Austrian food gets reduced to schnitzel and Sachertorte outside the country, which skips most of what is actually on the table. There is a whole Alpine dumpling culture across Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Carinthia and Salzburg, a Viennese beef tradition built around Tafelspitz and Saftgulasch, and a pastry repertoire deep enough to fill a shelf of its own.
Here are 20 dishes that cover that range, from a cutlet pounded thin in Vienna to a steamed dumpling sold warm at mountain huts. Every one links to the full recipe, and where a dish is shared with a neighboring country or already lives elsewhere on this site, that gets a mention rather than a smoothing-over.
1. Wiener Schnitzel mit Erdäpfelsalat, Vienna
A thin veal cutlet in a light, rippled breadcrumb coating, served with warm Austrian potato salad dressed in stock and vinegar, not mayonnaise.
Recipe: Breaded veal cutlet, fried until rippled, served with warm potato salad.
Get the full recipe: Wiener Schnitzel mit Erdäpfelsalat.
2. Tafelspitz mit Apfelkren, Vienna
Beef, gently simmered with root vegetables until tender, served with apple horseradish, a chive sauce and roasted potatoes. One of Vienna's defining dishes, tied to the old imperial court.
Recipe: Beef, simmered with root vegetables, served with apple horseradish and chive sauce.
Get the full recipe: Tafelspitz mit Apfelkren.
3. Wiener Saftgulasch, Vienna
Beef, braised slowly in a rich gravy built on nearly as much onion as meat, finished with paprika and caraway. Vienna's bread-roll-mopping goulash.
Recipe: Beef, braised in an onion-and-paprika gravy, served with a bread roll.
Get the full recipe: Wiener Saftgulasch.
4. Zwiebelrostbraten, Vienna and eastern Austria
A seared beef steak, topped with crisp fried onions and a simple pan gravy, served with fried potatoes. Austria's steak-and-crispy-onions classic.
Recipe: Beef steak with gravy, topped with crisp fried onions.
Get the full recipe: Zwiebelrostbraten.
5. Schweinsbraten mit Semmelknödel und Kraut, Across Austria
Garlic-and-caraway-rubbed pork, roasted tender, served with bread dumplings and tangy braised cabbage. Austria's most common Sunday roast.
Recipe: Roast pork with caraway, served with bread dumplings and cabbage.
Get the full recipe: Schweinsbraten mit Semmelknödel und Kraut.
6. Steirisches Wurzelfleisch, Styria
Pork, simmered with root vegetables and a splash of vinegar, served with potatoes and fresh horseradish. A rustic farmhouse dish from Styria.
Recipe: Pork and root vegetables, simmered with vinegar, served with horseradish.
Get the full recipe: Steirisches Wurzelfleisch.
7. Backhendl mit Erdäpfel-Vogerlsalat, Styria and Vienna
Breaded fried chicken, served with a potato and lamb's lettuce salad dressed in nutty Styrian pumpkin seed oil. An old Viennese classic.
Recipe: Breaded fried chicken, served with potato and lamb's lettuce salad.
Get the full recipe: Backhendl mit Erdäpfel-Vogerlsalat.
8. Tiroler Gröstl, Tyrol
Fried potatoes, onions and chopped leftover roast, topped with a fried egg. A hearty Tyrolean one-pan meal built to use up Sunday's roast.
Recipe: Fried potatoes, onions and meat, topped with a fried egg.
Get the full recipe: Tiroler Gröstl.
9. Tiroler Speckknödel in Rindsuppe, Tyrol
Bread dumplings studded with smoked bacon and herbs, served in clear beef broth. Tyrol's simple, comforting way with a dumpling.
Recipe: Bacon-studded bread dumplings, served in clear beef broth.
Get the full recipe: Tiroler Speckknödel in Rindsuppe.
10. Vorarlberger Käsknöpfle, Vorarlberg
Small egg noodles, layered with regional mountain cheese and topped with deeply browned onions. Vorarlberg's cheese-and-noodle bake, close in spirit to Swiss käsespätzle.
Recipe: Egg noodles, layered with cheese, topped with browned onions.
