These Are America’s 40 Greatest Dishes, Ranked

Cobb salad was first introduced by Chef Paul J. Posti. So, if his name was Posti, why do we call it “Cobb” salad?

He first concocted the dish when he was cooking at a restaurant called Robert Cobb. The salad includes lettuce, chicken, boiled eggs, avocado, and Roquefort cheese. This makes it a pretty filling option but still a salad that’s cool enough to enjoy in the summer! You’ll see it on almost any salad menu.

Given how many cultures come together in the United States, it’s no surprise that there are a number of dishes that have been brought over and then tweaked with local inspiration.

Sushi is something that Japan brought to the United States and the options you can get are nearly limitless. However, as you might expect, the California roll originated in California. There are a few different origin stories for this sushi roll that swaps out the raw fish for imitation crab alongside cream cheese and avocado.

As far as versatility goes, you won’t find anything that’s quite as versatile in Southern cooking as a good helping of grits. Grits are made of cornmeal, and they have a really simple recipe for boiling it down.

However, you might find sweet or savory versions of the basic recipe as well. This one actually predates the United States and is a recipe that comes from Muskogee tribes that lived there long before America was even a dream.

When people who aren’t from the United States think of snacks that were invented in America, it doesn’t take long for Twinkies to come to mind.

These cakes are stuffed with creme. The traditional choice is full of a more neutral — but sickeningly sweet — cream. But since the company released them, they’ve introduced a number of other flavors, including chocolate cream and even fruit creams.

When you’re sitting around a campfire or even enjoying a bonfire in your own backyard, it’s hard to resist the urge to start making s’mores!

Have you ever wondered where that fluffy main ingredient comes from? Marshmallows are another American invention, and you’ll see them in a lot more than s’mores. Many people toss them in their cocoa or even on sweet potatoes when preparing the Thanksgiving feast.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, no autumn in the United States is complete without a pie as dessert. One American dish everyone has to try at least once is pecan pie.

This dish is pretty self-explanatory, but the filling is sweetened, so there’s more than just pecans in the dessert. As for the exact origins, we know it was invented in the South but there are varying claims of whether New Orleans or Alabama first gave us the tasty dish.

When it comes to food that originated in the United States, you can look right at the name to realize where it originated. You can thank New England for this one!

This dish first started cropping up in Massachusetts, and it’s great for warming up in the winter. Plus, with plenty of fishing going on in New England, you can often find this dish to be pretty fresh, too!

When it comes to seafood in the United States, there are quite a few dishes that make use of the local daily catch and, boy, have these meals caught on. This time, we’re looking at the famous New England lobster roll.

You can get a few different versions depending on where you are, too. The ones made in Connecticut are made with butter, while transitional Maine lobster rolls feature Mayonnaise. No matter where in New England you are, you’ll likely see an option!

When you head to a movie theater, you’re in for blasting AC, a couple of hours to just focus on the movie — and, of course, movie snacks!

One of the most iconic movie snacks out there is a big bucket of popcorn, which was an American invention. Whether you prefer a buttery bowl, a cheesy dusting on it, or something sweet, your options are just about endless when it comes to ways to enjoy this puffed snack.

If you pick up Chinese takeout in America, you’ll likely have this little dessert in there to enjoy with a saying or fortune tucked inside.

While they might be found in Chinese food, these actually first cropped up in the United States in this Americanized version of the cuisine. Since that first restaurant gave it a try, it’s rare to walk into a Chinese restaurant in the United States and not receive this with any dishes you order.

From dousing salads to dipping veggies or even adding it to a slice of pizza, Americans really love ranch dressing. It makes sense — they invented it! Ranch dressing is a mixture of buttermilk, garlic, mustard, salt, onion, and various herbs and spices.

The dressing is often traced back to California, although the inventor, Steven Henson, also made it when he lived in Alaska. It was in California that he’d purchase a ranch and rename it Hidden Valley Ranch. So, that’s where the name comes from!

There are some combinations that are so simple and so perfect that it’s hard to imagine not having them around as an option.

When you want a quick sandwich, there isn’t a much better choice than opting for the simple peanut butter & jelly. Something about the pairing isn’t just accessible. Even if you have to swap out the peanut butter for a substitute, there’s something about the two together that just creates the perfect flavor.

Potatoes are a pretty simple plant but if they aren’t the symbol of versatility, we aren’t quite sure what is! Just think of all the dishes that potatoes create! As for tater tots, specifically, you can thank Ore-Ida for that one.

The founder of the company invented these tasty bite-sized dishes in Oregon near the beginning of their career. Not only are they delicious but they were a great way to use the potato shreds from making other potato items.

If you want a more savory sandwich, you can enjoy a Reuben sandwich. This includes a slice of rye bread topped with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and a Russian dressing.

