The best food to eat in Egypt is cheap, ancient, and deeply satisfying. This is a cuisine built on the Nile’s beans, bread, and vegetables, refined over 5,000 years and a parade of empires: a bowl of koshari for a dollar, fava-bean ful scooped with warm baladi bread, falafel made from fava instead of chickpeas, and a milky om ali to finish. Egyptian food is street food at its heart, and almost nobody leaves hungry or out of pocket.
My favorite Cairo meal cost about a dollar. A paper bowl of koshari, layered with rice, lentils, macaroni, and chickpeas, doused in spiced tomato sauce, garlic vinegar, and a fistful of crisp fried onions, eaten standing at a counter that has sold nothing else for decades. Egyptian food rewards the traveler who eats where the queue is: the ful cart at dawn, the koshari joint at noon, the hawawshi from a wood oven at night.
This guide covers the street food, the breakfast staples, the stews, the desserts, and the drinks, with what to order and what it costs. Egypt is part of our guide to the best food in Africa and the Middle East.
Why Egyptian food is worth the trip
Egyptian food is worth a trip because it’s the original Nile cooking, a peasant cuisine of beans, bread, grains, and vegetables that has fed the country for millennia, layered with Ottoman, Levantine, and Mediterranean influences. It’s overwhelmingly affordable, heavily plant-based by default, and built around sharing and bread (aish, which also means “life”). The flavors run warm and garlicky rather than fiery, leaning on cumin, coriander, garlic, and the green herb-and-chili relish dukkah and shatta.
It’s also street-food-first. The best, most characteristic Egyptian food is eaten standing at a koshari counter or a ful cart, not in a fancy restaurant, and it costs almost nothing. Cairo and Alexandria are the great eating cities.
Koshari, ful and street food
Koshari Koshary / Kushari
Egypt’s national dish and its great equalizer, eaten by everyone from laborers to ministers. A bowl layered with rice, brown lentils, macaroni, and chickpeas, topped with a spiced tomato sauce, a garlic-vinegar dressing (da’a), crispy fried onions, and a fiery chili sauce (shatta) you add to taste. Entirely plant-based. Filling, and absurdly cheap.
EGP 20 to 40 (well under a dollar). Abou Tarek in downtown Cairo is the temple, but any busy koshari counter does it well.
Ful Medames Ful medames
The other national dish, and the universal Egyptian breakfast: fava beans slow-simmered overnight in a tapered copper pot, then mashed with olive oil, garlic, cumin, and lemon, and scooped up with warm baladi bread. Topped any number of ways, with egg, tahini, tomato, or chili. It’s fueled Egypt since the time of the pharaohs.
EGP 10 to 25, or a few pounds for a ful sandwich from a cart. Breakfast of the entire country.
Taameya Taameya (Egyptian falafel)
Egypt’s falafel, and quite possibly the original: made from skinned dried fava beans (not chickpeas) blended with herbs, leeks, and spices, which makes it greener inside and lighter than the Levantine version. Shaped into flat discs, coated in sesame seeds, fried to order, eaten in a baladi-bread sandwich with salad, tahini, and pickles.
EGP 10 to 25. A taameya sandwich from a busy stand is one of the great cheap breakfasts on earth.
- Hawawshi. Spiced minced beef stuffed into baladi bread and roasted in a wood oven until the bread crisps like it was fried, a Cairo street icon. EGP 30 to 60.
- Shawarma. Spit-roasted marinated beef or chicken shaved into bread with tahini, garlic, and pickles, the everyday Egyptian fast food (and a great late-night option).
- Feteer meshaltet. “Egyptian pancake pizza,” a layered, flaky, buttery pastry served plain with honey and cheese, or stuffed savory; an ancient pharaonic bread.
- Aish baladi and termes. The puffy whole-wheat pita that is the backbone of every meal, and lupin beans, the salty snack sold from street carts.
Mains, stews and grills
Molokhia Molokhia / Mulukhiyah
A silky, green soup made from finely chopped jute mallow leaves cooked in chicken or rabbit broth and finished with a sizzle of fried garlic and coriander (the ta’leya) poured over the top. The name comes from “muluk” (kings), since pharaohs and caliphs are said to have prized it. Slightly viscous, deeply savory, served over rice with chicken, rabbit, or shrimp.