Get the full recipe: Vorarlberger Käsknöpfle.
11. Kärntner Kasnudeln, Carinthia
Crimped pasta pockets filled with curd cheese, potato and mint, served with browned butter. Carinthia's distinctive filled pasta.
Recipe: Cheese-and-potato pasta pockets, served with browned butter.
Get the full recipe: Kärntner Kasnudeln.
12. Salzburger Kaspressknödel, Salzburg and the Alpine regions
Flattened bread-and-cheese dumplings, pan-fried until golden, served in broth or with salad. The Alpine region's crisp-edged take on a dumpling.
Recipe: Bread-and-cheese dumplings, flattened and pan-fried golden.
Get the full recipe: Salzburger Kaspressknödel.
13. Frittatensuppe, Across Austria
Thin savory pancake strips, in a hot, clean beef broth with chives. About as plain and everyday as Austrian cooking gets, usually the first course of a family lunch.
Recipe: Beef broth, with thin savory pancake strips and chives.
Get the full recipe: Frittatensuppe.
14. Kaiserschmarrn mit Zwetschkenröster, Across Austria
A fluffy, egg-rich pancake, torn into golden pieces and dusted with icing sugar, served with stewed plums. The dish whose name translates to "emperor's mess."
Recipe: A fluffy torn pancake, dusted with sugar, served with stewed plums.
Get the full recipe: Kaiserschmarrn mit Zwetschkenröster.
15. Wiener Apfelstrudel, Vienna and across Austria
Hand-stretched dough, thin enough to read through, rolled around spiced apples and buttered breadcrumbs. Vienna's most famous pastry, easier than its legend suggests.
Recipe: Hand-stretched dough, rolled around spiced apples and buttered crumbs.
Get the full recipe: Wiener Apfelstrudel.
16. Wachauer Marillenknödel, Wachau, Lower Austria
A whole apricot, wrapped in tender curd-cheese dough, boiled, then rolled in buttery toasted breadcrumbs. The Wachau valley's way of celebrating its own apricots.
Recipe: Apricots, wrapped in dumpling dough, boiled, rolled in toasted breadcrumbs.
Get the full recipe: Wachauer Marillenknödel.
17. Salzburger Nockerl, Salzburg
A light, airy sweet soufflé baked into three golden peaks said to represent the hills around Salzburg. A dish built entirely around timing.
Recipe: A sweet soufflé, baked into three golden peaks, dusted with sugar.
Get the full recipe: Salzburger Nockerl.
18. Sachertorte, Vienna
A dense chocolate cake, split and coated with apricot jam beneath a glossy chocolate glaze, served with unsweetened whipped cream. Vienna's most famous, most argued-over cake.
Recipe: Chocolate cake, layered with apricot jam, coated in chocolate glaze.
Get the full recipe: Sachertorte.
19. Linzer Torte, Linz, Upper Austria
A spiced nut pastry, filled with tart redcurrant jam and finished with a lattice top. Said to be one of the oldest cakes in the world still made under its original name.
Recipe: Spiced nut pastry, filled with redcurrant jam, topped with a lattice.
Get the full recipe: Linzer Torte.
20. Germknödel mit Powidl, Austrian Alpine cooking
A pillowy steamed yeast dumpling, filled with thick plum preserve, topped with butter and poppy seeds. An Alpine ski-season classic, sold warm at mountain huts.
Recipe: A steamed yeast dumpling, filled with plum preserve, topped with poppy seeds.
Get the full recipe: Germknödel mit Powidl.
good to have in the kitchen
A handful of things come up again and again across this list. None are strictly required, but they make the difference between a good version and the real one.
A a meat mallet, half this list starts with a cutlet pounded properly thin, from schnitzel to backhendl.
A a spätzle press, the right tool for Käsknöpfle, and for any other small egg noodle on this list.
A ground poppy seeds, the finishing touch on Germknödel, and worth having on hand regardless.
A Hungarian sweet paprika, Saftgulasch lives or dies on a good, fresh tin of it.
A pumpkin seed oil, the dark, nutty Styrian oil that dresses the salad alongside Backhendl, and genuinely worth seeking out.
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