Russian Food – 20 Traditional Dishes You Should Try
10November2026
Cuisines Guide Team
Cuisines Guide is a small team from Georgia sharing home-style recipes from around the world – from khinkali and khachapuri to Turkish, Polish, Moroccan and Portuguese classics – explained step by step for home cooks.
👉 Russian food is hearty, generous and built for long, cold winters: rich soups and dumplings, pickles and sour cream, buckwheat and rye bread, and cakes layered with honey or cream for every celebration. It brings together peasant cooking, the refined dishes of 19th-century aristocratic kitchens and the classics of Soviet canteens and New Year tables. Here are 20 traditional Russian dishes you should know – with recipes for many of them.
🍲 Soups
1. Borscht
The famous ruby-red beet soup with cabbage, potatoes and meat, served with sour cream and dill. It originated in Ukraine but is cooked in every Russian home. 👉 Borscht recipe
2. Shchi
Cabbage soup made with fresh cabbage or sauerkraut – the oldest everyday soup of Russia.
3. Solyanka
A bold sour-salty soup with several smoked meats, pickles, olives and lemon. 👉 Solyanka recipe
4. Okroshka
A cold summer soup of chopped vegetables, eggs and sausage in kvass or kefir. Read about all the classic Russian soups.
🥟 Dumplings, Pies and Pancakes
5. Pelmeni
Small Siberian meat dumplings, boiled and served with butter, sour cream or vinegar. 👉 Pelmeni recipe
6. Pirozhki
Soft hand pies stuffed with meat, potato or cabbage, baked or fried. 👉 Pirozhki recipe
7. Blini
Thin pancakes served with sour cream, jam, honey or – for special occasions – red caviar. They are the symbol of Maslenitsa, the farewell to winter. 👉 Blini recipe
8. Syrniki
Golden farmer’s-cheese pancakes, a favourite breakfast with sour cream and jam. 👉 Syrniki recipe
9. Kulebyaka
A grand layered pie filled with fish, rice, eggs and mushrooms – once the pride of aristocratic feasts.
🍖 Main Dishes
10. Beef Stroganoff
Strips of beef in a creamy mushroom and sour-cream sauce, named after the Stroganov family. 👉 Beef stroganoff recipe
11. Kotlety
Juicy pan-fried meat cutlets with onion and garlic – the everyday dinner every Russian grew up with. 👉 Kotlety recipe
12. Golubtsy
Cabbage leaves stuffed with meat and rice, stewed in tomato sauce. 👉 Cabbage rolls recipe
13. Kasha
Porridge, especially buckwheat (grechka) – the most Russian side dish of all, served with butter, mushrooms or meat.
🥗 Salads and Cold Dishes
14. Olivier Salad (Russian Salad)
Potatoes, eggs, pickles, peas and meat in mayonnaise – the king of the New Year table. 👉 Olivier salad recipe
15. Herring Under a Fur Coat (Shuba)
Layers of herring, potatoes, carrots and beets covered with mayonnaise. 👉 Shuba recipe
16. Vinegret
A bright vegan salad of beets, potatoes, carrots, pickles and sauerkraut dressed with sunflower oil. 👉 Vinegret recipe
17. Kholodets
Meat set in clear natural jelly, served cold with horseradish and mustard. 👉 Holodets recipe
🍰 Desserts and Drinks
18. Medovik
A honey cake of many thin layers with sour-cream frosting. 👉 Medovik recipe
19. Napoleon Cake
Crisp puff-pastry layers with vanilla custard – a festive classic. 👉 Napoleon cake recipe
20. Kompot and Kvass
Kompot is a sweet drink of simmered fruit and berries; kvass is a lightly fermented drink made from rye bread – both are summer favourites.
🍽️ How Russians Eat
Soup at lunch – the main meal of the day starts with a bowl of soup, the pervoe (“first”).
Sour cream and dill go with almost everything, from soups to dumplings.
Zakuski – a festive table begins with cold appetisers: pickles, salads, herring, kholodets and bread.
New Year is the biggest feast – families cook for days before 31 December. See our Russian New Year menu.
❓ FAQ
What is the national dish of Russia? There is no single official dish, but shchi, borscht, pelmeni and blini are usually named as the most traditional Russian foods.
What is “Russian salad”? Outside Russia, “Russian salad” usually means Olivier salad – potatoes, vegetables, eggs and meat dressed with mayonnaise.
Is Russian food spicy? No. Russian cooking is mild and savoury, flavoured with dill, garlic, bay leaf, black pepper, sour cream and pickles rather than chilli.
