Last updated on August 2, 2025 by Shannon
I love Bosnia & Herzegovina, completely and with the whole of my heart. This country won my affection. My hosts played a big part in those first days, as they walked me all over Sarajevo, imploring me to dig beneath the surface to see the city’s deep charms.
I was skeptical—I rarely enjoy capital cities, instead choosing smaller towns and rural regions.
But after reaching the flat and meeting Furkan and his roommates, there was no chance they would let me leave before I had seen the sights and sampled the vegetarian foods of Bosnia & Herzegovina.
After recharging with Turkish tea (Furkan brings it back from his visits home because he loves it so much!), we all headed to the city-center to explore and eat.
Can You Find Vegetarian Food in Bosnia?
A sticky situation popped up with our host Anida when I told her I’m vegetarian—she was flat-out appalled. And while she couldn’t understand my decision to eat vegetarian, she was also sad that she could not share with me most of Bosnia’s food culture.
In fact, she even asked “Well, why don’t I order you a meat one and you can just stop being vegetarian for today?”
She was sweet about it as she calmly explained that I would have exponentially better experiences if I stopped eating vegetarian for the week. I explained that I had been vegetarian since the early 90s and wasn’t up for changing that, but that I would still love to experience the vegetarian recipes within Bosnian cuisine.
Once she understood, she vowed to find every dish and special recipe that I could enjoy as a vegetarian.
We took the tram into Old Town, and wandered across the cobbled streets and between the cobbled buildings in Sarajevo’s Turkish section, called Baščaršija. It’s impossible to miss two of Sarajevo’s most iconic sights: the pigeon tower and the huge Turkish mosque.
But we weren’t there to sightsee just yet. We were there to eat. Anida led us to a busy street-side café serving “the absolute tastiest bureks around,” according to our hosts. Buregdžinica Bosna in Old Town Sarajevo has only grown in popularity over the years, but it’s a solid option for your first lunch in Sarajevo.
The Best Bosnian Foods
The Bosnian Burek/Pita
Traditional bureks are made out of ground beef—Furkan, Sidak, and Anida enthusiastically ordered that version. I opted for a cheese and spinach version.
Once you remove the meat, the burek is instead called a pita (though myself and most tourists continued to call any dish with phyllo a burek). Cheese and spinach is a common flavor and usually easy to find on the streets, meaning this is one vegetarian dish you can count on in many parts of Bosnia.
At the time, I had no idea what flavors awaited me. The server delivered each of us all a perfect triangle of dough—cheesy green spinach was tucked into the flakey phyllo in mine.
Served with a smother of plain yogurt, I couldn’t have been more pleased with our lunch. I love Greek spanakopita, and bureks are simply a Bosnian version of this dish. Anida gently noted that it was a good thing I liked the dish, as it was pretty much my only budget lunch option in Bosnia!
Like many places, traditional foods often have multiple versions, and I later discovered a few other tasty versions of this Bosnian snack. The pumpkin pita adds a bit of sweetness that works as a snack, and the plain cheese version is also available when you need a bit less food.
Here are common vegetarian versions of burek you can find around Bosnia:
- Sirnica: stuffed with cottage cheese
- Zeljanica: stuffed with spinach and cheese,
- Krompiruša: stuffed with potatoes
- Tikvenica: stuffed with zucchini
The tart sour cream, called pavlaka, is a delicious addition to this Bosnian food—you should order it too, if you eat dairy.
Čorba
Bosnians eat a wide range of soups, but unless it’s specifically marked as vegetarian, it likely has a beef broth. If you’re in a small town outside of Bosnia or Mostar, you should assume that soups have meat bases.
Inside the cities, some restaurants with English-translated menus have caught on to the vegetarian trend and will list this soup as an option for travelers intent on trying vegetarian versions of traditional Bosnian foods, like Čorba.
Peksimeti and kajmak
Kajmak is a sweet yogurt and it’s often served alongside fried dough, making this a simple and budget dish. Count on this to fill your belly as a quick snack.
Veggie Dishes
While most meals in Bosnia contain just meat, cheese, and some type of dough, a few dishes heavily involve vegetables. Only problem: They are never inherently vegetarian.
Cevapi is never served vegetarian at general restaurants, nor are the stuffed peppers or the stuffed grape leaves (japrak, also known as dolma in other countries).
Always ask questions before picking these items out on a menu. It may be that the restaurant can make this traditional Bosnian dish with just the veggies.
Shopskata Salad
Look for shopskata salate if you’re in the mood for fresh vegetables. Many Bosnian restaurants offer this simple mixed salad, which is usually served with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese.
