Egyptian Food: 12 Dishes You Have to Try in Egypt

Egyptian food is hearty, generous and mostly cheap – built on beans, lentils, rice, bread and vegetables, with plenty of garlic, cumin and lemon. Much of the best food comes from street stalls and simple family restaurants. These are the dishes to look for on your trip.

Street food classics

1. Koshari

Egypt's most famous dish layers rice, lentils, macaroni and chickpeas under a spicy tomato sauce, garlicky vinegar and crispy fried onions. Specialist koshari shops serve nothing else.

2. Ful medames

Slow-cooked fava beans mashed with oil, cumin and lemon are the breakfast of the nation, scooped up with baladi bread from street carts every morning.

3. Ta'ameya

Egypt's falafel is made with fava beans rather than chickpeas, which makes it green inside, light and crisp. Eat it hot in a sandwich with tahini and salad.

4. Hawawshi

Spiced minced meat baked inside a round of bread until crisp – Egypt's answer to a meat pie, best straight from the oven.

5. Feteer meshaltet

This flaky, layered pastry is served sweet with honey or cream, or savoury with cheese and meat. Watch the bakers stretch the dough until it's paper thin.

Home cooking

6. Molokhia

A green soup of finely chopped jute leaves with garlic and coriander, served with rice and chicken or rabbit. Its silky texture surprises first-timers.

7. Mahshi

Vegetables – vine leaves, courgettes, peppers, aubergines – stuffed with herby rice and cooked in tomato sauce. It's a family favourite, especially for celebrations.

8. Fattah

Layers of crispy bread, rice and garlic-vinegar tomato sauce topped with lamb or beef, traditionally eaten at Eid and family feasts.

9. Seafood in Alexandria

Choose your fish from the ice at a seafood restaurant, then have it grilled or fried and served with rice and salads. Sayadeya – fish cooked with caramelised onion rice – is an Alexandrian speciality.

Sweets and drinks

10. Om ali

Egypt's bread-and-butter pudding is made with pastry, milk, nuts and raisins, baked until golden and bubbling.

11. Konafa and basbousa

Shredded-pastry konafa filled with cream or nuts, and syrupy semolina basbousa, fill the windows of sweet shops – especially during Ramadan.

12. Fresh juice and karkadeh

Freshly pressed sugarcane juice from street stalls is wonderfully refreshing. Try karkadeh, a deep-red hibiscus drink served hot or iced, and finish with mint tea.

Tips for eating out

• Look for busy places – high turnover means fresh food.
• Carry small notes for street food and tips.
• Ramadan changes the rhythm: many restaurants open for iftar at sunset, and the evenings are wonderfully lively.

Hungry for more? Join a food tour in Cairo or Alexandria to discover local favourites, and see our guide to the best things to do in Cairo.