Belgian food is more than just waffles and chocolate, it’s a celebration of savory stews, crispy snacks, and delightful desserts.
This list features 20 incredible recipes, from hearty main courses to sweet treats, that showcase the diverse and delicious cuisine of Belgium.
1. Moules Frites
Like the Belgian take on fish and chips, moules frites swap out the fish for mussels.
They possess the best combination of savory taste and a natural earthy quality.
The fries are crispy and salty, making them the perfect addition.
It’s a simple meal that will be tough to beat.
2. Belgian Waffles
A list of foods from Belgium wouldn’t be complete without the famous Belgian waffle!
They are delightfully golden brown, soft, and light.
Ultimately, these are the fluffy, thick waffles everyone knows and loves.
It’s sure to be delicious, helping you get your day off to a good start when you top them with maple syrup, powdered sugar, berries, or all three.
3. Belgian Hot Chocolate
It needs approximately ten minutes to make a glass of delicious, smooth, and rich Belgian hot chocolate.
After tasting it for the first time, though, you’ll realize why folks make time to prepare it.
When you want a comforting, decadent drink that will help you feel young, give this recipe a shot.
All you’ll need is vanilla, dark Belgian chocolate, and milk chocolate. You may also want sugar, salt, cinnamon, whipped cream, and anything else that appeals to you.
4. Carbonnade Flamande
This terrific beer and beef stew will blow your brain and belly away.
If you haven’t had carbonnade flamande before, you’ll be amazed by its tender pieces of roast and its robust, rich flavor.
It takes a little while to make and cook, but all of the best things should take time to perfect.
Featuring garlic, onions, bacon, two bottles of ale, dark brown sugar, and more, this delicious stew is incredibly filling.
5. Braised Rabbit with Prunes
Belgian chefs regularly feature rabbit in their cooking, even though it’s not incredibly popular in the United States.
While it has a similar taste to chicken, its taste is more delicate and earthy.
It’s also juicier and more tender.
It just adds a little protein to all the taste that comes from salt, shallots, bacon, white wine, pepper, garlic, prunes, juniper berries, and bay leaves.
If you aren’t comfortable making rabbit, chicken can easily work as a substitute.
6. Boulets Liegeois
These juicy, thick, and tender meatballs will be made even better thanks to the savory gravy made with apples and onions.
They’re usually served with crispy fries, but they’re so tasty, you can eat these solo without missing out.
Traditionally, they’re served with Belgian fries, but you can eat them by themselves and not feel as if you’re missing anything.
7. Belgian Fries
If you’ve ever had Belgian fries, you’ve wondered how the chefs get them so incredibly crisp.
Their secret is double frying!
Making these fries is pretty simple, only requiring three things: a little salt, potatoes, and some vegetable oil to fry them.
While it isn’t fancy ingredients that make them yummy, the double frying is key.
After salting and cutting, you will fry them once.
Then, right when you’re about to serve them, sometimes hours later, you’ll fry them once more.
This gives their exteriors their coloring and texture, while the insides remain tender.
8. Belgian Endive and Apple Salad
In about 15 minutes, you can prepare this nutty, tangy, crunchy, and sweet salad with little difficulty.
It is lovely and is full of great textures, making it incredibly tasty.
The endive acts as the ideal backdrop for the apple slices, cheese, and walnuts.
When you add the parsley garnish, this dish will appear as if it was served to you in an upscale restaurant that charges a lot for it.
9. Liege Waffle
Liege waffles bear a strong similarity to Belgian waffles, though the key difference is that vanilla, sugar, and pearl sugar will be used when preparing them.
These give them their sweetness, implying you won’t have to add any toppings.
They’re also chewier and thicker than their counterparts, often appearing darker because of the caramelized pearl sugar.
These are incredibly tasty, though.
10. Chicken and Mushroom Vol au Vent
Of all the recipes listed, these delicious morsels are one of my top picks.