Ajvar
Ajvar is a popular condiment in Bosnia and the surrounding Balkan region. It’s prepared with roasted red peppers and eggplant, and is usually served with bread or as a topping for grilled meats or vegetables.
While it’s never going to be offered as a meal, you could make a meal of this with the bread and veg spread, accompanied by a salad.
If you’ve every had muhammara, a popular Middle Eastern dish, this is very similar in ingredients and flavors.
Grilled Vegetables
Grilled vegetables are a popular dish in Bosnia and the surrounding region. They are usually served as a side dish or as a topping for sandwiches. Common vegetables that are grilled include zucchini, bell peppers, and eggplant.
You can ask for just these—they have them, they just usually serve the grilled veggies without meat. But note that they have likely been cooked near meat or even on a cooking surface used for meat.
Fasirani Grah
Fasirani Grah is a traditional Bosnian bean soup made with beans similar to kidney beans and spices. It is usually served with rice or bread and is a popular vegetarian main dish.
Note that it is not always—or even usually—served vegetarian, but you can absolutely find veggie versions of it around the bigger cities. Traditional Bosnian food though, including this soup, nearly always has meat thrown in, so find the fully vegetarian preparations before diving in.
Vegetarian Snacks
You’ll find a variety of nut shops throughout the cities and can make or restock on a trail mix that can offer you the protein that will be largely missing from your diet if you’re eating mostly vegetarian versions of traditional Bosnian foods.
Carrying a bag of roasted almonds, walnuts, and more is a solid plan. And the grocery stores are a great place to stock up on apples, and other fruits that travel well.
Cheat-Sheet of Vegetarian Foods in Bosnia
Some of the dishes on the list may be prepared with meat broth or meat-based ingredients, such as the traditional Ćevapi dish which is typically made with meat.
However, these dishes can be modified to be vegetarian-friendly by simply omitting or replacing the meat-based ingredients with vegetarian alternatives. Always ask the cook or server about the ingredients used in a dish before digging in—this list is just meant to be a starting point for conversations with the Bosnian restaurant about which dishes they may be able to easily modify for you.
| Vegetarian Food | Description |
|---|---|
| Ćevapi (Grilled Sausages) | A popular grilled dish always made with meat, that can be papred without meat in some cases and places. |
| Burek with Cheese | A savory pastry made with phyllo dough and filled with cheese. It’s often served as a breakfast food or as a snack. |
| Burek with Spinach | Again, this savory pastry is filled with cheese, but with spinach too. It’s often served as a vegetarian meal, and if you’re lucky you’ll find may also contain pumpkin or other choice ingredients. |
| Krompiruša (Potato Pie) | A potato-based pastry that is often filled with cheese, spinach, or other vegetables. Usually it includes meat, but can be prepared without it. |
| Djuvec (Balkan Vegetable Stew) | A flavorful vegetable stew made with a variety of vegetables, such as peppers, onions, tomatoes, and eggplant. Be on the lookout for this having a meat broth, as do most Bosnian foods. |
| Grilled Vegetables | A variety of vegetables grilled to perfection and often served as a side dish or a vegetarian main course. |
| Ajvar (Roasted Red Pepper Spread) | A popular spread made from roasted red peppers that is often served with bread or as a condiment for other dishes. |
| Prebranac (Baked Beans) | A hearty dish made with white beans, onions, and spices. It’s often served as a main course or a side dish if you can find it prepared without meat or lard. |
| Popara (Bosnian Bread Pudding) | A traditional Bosnian dish made with bread, milk, and sugar. It’s often served as a breakfast food or as a dessert. |
| Tufahije (Stuffed Apples) | A dessert made by stuffing apples with walnuts and sugar and cooking them in a syrup made from sugar, water, and lemon juice. |
| Urnebes Salad (Spicy Cheese Salad) | A salad made with a type of cheese called urnebes, which is mixed with hot peppers and other spices. It’s often served as a side dish or as a condiment. |
| Gibanica (Cheese Pie) | A savory pastry made with phyllo dough and filled with cheese. It’s often served as a breakfast food or as a snack. |
| Pindjur (Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Spread) | A spread made with roasted red peppers, tomatoes, and garlic. It’s often served with bread or as a condiment for other dishes. |
| Baklava with Walnuts | A sweet pastry made with layers of phyllo dough, honey, and walnuts. It’s often served as a dessert. |
| Kajmak (Cream Cheese) | A type of cream cheese that is often served with bread or as a condiment for other dishes. |
Best Bosnian Vegetarian Recipes to Try at Home
- Shopskata Salate Recipe
- Fasirani Grah Recipe (leave out the beef, obviously)
- Ajvar Recipe
- Cheese and Spinach Burek Recipe
How to Sample Traditional Bosnian Coffee
After our delicious lunch, we headed to another nearby café for traditional Bosnian/Turkish coffee to follow the meal. Sevdah Kavana is another popular spot in Sarajevo; it’s tucked into a courtyard and filled with tourists and locals alike. It’s a must-stop to fuel up for a day of sightseeing.