EGP 40 to 90. A love-it texture that becomes an obsession; the Alexandria seafood version is superb.
Hamam Mahshi Stuffed pigeon
One of Egypt’s great delicacies: whole pigeon stuffed with seasoned rice or freekeh (green cracked wheat), then grilled or roasted until the skin is crisp and the grain inside is soaked in the bird’s juices. Pigeons are raised across the country in distinctive conical mud-brick towers. Fiddly to eat, and worth every bite.
EGP 80 to 180 depending on the restaurant. The freekeh-stuffed version is the prized one.
Fattah Fattah
A celebratory layered dish of crisp fried bread, rice, and chunks of lamb or beef, drenched in a garlicky tomato-and-vinegar sauce. It’s the centerpiece of Eid al-Adha and other feasts, an ancient dish with pharaonic roots, rich and meaty and made for sharing at a big table.
EGP 60 to 130. A holiday dish you may be lucky enough to be invited to share.
- Mahshi and warak enab. Vegetables (zucchini, eggplant, peppers, cabbage) and vine leaves stuffed with herbed, spiced rice, cooked until tender, eaten hot or at room temperature.
- Macaroni bechamel. Egypt’s baked pasta, layers of penne and spiced minced meat under a golden bechamel crust, the beloved home-cooking comfort dish (a cousin of Greek pastitsio).
- Kofta and kebab. Charcoal-grilled spiced minced-meat skewers and chunks of marinated lamb, sold by weight at grill houses with bread, tahini, and salad.
- Kebda Eskandarani. Alexandria-style beef liver fried with garlic, chili, and cumin and stuffed into bread, a famous street sandwich from the coast.
- Bamya and other tagens. Okra in tomato sauce and other clay-pot stews (tagen), simple home cooking served with rice and bread.
Desserts and drinks
Om Ali Umm Ali
Egypt’s national dessert: torn pastry or bread baked in sweetened milk with nuts, raisins, and coconut until set and golden, served warm. A medieval dish with a bloody royal legend behind its name, it’s the ultimate Egyptian comfort sweet, like a richer, nuttier bread pudding.
EGP 30 to 70. Order it warm; it is at its best straight from the oven.
- Basbousa. A semolina cake soaked in sugar syrup and topped with an almond, dense, sweet, and everywhere.
- Konafa. Shredded pastry layered with nuts or sweet cream, baked crisp and soaked in syrup, especially loved in Ramadan.
- Mahalabiya and roz bel laban. A delicate rosewater-and-ground-rice milk pudding topped with nuts and cinnamon, and Egyptian rice pudding, the everyday milk desserts.
- Karkade and sahlab. Hibiscus tea served hot or iced, deep red and tart, the drink of welcome (and of Nubia); and sahlab, a warm, thick milk drink topped with nuts and cinnamon in winter.
- Egyptian tea and coffee. Strong, sweet black tea (shai) drunk all day in the ahwa (coffeehouse), and thick Turkish-style coffee, often with cardamom.
Best food cities in Egypt
The street-food capital: koshari at Abou Tarek, ful and taameya carts at dawn, hawawshi from wood ovens, feteer in Islamic Cairo, and the historic ahwa coffeehouses of Khan el-Khalili. The deepest and cheapest eating in the country.
The Mediterranean seafood city: fish grilled or fried to order at the harbor, seafood molokhia, and the famous Kebda Eskandarani liver sandwiches. A different, breezier food world from Cairo.
Southern, Nubian-influenced cooking: clay-pot tagen stews, spicier flavors, fresh Nile fish, and karkade hibiscus everywhere. Eat at a Nubian house on Elephantine Island.
Slow Upper Egyptian cooking, grilled pigeon, tagens, and bread baked in village ovens, often eaten on a felucca or a Nile cruise between the temples.
