On the very long list of reasons that we love traveling in Ireland, sampling all the best food in Ireland is definitely near the top.
From hearty comfort food served in a dark, cozy pub to the deservedly famous full Irish breakfasts to potatoes cooked in more forms than you might have thought possible, there’s no shortage of delicious options when deciding what to eat in Ireland.
We’ve rounded up the best traditional Irish foods here, plus some exciting foodie experiences worth enjoying during your trip.
Here are the best things to eat in Ireland!
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How to Try a Wide Variety of Irish Foods At Once
Want to sample several of the best foods in Ireland in one fell swoop, or simply want to be able to try small bites of each so you don’t accidentally order something you don’t like?
Consider signing up for an Ireland food tour!
Food tours are one of our favorite ways to explore a new place (I’ve completely lost track of how many we’ve taken, but it’s a lot), and we walk away every time feeling a bit more knowledgeable about both the local cuisine and the destination as a whole.
Food tours (like this one from Walks) allow you to sample far more dishes in a few hours than you could try in a few days worth of “normal” eating!
If you would like to enjoy a food tour in Ireland, consider signing up for it as early in your trip as possible: that way, you’ll have plenty of new favorite dishes to order in restaurants throughout the rest of your trip.
Walks, one of our favorite tour companies in Europe, recently launched this exciting Dublin food tour, and this classic Dublin food tour is extremely popular as well.
While Dublin is understandably at the top of the list for travelers looking for food tours in Ireland, if your trip is taking you further afield, there are great options in other Irish cities as well!
This culinary tour of Cork and this food tour of Galway are also popular options.
Book your Ireland food tour today!
The Best Things to Eat in Ireland
Full Irish Breakfast
They take breakfast seriously in the Emerald Isle, and if there’s one meal you simply have to add to your list when deciding what to eat in Ireland, it’s a full Irish breakfast.
Traditionally, a full Irish breakfast is made up of fried eggs, rashers, sausage, black and white pudding, a fried tomato, and toast.
You might also see full Irish breakfasts served with brown bread, baked beans, and potatoes of some kind.
While the potatoes are less traditional, you’ll never catch us complaining about hash browns at breakfast!
Brown Bread (Soda Bread)
This simple bread is dense and sweet, best served fresh and with a giant heaping of Irish butter.
You’ll see brown bread absolutely everywhere in Ireland, but not all loaves are created equal.
If you happen to try a dry or slightly stale slice first, persevere: a fresh, warm slice of well-prepared brown bread is possibly one of the tastiest breads on Earth.
… But really, while the bread is delicious, it’s mostly a vehicle for delivering vast quantities of Irish butter directly to your tastebuds.
If you’re thinking “well, we have butter at home”, that’s fair–but there’s nothing like a hearty Irish butter served up in its homeland!
Irish Stew
Irish stew is most commonly made with lamb or mutton, potatoes (of course), onion, and parsley, though you’ll find other meats and vegetables thrown in on occasion.
Hearty and savory, this is the perfect food in Ireland to eat on a traditionally cold and blustery day.
Boxty
I will never, ever forget eating homemade boxty for the first time:!
These Irish potato pancakes are typically served at breakfast but can be paired with a wide variety of foods and seasonings (sweet, or savory, for instance).
Colcannon
Colcannon, aka Irish mashed potatoes, are a delightful indulgence that I’m tempted to swap out for our American version at future Thanksgivings.
Made of mashed potatoes, cabbage, and onions, colcannon is traditionally served with a melted pat of butter in the middle, which you can then dip your fork into between bites.
Open-Faced Sandwiches
All over Ireland, you’ll see open-faced sandwiches on lunch menus, and you should definitely order one at least once.
Typically including meat (I usually choose baked ham), a large pile of vegetables, cheese, and often an egg salad, it’s simple, delicious, and incredibly filling.
Bacon and Cabbage
If you associate corned beef and cabbage with the best food in Ireland, here’s the deal: bacon and cabbage is the authentic version, and it’s fantastic.
According to one of our waitresses (who very well might have just been flattering me when I ordered one), it’s not the type of dish a tourist from across the pond often orders–but you should, because it’s delicious.
(And in case you’re curious, corned beef and cabbage as we know it today is an Irish American dish that has never been popular in Ireland at all! Here’s the story behind the dish.)
Scones
Buttery and flaky, it’s not an exaggeration to say that we did not eat a single bad Irish scone when exploring all the best food in Ireland (and, uh–we ate a lot of scones).
Irish Butter
Dairy in Ireland, generally speaking, is phenomenal, but Irish butter is perhaps the absolute best in its category.
With a higher fat content and a brighter color than more typical butters, Irish butter is incredibly delicious–especially when smeared across a piece of brown bread.
Cocks and Mussels
Best remembered by the song of sweet Molly Malone and her wheelbarrow of cocks and mussels, this traditional Irish food can be found across the country in coastal fishing villages and towns.
Black Pudding
Perhaps the most intimidating of all the traditional Irish foods listed here, you may have heard black pudding mentioned by its more literal name before–blood pudding.
Essentially a sausage, black pudding is traditionally made of pork fat, a cereal (often oats or barley of some kind), and pig’s blood.
Making it even harder to stomach, it’s traditionally served with breakfast.
But–it’s delicious, and for adventurous eaters, a must-eat food in Ireland.
If you can get past the mental block, it’s truly a tasty food, and even if it’s not your thing, it’s worth trying at least a couple of bites as a travel experience.