Coffee is always vegetarian—and one of my deep loves—so we had a grand time clearing our palette after lunch with a memorableTurkish coffee experience.
We ordered a tray of coffee and it was beautifully served. Each tray has strong coffee, sugar cubes, and a small sweet (in our case, Turkish delight). Sidak laughed at the expression on my face when we began to drink our coffee—I had not mastered the art of precisely biting into a sugar cube while sucking hot coffee through the sugar.
Furkan explained that it’s a traditional (if tricky for foreigners) way to enjoy traditional coffee.
After everyone watched me fumble through it, Furkan gave me a reprieve and suggested that rather than drinking all of my petite cups of coffee through the sugar chunks, I should instead slowly soak the cubes into the piping hot coffee and let it disintegrate. It wasn’t as traditional but it did save me from continuing to spill coffee down my fingers, forearm, and a bit on the floor!
Best Traditional Bosnian Sweets
Turkish Delight
Top off any meal with a bit of Turkish Delight—squishy, sugary, jelly candies with nuts. While I don’t love squishy sweets, I definitely tried some! Of note is that real Turkish delight is not made with gelatin, but cornflour instead, so it’s pretty reliably vegetarian in this part of the world.
A travel friend named Amir met us at the coffee shop—his English was amazingly good, and between my four ambassadors, I felt more at home in that moment than I had for months.
It was nice to feel surrounded by friends. By couchsurfing and meeting up with friends, I had deeper connections than I would have with the guidebook suggestion of a random hostel in town.
Baklava
No day in this part of the world is complete without baklava, I challenged myself to taste every type of baklava that I found during my time in Bosnia.
I love sweets so much that I dedicated an entire post to the best Bosnian desserts in Old Town Sarajevo, and in Mostar, where I traveled after Sarajevo.
Kadaif
This delicious dessert goes by a lot of names in a lot of different places across the Balkans and the Middle Easter.
Kadaif is a traditional dessert made with thin, shredded phyllo dough and filled with nuts (usually walnuts) or cheese. It is usually served with a lemony syrup made with honey or sugar, and it’s a first class way to end a meal.
Eating vegetarian in Bosnia only continues to get better as the city welcomes more tourists. But right now, it’s just not quite on the beaten path. Even in Kathmandu and other small developing world tourist towns, there was a selection of vegetarian food to cater to the vegetarians backpacking through.
This is not the case in Bosnia; so although we managed to eat really well, it wasn’t precisely budget-friendly; we had to search a lot of cafes and often pick upscale restaurants that always had one veggie option.
Eating Vegetarian in Sarajevo/Bosnia
- A great list of vegetarian restaurants: Although this post is older (from 2010), many recommended spots in Sarajevo still exist and this is a great beginning point. I recommend checking her recommendations in Google/TripAdvisor to be sure they still exist, and to check traveler reviews.
- Happy Cow restaurant index: All travelers should bookmark Happy Cow and use this site in a pinch if you can’t locate vegetarian restaurants nearby.
- A handful of vegetarian (and veg-friendly) spots in Sarajevo: Apetit, Avlija, Barhana, and Karuzo.
Bosnia Travel Guide
Heading to Bosnia? My Bosnia & Herzegovina Travel Guide gathers my best tips, advice, and stories for travelers interested in exploring the best parts of the country’s cuisine, sights, and culture.
That coffee sounds neat…do you think I can try that with the sugar cube with regular coffee?
I bet you could try – it should dissolve the same way – but the trick is to have it maybe with a hot shot of espresso – our coffee was extremely strong and black! :-) Let me know how it goes!
I’m with Anida. Just stop being vegetarian for a while and enjoy a nice steak or some chicken :)
Glad you finally found something to eat :) It is amazing how food is probably one of the biggest problems when travelling, although I’m not sure I agree with the definition of providing decent vegetarain options puts a place “on the beaten track”. Meat features very largely in the South Korean diet and we had great trouble finding “beef free” dishes for my colleague. Nepal on the other hand is close to India – where a large proportion of the population are either 100% vegetarian or abstain from meat a couple days per week, so I would be suprised if you couldn’t find anything there.
Nepal was actually a cinch, it’s true that they have a pretty easy diet for veggos – and Nepal offered a lot of backpacker targeted “continental” foods too. Thanks for the tip on S. Korea – it’s good to know a head of time when it’s going to be tough!