Best food to eat in Egypt: the dish guide with prices and ratings
| Dish | Type | Region | Price (EGP) | Must-try |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Koshari | Street food | Nationwide | 20–40 | ★★★★★ |
| Ful medames | Breakfast | Nationwide | 10–25 | ★★★★★ |
| Taameya | Street food | Nationwide | 10–25 | ★★★★★ |
| Molokhia | Soup/stew | Nationwide | 40–90 | ★★★★★ |
| Hawawshi | Street food | Cairo | 30–60 | ★★★★★ |
| Hamam mahshi | Grill | Nationwide | 80–180 | ★★★★☆ |
| Fattah | Feast | Nationwide | 60–130 | ★★★★☆ |
| Mahshi / warak enab | Vegetable | Nationwide | 40–80 | ★★★★☆ |
| Macaroni bechamel | Baked pasta | Nationwide | 40–80 | ★★★★☆ |
| Kebda Eskandarani | Street food | Alexandria | 30–60 | ★★★★☆ |
| Feteer meshaltet | Pastry | Nationwide | 40–100 | ★★★★☆ |
| Om Ali | Dessert | Nationwide | 30–70 | ★★★★★ |
| Basbousa | Dessert | Nationwide | 15–40 | ★★★★☆ |
| Konafa | Dessert | Nationwide | 30–70 | ★★★★☆ |
| Karkade | Drink | Nationwide | 10–25 | ★★★★☆ |
How to eat in Egypt
- Eat with your right hand and bread. Egyptian food is scooped with baladi bread rather than cutlery; the left hand is considered unclean.
- Follow the koshari and ful crowds. The busiest street counter is the best and safest; high turnover means fresh food.
- Bread is sacred. Aish means both “bread” and “life”; do not waste it or put it on the floor.
- Add shatta to taste. Egyptian food is garlicky and savory rather than hot; the chili sauce on the table lets you set your own heat.
- Tipping (baksheesh) is expected. Leave 10 percent or round up at restaurants, and small change for service everywhere.
For dining customs across other countries, see our guide to food etiquette around the world.
How to eat well in Egypt on any budget
Budget: the street
A ful or taameya sandwich for breakfast (a few pounds), koshari for lunch (EGP 20 to 40), hawawshi or shawarma at night. Egypt is one of the cheapest countries on earth to eat well. You can feast on street food all day for a couple of dollars.
Mid-range: balady restaurants
A sit-down molokhia with chicken, a mixed grill of kofta and kebab, mahshi and bread, and om ali to finish at a traditional restaurant. Still very affordable, with the full range of home-style dishes.
High-end: Nile and hotel dining
Refined Egyptian and pan-Levantine restaurants in Cairo, Nile dinner cruises, and the grand old hotels reinterpret classics like fattah and pigeon. Even the splurges are modest by international standards.
Frequently asked questions about Egyptian food
What is the national dish of Egypt?
Egypt has two: koshari (rice, lentils, macaroni, and chickpeas in spiced tomato sauce with fried onions) and ful medames (slow-cooked fava beans). Koshari is the all-day national bowl; ful is the universal breakfast. Both are cheap, filling, and entirely plant-based.
What is the difference between taameya and falafel?
Taameya is the Egyptian falafel, and likely the original. It is made from skinned dried fava beans instead of chickpeas, which makes it greener inside, lighter, and more herby, shaped into flat discs and coated in sesame seeds. Levantine falafel uses chickpeas and is rolled into balls.
How much does food cost in Egypt per day?
Egypt is one of the cheapest food destinations in the world. A koshari is EGP 20 to 40 (well under a dollar), a ful or taameya sandwich a few pounds, and a full sit-down meal EGP 80 to 200. Budget travelers eat very well on street food for a couple of dollars a day.
Is Egyptian food good for vegetarians?
Exceptionally. Egypt is one of the easiest countries for plant-based eating: koshari, ful medames, taameya, mahshi, many vegetable tagens, and most breakfast and street foods are naturally vegan or vegetarian, a legacy of Coptic fasting traditions. Just confirm dishes are not cooked in meat broth.
What is molokhia?
Molokhia is a green soup made from finely chopped jute mallow leaves cooked in chicken or rabbit broth and finished with fried garlic and coriander. It has a slightly viscous texture that divides newcomers, but it is one of Egypt’s most beloved dishes, served over rice with poultry, rabbit, or, in Alexandria, seafood.
Is it safe to eat street food in Egypt?
Generally yes, with the usual precautions. Choose the busiest stalls with high turnover, eat hot freshly cooked food like koshari, ful, taameya, and grilled meats, drink bottled water, and ease into raw salads. Most travelers eat street food happily; start with the cooked classics and build from there.
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