The best traditional Georgian food recipes are pulled from regions of the Georgia Republic. Each has its own distinct style of food preparations. Cooks all around Georgia are adamant about buying the freshest local produce, if it isn’t already growing in their own backyards.
Georgian Recipes From Traditional Georgian Food
Every region of Georgia has its own distinct style of food preparation. Georgia was one of the countries on the Silk Road, which resulted in travelers influencing Georgian cuisine.
– Abkhazian cuisine uses many spices and walnuts. The most popular dessert is Akuarkuar.
– Though most of the historical part of Lazeti is located in Turkey, Lazes in Georgia still continue to carry their traditional dishes, some of them being:
Bureği / Paponi — Baked sweet pastry filled with milk pudding.
Gresta — Chicken or beef with melted cheese and mushrooms.
Muhlama — Cornmeal with cheese.
– The regional cuisine of Samegrelo can be considered the most famous in Georgia. It uses many spices and walnuts.
Gebzhalia — Rolls of cheese seasoned with mint.
Kupati — Sausage made from pork.
Tabaka — chicken cooked with Ajika, a sauce made of pepper and spices.
25 Traditional Georgian Food Recipes
1. Adjaruli Khachapuri (Georgian Cheese and Egg Bread)
Khachapuri in myriad forms — all of them having some combination of dough and melty cheese — is the go-to snack of traditional Georgian food. Our adjaruli khachapuri is the fun one: diners tear off pieces of the homemade bread canoe to scoop up gobs of bubbly filling, a mix of creamy mozzarella, sharp feta and just-barely-set egg. It makes a great communal snack, or part of a satisfying lunch or dinner with a green salad. And it’s simple to make: the yeast dough rises in less than 1 hour and bakes up crisp and tender on a pizza stone in just 15 minutes.
2. Tkemali (Georgian Plum Sauce)
Tkemali is a very flavorful and nutrient-dense Georgian plum sauce that is a great healthier alternative to ketchup or cranberry sauce. Use this sweet-sour vibrant condiment for almost everything: grilled food, roasted veggies, burgers, potato wedges, any kind of protein, in salad dressings, as a bread spread and so much more! (Look for the many recipes below using this Georgian food sauce.)
3. Kuchmachi With Walnuts
Kuchmachi is made with the heart, liver, kidneys, spleen and lungs of pigs, young beef or chickens. In this recipe we have used pig. Kuchmachi can be made with or without walnuts and is usually garnished with pomegranate seeds. This is a great example of Georgian cuisine.
4. Khinkali (Meat-filled Dumplings)
Khinkali are Georgian dumplings. They’re one of the country’s most popular Georgian recipes and a favorite item at long dinner parties known as supras. These meat version—with a brothy spiced-meat filling, like soup dumplings—is the most common. They’re designed to be eaten by hand: Hold each dumpling aloft by its stem (like an open umbrella), sprinkle it with black pepper, and take a small bite from the side of the cushiony top, sucking out the hot broth before chewing your way into the filling.
5. Chakhokhbili (Chicken Stew with Herbs)
Chakhokhbili is one of the well know Georgian dishs of stewed chicken and fresh herbs. It is originally made with pheasant, but most people use chicken. If you try this Chakhokhbili recipe, I highly recommend serving it with Georgian cheese bread (khachapuri).
6. Kubdari (Georgian Venison Kubdari)
Kubdari are meat-filled breads from the Svaneti region. This traditional Georgian food is usually stuffed with a mixture of chopped pork and beef. I used chopped bottom round steaks from a whitetail leg instead, which worked beautifully. The meat is seasoned with a special salt blend also found in the Svaneti region.
7. Gupta (Meatball Soup)
Gupta is a popular dish of Georgian food. There is a lot of leeway in this recipe. You can add dried/fresh basil/parsley to the meatball mix. You can add a little bit of fresh garlic to the meatball mix. You can basically add anything you want to the meatball mix. The tomato in the broth/water is optional as well. It’s hard to go wrong here.
8. Lavash or Pita (Georgian Bread)
A delicious aromatic bread with a crisp crust and a soft chewy center is an intregral part of the Georgian cuisine. Traditionally it is cooked in a circular brick oven and the raw dough is slapped on the sides of it and allowed to bake. As I am assuming you do not have one of these special ovens in your home kitchen, this is a simple recipe for you to make it at home.
9. Chicken Tabaka (Special Fried Chicken)
Chicken tabaka is one of the unique western Georgian recipes where a whole chicken is flattened and pan-fried while being weighed down by another pan or heavy object. The chicken ends up golden brown and crispy on the outside while staying juicy inside. This rustic and simple dish is often served with garlic sauce or tkemali, a Georgian wild plum sauce.
10. Chakapuli with Lamb and Wine
It is considered to be one of the most popular of Georgian dishes. A mixture of new Tkemali, Tarragon and wine creates an amazing aroma. The most popular Chakapuli is made with lamb, but others can be made with either beef or mushrooms.
11. Shkmeruli (Chicken in Garlic-Milk Sauce)
This traditional Georgian food is a decadent chicken dish cooked in a garlic milk sauce. The backbone of the chicken is removed so that the whole chicken lies flat. The sauce is incredibly simple and just made with milk, butter, and a LOT of garlic. It is served in the sauce with an ample amount of crusty bread to soak up the delicious gravy.
