Have you ever thought about how many foods start with the letter ‘P’? That may seem like a silly question but it’s a pretty fascinating thing when you go down the list and realize just how long it is.
Today we’ve assembled just that very list and have come up with one hundred entries, and to be frank, that’s still just scratching the surface! Just to keep things fun, this list has been randomized and is thus in no order to speak of.
What Are Foods That Start With The Letter P?
#1 – Pot Pie
Likely the most well-known type of meat pie, this flaky pastry has a top pie crust that could easily cause you to mistake it for any ‘ol pie. A common Southern dish and considered a soul food, they can come with a ton of different fillings. Beef, veggies, poultry, and seafood if you’re feeling adventurous.
#2 – Pastrami
Perfect thing to put on or in a sandwich! A meat product that more often than not is derived from beef briskets, though you can also find lamb or turkey pastramis out there. In order to make yourself a pastrami, brine, dry and season the raw meat first. Then you can smoke, steam and slice it up.
#3 – Praline
A sweet treat created by boiling culinary nuts and grinding them into a mixture with sugar and cream. Praline is most frequently used as filling for chocolate bars.
#4 – Phyllo
A type of thin, unleavened pastry dough, phyllo is commonly used for dishes like baklava among other things. They come in layered sheets and are generally coated in oil and butter before being baked.
#5 – Posset
A creamy drink made with citrus and sugar in equal measure and of course enjoyed chilled. Originally though this British drink had a very different identity, being a spicy hot drink instead, made by mixing wine or ale with curdled milk. That’s quite the transformation it’s made!
#6 – Pompano
A type of medium-flavor marine fish, noted for holding together nicely no matter how you cook and prepare it. Pompano is comparable in flavor to snapper and mahi-mahi.
#7 – Pottage
Alternatively spelled ‘potage’, pottage refers to a category of soups, stews and porridges. They contain a variety of things from veggies, fruit, grains, meat – including fish – and perhaps even a mixture of all the above, boiled together, sometimes with broth.
#8 – Profiterole
Sometimes just called ‘cream puffs’… you might not have known that old-fashioned insult came from a real thing! Also known by its proper French name chou á la crème, it’s a choux pastry ball that is usually filled with something moist and creamy like a custard. It’s also often topped with chocolate sauce and/or a heaping helping of caramel.
#9 – Prosciutto
With a name like prosciutto, you probably don’t need to be told that it’s Italian. Specifically it’s a dry-cured Italian meat that is sliced as thin as possible and served raw.
#10 – Pattypan Squash
A type of summer squash, and a particularly small one at that, Pattypan squashes have a taste that is often compared to zucchini. They’re noted for their scalloped exterior and their shallow, rounded shape.
#11 – Pizza
Surely we don’t have to tell you what pizza is… it’s one of the most popular foods in the world, loved by all ages and as versatile as the day is long! Pizza can be nearly anything at this point, the definition has been stretched quite thin.
#12 – Pie
Similarly, pie is a dish most of us have known about for our entire lives. It’s a baking staple, and it too can be filled with nearly anything. Fruits, veggies, nuts, eggs, cheese, meat… anything you can think of, the recipe probably already exists.
#13 – Plum
A painfully underrated fruit, plums have a purple or reddish hue to their skin. They’re very juicy and one of the most sweet and flavor-packed fruits out there. Just be careful not to bite into their core – there’s a large, central pit in there and it’s rock solid.
#14 – Pomegranate
Another fruit here, but this one doesn’t just have the one pit, instead it’s filled with tons of perfectly edible seeds. A healthy choice, they are ripe with vitamins and minerals and rich in fiber. Their sweet yet tart taste makes them a favorite for flavoring fruit juice.
#15 – Peanut
A major export of South America, peanuts are the legumes of a tropical plant. Generally they’re roasted and salted, sometimes eaten whole. They have a strong association with being munched on at baseball games in the US. These days though they’re much more commonly used to make peanut butter, a very popular and enduring topping for toast and sandwiches.
#16 – Pinotage
A dry red wine grape from South Africa, pinotage is somewhere between cinsault and pinot noir.
#17 – Pfannkuchen
An egg mixture that is frequently served with jam, and very lemony in taste. The word ‘Pfannkuchen’ is also used to refer to pancakes in many parts of Germany.
#18 – Pavlova
Crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside, pavlova is a meringue-based dessert that is most commonly served with whipped cream and fresh fruits.
#19 – Pitaya
Another word for dragon fruit, an exotic, bright pink fruit native to Mexico and the Central Americas. Alternatively spelled ‘pitayaha’.
#20 – Pickerel
Pickerel is a cute nickname given to the smallest of fish in the family of pikes. Possible to pan-dry or deep-fry, and are known for having a sweet, mild flavor when cooked, unique among fish.
#21 – Poulette
A creamy mushroom sauce that’s known for its tangy taste and is most frequently used with poultry dishes.
#22 – Pop
Another name for soda, it’s most frequently called ‘pop’ in the Midwest, Northwest and Great Plains of the US. Available in all sorts of different colors and flavors, of course.
