The Dutch love a lots of interesting desserts and fried fast food, so don’t expect to stick to a diet when you travel to the Netherlands. Unlike, for example, Italian or French cuisine. Dutch cuisine is not common in the rest of the world, so you should take advantage of the opportunity and taste special foods that you probably won’t find anywhere else. Here are some of the best of them:
Stroopfaffel
Comes in the form of two pressed waffles, topped with a mixture of brown sugar, butter and cinnamon.
Tombos
A traditional cream cake, somewhat reminiscent of the French Napoleon cake. Its distinctive feature is a light pink coating.
Butterco*ck
A simple butter cake that is a real delicacy among the Dutch. It’s made with simple ingredients like eggs, flour, and sugar, but the creamy texture with the crust on top makes it a very tasty dessert.
Apple Pie
Sweet and compressed wheat pancake. It is not clear if it is a kind of bread or a muffin, but the Dutch usually put ingredients inside that included dried fruits, lemon zest, nuts, and aromatic spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and cloves.
Abelart
Apple pie is not a Dutch invention, but in Holland it is made a little differently and most importantly, it is really delicious. This traditional Dutch apple pie is generously filled with caramelized apple slices and whipped cream.
Poverchase
Unique pancakes that you can hardly find anywhere else. These are small circles of airy pancakes, fried in butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar. You can find it mainly as a dessert in restaurants.
Pancakes
Pancakes which are very thin, these pancakes can be made with many ingredients such as cottage cheese, apples, raisins or a typical mixture of powdered sugar and butter. Dutch cuisine is historically closely linked to northern French cuisine, as the two countries are close in borders. This is still evident in traditional Dutch restaurants and southern regional cuisine.
FAQs
Stroopwafel. The most famous and popular dessert in the Netherlands comes in the form of a stroopwafel! The stroop is a special sweet syrup sandwiched between two thin layers of baked waffle batter.
What is the most popular dessert in the Netherlands? ›
Stroopwafel. The most famous and popular dessert in the Netherlands comes in the form of a stroopwafel! The stroop is a special sweet syrup sandwiched between two thin layers of baked waffle batter.
What is a typical Dutch meal? ›
Typical Dutch dishes are stamppot boerenkool (mashed kale), Hutspot (stew of potatoes and carrots), erwtensoep (split pea soup) and bruine bonensoep (brown bean soup). Food which isn't typically Dutch, but which is 'seen' as Dutch are dishes like nasi (Indonesian dish) and bami (Chinese dish).
What are the most iconic Dutch things? ›
Windmills, tulips and Delft Blue: these are a few of our favorite things and they're seen as quintessentially Dutch by the rest of the world. While these things are rightfully iconic, there's so much more to Dutch heritage. Art, architecture, and even urban planning are an expression of the Dutch creative spirit.
What is a delicacy in Netherlands? ›
1. Poffertjes. Probably one of the most famous Dutch dishes, Poffertjes are small pancakes, baked in an iron skillet, and traditionally served with melted butter and dusted with icing sugar. You can enjoy these all year round, but Christmas and New Year are typically the best times to have them.
What do they eat for breakfast in the Netherlands? ›
Dutch people who prefer not to start their day with bread often choose yogurt or cereals, such as muesli or cornflakes with milk, yogurt or cottage cheese. For an extensive breakfast, many people cook or bake an egg (with bacon) and sugar bread or currant bread with almond paste is brought into the house.
What is the national dish of the Dutch? ›
Stamppot (Dutch National Dish)
What are the 5 main pastries? ›
There are five main types of pastry dough for creating pastries: flaky, shortcrust, puff, choux and filo. All of them are made primarily from flour, water and fat.
What is a typical Dutch drink? ›
Jenever - the alcoholic beverage flavoured with juniper berries - is a traditional drink from the Netherlands. Jenever (also commonly spelled as genever) has a long history in the Netherlands. Jenever is often described as "Dutch gin" but this is incorrect.
What time do Dutch eat dinner? ›
Also, there are a lot of breakfast bars and cafés that are opened all day. The Dutch usually eat lunch between 12:00 and 14:00 and have dinner between 19:00 and 21:00. In most restaurants the kitchen closes around 22:00, however there are also places for midnight snacking."
Source: Eurostat. The EU country with the biggest share of its population drinking alcohol on a weekly basis is the Netherlands (47.3 per cent), Luxembourg (43.1 per cent), and Belgium (40.8 per cent).
What chocolate is the Netherlands known for? ›
When you think of chocolate brands in this country, Milka probably comes first. In the Netherlands, the Droste brand would be synonymous with Milka's reputation. Especially the older generations in the Netherlands grew up with the small chocolate pastilles of Droste. Incredibly creamy taste and full-bodied chocolate.
What are Dutch delights? ›
Enjoy Dutch delights like haring (herring), snert (pea soup), stamppot (mashed potatoes and kale) and pannenkoeken (pancakes). Sample a typical Dutch breakfast or a fantastic sweet dessert. Taste famous Dutch sweets like drop (liquorice) and stroopwafels (treacle waffles).
What foods did the Dutch bring to America? ›
Cookies, pancakes, waffles, oliekoecken, pretzels, and coleslaw are some of the items that were brought to America by the Dutch colonists. Vestiges from those original food ways can be found in the American kitchen today.
What makes Dutch happy? ›
The country has a high GDP per capita. The Dutch are also known for their strong social networks and support systems, with high levels of trust in government and institutions. The Netherlands places a strong emphasis on work-life balance, with a relatively short workweek and a high number ofvacation days.
