There’s something undeniably comforting about a recipe that’s stood the test of time. In the fast-paced world of culinary trends—where new fads fade as quickly as they arrive—the simple, honest cooking of the Amish community remains a beacon of flavor, tradition, and heart. These aren’t just meals; they’re living heirlooms, passed from one generation to the next like prized family quilts, woven with memories and seasoned with care.
Amish cuisine is rooted in rural simplicity, built on the backbone of farm-fresh ingredients, time-honored techniques, and a deep respect for family and community. While the rest of the world reaches for complicated gadgets and hard-to-pronounce ingredients, Amish cooks lean into tried-and-true staples: flour, eggs, cream, potatoes, and fresh produce from the garden. And somehow, these humble elements are transformed into some of the most soul-satisfying dishes you’ll ever taste.
From slow-cooked stews to pillowy breads, and syrup-soaked desserts to creamy salads, these 21 recipes are a testament to the power of cooking with intention. They’re the meals that filled long harvest days, brought warmth to chilly winters, and turned Sunday suppers into memory-making events. And the best part? They still hold up today—just as delicious, just as nourishing, and just as worth sharing.
Whether you’re craving the buttery goodness of Amish white bread or the molasses-kissed magic of a classic shoofly pie, this list brings you into the heart of a culture that has never strayed from what matters: good food, lovingly prepared. So roll up your sleeves, preheat the oven, and take a flavorful trip into the past. These 21 Amish recipes aren’t just relics—they’re timeless treasures that continue to bring joy to every table they grace.
1. Schnitz un Knepp
Farmhouse kitchens across Amish country have simmered this beloved dish for generations. The name literally means “dried apples and buttons” in Pennsylvania Dutch, referring to the apple slices and dumplings that make this dish special.
Tender ham or pork shoulder creates a rich broth base, while dried apples add unexpected sweetness. The real stars are the soft, pillowy dumplings that soak up all that savory-sweet flavor.
Originally created as a practical way to preserve fall apple harvests through winter months, this one-pot meal exemplifies Amish resourcefulness. Serve it on cold evenings when comfort food cravings hit hardest.
2. Amish Chicken Pot Pie
Unlike the crusted version most Americans know, authentic Amish chicken pot pie is actually a hearty stew featuring square homemade noodles. These thick, chewy pasta squares transform a simple chicken soup into something truly substantial.
Farm-fresh carrots, celery, onions, and potatoes join tender chicken pieces in a rich, golden broth. The noodles, made from a simple egg dough, are rolled thin and cut into squares before being dropped directly into the simmering pot.
Pennsylvania Dutch families have passed down variations of this recipe for centuries. Many Amish cooks still make this dish for Sunday suppers after church, when everyone gathers around the table for a filling meal.
3. Yumasetti Casserole
When Amish families need to feed many hungry mouths, Yumasetti casserole often appears on the dinner table. This hearty dish combines ground beef, egg noodles, and a creamy sauce into one satisfying meal.
The origin of its playful name remains a mystery, though some say it comes from the reaction of those who taste it—”Yum, set it right here!” Cream of mushroom soup creates the casserole’s velvety texture, while sour cream adds tanginess.
A crunchy breadcrumb topping provides textural contrast to the creamy interior. This practical dish emerged from the Amish tradition of creating filling meals from affordable ingredients, and it remains popular at community gatherings and barn raisings.
4. Amish Baked Chicken
Sometimes the simplest recipes become family favorites, as proven by traditional Amish baked chicken. Bone-in pieces—typically thighs, drumsticks, and breasts—develop incredible flavor during their time in the oven.
The secret lies in the seasoning blend: salt, pepper, paprika, and often a pinch of poultry seasoning create a golden, flavorful skin. Many Amish cooks add a splash of water or chicken broth to the roasting pan, keeping the meat juicy while creating natural pan juices.