12. Chvishtari (Cornbread with Cheese)
There are several types of Chvishtari and in this Georgian food recipe we will show how to make one of the most popular. Chvishtari should be served hot. Enjoy!
13. Kupati (Pork Sausage)
Georgian cuisine uses spicy sausage with distinct flavor. There are different versions of Kupati : made from beef or pork. Usually the sausage is made beforehand and is fried just before serving. If you don’t have the opportunity to visit Georgian restaurant then follow this recipe and make delicious Kupati for yourself.
14. Tashmijabi (Cheesy Mashed Potatoes)
Georgian recipes of Mashed potatoes use Sulguni (a brined Georgian cheese). It is one of the heavy dishes, more like side dish, mashed potato with lot’s of melted cheese, yummy! Usually we eat it with chicken, beef or pork meat.
I have recently discovered this dish. We all know about “Elarji,” but making it is not easy and it is time-consuming. “Tashmijabi,” is for those who love mashed potatoes, “Elarji” and hot stretching cheese.
15. Kharcho (Beef Soup)
Kharcho is one of many traditional Georgian dishes that are known well outside of Georgia itself. The soup is exceptionally delicious and has a characteristic rich flavor thanks to the spice mix that goes in it. This soup is traditionally made of fatty cuts of beef – chuck or brisket. As a result, the soup is rich and comforting. To balance out the richness of the soup sour plum sauce called Tkemali is traditionally added.
16. Trout with Pomegranate Seeds
Traditional Georgian food recipes use flavors of ground coriander, fenugreek and marigold are combined with sour cream to create a mellow but flavorful coating for delicate baked trout. Pomegranate seeds, coriander and lemon wedges provide a balance of sweet and sour, allowing the delicate flavor of the fish to shine through.
17. Kebab – Georgian Style
When selecting the meat, make sure the Georgian food is a bit fatty, because otherwise the kebab will be dry. Mince the meat or put it through a meat grinder using the largest grid. Make sure the result is chunky. Add thinly chopped onions and garlic to the meat.
18. Nigvziani Badrijani (Eggplant Rolls)
It is a staple of any Georgian cuisine. The dish is usually enjoyed as an appetizer or as a side dish. Eggplant slices are fried and rested before being filled with walnut stuffing and tightly rolled to make Nigvziani Badrijani. The stuffing is made with finely ground walnuts, garlic, spices, and vinegar mixed together to a spreadable consistency.
19. Mtsvadi
These Georgian recipes of Mtsvadi, or grilled meat skewers, are made from well-marbled pork shoulder tossed with raw onions and finished with freshly squeezed pomegranate juice. Leave the fat intact for sizzling, juicy meat with plenty of crispy bits. In Georgia, the skewers are often grilled over the embers of grape vines. They’re traditionally served with tkemali, a fantastically sour plum sauce.
20. Satsivi (Chicken in Garlic Walnut Sauce)
This chicken in garlic walnut sauce is a fresh way to enjoy chicken! Chicken Satsivi is an incredible dish for hot and sticky summer nights that will satisfy your craving for comfort food but will not leave you feeling stuffed and heavy.
The sauce base is made of herbs, spices and walnuts. My entire family immediately fell in love with this chicken in garlic walnut sauce. Serve it with flat Lavish Bread, and a simple fresh salad. This is one of the many healthy Georgian dishes, simple and delicious.
21. Churchkhela (Georgian Grape & Walnut Candy)
This is traditional Georgian food at its best and one of Georgia’s favorite sweet. Resembling candlesticks, this Georgian candy is sweet but fairly nutritious compared to other desserts. Churchkhela are strings of nuts that are coated in a concentrated grape juice mixture and left to cure for a few days (and up to a few months!).
22. Tatara (Georgian Grape Pudding)
Tatara is made only from wheat flour, while Pelamushi is prepared either with corn flour or with mix of them. In order to get perfect Tatara or Pelamushi, it is important to use good quality Georgian food – natural Badagi, thick grape juice. Here we offer a very simple recipe of Tatara that will certainly please you and your family or friends. As for the color of Tatara, it depends on what sort of grape juice you use.
23. Georgian Pakhlava
Perfection with walnuts with syrup or honey. It is a staple of Georgian cuisine and is also found in Central and Southwest Asia. This sweet pastry is very popular in Turkey as well. Here we present the Georgian version of this delicious dessert.
24. Kada Pie
Each region has its own special Georgian recipes of preparing it. Yet sweet Kada also varies, the difference is in technique and shape. There exists plain round Kada, also layer Kada which is cut before it is backed and also small Kada pies. Here we offer you a very simple recipe of a traditional sweet Kada pies.
25. Medok (Georgian-style Honey Cake)
The cake was incorporated in Georgian cuisine from Russian Federation. Yet in comparison with traditional recipe, in Georgia, the cake is usually prepared with milk cream instead of sour cream. The dessert is especially delicious when prepared using Georgian organic honey. Medok is usually prepared on different occasions, yet it is so soft and tasty that one cannot refrain from consuming these Georgian dishes on ordinary days as well.
