The best Pennsylvania Dutch foods
The top 3 according to 2,530 votes from people: Shoofly pie · Whoopie pie · Scrapple. (Updated Jul 27, 2022.)
Shoofly pie, whoopie pies, scrapple, apple butter and chicken pot pie: the German-rooted farm cooking of Lancaster County and beyond.
Top 15
-
1
Shoofly pie
Molasses pie with a crumb topping.
-
2
Whoopie pie
Two soft chocolate cakes sandwiching a creamy filling.
-
3
Scrapple
Pork scraps and cornmeal loaf, sliced and fried.
-
4
Apple butter
Slow-cooked spiced apple spread.
-
5
Funnel cake
Fried batter swirls dusted with sugar.
-
6
Chicken pot pie
A stew of chicken with square egg noodles, not a pastry pie.
-
7
Lebanon bologna
Smoked, tangy beef sausage.
-
8
Hamloaf
Meatloaf made with ham and bread crumbs.
-
9
Fastnachts
Doughnuts made before Lent.
-
10
Apple dumplings
Whole apples baked in pastry.
-
11
Pot roast
Slow-braised beef.
-
12
Chicken corn soup
Soup with chicken, corn and rivels.
-
13
Rivels
Little egg-and-flour dumplings for soups.
-
14
Gingerbread and ginger snaps
Spiced ginger baking.
-
15
Birch beer
Soft drink flavoured with birch bark.
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.
Is something missing?
Comments (47)
Ginger snaps dunked in coffee, grandpa style
Hamloaf is so underrated, my mom's recipe with the brown sugar glaze is the best
Pretzels should be on this list too, Pennsylvania is pretzel country
Soft pretzels from a market stand, yes
This list is making me miss Central Market in Lancaster
Shoofly pie is way too sweet for me. Love everything else though.
That's the point, it's a molasses bomb
Lebanon bologna on a cracker with sharp cheddar
Rivels are so simple but nothing beats them in a soup
Pot roast as a Pennsylvania Dutch dish feels a bit generic
It's generic everywhere, but here it's every Sunday
Ginger snaps from a Dutch bakery are on another level
Where are the chow chow and the seven sweets and seven sours?
Chow chow should be in here for sure
My Amish neighbors sell the best apple butter, sorry stores
Fastnacht Day is my favorite holiday, no contest
Fastnachts from the fire hall fundraiser are the best ones
Scrapple at number 3 is too high, it's an acquired taste
No, it's perfectly placed
Great list. Saving it for my trip to Intercourse and Bird-in-Hand
Birch beer is better than root beer and I'll die on this hill
Agreed, especially the red birch beer
Lebanon bologna with cream cheese, rolled up. Party food of my childhood.
Funnel cake is everywhere now but it started with the Pennsylvania Germans
Shoofly pie at number one is correct. Wet bottom, always.
Wet bottom with a cup of coffee for breakfast, the Lancaster way
Dry bottom gang here, sorry
Whoopie pies are from Maine, not Pennsylvania, fight me
Both states claim them, honestly they're great either way
Maine made it the official state treat, but PA Dutch bakers were making them long before
My Lancaster grandma made them in the 50s, they're ours 😄
Apple dumplings with milk poured over them, breakfast in Lancaster County
Funnel cake at the Kutztown Folk Festival, a must every summer
Chicken corn soup with rivels at every church supper
Hamloaf above chicken corn soup? Hmm
Whoopie pie in pumpkin flavor in October, perfection
Sweet bologna from Lebanon County is the real deal
Scrapple is either the best breakfast meat or the worst thing you've ever seen. No middle ground.
Scrapple with ketchup is a crime
Maple syrup on scrapple is the only way
Fried crispy with apple butter on top. Trust me.
Finally someone explains that chicken pot pie here is NOT a pie with a crust. It's a stew with square noodles!
Bott boi forever
Took me years after moving here to accept this
Apple butter on fresh bread with butter, nothing else needed
Apple butter stirred for hours in a copper kettle in the fall, a family tradition
Smorgasbords in Lancaster are where you can try all of this at once