#23 – Pinole
This powdery substance is dense with nutrients and can be used as an additive for baked goods, tortillas, beverages and cereals. It’s made by roasting and grounding maize, mixed with cacao.
#24 – Pheasant
Pheasant is a game bird, low in fat compared to chicken and other meats. When cooked properly it can have a very rich flavor, but can be very dry if cooked poorly.
#25 – Pollock
A fish from the cod family, pollock is a solid source of lean protein and is also notably low in saturated fats.
#26 – Pasty
Pasty is a pastry! Say that five times fast. It’s often filled with swede, potato, onion and beef skirt.
#27 – Paste
Definitely not talking about the kind of glue here. This consists of dry ingredients made with trace amounts of water. This mixture is very often used in meals like fish or curry paste, or as a topping for bread.
#28 – Panocha
A type of pudding that is most frequently found in southern Colorado and New Mexico. It’s commonly associated with lent, and created from piloncillo and ground sprouted wheat.
#29 – Peppercorn
Another name for black pepper, a fruit that can be harvested from the flowering vine known as piperaceae. Black pepper is seen most frequently for seasoning dishes with salt, and can be used either after or during the cooking process.
#30 – Plantain
Yet another one with an alternate name, plantains are known in some circles as cooking bananas. These are particularly starchy fruits and bulk up any dish they’re added to. They can also be fried up and enjoyed all by themselves, of course.
#31 – Panfish
A game fish that is always small enough to fit into your standard frying pan. While the term does refer to specific fish, it is also something professional anglers might say to describe fish that aren’t big enough to be considered legal catches.
#32 – Pilchard
Two fish in a row here, this one hailing from the family of herring, better known as sardines! They are known for being very oily and particularly fishy fish.
#33 – Peppermint
Obviously coming from the mint line, this is an aromatic leaf that is very popular for flavoring food. They are probably closest associated with peppermint patties and candy canes.
#34 – Pita
A yeast-leavened flatbread, rounded in shape, commonly seen in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern dishes. Made from wheat flour, these work both as sides or on their own when packed with meat and/or veggies.
#35 – Prune
A kind of dried plum that is seen as a healthy way to alleviate constipation woes. They are most commonly turned into prune juice.
#36 – Pancake
A breakfast classic! Generally a thick and round flat cake made from a fatty batter of milk, butter and egg. Pancakes are extremely popular and versatile enough to have hundreds of recipe variations. They are very closely associated with maple syrup as their most common topping.
#37 – Prickly Pear
Alternatively known as the cactus fruit, which should really tell you something about just how prickly these pears are! Their flavor is somewhere between raspberries and strawberries.
#38 – Persimmon
An edible fruit that can grow on all sorts of trees. Seems like a lot of fruit out there starts with the letter ‘p’, doesn’t it? Persimmons have a unique taste, a cross between mangos and sweet pepper, and with a very slippery texture.
#39 – Pistachio
Types of cashews, these are known for their seeds, which are often salted and roasted. Pistachio ice cream and similar treats are pretty common.
#40 – Pigweed
Known by some as amaranth, this is an edible wild plant with a red taproot. The leaves of it are extremely nutritious. As you might’ve surmised, the pigweed is much more of a weed than it is a pig.
#41 – Polony
Better known by the name bologna, this is a pork-based product made by the MRM process – that is to say, mechanically recovered meat. Most often sliced up and served in sandwiches.
#42 – Pigswill
A form of wet feed, consisting usually of kitchen waste (good for those without a garbage disposal) mixed with milk or water. Also called slop, this is used as food for pigs.
#43 – Papaya
Yet another fruit, this one is very fun to say. Papayas are green on the outside and yellow in the inside, with a naturally sweet taste and a creamy textures that is reminiscent of butter. Papayas are also called pawpaws, a similarly adorable name which could also have potentially fit on this list!
#44 – Pandowdy
This is the name of a kind of spiced apple pudding. It’s generally baked in a deep dish and has a very rich crust on top.
#45 – Poi
A traditional Hawaiian dish, it’s made by cooking and mashing the underground stem of a taro.
#46 – Patty
Essentially this is a word most commonly used to describe any meat that’s been formed into a specific, round and relatively flat shape. But it’s also used for meat alternatives as well.
#47 – Pimento
This is a more scientific name for the cherry pepper. These are large, round chili peppers that turn into a cherry-like bright red as they mature. If you didn’t know any better, you might mistake it for an oversized cherry!
#48 – Persian Melon
These are unridged and elongated melons with a mildly sweet flavor, not unlike your typical melon. They have a green skin and are orange on the inside.
#49 – Pepperoni
Not counting cheese or marinara sauce, pepperoni is probably the most famous and commonly seen pizza topping in the US. It is a type of salami with a somewhat smoky taste.
#50 – Pesto
Pesto, short for pesto alla Genovese, is a type of sauce that is composed of pine nuts, coarse salt, crushed garlic, basil leaves and some form of hard cheese.
#51 – Pear
Not of the prickly variety this time! If you’re confused about the order, keep in mind that it was randomized. Anyway a pear is green or brownish-yellow fruit, skinny at the top but fatter and more rounded at the bottom. It’s gritty in texture, contrasting with a sweet, mild taste.
