Guide

Traditional food of Andorra: 13 dishes to know

Traditional Andorran food is Catalan mountain cooking: cabbage and potatoes, pork and cured meats, kid, game, river trout, wild mushrooms and garlic sauces, made for long Pyrenean winters. It is almost identical to the food of the Catalan valleys across the border. The most emblematic dishes are escudella i carn d'olla, trinxat, Andorran-style canelons and river trout cooked the Andorran way.

Updated 2026-10-155 min read

What Andorran food is built on

It is better to say it plainly: there is no cuisine that exists only in Andorra. Its cooking is essentially Catalan, and its closest relatives are the kitchens of Cerdanya and above all Alt Urgell, the Catalan valleys just over the border. Some French and Italian habits came in too, such as sauces served with meat and fish, and pasta.

The rest comes from the land. Andorra is a country of high valleys where families long fed themselves from what they raised and gathered: salted pork belly, rabbit, kid and lamb, trout, cabbage, potatoes, cereals and what the forest gave, mushrooms first. Only about 1.7% of the land can be farmed, so most food is now imported, but local veal is sold under a controlled-quality label, carn de qualitat controlada d'Andorra.

The tourist office sums up what you find on menus: trinxat, escudella, Andorran-style cannelloni, and game and fish dishes all year round. For the single dish the country is best known for, see our article on the national dish of Andorra.

Stews, cabbage and pasta

Escudella i carn d'olla — A pot of beef, chicken, botifarra sausage, chickpeas and winter vegetables built around the pilota, one large meatball of pork, egg, garlic and parsley. The strained broth is eaten first with pasta, then the meats on a platter; served mixed in one bowl it becomes escudella de pagès or barrejada, the form on the government's list of typical dishes. Visit Andorra calls it the country's own take on a hot pot. Follow our escudella i carn d'olla recipe.
Trinxat — Winter cabbage and potatoes boiled until very soft, drained, chopped and fried with three or four garlic cloves and diced salt pork until a crust forms. Its name means "chopped", and the government's own recipe adds that it can be served with salted herring. It is eaten in Andorra, Cerdanya and Alt Urgell, and Puigcerdà holds a trinxat festival every year. Try our trinxat recipe.
Canelons — Pasta tubes filled with roast meat that is minced after roasting, covered with bechamel and grated cheese and baked. In Catalan homes they are the dish of Sant Esteve, 26 December, made from the Christmas roast, and in Alt Urgell a Sunday lunch dish. Visit Andorra lists Andorran-style cannelloni among the dishes served all year. See our canelons recipe.

Kid, game and river fish

Truita de riu a l'andorrana — River trout cooked the Andorran way. The government's list of typical dishes for Andorra la Vella calls it the best known and most prized of all. Trout from the mountain rivers is also a classic of Alt Urgell next door.
Cabrit al forn amb picada de fruits secs — Kid roasted in the oven and finished with a picada of nuts, the pounded paste that thickens and seasons so many Catalan dishes. Kid was one of the meats of the old self-sufficient valley economy, with rabbit and lamb.
Civet de porc senglar — Wild boar slowly stewed as a civet, the dark game stew. It appears on the government's list, and game remains a regular part of Andorran restaurant menus.
Ànec amb pera d'hivern — Duck cooked with winter pears, a sweet and savoury pairing that the government lists among the typical dishes of Andorra la Vella.

Mushrooms, greens, snails and sauces

Murgues farcides amb carn de porc — Morels stuffed with pork. Mushrooms are one of the defining products of Andorra's mountain cooking, along with trout, grilled meat, allioli and cured sausages.
Escarola amb pedrers d'ànec confitat i bolets — Escarole salad with confit duck gizzards and mushrooms, another dish from the government's list, where preserved duck and forest produce meet.
Espinacs amb panses i pinyons — Spinach cooked with raisins and pine nuts, a combination shared with the rest of Catalonia.
All-i-oli de codony — Garlic and olive oil emulsified with ripe quince that has been boiled and peeled; some cooks add egg, apple or bread. It tastes sweetish and slightly sharp, keeps longer than plain allioli and goes with meat, fish or a slice of bread. It belongs to the Catalan Pyrenees, from Pallars to Cerdanya, and it heads Andorra's list of typical dishes.
Cargols a la llauna — Land snails cooked on a metal tray, the llauna, over embers or in the oven, and served with allioli or a vinaigrette. The dish is typical of Lleida and the Pyrenees, and Andorra cooks a similar one under the same name.

Sweets and drinks

Andorran sweets are few and homely. Mató, the fresh curd cheese, is eaten with honey across the region, and the archived government recipes include a festive fritter from the book Costumari i receptari de la gastronomia andorrana.

To drink, the traditional answer in winter is vi calent i cremat, hot and burnt wine. Andorra also makes mountain wines, herbal teas such as mint, hyssop and wild thyme, and an artisan liqueur, la Ratassia de la Carmeta.

Crespells de festa — Festive fritters made from a dough of water, milk, oil, eggs, flour, honey, cinnamon and a little baking powder. The dough rests an hour, pieces are flattened by hand, deep-fried in hot oil and sprinkled with sugar.

When Andorrans eat it

Traditional food in Andorra is tied to the calendar and to a string of food events. January brings the Escudellada de Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastià, built around a shared pot of escudella. Carnival has its butifarrada and sardinada, February the winter cooking days of Lo Mandongo, September a food fair in Ordino and October La Massana Fogons.

In summer, many of these dishes are eaten in bordes, old mountain barns for livestock and tools that have been turned into restaurants.

Cook Andorran food at home

Escudella i carn d'olla, trinxat and canelons all have full step-by-step recipes in Copper, with the one technique that matters for each. You will find them on our page about the food of Andorra.

Because Andorra's kitchen is Catalan, it reads best next to its neighbours: compare it with the traditional food of Spain and the traditional food of France, or browse our guide to Western European food.

The recipes

Questions people ask

What is the most popular food in Andorra?

Escudella i carn d'olla, trinxat and canelons are the dishes you will see most often, with river trout cooked the Andorran way, which the government calls the best known and most prized local dish.

Is Andorran food the same as Catalan food?

Essentially yes. Andorra's cuisine is Catalan mountain cooking, very close to that of Cerdanya and Alt Urgell across the border, with a few French and Italian habits.

What is trinxat?

Trinxat is winter cabbage and potato boiled, chopped and fried with garlic and salt pork into a crusted cake. It is eaten in Andorra and the neighbouring Catalan Pyrenees, sometimes with salted herring.

Is Andorran food spicy?

No. It relies on garlic, pork, slow stews and sauces such as allioli rather than chilli heat.

What do people drink in Andorra?

Wine, beer, herbal teas and, in winter, hot burnt wine (vi calent i cremat). Andorra also produces mountain wines and an artisan ratafia liqueur.

Keep reading

Sources

Download

← All articles