Traditional Polish Easter Dinner Menu

What a Polish Easter meal looks like

Easter is one of the most food-centered holidays in Poland. After the weeks of Lent, when many families traditionally avoided meat, the Easter table is generous and focused on foods that were set aside during the fast: eggs, sausage, ham, cheese, butter and sweet yeast cakes.

The details differ from family to family and from region to region, so think of what follows as a common framework rather than a fixed rule. Many households share a first Easter meal on Sunday morning, often after the resurrection Mass, and serve a larger dinner later in the day. Much of the food comes from the swieconka, the basket blessed on Holy Saturday, and from dishes prepared in the days before.

If you are building your own menu, a good approach is to choose one or two items from each course below rather than trying to cook everything.

The swieconka basket and how it feeds the table

The swieconka (literally “the blessed things”) is a basket of food that families bring to church on Holy Saturday to be blessed. The foods inside are usually eaten at the first Easter meal. Typical items include:

Hard-boiled and decorated eggs
A little white sausage (biala kielbasa) and sometimes ham or other cold meat
Bread or a small piece of babka
Salt
Horseradish, often grated or mixed with beets
A lamb made of butter or sugar
Sometimes cheese, a sprig of greenery and a cloth lining

Customs vary, and the symbolism attached to each item is traditional rather than official, so you will hear slightly different explanations in different families. For more on the practice itself and what each item is said to represent, see our guide to the blessing of Easter food in the Catholic tradition.

A common way to begin the Easter meal is to share a blessed egg, cut into pieces, and exchange good wishes before moving on to the rest of the food.

Starters and cold plates

The first table is often a cold buffet of the blessed foods and their companions:

Eggs served in several ways: halved with a topping, stuffed, or simply peeled and sliced
Cold cuts: sliced ham, white sausage, smoked sausage and sometimes pate
Horseradish with beets (often called cwikla), which adds a sharp, sweet-earthy contrast to the meats
Vegetable salad (salatka jarzynowa), a mix of diced cooked vegetables, egg and mayonnaise that is common on Polish holiday tables
Pickles and mustard

Soup

Two soups are most closely linked with Easter:

Zurek, a sour soup made from fermented rye starter, usually with sausage, and often served with halved hard-boiled egg. It is sometimes served in a hollowed-out loaf of bread.
Biały barszcz (white borscht), a related sour soup with a similar base of sausage and egg.

The two are close cousins, and families tend to have strong opinions about which one is “the” Easter soup. Many bakeries and Polish markets sell ready-made rye starter in the weeks before Easter, which is a practical shortcut if you do not want to ferment your own.

Meats

The main plate usually features several cold or warm meats rather than a single centerpiece:

Baked or boiled ham
White sausage (biala kielbasa), commonly gently simmered or baked
Smoked sausage and sometimes roast pork or other roasted meats
In some homes, roast poultry or a meat loaf-style pate

Competing menus from Polish-American cooks often note buying several kinds of kielbasa for Easter, such as smoked, double-smoked and thin dried sausages. If you are cooking for a smaller group, one ham and one kind of sausage is plenty.

Sides and salads

Boiled or roasted potatoes, sometimes with dill
Cabbage or sauerkraut-based sides
Beet salads and the horseradish with beets mentioned above
Rye or wheat bread and butter

Breads and desserts

Easter baking is a large part of the tradition. See the next section for details.

Polish Easter desserts

Polish Easter is often remembered for its sweets, many of which are made only once a year.

Babka wielkanocna is an Easter cake, usually baked in a fluted tube pan. There are many versions: a yeasted babka with raisins, a lighter sand-style babka, a poppy seed babka, a marbled chocolate one and others. A small slice is often included in the blessed basket.
Mazurek is a flat, rectangular tart with a thin base and a thick, sweet topping. Toppings range from fruit preserves and caramel (often dulce de leche-style) to chocolate or citrus icing, then decorated with nuts, dried fruit and sometimes Easter patterns. It is typically associated with Easter and often made as a family project.
Sernik is a Polish cheesecake made with twarog, a fresh curd cheese that is drier and tangier than cream cheese. It can be baked plain, with a crust, or topped with a chocolate glaze or powdered sugar.
Pascha is a no-bake dessert made from farmer’s cheese, butter, sugar and egg yolks, often with vanilla, citrus zest, dried fruit or nuts. It has a texture somewhere between cheesecake and custard. The dessert is better known in Ukrainian and Russian homes under the same name, so you may see overlap between traditions.
Sweet cheese strudel is a rolled pastry filled with sweetened farmer’s cheese, sometimes with raisins or lemon zest.
Butter or sugar lamb is both a decoration and part of the meal, and is traditionally placed in the basket.

If you cannot find twarog, some home cooks substitute well-drained farmer’s cheese or ricotta, though the flavor and texture will be a little different.

What Polish people eat during Easter

To answer a common question briefly: during Easter many Polish families eat eggs, white sausage, ham and other cold cuts, horseradish with beets, zurek or white borscht, breads and yeast cakes such as babka, and desserts like mazurek and sernik. The Easter Sunday meal tends to be festive and meat-heavy in contrast with the meatless fasting days that precede it. For the Lenten side of the story, including the meatless dishes families rely on beforehand, see our recipes for the Lenten season.

Many of these foods are shared with neighboring Slavic and Baltic traditions; Lithuanian Easter tables, for example, also feature eggs and baked goods (see our guide to Lithuanian food). If you are comparing, our guide to the Ukrainian Easter dinner shows where menus overlap (kovbasa, horseradish, sweet breads, cheese desserts) and where they differ.

A Polish Easter spread looks large, but most of it can be prepared in advance.

A week or more ahead: order or buy the sausage and ham, make the zurek starter if you are fermenting your own, and plan the basket.
Two to three days ahead: bake the babka and make mazurek. The base and toppings keep well, and cakes often taste better after a day.
Day before: boil and decorate the eggs, prepare the horseradish and beets, make salads, and pack the swieconka basket.
Holy Saturday: take the basket to be blessed, if that is your custom.
Easter morning: reheat the soup and sausage, slice cold cuts, and set out breads and desserts.

Eggs and cooked meats should be kept refrigerated until shortly before serving, and cold dishes should not sit out for long periods. Check the food safety guidance from your local health authority if you are preparing a large buffet.

Easter Monday and leftovers

The day after Easter, Easter Monday, is also a holiday in Poland and is traditionally known for water-splashing games (smigus-dyngus). Leftovers are put to good use: ham and sausage turn up in sandwiches, soups and salads, and extra boiled eggs are sliced into salads or eaten with horseradish.

Frequently asked questions

What is a traditional Easter dinner?

It varies by country and family. In Poland it is generally a spread of eggs, cold meats and sausage, a sour soup such as zurek, horseradish with beets, and sweet cakes. Many of the foods first appear in the blessed basket. In Britain, by contrast, roast lamb and simnel cake take center stage (see Easter food in the UK).

What is a traditional Polish meal?

Everyday Polish meals often include soup, a meat or fish main with potatoes and a cooked vegetable or salad, and sometimes dumplings. Holiday meals follow a similar structure but with more courses and special dishes.

What is a traditional Polish dessert?

Common examples include sernik (cheesecake), makowiec (poppy seed roll), szarlotka (apple cake) and, at Easter specifically, babka and mazurek.

Do I need to make everything?

No. Many families rely on a few signature dishes and buy the rest. Choose a soup, a meat, a salad and one or two desserts, and add from there.

Is it necessary to have the basket blessed?

It is a religious custom practiced by many Polish Catholics. If it is not part of your tradition, you can still serve the same foods. Read more in our guide to the blessing of Easter food.