Every layer of the neatly stacked puff pastry dough base is light, crispy, and impeccable.
After hollowing the pastry shell, you’ll add a savory mixture of chicken, other flavorful herbs, and mushrooms.
These aren’t large, but every single one is packed with a tremendous amount of flavor, making them a real delicacy.
11. Belgian Endive and Ham Gratin
If a protein-heavy, cheesy meal is what you’re after, take a stab at this recipe for Belgian endive and ham gratin.
The mornay sauce is creamy and smooth, the ham is salty and filling, and the endive is crunchy.
Don’t let its look fool you; while it seems like burnt gravy, it tastes like a luxurious French dish from a high-end restaurant.
12. Chicken Waterzooi
This creamy, comforting soup is thickened with butter, heavy cream, and cornstarch and is filled with veggies.
This dish is particularly popular during the cooler months, seeing as how it takes under an hour to prepare enough to feed a family.
If you’d like to change it up a little, you can also switch out the chicken for white fish.
It’s incredibly hearty for such a basic dish, especially when enjoyed alongside a slice of thick, dark bread.
13. Oliebollen
Though they may look like hush puppies covered with sugar, that is not what they are.
Instead, they’re something sweeter and, I think, far more tasty!
These are deep-fried donuts covered in powdered sugar that are filled with Granny Smith apples, dried currants, and raisins.
Thanks to the apples, they’re sweet, with a hint of pleasant sourness. It really is the ideal combo.
14. Curry Ketchup
Even though ketchup is a common condiment, curry ketchup is a bit more unique.
While it has a similar flavor to curry powder, it has a little something extra, and while it has a similar flavor to ketchup, it’s not quite as sweet.
Best of all, it’s not hard to make!
Start with your favorite tomato ketchup. Then, mix it all together after adding paprika, curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, honey, and a splash of water.
15. Asparagus a la Flamande
Have you ever encountered white asparagus?
It makes for a fun variation on the usual green veggie.
This meal contains peeled asparagus with fluffy eggs prepared with salt, butter, pepper, lemon juice, parsley, and nutmeg.
It goes well with a plump chicken breast or a lean piece of steak and is vegetarian-friendly.
16. Belgian Pancakes
Belgian pancakes may appear as crepes at first glance.
While they aren’t, they are buttery, light, and thin.
Their flavor is wonderfully rich, while they aren’t inherently that sweet.
They are awesome for dinner, lunch, or breakfast and can be incorporated into either savory or sweet meals. In short, they are amazing.
17. Belgian Chocolate Ice Cream
Most folks have heard of the pure yumminess of Belgian chocolate, even when they have never tried it.
You can enjoy this chocolate easiest by having Belgian chocolate ice cream.
Using coffee granules lets you deepen the taste even more.
It takes just five minutes and three things: chocolate, condensed milk, and whipping cream.
When you are done combining and thoroughly mixing the ingredients, put it in a container that is freezer-safe and let it freeze for no less than four hours before serving.
18. La Dame Blanche
This recipe is easy, simple, and fun to make.
To prepare self-made fudge sauce, it only needs five to ten minutes.
Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, hot fudge sauce (the best results come from homemade), and maraschino cherries are what you’ll need for this dessert.
Add your ice cream to a bowl before topping with a cherry and whipped cream and pouring the hot fudge over it for a wonderful treat.
Making the sauce requires combining semi-sweet baking chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla.
19. Speculoos
While you can bake them whenever you want, most prepare these extra crunchy, spice-filled cookies in the holiday season.
If you like, you can bake them to give as a gift or just to enjoy yourself and your family.
They are delicious and quite pretty.
Even though they take a while, they’re not hard to prepare. Furthermore, you likely already have all the needed ingredients.
20. Mornay Sauce
You can use whichever variety of cheese appeals to you most, but, generally, chefs will use some form of Gruyere.
Mornay sauce is just one of the five French mother sauces, bechamel, with added cheese.