The Best Slovenian Food and Drink | Guide to Food from Slovenia

My first country in the Balkans on my Europe trip was Slovenia and the food of Slovenia was not something I had anticipated being so good but was delighted about the cuisine of this small nation. 

I asked fellow travel writers to provide an overview of the best Slovenian food and drink to put together a one-stop shop for all the best Slovenian foods you need to try when you visit. 

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The Food From Slovenia Guide

Slovenian cuisine is a wonder for the sweet-tooths with the famous Slovenian food of cream cake and the hearty Slovenian meals will go down well with meat-eaters. Just about anyone who enjoys a glass of wine or Slovenian desserts will need to tick off this list.

As well as borrowing from neighbouring countries, Slovenia can boast about its traditional Slovenian foods and own Slovenia food culture.

Map of Slovenia in Europe

A Taste of A Slovenian Drink

Beer

There are a few Slovenian beers that you need to try on your trip: Union, Lasko, and Loo-blah-nah.

Union beer was my favourite of the three and is found in many bars and supermarkets. It is a tasty lager from Ljubljana and even has its own brewery open for visits!

Slovenian beer Lasko was the cheapest of the beers we tried and is the largest brewery in Slovenia from its namesake town in Eastern Slovenia. Since 2016, Pivovarna Laško Union d.d. was formed by merging both Lasko and Union breweries and the owner is Heineken, the popular drink from Amsterdam.

Looblahnah is a Slovenian craft beer that has various types of beers such as Little IPA, Gold Ale and Chili American IPA. The name is a phonetic spelling of the capital city of Ljubljana in Slovenia and they don the logo of a Green Dragon. I tried this beer while at a Chilli and Chocolate festival in Ljubljana centre.

Water

The Slovenian water is completely safe to drink as it has lots of minerals and Slovenia is one of the best countries in Europe for good water. A great place to visit for the water is Rogaška Slatina which is known for its curative water!

Wine

Submitted by Vidyut Rautela from Triplyzer

Slovenia is one of the top travel destinations in Europe for wine connoisseurs and novices alike. The tradition of wine and winemaking has long been a part of Slovenian culture, some consider it to be even older than Spanish and French ones. Based on their geographical locations, Slovenia can be divided into three major wine regions, which are further divided into districts. The country majorly produces white wine (around 75%) and the rest is red.

One of the best Slovenian wines is Cviček which is a produce of Dolenjska commune, a part of the South-East wine region. Cviček is unique in its preparation as it constitutes 3 parts red wine and 1 part white wine. The variety is known for its low alcohol (up to 10%) and sugar content making it a choice of drink that can be had more frequently.

The wine is light red with a purple tint, and it smells of a mix of fresh berries. Cviček has a distinct sour flavor and goes well with cheese and a variety of local meat dishes.

Since it is rich in antioxidants and flavonoids, Cviček is also recommended for its health benefits. While in Slovenia, you can pick up a bottle from a supermarket or the wine stores.

To learn more about the wine of Slovenia and go on your own tasting experience, find the best Slovenian wine tours here:

Slovenia Food Guide

For the first dish which is arguably the most famous Slovenian foods, I’ve included two takes on the cream cake as follows. This is an absolute must for what to eat in Slovenia!

Blejska Kremna Rezina

Submitted by Emily from Wander-Lush

One for sweet-toothed travellers, Blejska kremna rezina – AKA Bled Cream Cake – is a Slovenia dessert and food icon and a must-try when visiting the beautiful Lake Bled.

The recipe for this dessert was devised in 1953 at the Hotel Park on the shore of the lake. It’s fairly simple, consisting of layers of puff pastry, custard and whipped cream, dusted with icing sugar to serve.

Bled Cream Cake is a time-honoured tradition and the dish is very precise: Each square of cake must measure a perfect seven centimetres in length, width and height. And to be considered a ‘true’ kremna rezina, the custard must have a good wobble!

Just about every cafe, restaurant and bakery in Bled serves Blejska kremna rezina. For the real deal, visit the Hotel Park on the promenade, where chefs keep true to the original recipe (eggs, flour, cream, sugar and butter) and prepare batches of cake throughout the day so that it’s always fresh.

Variations of Slovenian cream cake can be found throughout the Balkans region. Krempita or ‘Balkan Cream Squares’, for example, are beloved in Serbia and beyond.

Read Next: How to Get to Lake Bled from Ljubljana

Kremsnita

Submitted by Joanna from The World in My Pocket

Kremsnita is a very popular Slovenian cake all over Eastern Europe, but, in Bled, it’s so loved that it has become a symbol for the town. You can’t visit Lake Bled without having it. It is often referred to as the Lake Bled cake, and all restaurants and cafes in Lake Bled have it on their menu. 