Families across Amish communities raise their own chickens, making this an economical and fresh dinner option. The result is tender, fall-off-the-bone meat that pairs perfectly with homegrown vegetables and fresh-baked bread.
5. Amish Meatloaf
Amish cooks have perfected meatloaf through decades of feeding hardworking farm families. Their version stands out with its moist texture and perfect balance of savory flavors, often featuring a sweet-and-tangy tomato glaze that caramelizes beautifully.
Ground beef forms the base, while finely chopped onions and green peppers add flavor and moisture. Many traditional recipes include oatmeal rather than breadcrumbs as a binder—a practical substitution reflecting the Amish focus on pantry staples.
The signature topping combines ketchup, brown sugar, and a splash of vinegar, creating an irresistible glaze. Sliced cold the next day between two pieces of homemade bread, Amish meatloaf makes what many consider the perfect sandwich.
6. Amish Macaroni Salad
Summer gatherings across Amish communities wouldn’t be complete without a bowl of creamy macaroni salad. Unlike store-bought versions, the Amish recipe features a slightly sweet dressing that complements the pasta perfectly.
Elbow macaroni provides the foundation, while hard-boiled eggs add protein and richness. Crunchy diced celery, bell peppers, and onions contribute texture and color contrast. The signature dressing combines mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, and a splash of vinegar for brightness.
This make-ahead dish tastes even better after sitting overnight in the refrigerator, allowing flavors to blend completely. Perfect for picnics and potlucks, Amish macaroni salad appears regularly at barn raisings, church functions, and family reunions throughout Pennsylvania Dutch country.
7. Amish Potato Salad
Yellow mustard gives Amish potato salad its distinctive golden hue and tangy flavor profile. This side dish staple appears at almost every community gathering, with subtle variations from family to family.
Boiled potatoes form the hearty base, while hard-boiled eggs add richness and protein. The dressing—a mixture of mayonnaise, mustard, sugar, and apple cider vinegar—strikes the perfect balance between creamy, tangy, and sweet. Finely diced celery provides a satisfying crunch against the soft potatoes.
Many Amish cooks insist on making this dish a day ahead, allowing the flavors to marry completely. The result is a comforting side that pairs beautifully with everything from fried chicken to grilled meats.
8. Amish Broccoli Salad
Raw broccoli transforms into a crave-worthy dish in this popular Amish recipe. The perfect combination of healthy and indulgent, it balances fresh vegetables with savory bacon and a sweet-tangy dressing.
Crisp broccoli florets serve as the foundation, while red onion adds a sharp bite. Raisins or dried cranberries provide bursts of sweetness, and sunflower seeds contribute nutty crunch. The creamy dressing typically features mayonnaise, sugar, and a splash of vinegar.
This colorful salad originally helped Amish families incorporate garden vegetables into their meals in delicious ways. Modern cooks appreciate that it can be prepared hours ahead, making it perfect for busy weeknight dinners or Sunday gatherings after church.
9. Amish Cucumber Salad
Hot summer days call for refreshing dishes, and Amish cucumber salad delivers cool, crisp satisfaction. This simple recipe showcases garden-fresh cucumbers at their peak. Paper-thin cucumber slices mingle with thinly sliced onions in a sweet-and-sour marinade.
The dressing—a mixture of vinegar, water, sugar, salt, and sometimes a touch of dill—creates the perfect balance of flavors. Many Amish cooks insist on salting the cucumbers first to draw out excess moisture.
Generations of families have served this side dish alongside summer meals, appreciating its ability to cut through rich, heavy foods. The salad improves with time, developing deeper flavor after a few hours in the refrigerator, making it an ideal make-ahead dish for busy farm families.
10. Chow Chow
Preserving garden bounty is an Amish tradition, and colorful chow chow relish perfectly captures summer’s harvest. This sweet-and-sour condiment combines multiple vegetables into one versatile pickle. Cabbage, bell peppers, onions, cauliflower, carrots, and green beans create a rainbow of colors and textures.
