Filled with hearty classics and sweet indulgences, British cuisine offers a wealth of flavours that satisfy every palate. Whether it’s a comforting pie or a refreshing dessert, these dishes showcase the best of traditional cooking, and today we’ll be looking at 20 of the UK’s most delicious culinary treasures.
Fish and Chips
A staple of British seaside towns, fish and chips combine crispy battered fish with golden fried potatoes. They’re often served with a side of mushy peas or tartar sauce and traditionally wrapped in newspaper.
Shepherd’s Pie
Shepherd’s pie is minced lamb cooked with vegetables and topped with creamy mashed potatoes. Baked until golden, the dish offers a comforting blend of textures and flavours. It’s a family favourite that warms the soul, especially during colder months.
Bangers and Mash
Combining flavourful sausages with smooth mashed potatoes, bangers and mash is the first of many hearty meals on our list. We often have it alongside rich onion gravy, and it’s a popular choice in pubs across the country with simple ingredients that highlight the quality of British produce.
Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding
A Sunday roast isn’t complete without succulent roast beef and Yorkshire pudding. The pudding, a batter baked until puffy, is perfect for soaking up gravy, and together with roasted vegetables, it comes as a traditional meal enjoyed by families not just in the UK but also around the world.
Cornish Pasty
Originating from Cornwall, the Cornish pasty is a baked pastry filled with meat and vegetables. Many Brits discard the crust after eating the filling in this beloved snack, which has been around since the tin miners in the 1200s fell to it as their convenient lunch.
Full English Breakfast
Our list is never complete without the full English breakfast—a hearty start to the day that includes eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans, and toast. Black pudding and grilled tomatoes often join the plate in certain variations, and the whole dish is a traditional meal that provides energy and satisfies hunger.
Steak and Kidney Pie
Encased in flaky pastry, steak and kidney pie combines tender meat with a rich gravy. The kidneys add depth of flavour, creating a savoury filling, and often served with mashed potatoes and vegetables, this dish is a perfect representation of traditional British comfort food.
Toad in the Hole
Toad in the Hole features sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter until golden and crisp. Served with onion gravy and vegetables, it’s a comforting meal with a quirky name that adds to its charm—and some trace its origins to 18th-century English recipe books.
Lancashire Hotpot
Many Brits also love their Lancashire hotpot, a slow-cooked stew of lamb and onions topped with sliced potatoes. Baked until the potatoes are crispy, it’s one hearty, regional specialty that reflects the simplicity of traditional British cooking.
Eton Mess
Eton Mess is a delightful dessert combining strawberries, broken meringue, and whipped cream. Traditionally served at Eton College’s annual cricket match, it’s a sweet treat that’s both simple and indulgent.
Bubble and Squeak
For many Brits, bubble and squeak has become a clever way to use leftover vegetables, as it mixes mashed potatoes with cabbage and other greens. Fried until crispy, it makes a tasty side dish or light meal, and if you’re curious, its name actually comes from the sounds it makes while cooking.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
With sticky toffee pudding, Brits enjoy a moist sponge cake made with dates and covered in a rich toffee sauce. It’s a beloved British dessert served warm with custard or ice cream—one that comes with a sweetness and warmth that make it perfect for colder days.
Trifle
Trifle layers sponge cake, fruit, jelly, custard, and cream into a glass dish, and sometimes it’s soaked in sherry to add an adult twist to its sweet appeal. Brits love to have it during great celebrations, as it’s a visually appealing dessert that delights with its mix of flavours and can even be spiced up with some alcohol.
Ploughman’s Lunch
A Ploughman’s Lunch includes cheese, bread, pickles, and salad. Featuring cheddar or stilton sometimes, it’s a meal intended to emulate what a ploughman eats after a hard time at work. You’ll more likely find it served in pubs accompanied by a pint of beer or cedar, or made more tasty with ham or green salad.
Scotch Egg
As one of the more popular British classics, we can’t leave out the scotch egg—a dish of boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs, and deep-fried. Served hot or cold, it’s a popular picnic item and pub snack, and the combination of egg and meat makes it a filling, high-protein treat.
Welsh Rarebit
Welsh rarebit is toasted bread topped with a cheese sauce flavoured with ale and mustard. Grilled until bubbly, it transforms simple ingredients into a flavourful meal, and it’s also often enjoyed as a light lunch and as a comforting choice for many cheese lovers around.
Scones with Clotted Cream and Jam
A quintessential part of British afternoon tea time, scones are a traditional baked good served with clotted cream and jam. The debate over whether to spread the jam or cream first continues across regions. But nonetheless, this delightful treat offers many Brits one of the sweetest breaks of the day.
Black Pudding
Black pudding is a type of blood sausage made with pork blood, oatmeal, and spices. It’s also often part of a full English breakfast, and it’s a meal rich in zinc and iron and is said by former Prime Minister Liz Truss to be a ‘must-eat English meal’.
Haggis
Scotland’s national dish, haggis, is made from sheep’s heart, liver, and lungs mixed with oatmeal and spices. It’s also encased in a stomach, served with “neeps and tatties” (turnips and potatoes), and it’s seen by many as central to Burns Night celebrations.
Bakewell Tart
Originating from the town of Bakewell (as its name suggests), this tart features a pastry base spread with jam and topped with frangipane. It’s baked until golden, combining sweet almond flavours with fruity jam and serving as some’s perfect British dessert to be enjoyed with a cup of tea.