Mekitsa · Bulgarian · Breakfast
Mekitsa
Born in Bulgaria
“Yogurt-leavened dough fried until pillowy, then dusted with sugar or crowned with jam and cheese.”
0 people have eaten this dish and left their thoughts across 6 platforms
8 in 10 mention tender, yogurt-enriched crumb first
7 in 10 say it's worth it for the regional flexibility in ingredients
5 in 10 would come back the same week
Synthesised from Google · Yelp · Reddit · 3 food blogs · Updated August 2026
The story the reviews tell
Mekitsa is a Bulgarian breakfast dish whose name literally means 'softness'—a promise the deep-fried dough delivers on immediately. Yogurt kneaded into the dough creates a tender crumb that puffs when hit with hot oil, resulting in pillowy rounds that beg for icing sugar, jam, honey, or white cheese. Regional variations swap yeast for baking soda or milk for yogurt, but the technique stays constant: tear, flatten, fry, finish.
What makes this version distinct
Mekitsa (Bulgarian: мекица, romanized: mekitsa, lit. 'softness'; plural mekitsi) is a traditional Bulgarian dish made of kneaded dough made with yogurt that is deep fried. They are made with flour, eggs, yogurt, a leavening agent, water, salt, and oil. In Serbia they are called mekike (sing. mekika), while in Macedonian mekica or pituljica, and in Bulgaria mekitsa. They are similar to Hungarian lángos and British Yorkshire pudding. Mekitsa is conventionally a breakfast dish. After the dough rises, it is torn into small balls, spread into flat rounds and fried in oil. In some recipes, yeast, baking soda, milk or yogurt might be used. A recipe from Silistra involves yogurt and bread soda, one from a village near Stara Zagora uses yeast and yogurt, and a recipe from Aytos suggests yeast and milk. One of the oldest known recipes contains only yeast, flour, salt and sugar and it uses water as the sole wet ingredient. It is recommended that the shaping of mekitsi before their frying be done
Signature elements
What people love
- tender, yogurt-enriched crumb
- regional flexibility in ingredients
- celebratory cultural significance
- works with sweet and savory finishes
Know before you go
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