This one is traced back to two possible origins. One story goes that Reuben Kulakofsky, a Jewish-Lithuanian man who worked in Ohama as a grocer, made the combination first. Then again, others say you can thank a German-Jewish man named Arnold Reuben for the menu at his business in New York City, Reuben’s Delicatessen.

Hot dogs are one of those foods you probably think of right away when you hear the term “American dishes,” so you probably saw this one coming on the list.

These simple snacks on a bun — whether you enjoy them plain or would prefer a nice array of mustard, ketchup, relish, and more. They’re easy to grill up in the backyard while you’re hanging out, to enjoy over a campfire, or even to grab and go while you’re at a baseball game.

The hot dog is already considered pretty American but taking that and rolling it in batter before dropping it in a deep fryer is as about as American as you can get. So, is it any surprise that one of the items on this list is the corn dog?

As for where it was invented, well, there are a few vying for that title. Some will tell you the combination was first found in Springfield, Illinois — but others will claim we can thank either the Minnesota or Texas State Fair.

In the United States, there are a lot of individual states that have a dish that’s their claim to fame. For instance, being right on the water, Maryland has a lot of crabs.

In turn, people from Maryland have come up with some great crab dishes, and you can’t forget to add the Old Bay Seasoning mix to them. If you want to try a dish that will let these local crabs shine, we have to recommend the crab cakes!

Have you ever wondered how Buffalo Wings got their name? After all, we haven’t seen too many buffalo flying around the plains lately.

The reason we call these chicken wings that is because the tangy sauce that we’ve all come to know and love was first made in Buffalo, New York. Now, though, you can get them just about anywhere — talk about success! They’re a bit of a messy food but that doesn’t stop their popularity at all.

Whether you’re on the run and need something to eat on the go or you’re enjoying a summer day barbecue, a cheeseburger just hits the spot.

The exact origin of the popular food is a little hazy, there are a few stories floating around of who was the one to create this simple combination first. However, we know for sure that it’s an American dish and it seems like no matter who made it first, everyone was going to be making these cheeseburgers before long!

These classic snacks may have seemed like they were around forever, but you can actually thank an American woman for these baked goods as recently as 1938!

We can thank Ruth Graves Wakefield for the idea. She wasn’t just baking in her kitchen, though. At the time, she was a chef and the owner of the Toll House Inn! Now, you can pick up ready-made Tollhouse cookies at the store.

Whether you like the crunchy edge slices or the ooey-gooey middle pieces, it’s hard to beat a brownie as a dessert. Did you know that you can thank an American for them?

You can thank Bertha Palmer, who was married to the owner of the Palmer Hotel but more impressively, she was the president of the Ladies Board for Managers for Exposition. She came up with the dessert in 1893 as an easy-to-eat boxed food to hand out to the women at the World’s Columbian Exposition.

By the name alone, you might guess that German chocolate cake falls under the list of German dishes that we love to enjoy in the United States.

Actually, the name comes from the type of chocolate that a Texan woman named Mrs. George Calay shared in a Dallas newspaper back in 1957. Interestingly, that chocolate isn’t German either. It’s named that because it was made by Sam German, a chocolate maker who made baking chocolate which you can still buy.

If you want something a little spicier to snack on, you can turn to a Tex-Mex dish that many Americans have come to know and love.

Jalapeño poppers are made by stuffing the peppers with cheese and spices, sometimes with the addition of meat, and then they’re breaded and fried. The dish is simple enough but the first trace of it used as a term for the dish goes back to 1972 in Texas.

As for pizza in general, you can thank Naples, Italy for introducing pizza to the world. So, why is it on this list of great American foods?

Well, the deep-dish pizza comes from the United States, even if the original iteration doesn’t. The dish comes out of Chicago, Illinois but the exact origins are pretty debated. There are a few different restaurants in the Windy City that have tried to lay claim to the dish’s origins.

When it comes to the Philly cheesesteak, it’s pretty easy to see where the snack came from based on the name — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The story goes that the dish was first made in 1930 by Pat Olivieri.

He was a hot dog vendor at the time and was grilling up some steak for a sandwich. Seeing what he was doing, a cab driver asked for one too. From there, word of mouth took off. If you visit Philly today, you’ll likely hear about Pat’s King of Steaks, which is a cheesesteak restaurant named after Olivieri.

Out of all of the dishes in the American South, there are a lot of delicious options that we can put on this list. One that’s hard to pass up is biscuits and gravy.

These are flaky biscuits covered in white sausage gravy with sausage crumbles. The dish was first invented during the Revolutionary War in Southern Appalachia. The original dish had hard biscuits, but fortunately, the recipe improved over the years to include flaky, fluffy biscuits.

If you need a side for your dinner, you can look to another cuisine from the American South and make corn bread to go with your meal!

The bread is made with baking powder and cornmeal to create a sweet bread. It’s pretty dense, and it isn’t sweet like a pastry you’d buy with your morning coffee. Instead, it’s just slightly sweet and a common addition to any dish of Southern comfort food or Soul Food.