A vinegar-based pickling liquid, often spiced with mustard seeds, celery seeds, and turmeric, gives chow chow its characteristic tang and golden color. Amish families traditionally make large batches during late summer, canning jars to enjoy throughout winter.
The relish accompanies everything from beans and cornbread to cold meats and sandwiches. Each family’s recipe varies slightly, with treasured proportions passed down through generations.
11. Amish White Bread
Few aromas rival that of freshly baked Amish white bread cooling on the counter. This simple loaf has satisfied hungry families for generations with its tender crumb and slightly sweet flavor. The straightforward recipe requires just six ingredients: flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt, and butter or lard.
What makes it special is the technique—kneading by hand until the dough feels like a baby’s earlobe, as Amish grandmothers often describe it. Baked until golden brown, the loaves emerge with a soft interior perfect for sandwiches and a crust that’s just firm enough.
Many Amish households bake bread twice weekly, with some families producing up to twelve loaves at once to feed large households.
12. Amish Buttermilk Biscuits
Morning routines in Amish households often include making fresh buttermilk biscuits from scratch. These golden, flaky delights require no special equipment—just nimble hands and simple ingredients. Real buttermilk gives these biscuits their signature tangy flavor and tender texture.
Cold butter creates steam pockets during baking, resulting in delicate layers that pull apart beautifully. Many Amish cooks use lard instead of butter for extra flakiness.
Served hot from the oven, these biscuits become vehicles for homemade preserves, local honey, or sausage gravy. The versatile dough also forms the base for shortcakes topped with fresh berries and cream during summer months, showcasing the Amish talent for transforming basic ingredients into memorable foods.
13. Amish Friendship Bread
Community spirit takes edible form in Amish Friendship Bread, a sweet, cinnamon-scented loaf with a fascinating tradition. The recipe begins with a sourdough starter that’s divided and shared with friends, creating an edible chain letter.
Recipients feed the starter with sugar, flour, and milk for ten days before baking their own loaves and passing new starters forward. The resulting bread features a moist, tender crumb studded with cinnamon sugar swirls. Many bakers add nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips for variety.
Beyond its delicious taste, this bread symbolizes the Amish values of generosity and connection. The tradition has spread far beyond Amish communities, with starter bags passing between neighbors, coworkers, and friends across America.
14. Sticky Buns
Saturday mornings in Amish country often feature the irresistible scent of sticky buns baking in wood-fired ovens. These spiral-shaped treats combine soft yeast dough with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
The magic happens during baking when a buttery caramel forms in the bottom of the pan, later becoming the gooey topping when the rolls are inverted. Chopped pecans or walnuts add crunch and visual appeal. Some bakers add a touch of maple syrup or honey to the caramel mixture.
Amish bakers typically prepare these the evening before, allowing the dough to rise slowly overnight for maximum flavor development. Market stands throughout Lancaster County sell these treats by the dozen to eager tourists seeking authentic Pennsylvania Dutch flavors.
15. Apple Fritter Bread
Fall apple harvests inspire countless Amish recipes, with apple fritter bread ranking among the most beloved. This quick bread captures all the flavors of apple fritters without the mess of deep-frying. Chunks of tart apples nestled in cinnamon-sugar swirls create pockets of fruit throughout the moist loaf.
A vanilla glaze drizzled over the top adds sweetness and visual appeal. Many Amish bakers include chopped walnuts for additional texture and nutty flavor.
The genius of this recipe lies in its simplicity—no yeast or complex techniques required. Originally created as a practical way to use abundant fall apples, this bread now appears year-round in Amish bakeries and home kitchens, often served alongside afternoon coffee or as a special breakfast treat.
16. Shoofly Pie
No dessert symbolizes Pennsylvania Dutch country quite like shoofly pie. This molasses-based treat earned its curious name from the flies that were supposedly shooed away from its sweet surface while cooling.
