The best traditional British dishes
The top 3 according to 26 votes from people: Fish and chips · Full English breakfast · Shepherd's pie. (Updated Aug 15, 2024.)
The classic savoury dishes of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that every British food guide tells visitors to try. Puddings and cakes are left for another list.
Top 15
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1
Fish and chips
Battered cod or haddock with thick chips, salt and malt vinegar; sold in British chippies since the 1860s.
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2
Full English breakfast
Bacon, sausages, eggs, baked beans, grilled tomato, mushrooms, black pudding and toast.
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3
Shepherd's pie
Minced lamb with onions and carrots under a crust of mashed potato (with beef it is cottage pie).
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4
Chicken tikka masala
Grilled chicken in a creamy spiced tomato sauce, popularised by British curry houses and often called a national dish.
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5
Scotch egg
Boiled egg wrapped in sausage meat, breaded and deep fried.
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6
Steak and kidney pie
Beef and kidney stewed in gravy and baked under a pastry lid.
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7
Haggis, neeps and tatties
Scotland's national dish: sheep's offal with oatmeal and spices, with swede and potatoes; star of Burns Night.
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8
Cornish pasty
D-shaped pastry with beef, potato, swede and onion; has PGI protection since 2011.
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9
Sunday roast
Roast beef, lamb or chicken with roast potatoes, vegetables, gravy and Yorkshire puddings, eaten on Sundays.
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10
Bangers and mash
Sausages with mashed potato and onion gravy.
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11
Ploughman's lunch
Cold plate of cheddar or Stilton, crusty bread, pickle, apple and pickled onions; a pub classic.
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12
Beef Wellington
Beef fillet coated in mushroom duxelles, wrapped in puff pastry and baked.
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13
Toad in the hole
Sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter, served with gravy.
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14
Lancashire hotpot
Lamb and onion stew topped with sliced potatoes and slow baked.
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15
Welsh rarebit
Toast covered in a sauce of melted cheese, ale and mustard, grilled.
Candidates
They don't make it into the top 15… yet. Vote for them to move them up.
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16
Pie and mash
East London classic: minced beef pie with mash and green parsley 'liquor'.
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17
Ulster fry
Northern Ireland's fry-up with soda bread and potato farls.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
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Comments (11)
Still can't believe toad in the hole is that low. Proper comfort food when it's cold outside, and autumn is here 🍂
First proper Sunday roast of autumn this weekend. Yorkshire puddings included, obviously.
Ulster fry last?? Potato bread and soda bread, it's better than the full English, fight me
A good Cornish pasty from a bakery in St Ives, still dreaming about it.
Chicken tikka masala being 'British' will never not be funny to me 😂
The claim is from a restaurant in Glasgow, the Shish Mahal. Nobody's 100% sure but it's the most famous story.
It was literally invented in Glasgow, so yeah, it counts.
Beef Wellington is more of a Gordon Ramsay thing than an everyday British dish tbh
Sunday roast at #2 is criminal, it's the best meal in the world. Yorkshire puddings are non-negotiable.
Proper fish and chips by the seaside with salt and vinegar, nothing beats it.
Where's the pork pie? Melton Mowbray has PGI status!