A BLT is made up of three simple ingredients — bacon, lettuce, and tomato. You’d think with simple ingredients like that, it’s be a snack as old as time.

Actually, the first incident of the dish appeared in the book, 1903 Good Housekeeping Everyday Cook Book. While all of the dishes appeared in different sandwiches before, this one called for bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo between two slices of white bread.

Americans love a good slice of pie. When it’s too hot to want something fresh out of the oven, you always could go for a cool slice of Key Lime Pie.

This pie came from Aunt Sally, a cook in Florida who worked for William Curry, a local ship savager and millionaire at the time, in the late 19th century. With key lime juice, egg yolks, and sweetened condensed milk, the reaction would create a spongy, delightful pie without needing to cook, making it great for someone who spent time out at sea.

For something warm, sweet, and almost like a pie, you can enjoy a cobbler! Unlike a pie, these have an open bottom. Today, you often see them baked in a casserole dish rather than a pie tin.

Blackberry cobbler is a classic option, and we can trace it back to early American colonists. It was a play on British desserts that often included pastries or dough paired with steamed fruit. Later, they’d branch out to include other fruits like blueberries and peaches!

There are some classic American dishes that really come to mind immediately when you think of the country. Apple pie is a pretty staple example of that.

This is another dish that was brought to the United States by the people who came to the country and added to its rich culture. It was brought over by Swedish, Dutch, and English — and the American version of the dish appeared in two forms in Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery in 1796.

If you want something that you can throw on and let it cook and just wait a few hours for a hearty, warm meal, you can’t go wrong with pot roast.

The meal is meant to be filling and is great for warming you up too. It’s cooked a long time, so the roast is falling apart. On top of that, you usually cook carrots, onions, potatoes, and similar vegetables to cook with it, making it a flavorful dish.

If you aren’t familiar with the dish, the name chicken fried steak might seem a little confusing. However, it’s a delicious dish that is well-loved in the American South.

The meal is made up of a steak — but instead of searing it in a pan, it’s deep-fried with breadcrumbs, like you might expect from a piece of fried chicken. If you had to compare it to a similar dish from another country, it’s a lot like a schnitzel!

This one is influenced by a number of different cultures. You can trace Jambalaya back to inspiration from Spanish, French, and African dishes.

However, it was all brought together in one of the cuisine capitals of the United States — New Orleans! The dish is flavorful and includes rice, vegetables, and meat. The latter can vary, but jambalaya can include pork, chicken, sausage, shrimp, or even crawfish, and you aren’t limited to a single option either.

Ice cream is one of the best treats you can reach for in the summer. There are plenty of different ways that you can enjoy this tasty treat as well.

You can even add some chocolate, whipped cream, cherries, and then add a “split” banana so you have a long slice on each side. This banana split might have come from a few different places in the United States but most people thank David Strickler, nicknamed “Doc,” an optometrist in Latrobe, Pennsylvania back in 1904.

There’s something that’s very American about a huge rack of ribs cooked to perfection and drowning in barbecue sauce. It’s messy, but it’s delicious!

There are about a thousand different renditions, too, and you’ll likely meet some people who have a strong preference. For instance, if you’re in Memphis, you’ll find many people who prefer dry-rub ribs instead of sauce, while South Carolina uses sauce. However, you’ll find it different from local sauces in states even as close as Virginia.

New Orleans, Louisiana has brought America some of the greatest dishes to enjoy in the country. If you find yourself in the area, you’ll want to order a Po’ Boy.

These sandwiches start with French bread, giving you a really hearty bread to hold everything together. The filling is seafood, usually fried shrimp or even crawfish but there are a variety of options you can try around the city to find something that suits your fancy.

Despite what the name might suggest, French fries actually born in France. No matter where you go in the U.S., you’re likely to see a side of fries on the menu. Do you remember how we said potatoes have so much potential?

Well, French fries might be the form of potatoes that has stolen American hearts the most. This is another staple that was brought to the United States, though. So, thank you, Belgium, for giving us this crispy, crunchy snack.

Thanksgiving in the United States means it’s time to prepare a feast that will likely feed your family until you’re sick of it all until next year. We’d be remiss not to mention the star of the show on this holiday either — the Thanksgiving turkey.

Every family has their own recipe and way to cook it although most people bake it in the oven for the day. Others might break out the smoker or a deep fryer, although the latter can have explosive results.

Americans weren’t the first ones to fry up chicken. However, American fried chicken has still made its mark in the country.

Especially in the South, you’ll likely find families that have their own secret ingredients when it comes to breading or seasoning. You can eat it on its own, with a side of veggies, French fries, or even add them to your waffles! All in all, the potential on what you can do with your chicken once you’ve got it fried and ready is just about endless.