Available in “wet bottom” or “dry bottom” variations, the pie features a dark, rich filling beneath a crumbly topping. The wet-bottom version maintains a gooey layer under the cake-like top, while the dry-bottom style bakes through completely.
Blackstrap molasses gives the pie its distinctive robust flavor. Traditionally enjoyed with morning coffee (yes, pie for breakfast!), shoofly pie emerged as a practical winter dessert when fresh fruits weren’t available. Its simple ingredients—molasses, flour, brown sugar, and butter—reflect the Amish preference for pantry staples.
17. Amish Apple Dumplings
Fall apple harvests bring the heavenly aroma of apple dumplings to Amish kitchens. This dessert transforms humble apples into something truly special through simple yet precise techniques. Whole cored apples, filled with cinnamon-sugar butter, get wrapped in flaky pastry like presents waiting to be unwrapped.
The real magic happens when a sweet syrup—typically made from brown sugar, water, and butter—gets poured over the dumplings before baking. This creates a luscious sauce that mingles with the apple juices.
Many Amish families serve these warm from the oven with cold milk poured over top, creating a delightful temperature contrast. The tradition of apple dumplings connects modern Amish communities to their ancestors who brought the recipe from Europe centuries ago.
18. Amish Sugar Cookies
Simplicity shines in these beloved Amish sugar cookies that require no fancy decorations to impress. Their melt-in-your-mouth texture comes from the perfect balance of butter and oil in the dough. Unlike crisp cut-out cookies, these drop cookies spread during baking into perfect circles with slightly crackled tops.
A sprinkle of granulated sugar before baking creates a subtle sparkle and sweet crunch. The flavor profile remains delicately vanilla-forward, letting the pure taste of butter shine.
Amish schoolchildren often find these tucked into lunch pails as a sweet midday treat. Their straightforward preparation makes them perfect for teaching young bakers, with many Amish girls learning to make these cookies alongside their mothers and grandmothers by age ten.
19. Oatmeal Pie
During lean times when pecans were scarce or expensive, resourceful Amish cooks created oatmeal pie as an ingenious substitution for pecan pie. The humble oats absorb the sweet filling, creating a surprisingly similar texture and flavor.
A flaky pastry crust holds a rich filling of brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and rolled oats. Some recipes include coconut for additional texture, while others add a splash of vinegar to cut the sweetness. The pie bakes to a beautiful golden brown with a slightly crisp top and chewy interior.
Known affectionately as “poor man’s pecan pie” in some communities, this dessert demonstrates the Amish talent for creating something special from everyday ingredients. Served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, few would ever miss the pecans.
20. Whoopie Pies
Legend says these beloved treats got their playful name from the exclamation children would make—”Whoopie!”—upon discovering them in their lunch boxes. These sandwich cookies have been Amish favorites for generations.
Two soft, cake-like chocolate rounds embrace a cloud of vanilla filling. Traditional recipes use vegetable shortening in both the cookies and filling for authentic texture. Many Amish bakers add a touch of marshmallow cream to the filling for extra fluffiness.
While chocolate is the classic flavor, pumpkin whoopie pies appear in fall, and red velvet versions have gained popularity. Originally created as a clever way to use leftover cake batter, whoopie pies have become one of the most recognizable treats associated with Amish country.
21. Apple Goodie
When apple trees hang heavy with fruit, Amish families turn to apple goodie as a quick, satisfying dessert. Unlike more complex apple desserts, this humble treat comes together in minutes yet delivers remarkable flavor. Sliced apples tossed with cinnamon and sugar form the juicy base.
The signature topping—a crumbly mixture of oats, flour, brown sugar, and butter—bakes to golden perfection, creating textural contrast against the soft fruit. Some recipes include walnuts or raisins for added interest.
Many Amish schoolhouses serve this as a special Friday treat, filling classrooms with its irresistible aroma. The dessert showcases the Amish philosophy of making something wonderful from simple, seasonal ingredients without unnecessary fuss or complication.
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