Whilst the exact origins of the cake are unknown, the local legend said that it was created by a famous pastry chef at the Park Hotel in 1953, when he relocated here after the Second World War. The cake is a custard cream cake topped with a layer of Chantilly cream and covered with crunchy puff pastry. The top layer gives the cake texture, whilst the cream balances the sweetness of the custard. It is a delicious cake that you must try when you visit Lake Bled or Slovenia in general. It is said that the best is still at the Park Hotel, where the recipe is kept secret. 

Cevapcici

Submitted by Cosette from KarsTravels

Ćevapčići or Ćevapi is a delicious meat dish. Ćevapčići are sausages made from seasoned ground and lamb meat. The seasoning consists of onion, garlic, paprika powder, salt, pepper and parsley. Egg and flour will be added for consistency of the dish. 

The sausages are grilled and can be a bit spicy, but mostly they’re well-seasoned and have a bite. They’re served for lunch or dinner at restaurants with fries or rice and ajvar. Or in a pita with lettuce and ajvar. Ajvar is a spread made from red bell pepper, eggplant, salt, oil and spices. 

You can get the ćevapčići all throughout the Balkans, however the name changes from country to country. The dish dates back to the Middle Ages and is a version of köfte kebab. Try it out on an afternoon in Ljubljana. The sausages are served in restaurants and can also be bought at the supermarket or made at home. 

Gobova Juha

Submitted by Bradley from Dream Big Travel Far

Gobova juha is a type of mushroom soup typically made from wild mushrooms, potatoes, bay leaves, marjoram, sauteed onions, butter, flour, and garlic. Although there are variations depending on family recipes. Once the soup is almost ready, you would add some white wine and vinegar. It’s overall a very fragrant dish served with extra parsley and sometimes sour cream.

A lot of Slovenians like to cook a huge pot of Gobova Juha during the fall season, as its hearty taste is perfect to welcome the colder months. This homemade soup can be found on the dining table of most homes for either lunch or dinner, but one of the most popular places to get it is in Bled.

Nestled just 200 meters from Lake Bled (one of the world’s most romantic destinations!), Oštarija Babji Zob serves an authentic and indulgent version of homemade Slovenian food, Gobova Juha. It’s thick with chunky nubs of butter and mushrooms, and you could almost picture a lovely grandmother stirring the pot in her kitchen!

Honey

You wouldn’t think of a preserve like Honey to be a traditional food in Slovenia but it is actually a very popular food in Slovenia. It is said that the country has over 200,000 beehive colonies providing the very best honey to the nation!

You can find honey everywhere from supermarkets and specialised bee-product shops to festivals and the beekeepers’ homes themselves.

Slovenian Olive Oil

The peninsula of Istria is made up of Slovenia, Croatia and Italy and has the foundations for some of the most delicious, and beneficial, olive oil in the world! Visiting Slovenian Istria towns like Piran and Koper is where you can take an olive oil tasting tour, buy your own products and learn about why this region produces such high-quality olive oil.

Jota

Submitted by Ben from Ticket 4 Two Please 

Jota, sometimes referred to as Istria Stew in Southern parts of the country, is a hearty Slovenian soup perfect for a cold day or when you’ve completed one of the many hiking routes and trails in Slovenia. 

There are a few variations of Jota, with each family professing to have the perfect recipe, but in general it is typically made from beans, sauerkraut and potatoes, served as a hearty broth or stew.  

It will often come served with a meat, which could be short rib or pork chop, but can also be the popular Carniolan sausage – a Slovenian sausage perhaps most like the traditional Polish Kielbasa. 

Jota Slovenian soup is the perfect dish to try for visitors to Slovenia that are going to be spending much of their time outdoors. Picture this – you’re visiting Tolmin Gorge in the Soča Valley region, you’ve walked for hours and hours exploring every detail of the fascinating canyon, then you find yourself at a local Slovenian restaurant that serves the most-generous portion of comforting Jota. It’s what everybody wants to eat in Slovenia. 

Regardless of which variation you try, Jota is the dinner of choice for many Slovenians and you will not have to go far in the country to get your hands on a hearty portion of the famous stew.

Read Next: Food Guide to Romania!

Krajnska

Krajnska Klobasa, known as Carniolan sausage in English, and mentioned above, is a pork sausage that is a popular Slovenian food. It can be eaten in bread with sauerkraut, mustard and grated horseradish.

There are specific rules surrounding the recipe for this Slovene sausage (under the European Protected Geographical Indication scheme) such as the ingredients, the amount of meat, the filling and how it is processed.

