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What to eat in Germany? Top 8 German Street Foods

Last update: Wed Jan 29 2025
Top 8 German Street Foods
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01

Sausage Dish

BERLIN, Germany
4.1
Currywurst
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No other dish in Germany is as well known as currywurst, a street snack that has become an indispensable part of Germany’s culinary heritage. The dish is made from two essential parts - boiled and subsequently fried sausage, served whole or sliced, and a smooth and rich curry-spiced tomato sauce.


With a portion of french fries or a kaiser roll on the side, the dish is usually lightly dusted with yellow curry powder. A wide range of sausages are used for currywurst, but the famous German bratwurst is the most commonly used variety.


The real star of this dish is its gravy-like sauce made with puréed tomatoes and infused with the aromatic curry powder. 

MOST ICONIC Currywurst

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02
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German potato pancakes are a restaurant staple, a homemade classic, and a popular street food snack. They are prepared with a thick batter that employs grated raw potatoes, flour, and eggs, and are usually shaped into flat, round discs that are shortly pan-fried until golden and crispy.


Even though they are often served as a complement to stews, grilled meat, and sausages, potato pancakes make an excellent snack or main course. Kartoffelpuffers are traditionally accompanied by creamy apple sauce, fruit preserves, or sour cream.

MOST ICONIC Kartoffelpuffer

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03

Meatballs

GERMANY and  one more region
4.1
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Frikadeller are popular Danish and German meatballs that are usually made with ground pork, with the occasional addition of ground veal. These small meatballs have been prepared and consumed in that part of Europe for more than 200 years. The term frikadelle is German, and there are also many frikadeller sold as street food in Germany, Poland, and throughout Scandinavia.


Frikadelle are typically served with boiled potatoes and traditional creamy sauces (for example, Danish brown sauce) on the side, a dish that is usually enjoyed as a hearty weekend meal. Pickled vegetables, mustard, rye bread, potato salad and a variety of other vegetables can also be served alongside frikadeller. 
04

Bread

BAVARIA, Germany
4.1
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This traditional Bavarian pretzel is shaped to symbolize two arms folded for prayer, and they are available in different versions and sizes, usually topped with a sprinkling with coarse salt. Their crust is thin, dark brown, shiny, and has a cracked surface after baking.


The dough, however, is juicy, tender, and light in color. As opposed to Swabian pretzels, Bavarian pretzels are thicker and not sliced lengthwise in the middle. Local differences can be recognized by their various forms. The Bavarian pretzel is a vital part of Bavarian snack culture, and it is especially delicious when buttered or paired with cheese. 

MOST ICONIC Bayerische Breze

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05

Sandwich

NUREMBERG, Germany
4.1
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Drei im Weggla is a staple street food in Nuremberg. The sandwich consists of a circular bun that's cut in half and stuffed with three (drei in German) grilled Nürnberger Rostbratwurst sausages with a charred and crunchy skin. The sandwich is completed when the sausages are slathered with sharp yellow mustard.


Some vendors even offer sauerkraut on top of it all, but let's be honest, the beauty of this sandwich lies in its simplicity. The bun must be perfectly crisp on the exterior while the inside should be chewy, dense, and yeasty. In the city, Drei im Weggla can be found at restaurants and in numerous food stands, huts, and carts scattered throughout Nuremberg.

06

Sandwich

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN, Germany
3.9
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Fischbrötchen is a commonly consumed sandwich in Northern Germany, made with fish and a variety of other ingredients such as pickles, remoulade, onions, lettuce, or horseradish. The ingredients are typically placed in round or elongated bread buns, while the type of fish used in the sandwich is variable – herring, sprat, salmon, and mackerel are among the most common fish used in the preparation of this sandwich, which is commonly served at fast-food stands in the region.

MOST ICONIC Fischbrötchen

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07

Sandwich

BAVARIA, Germany
3.9
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This classic Bavarian and Austrian sandwich consists of a thick slice of leberkäse—a product consisting of ground meat that is baked into a meatloaf—which is served inside a halved bread roll (semmel). Typically, the sandwich will also include a generous slather of sweet mustard.


In Bavaria, leberkässemmel is usually served in beer gardens, while the Austrian version is typically prepared and sold at street kiosks.

MOST ICONIC Leberkässemmel

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08
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Brathering is a traditional fish dish originating from Germany, consisting of marinated fried herring. Fresh herrings are rolled in flour or breaded, pan-fried, and marinated in a mixture of white wine vinegar, onions, sugar, salt, pepper, mustard seeds, and bay leaves.


The dish is traditionally served cold, and it’s typically accompanied by fried potatoes, rösti, or potato salad. The herrings can also be used in sandwiches, and nowadays canned brathering can be bought in most stores. The dish is usually enjoyed for lunch or as a snack at street food stands.

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 8 German Street Foods” list until January 29, 2025, 1,298 ratings were recorded, of which 1,102 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.

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German Street Foods