The Atlas · Nº 52 ·Bosnia and Herzegovina

Most Popular Bosnian Food

Bosnian food is smoke and pastry: ćevapi grilling over charcoal in the old bazaars, coils of flaky pita pulled hot from the oven, a small cup of thick coffee to finish. Four centuries of Ottoman rule set the table, from the meat-filled burek to the sweet, syrup-soaked jabukovača.

41 dishes ranked·11 in the global top 1,000 ·2,658 diner ratings·Best rank Nº 126

Plate I — The Origins

Fig. 1 Where 41 ranked bosnian dishes were born. Dish origin

Drag to pan · Double-click or +/− to zoom · Select a marker for its entry

The Signature Dishes

The twelve highest-ranked Bosnian dishes, by global position.

Sarajevski ćevapi, ground meat dish from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Plate IIGround Meat Dish · Bosnia and Herzegovina

1 Nº 126 worldwide

Sarajevski ćevapi

Ground Meat Dish

The Sarajevo style, and our top-ranked Bosnian dish: plump ćevapi made by purists from nothing but ground beef, salt, and pepper, grilled hard and tucked hot into somun with raw onion. In the old bazaar, the grill house you swear by is a matter of fierce loyalty.

★ 4.4|87% positive |140 ratings

Travnički ćevapi, ground meat dish from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Plate IIIGround Meat Dish · Bosnia and Herzegovina

2 Nº 201 worldwide

Travnički ćevapi

Ground Meat Dish

From the town of Travnik, a ćevapi made with a blend of beef, veal, and lamb and brushed with a light meat broth as it grills, which keeps it juicy. It comes in a thinner local bread called pitica rather than the usual somun.

★ 4.3|89% positive |175 ratings

Ćevapi, ground meat dish from Bosnia and Herzegovina

3ĆevapiNº 343

Ground Meat Dish · Also Ćevapčići

Bosnia's favorite dish and a point of national pride: small hand-rolled minced-meat sausages, grilled over charcoal and served by the five or ten inside a pillowy somun flatbread. Raw onion, a smear of kajmak, and nothing else needed. Turkish in origin, wholly Bosnian in devotion.

★ 4.2|867 ratings

Banjalučki ćevapi, ground meat dish from Bosnia and Herzegovina

4Banjalučki ćevapiNº 585

Ground Meat Dish

The Banja Luka style breaks the rules: instead of separate fingers, the ćevapi are grilled joined together in a slab of four, then cut apart to serve. Made simply from beef with a little garlic, it is the pride of the country's north.

★ 4.1|97 ratings

Pura s lučinicom, side dish from Bosnia and Herzegovina

5Pura s lučinicomNº 597

Side Dish · Also Pura s lučnicom

A Herzegovinian cornmeal dish close to polenta, the flour ground at a water mill, cooked soft with water, then drizzled with soured milk, melted butter, and garlic. Light but comforting, it is eaten at any hour, from breakfast to a late supper in the hills.

★ 4.1|29 ratings

Burek, savory pastry from Bosnia and Herzegovina

6BurekNº 674

Savory Pastry

Coils of thin, flaky jufka pastry wound around spiced minced beef and baked until crisp and bronze. In Bosnia the rule is strict: if it is filled with anything but meat, it is not burek but a pita by another name. Turkish in root, a national treasure in practice.

★ 4.1|312 ratings

Jabukovača, sweet pastry from Bosnia and Herzegovina

7JabukovačaNº 735

Sweet Pastry

Sarajevo's apple pastry, built like a baklava: thin sheets of dough rolled around chopped apple, walnut, sugar, and lemon, coiled into a pan and baked, then soaked in syrup. Sweet, sticky, and cut into diamonds like its Ottoman cousins.

★ 4.1|36 ratings

Krompiruša, savory pastry from Bosnia and Herzegovina

8KrompirušaNº 754

Savory Pastry · Also Krumpiruša

The potato member of the pita family, thin jufka pastry wrapped around diced potato and onion, then coiled into a spiral and baked golden. Plainer and cheaper than the meat burek, it is everyday bakery food, sold by the slice and best warm.

★ 4.1|66 ratings

Kljukuša, savory pie from Bosnia and Herzegovina

9KljukušaNº 794

Savory Pie · Also Pokljukuša

A humble baked dish from Ottoman times, a thin batter of flour and water set with grated potato and egg, sometimes enriched with garlic and sour cream. Rustic country food, cut in wedges from the round pan and served with a bowl of yogurt.

★ 4.1|33 ratings

Buredžici, savory pastry from Bosnia and Herzegovina

10BuredžiciNº 820

Savory Pastry

Little burek in miniature: small spirals of jufka pastry rolled around minced meat, baked, then doused with a warm mix of yogurt and garlic. Served swimming in the sauce and eaten with a spoon, they are a softer, saucier cousin of the crisp original.

★ 4.1|24 ratings

Kvrguša, savory pie from Bosnia and Herzegovina

11KvrgušaNº 902

Savory Pie

A savory batter pie from the Bosanska Krajina, pieces of chicken set into a loose batter of flour, egg, and milk and baked until it sets around the meat. Homely and filling, it is the sort of dish a grandmother in the northwest makes without a recipe.

