20 Indonesian Food Must-Tries Before Your Trip to Bali
Enjoying the food during our travels is essential, especially if we go to places where their cuisines offer a different taste to our daily menus or even to our palates.
If you plan to go to Bali, these 15 Indonesian foods are must-tries before you visit the island of gods. They will give you ideas of what food to order and get during your vacation there.
This carefully selected list is based on their popularity throughout Indonesia. We also include Indonesia’s national foods, i.e., Nasi Goreng, Soto Ayam, Sate Ayam, Beef Rendang, and Gado Gado.
Enjoy these foods, and more importantly, enjoy your upcoming vacation to Bali.
1. Asinan
Asinan is a crunchy, zingy, and spicy salad with crispy vegetables, peanuts, and tamarind sauce. It is often enjoyed as a mid-afternoon snack or refresher on a hot day.
Get the recipe: Asinan.
2. Acar Timun
Acar Timun offers refreshing, crunchy, and slightly spicy food. This cucumber pickle is the most popular, essential, and simple salad in a food spread. Restaurants often serve it as a basic condiment, and you can enjoy this tangy and spicy cucumber with almost any Indonesian food.
Get the recipe: Acar Timun.
3. Bakwan Sayur
Bakwan Sayur is a vegetable fritter you want for your next snack. It’s one of the most sought-after street food snacks. It’s crunchy on the outside but fluffy and savory on the inside. Although you can eat it as it is, people tend to have it with green Bird’s eye chilies.
Get the recipe: Bakwan Sayur.
4. Pangsit Ayam (Chicken Wonton)
Pangsit Ayam are the Indonesian version of chicken wontons. They are versatile snacks that can be enjoyed with soup or deep-fried. This Chinese-influenced dish is often enjoyed together with Bakso and Mie Ayam as a complete meal.
Get the recipe: Pangsit Ayam (Chicken Wonton).
5. Bakso
This Bakso recipe will help you make flavorsome and tender beef meatballs with a slightly chewy texture. Learn how to create authentic Indonesia’s favorite street food: juicy meatballs with savory soup at home.
Get the recipe: Bakso.
6. Mie Ayam
Mie Ayam, which literally means chicken noodle, has become one of the nation’s favorites. Every region has its own style or adaptation, but all have the same essence: egg noodles served with spiced shredded chicken and chicken broth.
7. Gado-Gado
Gado-gado is a perfect example of unity in diversity. It combines different vegetables and food items with a spicy-delicious peanut dressing sauce that makes the whole thing extraordinary. This simple salad has become so loved that it is one of the official national foods. You’ll find every region has its own take on what Gado Gado has to offer.
Get the recipe: Gado-Gado.
8. Ketoprak
Although Ketoprak is a traditional salad from the Jakarta area, you can also find it in Bali as its popularity has reached far and wide.
The dish has a garlicky and spicy peanut sauce, which is more garlicky than Gado Gardo. Its main ingredients are lontong/ ketupat, beansprouts, rice vermicelli, and tofu. People often enjoy this dish for brunch or lunch as it is filling and delicious.
Get the recipe: Ketoprak.
9. Lontong Sayur
Lontong sayur is a famous Indonesian dish often enjoyed for breakfast, brunch, or any time of the day. It consists of creamy and spicy vegetable soup in coconut milk and is typically served with lontong (rice cake).
This dish is also often served as a part of festive celebrations such as Eid, Christmas, etc.
Get the recipe: Lontong Sayur.
10. Soto Ayam
One of Indonesia’s national foods, Soto Ayam, is a savory spiced chicken broth with shredded chicken and rice vermicelli. It is the Indonesian version of chicken noodle soup, and it is simple to make and heartwarmingly delicious in its taste.
Get the recipe: Soto Ayam.
11. Nasi Goreng
Nasi Goreng is Indonesian fried rice that you can make in less than 30 minutes. It’s a delicious way to turn leftover rice into something deliciously different. The Indonesian way of making fried rice is to season it with kecap manis—the sweet soy sauce, which gives it extra umami at another level.
Get the recipe: Nasi Goreng.
12. Indonesian Chicken Satay
Sate Ayam is an Indonesian chicken satay served with a generous dollop of spicy peanut sauce and plenty of drizzles of sweet soy sauce. It’s simple, easy, and straightforward to make, yet it’s so delicious and flavourful. Find out why this dish is among the official nation’s foods.
Get the recipe: Indonesian Chicken Satay.
13. Ayam Goreng Bumbu
Ayam Goreng Bumbu is not just an ordinary fried chicken. It’s a traditional Indonesian dish that, when properly cooked, tastes flavorsome right to the bone. Every region in Indonesia will have its own way of adding to the spices, but the key is the same. Pre-cook the chicken in spices before deep frying.
Get the recipe: Ayam Goreng Bumbu.
14. Ayam Suwir Bumbu Bali
Ayam Suwir Bumbu Bali is an aromatic, spicy, shredded chicken dish from Bali, Indonesia. The chicken is cooked in coconut milk with spices and herbs, making the dish divinely delicious. With this recipe, you can easily create the dish from scratch and adjust the chili heat to feed your loved ones.
Get the recipe: Ayam Suwir Bumbu Bali.
15. Ayam Penyet
This spicy chicken was so popular a few years ago that every national TV show featured the chef introducing it. Ayam Penyet, which means smashed chicken, is easy to make. In essence, you cook the chicken, squash it with a pestle, and top it with freshly made sambal. It’s crunchy, tasty, and definitely spicy.
Get the recipe: Ayam Penyet.
16. Ayam Rica Rica
This spicy Manadonese Ayam Rica Rica is a chicken dish for chili lovers. Although it is originally from Manado (North Sulawesi), the dish has become famous all over the country. Once you try it, you’ll understand why. Its unique feature is that it uses lemon-sweet basil leaves, which marry well with the spicy, succulent chicken.
Get the recipe: Ayam Rica Rica.
17. Beef Rendang
Beef Rendang is among Indonesia’s signature dishes, rooted in the original from West Sumatra. This meltingly tender dry beef curry is slow-cooked in coconut milk and spices. It is usually served with plain white rice alongside Lontong or Ketupat (hard-boiled rice cakes). The dish is often prepared for celebratory occasions and festivities, such as birthdays, weddings, Eid, Christmas, etc.
Get the recipe: Beef Rendang.
18. Sate Kambing Copycat Lamb Satay
Sate Kambing (goat satay) is what you get in Indonesia. But if you live in a subtropical country where goat meat is not easy to find, feel free to use lamb meat to make It. Just make sure you get good quality meat so your satay will have succulent and sweet meat.
Get the recipe: Lamb Satay.
19. Tongseng
Meat, cabbage, and tomatoes braised in spicy coconut milk and drizzled with sweet soy sauce are what Tongseng is about. You usually find a satay seller who also sells Tongseng, as this dish will use up all the leftover meat and bones from the satay portion.
Get the recipe: Tongseng.
20. Martabak Manis
Martabak Manis, which means sweet martabak, is another popular street food in Indonesia. This super-thick pancake is rooted in the Middle Eastern Muttabaq. The pancake is squishy, fluffy, and somewhat chewy, with generous butter, condensed milk, chopped peanuts, and chocolate sprinkles for the filling.
Get the recipe: Martabak Manis.
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