Top 10 French Dishes: Traditional French Food to Try

Below is what each one is, what to expect when you order it, and whether it is vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free, or the swap to make it so. For other countries, see our world cuisines guides.

Top 10 Traditional French Dishes

1. Croissants

A croissant is a yeast dough folded again and again with butter, so it bakes into dozens of thin, crisp layers. The French eat them at breakfast, plain or dipped in coffee. Pain au chocolat is the same dough rolled around chocolate, and almond croissants are usually yesterday’s croissants filled and baked again.

Diet note: wheat and butter, so neither vegan nor gluten-free. Some bakeries now make vegan croissants with plant butter.

2. Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a summer vegetable stew from Provence and Nice: eggplant, zucchini, capsicum, onion and tomato cooked in olive oil with garlic and herbs such as thyme and basil. It is eaten as a main with bread or as a side with grilled meat, and it tastes better the next day.

Diet note: naturally vegan and gluten-free.

3. Coq au Vin

Coq au vin is chicken braised slowly in red wine with lardons (bacon), mushrooms, small onions and garlic until the sauce turns dark and glossy. It was made for tough old roosters that needed long cooking, and it is usually served with potatoes or bread.

Diet note: the sauce is often thickened with flour, so ask if you need gluten-free. For a vegetarian version, cook the same sauce with mushrooms.

4. Bouillabaisse

Bouillabaisse is the fish stew of Marseille, made from several kinds of rockfish and often shellfish, cooked with tomato, fennel, orange peel and saffron. The broth is usually served first with toasted bread spread with rouille, a garlic and saffron mayonnaise, and the fish after. It is worth eating where it comes from, on the Mediterranean coast.

Diet note: the stew itself is usually gluten-free, but the bread is not. It is a fish dish through and through, so there is no real vegetarian version.

5. Boeuf Bourguignon

Boeuf bourguignon is beef braised for hours in Burgundy red wine with carrots, onions, mushrooms and lardons, until the meat falls apart. It is the beef cousin of coq au vin and is served with mashed potato, noodles or bread.

Diet note: the beef is often floured before browning, so check if you need gluten-free. Mushroom bourguignon, made with vegetable stock, is the usual vegetarian and vegan swap.

6. French Onion Soup

French onion soup (soupe à l’oignon) is onions cooked slowly until deep brown and sweet, simmered in beef stock, then topped with a slice of bread and grated gruyère and grilled until the cheese bubbles. It is a Paris classic, long associated with late nights around the old Les Halles market.

Diet note: vegetarian if made with vegetable stock, but most restaurants use beef stock. Skip the bread crust for gluten-free.

7. Quiche Lorraine

Quiche Lorraine comes from the Lorraine region in the northeast: a shortcrust pastry case filled with eggs, cream and lardons, baked until just set. Traditional versions often leave out cheese altogether, although most modern recipes add gruyère.

Diet note: the pastry is wheat. Leave out the lardons for a vegetarian quiche.

8. Cassoulet

Cassoulet is a slow-baked casserole of white beans with sausage, pork and usually duck confit, from the Languedoc in the southwest. Castelnaudary, Carcassonne and Toulouse all claim their own version. It is heavy winter food and takes the best part of a day to make properly.

Diet note: often gluten-free, but check the sausages and any breadcrumb topping. Vegan versions use beans, root vegetables and smoked paprika for the smoky depth.

9. Croque Monsieur

A croque monsieur is ham and cheese between two slices of bread, topped with béchamel sauce and more cheese, then grilled or baked. Add a fried egg on top and it becomes a croque madame. It is the standard café lunch in France.

Diet note: wheat bread and a flour-based béchamel, so not gluten-free. Drop the ham for vegetarian.

10. Crème Brûlée

Crème brûlée is a baked custard of cream, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla, chilled, then covered in sugar that is caramelised with a blowtorch or hot grill until it sets hard. The fun is cracking through the top with a spoon.

Diet note: vegetarian and naturally gluten-free. Not vegan, since it is made of cream and eggs.

French Street Food to Try

Crepes

Crepes are thin pancakes made to order at stalls and markets, filled with something sweet like sugar and lemon or chocolate spread, or savoury like ham and cheese. The savoury galettes of Brittany are made with buckwheat flour, which is naturally gluten-free, although some recipes mix in wheat.

Baguette Sandwiches

A length of baguette with butter and ham (jambon-beurre) is France’s everyday lunch. Other common fillings are cheese, pâté or salami, sometimes with cornichons.

Frites

Frites are thin-cut chips, served in paper cones at markets and festivals with mayonnaise or aioli, and next to steak in almost every brasserie as steak frites.

Socca

Socca is a thin pancake from Nice made of chickpea flour, water and olive oil, baked in a very hot oven until crisp at the edges and finished with black pepper. It is naturally vegan and gluten-free.

Famous French Restaurants

If you are in Paris and want the grand version of French cooking, these three are among the best known:

• Le Meurice: classic French cooking in a palace hotel dining room on the Rue de Rivoli.
• L’Arpège: Alain Passard’s restaurant, built around vegetables from his own gardens.
• Guy Savoy: haute cuisine in the Monnaie de Paris, on the bank of the Seine.

French Table Manners

A French meal is taken slowly, and a few habits are worth knowing. Keep both hands on the table, not in your lap. Wait until everyone is served before you start. Bread goes on the tablecloth beside your plate rather than on a side plate, and it is used to push food onto your fork. Do not ask for the bill until you are ready, because a waiter will rarely bring it before you do.

Eating French Food Vegan or Gluten-Free

French cooking leans on butter, cream, cheese and wheat, so it takes a little more asking than some cuisines. Ratatouille and socca are naturally vegan. French onion soup can be made vegetarian with vegetable stock, and a crepe with fruit filling is easy to make dairy-free with oat milk and oil. Tarte tatin works with plant butter. For gluten-free eating, stews like cassoulet, bouillabaisse and ratatouille are the safe ground, crème brûlée is naturally gluten-free, and buckwheat galettes are worth seeking out.

French Cookbooks Worth Having

• Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck: the classic English-language guide to French technique.
• Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan: relaxed French home cooking, written for home kitchens.

French Food FAQs

What is the most famous French dish?

There is no single answer, but croissants, coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, ratatouille and crème brûlée are the French dishes most people outside France know. Within France, everyday favourites include steak frites and a simple roast chicken.

What is a typical French meal?

A traditional French dinner runs in courses: a starter (entrée), a main course (plat), then cheese, then dessert. Everyday meals at home are simpler, often a main, a salad and cheese or fruit.

What French food is vegan?

Ratatouille and socca are naturally vegan, and many salads and vegetable side dishes are too. Much else is built on butter, cream, eggs and cheese, so ask. French onion soup, crepes and tarte tatin all have easy vegan versions.

Is French food gluten-free?

Some of it is. Slow-cooked stews, ratatouille, crème brûlée and buckwheat galettes are usually gluten-free or close to it. Bread, pastry, croissants, quiche and anything with a flour-thickened sauce or béchamel are not.

What is the difference between a crepe and a galette?

A crepe is usually made with wheat flour and filled with something sweet. A galette is the savoury version from Brittany, made with buckwheat flour and filled with things like ham, cheese and egg.