White Pudding
Essentially black pudding minus the blood, white pudding is black pudding’s arguably more palatable cousin.
It’s also tasty, but it does have a different flavor than the famous black pudding.
We recommend trying both puddings while exploring the food in Ireland and seeing which you prefer!
Baked Ham
In a country with as much pork on the menu as Ireland, it’s no surprise that baked ham–enjoyed for lunch, for dinner, in a sandwich, whenever–belongs on any list of what to eat in Ireland.
Fish and Chips
Classic fried fish and chips is a traditional comfort food in the British Isles, and that includes in Ireland.
Dublin Coddle
Traditionally, a Dublin coddle is made up of leftovers, so this is one traditional Irish food that doesn’t have a specific recipe.
However, it’s most commonly made with rashers, onions, sausages, spices, and–what else–potatoes.
Soup
Virtually every pub and restaurant in the Emerald Isle will have a daily soup on its menu, so when deciding what to eat in Ireland, soup is always a safe bet.
As for what kind of soup, well, that changes all the time–but from what we saw, vegetable soup is by far the most common.
Barmbrack
This sweet bread is baked with raisins and traditionally associated with Halloween in Ireland.
… But there’s no doubt that it’s tasty when served with a cup of tea year-round!
Potatoes
Potatoes make up at least one ingredient of several dishes on this list, but this is Ireland, after all–the glorious Irish potato deserves to be called out independently when discussing what to eat in Ireland.
Walk into any grocery store in the country, and you’ll immediately notice that there are many, many possible kinds of potatoes to choose from!
What to Drink in Ireland
Beer
What list of things to drink in Ireland could possibly start with anything other than beer?
The #1 beer in Ireland is, of course, Guinness–and you’ll find it on tap in virtually every single pub and restaurant in the country.
The Guinness Storehouse is in Dublin and worth visiting and enjoying the samples!
Whiskey
Irish whiskey is incredibly popular both in the country and around the world, with popular Jameson leading the pack.
You can tour whiskey distilleries in Ireland to discover the process and origins of Irish whiskey before enjoying samples!
In Dublin, you can tour the Teeling Distillery, or you can pay a visit to the famous Jameson Distillery!
Coffee
Though Irish coffee as we think of it today–as in, served spiked and topped with cream–was only invented in the mid-20th century, coffee of all kinds is popular in Ireland today.
(… And not just as an alternative to tea, either: third-wave coffee shops are all the rage in Irish cities).
Tea
When in Ireland, do as the Irish do–and that means drinking tea like it’s water.
Sure, coffee is popular, but tea is still by far the winner of the coffee vs. tea debate in Ireland.
Nothing cuts through a damp, cold Irish day quite like a hot cup of tea and a scone, and ordering a pot of tea in a particularly cute cafe is one of the delights of exploring the best food in Ireland.
Fun Experiences With Food in Ireland
When it comes to food culture around the world, the food itself is only half the equation.
How you enjoy that food–including where, when, with whom, and in the case of Ireland, with what music in the background–is all an enormous part of building the sense of place we all crave when traveling.
These Ireland food experiences will ensure you never forget where you are when digging into a delicious meal!
Have a pint at a pub with live music.
Wherever you are in Ireland, you’re never far from a pub with good food, cold beer, and live music in the evenings.
At least once during your trip to Ireland, be sure to pull up a table and enjoy some classic Irish craic!
Experience the Guinness Storehouse.
The most popular tourist attraction in all of Ireland is the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.
The factory-turned-tourist-attraction is complete with a walk-through history of Guinness, a room where you can learn to pull your own Guinness, and an included pint that you can drink while soaking in one of the best views of Dublin available.
They also have lots of historic Guinness ads on display from different time periods, which was one of my personal favorite parts of the visit.
If you’re hoping to cover a wide variety of Irish foods and Irish food culture during your trip to the Emerald Isle, you can’t go wrong with a stop at the Guinness Storehouse!
… and the Jameson Distillery.
Less crowded and over-the-top than the Guinness Factory, whiskey lovers will be thrilled to know that they can tour not one, but two Jameson distilleries in Ireland.
The brand operates one distillery in Dublin and one in Cork.
Have a cup of tea in a cozy tearoom.
Simple but delightful, pulling up to a small tearoom and ordering a pot of tea and a sweet treat is one of our favorite ways to slow down and savor our experiences in Ireland.
Be sure to include a few stops at particularly adorable locations during your time exploring what to eat in Ireland!
Take a food tour.
Not sure exactly what to eat in Ireland and want to taste a bit of everything before committing to a full plate?
Consider hopping on an Irish food tour to sample a wide variety of food in Ireland.
For best results, we recommend taking a food tour toward the beginning of your trip so that you can use your newfound knowledge to enhance your experience for the rest of your visit.
This popular food tour in Dublin gets rave reviews.
Book your Dublin food tour today!
Read More About Visiting Ireland
Ready to start exploring the best food in Ireland… and just need to finish planning your trip first?
We’d love to continue to be part of your Ireland travel research here on Our Escape Clause!
You can browse all of our Ireland blog posts here, or check out these detailed guides:
- How Much Does a Trip to Ireland Cost? (On Any Budget)
- Belleek Castle, County Mayo: A Cozy Getaway in Ireland’s Countryside
- How to Plan Your Magical Ireland Honeymoon
- The Ultimate 10 Day Ireland Itinerary (Road Trip Guide!)
- What to Buy in Ireland: 25 Best Ireland Souvenirs
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