Top 15 Croatian Bakery Items

Bakeries are on every corner and eating from the bakery is part of the culture here! But it can be overwhelming walking into a bakery, and trying to blindly choose a pastry that you’ve never tried! Here we’ll give you a list and description of the best bakery items you can find in Croatia!

We’ll also let you know the place where we bought each pastry outlined below, so you can easily find it if you find yourself in Croatia with a hankering for something delicious! You should try at least a few if you’re visiting!
Today we sat down and tried 15 different bakery items from a few different bakeries around Zagreb. Some products were from a small private bakery called Pekarna Svetice (located in Maksimir) and others are mostly from popular chains: Dubravica, Pan Pek and Mlinar.

We tried both traditional pastries, and a few more modern ones. So here they are, in the order that we tried them:

1. Burek

Royal croatian tours d8299 — Burek with cheese

Burek is a delicious, flaky, phyllo-pastry, filled with cheese, meat, spinach etc. It's salty, not sweet, but it's a perfect mid day snack, very filling and it’s a very traditional Croatian bakery item!

We tried burek with cheese this time but there are many more options, like with meat, spinach, apple, chocolate etc. I know that in Bosnia and Serbia only burek with meat is called burek, and burek with cheese there is called sirnica, but in Croatia it is different and we use the word burek for all other variations.

Burek origins actually come from Turkey.

2. Slanci

Slanci - another traditional item found in all Croatian bakeries. It is a staple Croatian pastry and you will find it in almost any bakery. My kids love it. It's very plain and basic, just a kind of soft bread stick with a salty glaze swirled on top.

Nowadays I have even noticed that some bakeries put a cheesy glaze on top of Slanci, too!

3. Krafna

Krafna is not your typical North American doughnut, but the ones from Mlinar and Pan Pek are very good. They have a nice sweet coating of icing sugar on top and they're usually filled with jam (although I prefer when they're filled with chocolate :)

Krafna is a very popular dessert during the maškare season which happens in February every year (it’s kind of like a Croatian version of Halloween).

Many households make these kind of doughnuts for kids who go around and “trick or treat.” If you ever visit the city of Samobor during that festive season (Samoborski fasnik) you will see plenty of these kinds of doughnuts there.

4. Piroška

Piroska is a very traditional bakery snack that Ivan remembers eating as a child throughout elementary school! It’s a simple fried dough with a creamy-cheese filling. Who doesn't love a little fried dough? They were pretty good!

Today the majority of people would agree that they are the best from the “Klara” bakery because they are full of cheese, while in other places you buy a piroska and it’s mostly just dough.

In Zagreb schools, students would often get piroska with a cup of cocoa as a snack (those are Ivan’s childhood memories).

5. Buhtla

We got buhtla filled with chocolate, but you can also find them filled with jam and cheese. They are quite a traditional product as well, but I can say they're delicious.

The chocolate inside the one we tried from Pekarnica Svetice was absolutely delicious. Ivan thinks it tastes like Nutella on bread but to me, the chocolate is a bit different. Either way, it’s a nice sweet snack if that's what you're in the mood for. Just like piroska, it’s a favorite among kids for snack time in kindergarten and elementary schools.

6. Lisnato s višnjama

Royal croatian tours b4935 — Lisnato s visnjama

Lisnato s visnjama is a phyllo pastry filled with cherries. It tastes just like a cherry pie, and it was pretty good. I prefer a chocolate filling, but this filling was quite nice. The pastry part was very flaky, which I really like! There are many kinds of lisnato too. Popular ones are filled with apples, cheese, chocolate…

7. Zagorski Štrukli

Zagorski strukli are prepared from finely rolled out dough and filled with delicious fresh cheese. These are one of the most famous Croatian delicacies and is absolutely a traditional "dish" in Croatia, as it's typically served as part of a meal.

It can be served with breakfast, as an appetizer for lunch or dinner, it can also just be a quick snack. It's very versatile and can be made either sweet or savoury. We tried the salty version from Pan Pek and it was absolutely delicious! Strukli are also often served as a dish at Croatian weddings.

8. Štrudla od jabuka

Apple strudel is one of those desserts that smells like childhood. The exceptional taste of this sweet apple strudel is irresistible for just about anyone.

This one that we tried was really good. Ivan likes strudel better than lisnato, because the dough is more of a "hand made" type of dough, rather than a more flaky pastry. The apple filling was delightful and I would definitely recommend this to others!

9. Puž s makom

Top 15 Croatian Bakery Items — Puz s makom

I'm not sure how common it is to bake with poppy seed back home in Canada, but I never really ate it much other than in a lemon poppy seed cake here and there, but I love that type of filling. When I first moved to Croatia, I couldn’t stop eating pastries filled with mak!

It has a very different, rich taste, and as a filling it’s juicy and soft, it’s really delicious! These “snails” can also be filled with walnuts, cinnamon, or chocolate.

10. Pita s krumpirom

This “pie” from Mlinar bakery is so scrumptious and flavorful. It’s a pastry with a rich, spicy filling of potatoes, black pepper and other herbs, and it has a crispy crust. An ideal choice for a quick snack on the run.

This is one of my favorites lately. I often get this when I'm out and about getting errands done. It's like a potato pie in a stick form and the filling is absolutely delicious. The salty, peppery, potato filling with the crispy outside really makes this one tasty.

11. Paški klipić

Paski klipic is a little sandwich from Pekarnica Dubravica is made with a special type of cheese found in Croatia, Paski Sir (from Pag Island). It's a very famous cheese here, and it's great!

The bread also has olives baked inside, which makes the sandwich all that much more delicious. There is also red pepper spread, and it just makes the sandwich come to life. It's a great snack on the go! I loved it!

12. Topli Sendvič

Topli Sendvic is one more great choice from Dubravica is Topli Sendvic. It’s kind of like an open faced veggie sandwich. Ivan loves this one and gets it often when we're running around.

It has nice slices of zucchini and tomatoes with cheese and some oregano on top. It’s also great when it's fresh from the oven! (Everything is better right from the oven, though, right?)

13. Špek rolica

Spek rolica was my least favorite out of everything. I'm not a huge fan of spek. I like "American-style" bacon, like the kind you find in North America, but spek isn't my thing. The cornbread on the outside, though, was nice. I'm sure anyone who likes bacon and spek is going to love spek rolica!

14. Hrenovka u pecivu

If you like typical American hot dogs, hrenovka u pecivu is something similar. Ivan is a bigger fan of hot dogs than I am, so he enjoys this more than me. There can be two types of hot dogs in the dough: those put inside the already baked dough, and the ones where the raw hot dog is placed in the raw dough and then baked together with the bread/pastry surrounding it.

15. Pogačica s čvarcima

if you like pork rinds this is the right choice for you. This puffed dough is a salty snack and perfect for all of you pork lovers, feeling peckish. My father in law loves these pogačice (of course he does, when he eats the regular rinds like chips!)

There are definitely so many other items we could have tried, but we wanted to show you the most traditional pastries, a few of the more modern ones, and also the baked goods that we just liked the best.

We think it's a good variety, but we'd love to hear from you, if you think we forgot any staple items from the bakery!

All I can say is that I love all of the bakeries in Croatia. They're practically on every corner, and they're filled with a thousand different varieties of sweet pastries and savoury goods.

Let us know which ones are your favorite (or which ones you don't particularly love) in the comments below.