★ 4.0|20 ratings

Zeljanica, savory pastry from Bosnia and Herzegovina

12ZeljanicaNº 1,213

Savory Pastry

The green one in the pita lineup: thin jufka pastry coiled around blanched spinach, fresh cheese, cream, and egg, baked crisp and often splashed with warm milk at the end. It is the meat-free everyday pita, the Bosnian answer to spanakopita.

★ 4.0|84 ratings

The Departments

Every Bosnian dish in our ranking, grouped the way you'd order them.

The Complete Ledger

All 41 Bosnian dishes in the world ranking. Every entry, leaf by leaf.

41 entries
  1. 126 Sarajevski ćevapi Ground Meat Dish Sarajevo ★ 4.4
  2. 201 Travnički ćevapi Ground Meat Dish Travnik ★ 4.3
  3. 343 Ćevapi Ground Meat Dish Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 4.2
  4. 585 Banjalučki ćevapi Ground Meat Dish Banja Luka ★ 4.1
  5. 597 Pura s lučinicom Side Dish Herzegovina-Neretva Canton ★ 4.1
  6. 674 Burek Savory Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 4.1
  7. 735 Jabukovača Sweet Pastry Sarajevo ★ 4.1
  8. 754 Krompiruša Savory Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 4.1
  9. 794 Kljukuša Savory Pie Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 4.1
  10. 820 Buredžici Savory Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 4.1
  11. 902 Kvrguša Savory Pie Kozarac ★ 4.0
  12. 1,213 Zeljanica Savory Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 4.0
  13. 2,290 K Kiseljačke pogače Flatbread Kiseljak ★ 3.8
  14. 2,412 Smokvara Dessert Herzegovina-Neretva Canton ★ 3.8
  15. 2,617 P Pitica Flatbread Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.8
  16. 3,022 Sirnica Savory Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.8
  17. 3,222 V Višegradska čorba Meat Soup Višegrad ★ 3.8
  18. 3,405 Tuzlanski ćevapi Ground Meat Dish Tuzla ★ 3.8
  19. 3,528 Ruske kape Dessert Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.8
  20. 3,605 Japrak Ground Meat Dish Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.7
  21. 4,055 Hercegovački uštipci Snack Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.7
  22. 4,786 Somun Flatbread Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.7
  23. 5,129 Uštipci s lučnicom Snack Herzegovina-Neretva Canton ★ 3.6
  24. 5,936 Prijesnac Savory Pie Trebinje ★ 3.6
  25. 6,209 Čimbur Egg Dish Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.6
  26. 7,172 Hurmašica Sweet Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.4
  27. 7,492 Ružice Sweet Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.4
  28. 7,629 Begova čorba Chicken Soup Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.3
  29. 7,709 G Gradačačka kutija Lamb Dish Gradačac ★ 3.3
  30. 7,987 Kalja Stew Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.2
  31. 8,149 Sutlijaš Pudding Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.2
  32. 8,181 Sogan-dolma Ground Meat Dish Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.2
  33. 8,226 Orašnica Cookie Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.1
  34. 8,250 Klepe Dumplings Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.1
  35. 8,345 Bosanski lonac Stew Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.1
  36. 8,354 Gurabija Cookie Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.1
  37. 8,395 Tufahija Dessert Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.0
  38. 8,436 Buranija Stew Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.0
  39. 8,489 Kadaif Sweet Pastry Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 3.0
  40. 8,652 Čimbur s mesom Egg Dish Bosnia and Herzegovina ★ 2.7
  41. 10,013 S Sarajevska čorba Meat Soup Sarajevo
Leaf 1 of 2

Gazetteer

A Regional Tour of Bosnian Food

Where Bosnia and Herzegovina's ranked dishes were born, and what to order there.

Questions, Answered

Bosnian food, frequently asked. Answered from the data.

What is the most popular Bosnian food?
Ćevapi, without question. The little grilled minced-meat sausages are the country's favorite dish and its most-rated by a wide margin, with Sarajevski ćevapi ranking highest of all Bosnian dishes at #126 worldwide. Burek, the meat-filled phyllo coil, is the runaway second. All 8 Bosnian meat dishes →
What food is Bosnia known for?
Grilled meat and phyllo pies. Ćevapi are Bosnia's signature, and the country turns out ground-meat dishes far more than most cuisines. The other pillar is pita, hand-rolled jufka pastry coiled around a filling: meat in Burek, potato in Krompiruša, spinach and cheese in Zeljanica. All 9 Bosnian pastries →
What is Bosnia's national dish?
Ćevapi. The charcoal-grilled minced-meat sausages, served in warm somun bread with raw onion and kajmak, are a genuine point of national pride despite their Ottoman roots. Bosnians argue city by city over the best, from Sarajevski ćevapi to the Travnički and Banjalučki styles.
What is Bosnian burek?
Burek is a coil of thin jufka pastry filled with spiced minced meat and baked until flaky, one of the most-rated dishes in the country. Bosnians hold that only the meat version is truly burek; the same pastry filled with potato is Krompiruša, and with spinach and cheese it is Zeljanica.
What should I eat in Sarajevo?
Head to the old bazaar for ćevapi. Sarajevo's own Sarajevski ćevapi are the top-ranked in the country, eaten in the Baščaršija from smoky grills. Follow them with Jabukovača, the city's baklava-style apple pastry, and a Bosnian coffee served in a copper set.