and they just do not provide tasty alternatives. Even Vincent van Gogh painted pictures glorifying the use of potatoes in the diet. That being said there are good recipes from Holland and we have enjoyed our trips there. Some of the recipes can be really good and are usually excellent for cold-weather meals. They are hearty and filling. Here are our favorites.
What is Dutch Food?
Food is one of the most effective methods to learn about a place. You may learn about a people’s history, culture, and preferences by looking at what they consume on a daily basis. And, if you’re lucky, the whole thing can be quite tasty. When I first visited the Netherlands, I had no idea what to anticipate in terms of cuisine. All I knew about Dutch food was cheese and beer, which barely scratches the surface of what the country has to offer. Since then, I’ve returned countless times and continue to discover new delicacies to savor.
The Dutch cuisine has a few classic Dutch dishes, however these traditional Dutch foods are hard to come by in restaurants. These are home-cooked meals that Dutch people don’t have to go out to eat. These are, of course, excellent Dutch food recipes to try out so you may learn how to prepare Dutch dishes. Cooking in the Netherlands isn’t difficult. On the other hand, many popular Dutch delicacies are unique goods or snacks that are difficult to find elsewhere. However, attempting to make them can be entertaining! Alternatively, you can hunt for them in a Dutch shop or bring them back from a trip to the Netherlands.
There’s something for every season here, from delicate white asparagus to thick winter pea soup thick enough to stand a spoon in. After spending several years in the Netherlands (or Holland as it is commonly known), I always assumed that Dutch food did not exist. It does have certain traditional Dutch dishes, such as mashed potatoes with kale or endive. But that was the end of it. So I reasoned.
It’s just recently that I’ve become more interested in this country. They also have a number of traditional Dutch delicacies. Aside from the standard terms like ‘andijviestamppot’ and ‘boerenkoolstamppot,’ there are regional variations as well. I hadn’t expected that, given how small the country is.
Dutch Cuisine
Although the Netherlands is not known for a particular cuisine, there are several foods and recipes that are uniquely Dutch. Most Dutch recipes have multiple versions, with ingredients and cooking procedures varying from family to family.
The food of the Netherlands is more diversified and intriguing than you may assume. When it comes to meals or cuisine, the Netherlands isn’t as well-known as its European competitors, such as France or Italy. However, it is still seen as a novel perspective on food culture, and it merits a creative attention. Despite the fact that there are many opposing viewpoints on this cuisine, I am confident that the more you taste it, the more you will like it.
The rich agricultural industries of the Netherlands have dominated Dutch cuisine for centuries. The French had a strong impact on Dutch cuisine in the past, but immigrants from Indonesia, Turkey, North Africa, China, Arabia, and India have also left their imprint.
Dutch cuisine are typically meaty, which is suitable considering the milder climate. Snert or erwtensoep, a thick green soup cooked with split peas, carrots, onions, and celery and stuffed with smoked sausage and bacon pieces, is a traditional specialty. According to legend, the soup is ready to consume when it thickens to the point where a wooden spoon can stand upright in it.
In the Netherlands, seafood is very popular, especially herring, which is available both fresh and pickled. Fresh herring can be purchased from pushcarts on city streets during peak season, and it is also pickled and accessible all year. Another traditional method for curing produce is smoking, which is used for both seafood (smoked eel) and meats (smoked bacon).
Potatoes accompany most main courses, whether boiled, fried, mashed, or roasted, making them a significant ingredient in Dutch cuisine. Stamppot refers to “mashed potatoes with vegetables,” which are frequently paired with carrots. Sauerkraut is a popular side dish prepared from shredded and pickled cabbage that is imported from Germany.
With over 25 different sorts of pancakes, including poffertjes, extremely small pancakes coated with powdered sugar and topped with fresh fruit or sweet syrups, Dutch sweets are known to be more colorful than their savory dishes. Pastries are also popular, and are frequently filled with almond paste, a traditional Dutch ingredient.
Dutch drinks have also made a big effect on a global scale. In the 1700s, the Netherlands had over 700 breweries, and the first Heineken beer was poured in 1873. The Dutch were also responsible for the creation of jenever, a juniper-based straight gin.
FAQs About Dutch Foods and Dutch Dishes
What is in a Classic Dutch Meal?
Aardappel, Vlees, Groenten, or potato, meat, and veggies, is the typical name for a Dutch dinner. Many Dutch households choose for a combination of these basic ingredients rather than a pre-made dish.
What is the Netherlands National Dish?
Stamppot, often called hutspot, is a hearty dish prepared with mashed potatoes, vegetables, and smoked sausages like Dutch Rookworst, Spanish Chorizo, or Polish Kielbasa.
What Makes up a Dutch Breakfast?
Breakfast in the Netherlands might be varied. Bread slices with sweet or savory spreads, as well as muesli and yogurt, are the most prevalent. In the Netherlands, dairy products such as cheese, milk, and eggs are frequently used in the morning meal. Breakfast is, as you presumably know, one of the most important meals of the day. Breakfast meals in the Netherlands may appear basic, but they can provide you with enough energy to last the entire day.
What is a Typical Dutch Lunch?
An individual piece of cold meals, such as sandwiches loaded with slices of meat and Dutch cheese or sweet assortments, is served with milk or juice in a typical Dutch lunch. It appears to be a second breakfast; it’s simple to prepare, pack, and eat.
What is a Typical Dutch Snack?
Bitterballen and kroketten are possibly the most well-known Dutch snacks. They’re made with a cooked meat ragout that’s been deep fried till it’s mushy in the centre and crunchy on the exterior. Bitterballen are round balls, while kroketten are sausage-shaped.
What is a Popular Dutch Pastry?
Banket is produced by encasing an almond paste filling in pastry dough and baking it. With a rich granular filling, the pastry has a porous, airy, and flaky feel. It is most popular during the Christmas season in the Netherlands and in ethnic Dutch communities in the Midwest of the United States.
Is Dutch Food Healthy?
Despite the fact that the Netherlands is better known for its liberal drug laws than for its cuisine, the Dutch diet was voted the healthiest out of 125 countries in an Oxfam analysis that looked at aspects such as food availability, price, food quality, and obesity rates
Do Dutch like Spicy Food?
In the Netherlands, we prefer the polar opposite: we don’t want anything spicy hot and prefer dry and cool weather. That isn’t to say that hot food isn’t tasty; it’s merely a distinction. Sandwiches, bread, butter, some form of deli, and slices, whether it’s sliced meat or cheese, are all on the menu.
The Best Traditional Dutch Foods
Let’s be real about Dutch cuisine. It doesn’t exactly have a stellar reputation around the world. The cuisine of the Netherlands is not comparable to that of the French, Italians, Japanese, or Thai, to name a few, and the Dutch are not famed for their culinary quality or elegance.
It’s also difficult to define what exactly constitutes typical Dutch cuisine. When it comes to typical Dutch food, you might find yourself scratching your head after naming cheese and pancakes (which aren’t exactly entirely Dutch food specialties anyhow), and they aren’t exactly substantial meals (though I’m sure some people would disagree!).
So I decided to write this post sharing some truly delectable Dutch food recipes in order to give you a tasty overview of how many traditional Dutch foods you may or may not be familiar with, and how many of them are worth seeking out during your visit to Amsterdam or the Netherlands, or even while you’re still at home.
Warm, stodgy, meaty meals come to mind when I think of classic savory Dutch cuisine. When the autumn and winter seasons arrive, I adore living in the Netherlands because the cuisine fills me up and keeps me warm. And these are the top classic Dutch foods you should try whether you’re in the Netherlands or at home.
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