Slovenian Dessert Potica

Submitted by Balogun from The Quick Travel

Potica is a well-known Slovenian dessert that looks and tastes like a blend of bread and a cake. You are most likely going to consider it less of a dessert, and more of an afternoon tea kind of food because of this.

Some Potica pastry are filled with poppy seeds, walnuts, or a tarragon and some are even filed with several other varieties such as savoury versions containing pork crackling.

Normally, Potica is a filled rolled loaf and that is why you can pick any of these varieties to fill it with. In Slovenia, tradition regards Potica as a festive bread, made and eaten at Christmas or Easter, but these days it can be made, bought, and enjoyed year-round.

Making a good Potica requires love and time. It is a unique culinary art. You can buy and taste the various Potica versions all over Slovenia, at various opportunities and at numerous events.

Tasting and even preparing Potica can be a real experience in some places.

Take a food tour in Slovenia to try these amazing dishes:

Radovljica Gingerbread

Submitted by Heather from Conversant Traveller

Sitting on a hilltop above the Sava Valley and just a short drive between Ljubljana and Bled there’s a small town called Radovljica. It’s a charming place, with colourful houses and a sleepy vibe, but what really puts it on the map is the gingerbread museum.

Gostlina Lectar is a guest house and restaurant too, and serves up Slovenian traditional food to its guests, but the main event is the gingerbread. Lectar is the term used in Slovenia for describing the decoration of honey dough, and 500 years ago lect workshops were held all over the country. The gingerbread was created as a token of love, hence the popularity of the heart shape! The workshop here at the Radovljica gingerbread museum has been around for 200 years, and you can see it being made by the expert confectioners. Created from local honey, flour, butter, and ginger, these tasty, sweet treats make great snaps for when you’re out sightseeing.

Ricet

One of the most traditional Slovenian dishes is Ricet, a type of stew that reminds me of Cawl in the Welsh cuisine. It is a Slovenian barley soup containing beans, vegetables and meat boiled in a soup (the barley is usually soaked overnight). Ricet is served with pork and often contains Carniolan Sausage as described above.

The soup is typically served as a homemade meal during the week but can be found in certain Balkan restaurants.

Salt

While not an actual food in Slovenia, Salt does play an imperative part to food, cuisine and culture here.

There are salt reserves in Slovenia that are considered some of the best salt to use for cooking, seasoning, baths and spas. You can visit these salt pans which are now landscape parks by guided tours to learn about the production and health benefits. The salt process in Slovenia, specifically in Piran, uses the same method that has been used for centuries.

Struklji

Submitted by Martina from PlacesofJuma

One of the most delicious Slovenian dishes is Štruklji! These are rolled Slovenian dumplings whose history goes back to the 16th century. At that time it was a monastery food, today this traditional Slovenian food is mostly served as a side dish with meat and sauces. But Struklji can also be enjoyed sweetly as a dessert or as a sweet main course.

The oldest preserved recipe, however, is believed to have come from Graz in Austria and was described in 1589 by the chef of an archduke as “Slovenian Štruklji with tarragon”. The difference with the Austrian “strudel”, however, is that this amazing Slovenian dish is cooked instead of baked, and the variety of fillings is much greater.

You can find Struklji in Slovenian restaurants and taverns, but it is filled a little differently depending on the region, and the dough can also vary a little. For example, Struklji is usually made from paper-thin strudel dough, but can also be made from yeast dough, phyllo dough and potato dough. Mostly this dish is eaten for lunch or as a hearty dinner.

Of course, you can also get these delicious dishes as a snack at the bakery and supermarket.

Žganci 

Submitted by Balogun from The Quick Travel

Zganci, also translated to ‘burn’ is a Slovenian buckwheat bread which doesn’t sound it, but is delicious when served. It can be served alone or could make a great accompaniment to stews and sausages. You can have it with sour milk too.

The mountain huts where the sour milk comes directly from the grazing herds is where I would recommend trying the meal if you ever think of having a “whole” experience of it. You can also have buckwheat spoonbread at Moji Štruklji, a place in Ljubljana and Lectar, a place in Radovljica.

This meal is rich in greaves (greaves is un-meltable residue left after animal fat has been rendered) and is one of the most important ingredients of this Slovenia national dish. It can also be on the top of sauerkraut and sour turnip and as a filling of the traditional festive bread, Potica, which is called ocvirkovka. 

Other popular dishes include Idrijski Zlikrofi which are Slovenian potato dumplings which originate from Idrija in West Slovenia and Bujta Repa which is pickled turnip served with pork originating from Prekmurje in North East Slovenia and considered a Slovenian national food.

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Would you say you now know more about Slovenian culture food? 🙂

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