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What to eat in Ireland? Top 7 Irish Breakfasts

Last update: Thu Feb 13 2025
Top 7 Irish Breakfasts
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01
Irish Breakfast
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Irish breakfast is a traditional meal consisting of fried eggs, vegetables, potatoes, and meats such as bacon, sausages, and both black and white puddings. The large meal is almost always served with Irish soda or brown bread, a cup of tea, and a glass of orange juice on the side.


All of the ingredients are most commonly fried in creamy butter. Originally, the breakfast was invented as a way to prepare the people for a day of hard work on the farm, and the meal was especially popular on cold winter mornings. Today, its huge size is making it somewhat impossible to consume on most working day mornings, so it is usually prepared on Sunday morning (or Christmas morning, when it's especially popular). 

MOST ICONIC Irish Breakfast

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02

Pancake

COUNTY LEITRIM, Ireland
3.9
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Boxty is a simple Irish potato pancake that is often associated with the northern Midlands region and county Leitrim. The potatoes are finely grated and combined with buttermilk, flour, and eggs, and the whole concoction is then cooked like a regular pancake.


In the past, boxty was usually consumed on its own, but today it is served like a tortilla, filled with a variety of meat and vegetables.

VARIATIONS OF Boxty

MOST ICONIC Boxty

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White pudding is a traditional dish consisting of oatmeal, bread, pork meat, fat, and suet. In Ireland, the ingredients are stuffed into a sausage casing, but in Scotland it is not always the case, and the pudding is additionally flavored with onions and spices.


The sausage is often sliced and fried or grilled, and it is usually used as an important part of the traditional full Irish breakfast.

04

Bread Roll

WATERFORD, Ireland
3.1
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This traditional Irish bread roll is either round or square in shape and comes in two versions—soft and chewy—both with a flour-dusted top and made exclusively with flour, water, yeast, and salt. The tradition of preparing blaa dates back to the 17th century when the Huguenots came to the city of Waterford.


Nowadays, there are only four bakeries left that still produce this bread roll which was awarded a Protected Geographical Indication status by the European Commission in 2013. Blaa is a standard breakfast staple, usually enjoyed plain or buttered, but it also makes for an excellent midday snack, when it is traditionally accompanied by various fillings and served in a sandwich form.

MOST ICONIC Waterford Blaa

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05
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Sneem black pudding is a traditional, firm, deep red-brown blood pudding made only in the village of Sneem, located in the Iveragh Peninsula in South Kerry, in southwest Ireland. Made with beef suet, onions, oat flakes, spices, and fresh blood collected from local pigs, lambs, and cows, Sneem black pudding is baked in trays instead of being boiled, as black puddings usually are.


The area has a long tradition of home-based black pudding production. They were traditionally made by women, and almost every household had at least one or two animals for their own purposes. Nowadays, the situation has changed, and there are only two producers in the village who still use fresh blood to make the pudding. 
06
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Corned beef boxty is an Irish dish made with mashed potatoes and raw grated potatoes, eggs, flour, salt, pepper, and corned beef. The ingredients are shaped into a thick pancake that is browned on both sides in a frying pan. Traditionally, boxty pancakes are served as part of the Irish breakfast, typically accompanied by eggs, grilled vegetables, and black and white pudding.

MOST ICONIC Corned Beef Boxty

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07

Egg Dish

COUNTY WICKLOW, Ireland
n/a
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Wicklow pancake is a traditional dish originating from County Wicklow. Despite the name, it's more of an omelet or frittata than a pancake, and it's usually made with a combination of eggs, milk, heavy cream, breadcrumbs, scallions, parsley, thyme, butter, salt, and pepper.


Everything except the butter is mixed together, and the mixture is then cooked in butter over medium-low heat in a skillet. Once the bottom becomes brown, the skillet is placed in the oven and the dish is baked until slightly puffy and the top browns. 

TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.

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Irish Breakfasts