Ciorba Radauteana is a traditional soup. It's made with a combination of chicken, onions, sweet red pepper, celery, carrots, lemon juice, garlic, parsley, and sour cream. The ingredients are simmered over medium heat until the meat and the vegetables become tender.
The soup is quite sour due to the addition of lemon juice. In Romania, ciorba Radauteana is especially prized for being a hangover cure and having healing properties - it's often used as a remedy for common cold symptoms.
MOST ICONIC Ciorba Radauteana
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Rich and smoky, this white bean soup with smoked meat is a staple in most Romanian households. It consists of boiled dry white beans enriched with chunks of smoked meat such as pork knuckles or ribs, ham, or bacon, as well as root vegetables. Typical vegetables include celery root, onions, parsley roots, carrots, and bell peppers.
The soup is traditionally seasoned with either celery leaves and parsley, lovage, or tarragon. Warm and filling, the soup is perfect for the winter season. It is typically consumed with a salad of red onions, pickled chilis, and slices of fresh bread or thick polenta.
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Ciorbă de perişoare is a traditional sour soup with meatballs consisting of pork and rice. The perişoare are boiled alongside onions, carrots, red peppers, and celery root. They are seasoned with parsley, lovage, salt, borş, and sour cream. Ciorbă de perişoare should be served hot, accompanied by hot peppers or scallions and bread.
MOST ICONIC Ciorbă de Perişoare
Supă de pui cu tăieței is a Romanian variation of the chicken soup with the addition of homemade noodles. A classic winter dish, this clear soup is usually made with chicken stock, noodles, and vegetables (typically carrots). The chicken meat used for making the stock can be reserved for other dishes or shredded and added to the soup for a more filling meal.
In many Romanian households, this soup is traditionally eaten on Sundays, for lunch or dinner. Considered a comfort food, the soup is usually eaten hot, garnished with chopped parsley and ground black pepper.
Ciorbă de fasole is a type of traditional Romanian sour soup made with dry beans and vegetables such as onions, red peppers, parsley root, and celery root. The soup is typically seasoned with salt, pepper, lovage, thyme, and borş. Ciorbă de fasole can be served both hot and cold, and it should be enjoyed with scallions, leek, onions, and bread.
MOST ICONIC Ciorbă de fasole
Tangy and comforting, this beef soup, or ciorbă de văcuţă in Romanian, is a representative dish of traditional Romanian cuisine. Apart from beef, the soup usually contains a variety of vegetables such as celery stalks, onions, carrots, potatoes, bell peppers, cauliflower, or zucchinis, as well as seasonings, tomato paste, lemon juice, and (optionally) beaten eggs.
The beef is typically boiled until almost tender and then cooked with sautéed vegetables. Like most Romanian soups and stews, it is traditionally laced with chopped lovage and parsley, or fresh dill. The soup is usually enjoyed hot, garnished with sour cream.
MOST ICONIC Ciorbă de văcuţă
A Romanian classic, supă cu găluște is a clear dumpling soup, usually made with chicken stock and semolina dumplings. The chicken stock is typically made with a whole chicken or chicken pieces with bones, boiled with a combination of vegetables, usually parsnips, celery stalks, onions, carrots, and potatoes, while the soft and fluffy semolina dumplings are prepared with eggs and semolina flour.
Sometimes, the chicken meat (cut into chunks) and chopped vegetables are added to the soup for a more filling meal. Mostly prepared during the cold season, this traditional Romanian soup is a staple in many Romanian households, where it is usually served for lunch.
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Ciorbă de lobodă is a traditional sour soup prepared with purple spinach, also known as mountain spinach, as its main ingredient. Apart from the purple spinach, the soup includes a combination of vegetables, usually onions, carrots, peppers, and potatoes.
Sometimes rice or noodles are added to the soup for a better consistency. Deep-purple and hearty, the soup is typically soured with lemon juice or traditional borș, but it can also be spiked with sour cream. Especially popular in spring, the soup is usually enjoyed hot, garnished with fresh parsley, lovage, or dill.
Ciorbă de salată cu afumătură is a traditional sour green lettuce soup with smoked meat. Chopped lettuce leaves are cooked with chunks of smoked meat, such as smoked bacon, smoked sausage, or smoked pork fat, as well as carrots, green onions, and green garlic.
The soup is then combined with a mixture of sour cream, sour milk, or yogurt, crushed garlic, salt, and chopped herbs near the end. An egg-milk mixture or strips of omelet with chopped herbs are usually added to the soup for extra flavor. Optionally, the soup can be flavored with sweet paprika.
MOST ICONIC Ciorbă de salată cu afumătură
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Ciorbă de burtă is a creamy, sour and garlicky, yellow-colored Romanian soup containing strips of beef tripe and slices of red pepper. Although considered a rare delicacy and an acquired taste due to its main ingredient being the lining of a cow’s stomach, ciorbă de burtă is a rather simple dish.
It is basically tripe soup seasoned with vinegar, sour cream, and mujdei – a spicy garlic sauce made from crushed garlic cloves, salt, and oil. Various ingredients are used for the broth, including onions, carrots, celery, parsley and parsnip roots, lovage, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
MOST ICONIC Ciorbă de burtă
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. For the “Top 21 Romanian Soups” list until March 20, 2025, 2,163 ratings were recorded, of which 973 were recognized by the system as legitimate. 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.