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Travel bucket list ideas:

Last updated: 11 January, 2023

From pea soup to apple pie, Dutch gin to gouda cheese, we asked Amsterdam specialist Jennifer Ceaser to select the best traditional Dutch foods and flavours you must try while you’re in the Netherlands.

Table of Contents
Dutch apple pie with whipped cream
Experience

Appeltaart

Netherlands

The Dutch are known for their apple pie, piled high with cinnamon-spiced apples, raisins, and sometimes topped with a sweet crumbly crust. It’s often served warm, with a dollop of whipped cream on top.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Bamischijf
Experience

Bamischijf

Netherlands

This popular Dutch snack with Chinese-Indonesian influences consists of a slice of bami goreng (stir-fried noodles), coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Bitterballen
Experience

Bitterballen

Netherlands

You’ll find these classic Dutch nibbles — deep-fried, bite-sized balls of meaty gravy — on just about every menu. We’re not quite sure why – maybe you’ll like them…

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Dutch liquorice pieces
Experience

Black liquorice

Netherlands

Also called Dutch drops, black liquorice in the Netherlands isn’t at all sweet; instead expect a strong herbal flavour and a curiously salty taste.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Chips and mayonnaise
Experience

Chips with mayonnaise

Netherlands

Called frites, friets, or sometimes fries, the Dutch chips are double-fried — making them super-crispy on the outside and fluffy within — slathered in mayo (or other specialty sauce), and almost always served in a paper cone.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Erwtensoep
Experience

Erwtensoep (or Snert)

Netherlands

This thick pea soup, typically made from Dutch split peas, is a favourite cold-weather warming dish. It usually contains roots vegetables and some kind of fatty smoked pork.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Frikandel
Experience

Frikandel

Netherlands

Yet another deep-fried Dutch snack, this one is a long, thin sausage consisting of a mix of different meats and spices.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Gouda cheese
Experience

Gouda cheese

Netherlands

By far the most famous Dutch contribution to the culinary world, gouda in the Netherlands isn’t just one kind of cheese. There are around seven varieties, based on how long the cheese has aged. The youngest ones, like graskaas, are soft and mild, while the more mature cheeses, such as overjarige kaas, are hard and strong in taste, with a slight crunchiness due to the crystallized bits from aging.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Hagelslag - chocolate sprinkles on toast
Experience

Hagelslag

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, chocolate sprinkles aren’t for ice cream; kids and adults alike scatter them on their buttered toast for breakfast.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Jenever or Dutch gin in bottle
Experience

Jenever

Netherlands

Jenever, more commonly known as ‘Dutch gin’, is the juniper-flavoured, strongly alcoholic traditional liquor of Netherlands and Belgium from which gin evolved. It’s still popular with the locals today, notably in Amsterdam’s traditional ‘brown cafes’.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Kibbling
Experience

Kibbeling

Netherlands

Basically fish and chips without the chips, these battered chunks of fish (usually cod) come with garlicky mayo or tartar sauce and are a favourite Dutch street food.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Krokets
Experience

Kroketten

Netherlands

You know them better as croquettes: breaded, deep-fried and stuffed with meat, seafood, or cheese; the Dutch like to put them on a sandwich.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Oliebollen
Experience

Oliebollen

Netherlands

These bite-sized Dutch doughnuts — served hot and sprinkled with sugar — come out in full force over the New Year’s holidays, with stalls set up all over the city. It’s a New Year’s Eve tradition to have them with a glass of Champagne.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Pannenkoeken
Experience

Pannenkoeken

Netherlands

Unlike the typical pancake, the Dutch version isn’t necessarily sweet; these large thin pancakes — sometimes as big as a pizza — also come with savoury toppings like bacon, onions, and cheese.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Pepernoten
Experience

Pepernoten

Netherlands

You’ll find these small spiced cookies on just about every store shelf during the winter holidays; on December 5th, they are tossed at the traditional parades welcoming Sinterklaas (Santa Claus) to the Netherlands.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Dutch herring
Experience

Pickled herring

Netherlands

Dutch herring is pickled and served raw, and often eaten by hand. Let’s just say that it’s an acquired taste.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Poffertjes
Experience

Poffertjes

Netherlands

Fluffy mini-pancakes dusted with sugar — they are a particularly popular street food during winter.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Indonesian Rijsttafel
Experience

Rijsttafel

Netherlands

Rijsttafel (Dutch for ‘rice table’) is an elaborate feast served in Indonesian restaurants; it features dozens of small plates — everything from spicy grilled satay to sweet fried coconut — all served with plain white rice.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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Stamppot
Experience

Stamppot

Netherlands

The ultimate Dutch comfort food: this is potatoes mashed with one or more vegetables, and usually topped with rookworst (smoked pork sausage).

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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pile of Dutch waffles filled with caramel
Experience

Stroopwafel

Netherlands

This caramel-stuffed waffle cookie is now found beyond the Dutch borders — namely, in Starbucks — but the real thing is made hot and fresh, with lots of warm, gooey filling.

Best for ages: 13+ | Free

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