#52 – Plumcot
If this name sounds like an odd fusion of plums and apricots, that’s for good reason – it’s exactly what this is! A hybrid fruit, it’s rising in popularity as people just rave about the flavor.
#53 – Peppercorn Sauce
A cream sauce that, as you might guess, is made with peppercorns, which are tossed into the cream as it reduces. Black, pink or green peppercorns alike might be used in this concoction.
#54 – Pernod
A licorice-flavored liquor! It’s frequently put to good use in seafood dishes.
#55 – Puree
For food to be pureed, that means that they’ve been pressed and blended down until they’ve become smooth. This is most often done with fruits, vegetables and legumes.
#56 – Purloo
A thick stew, typically a combination of chicken and rice. It has a lot in common with paella or jambalaya and is particularly popular in South Carolina.
#57 – Pastry
We certainly mentioned pastries before, they’re their own category, but they do all start from the same place. That is to say, dough made from flour, water and fat and it’s used primarily for making sweets, though occasionally more savory dishes are in the cards as well.
#58 – Pike
Earlier we also mentioned pickerells, smaller versions of the Pike fish, so this just refers to the full-sized ones.
#59 – Popsicle
Ice pops, generally made from whipping and freezing a sweetened mushy liquid into the desired shape. Popsicles are typically frozen onto a stick and can come in all sorts of flavors.
#60 – Punch
You may have something specific in mind but this is actually a very broad term for a range of drinks, some alcoholic and some not. They invariably contain fruits or fruit juice and are known for being served in large bowls at parties.
#61 – Poteen
A name for an old school Irish whiskey, typically distilled from potatoes.
#62 – Pigeon Pea
A legume crop that could really, really use a better name if you think about it… they’re cheap and thusly very important crops for rural regions.
#63 – Pippin
A type of heirloom winter apple that is frequently utilized for apple crumble and apple pie.
#64 – Porridge
A breakfast food, made from boiling up ground or crushed, starch-heavy plants or grain in water or milk, often with sugar or honey added in for sweetness. Once a staple food, its popularity has arguably diminished over the years. However it will forever remain recognizable as a key part of the old fairy tale, Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
#65 – Periwinkle
A small, edible marine snail. The meat is often poked from the shell with a toothpick after a few minutes of salting and boiling.
#66 – Penuche
This is a type of candy that is similar to fudge, made with the use of milk, butter and brown sugar with some vanilla added for flavoring. It’s lighter than your average batch of fudge and has a stark caramel flavor.
#67 – Parfait
A dessert that traces its roots to France, cream, sugar, syrup and eggs are mixed and boiled to make parfait. Often served in its own special little glass, and can be flavored with fresh fruit or jelly among other things. Visually similar to a sundae but generally served with a lot of nuts.
#68 – Potherb
A broad term, a potherb could be any leafy veggie to be used in cooking or salad.
#69 – Porgy
A very flakey white meat fish, close to a snapper in taste with a very mild and somewhat sweet flavor. Useful for cooking.
#70 – Paella
A Spanish rice dish with roots traced back to Valencia, it can come with meat and veggies but is most closely associated with seafood. It has an intriguing flavor and yellow color thanks to the added saffron, and it also frequently comes with chorizo sausage.
#71 – Pekoe
A very high-end grade of black tea, specifically originating from young leaves.
#72 – Pruno
This one has a bit of an off-beat association, as it’s stereotypically made by prisoners. Pruno is a liquor, one that has been fermented to be alcoholic.
#73 – Peach
A round stone fruit, known for its unique pink-yellow skin color. Its yellow insides are juicy and sweet. Often enjoyed on their own as well as being made to use desserts and jams. It’s been said that peaches are life… or rather, life is one of these.
#74 – Prawns
Tiny, crustaceous aquatic creatures that can be prepared in all sorts of ways. They can be fried or grilled, and added to pastas and curries among other things.
#75 – Pancetta
Easy to confuse with bacon, pancetta is a type of salumi, a salt-cured bit of meat made from the belly of a pig. It’s most commonly used to add flavor to soups and pastas.
#76 – Parsley
A flowering plant that’s cultivated across the world as an herb. Native to the Mediterranean region, parsley is used to add a mild, fresh flavor to all sorts of dishes. It’s also often used as a simple garnish.
#77 – Plonk
Not the most elegant sounding name out there, and that is on purpose. Plonk is the word used to describe cheaper wines of lesser quality.
#78 – Pasta
Another broadly sweeping category here, pasta can refer to a wide swath of things. Spaghetti, lasagna, raviolo, tagliatelle, penne, et cetera ad nauseam. All of them are pasta, based from dough made of wheat flour mixed with water and/or eggs and formed into layered sheets.
#79 – Paprika
A very fun word to say, paprika refers to a ground spice that is used to add a smoky flavor to a variety of meals. They are made from dried red fruits from the capsicum annum genus.
#80 – Pickle
The word pickle by itself almost always refers to a pickled cucumber, smaller versions of the normally large plant that are pickled in brine and vinegar and left to ferment. The process of pickling can be done to all sorts of foods.
#81 – Pie Plant
If you’ve never heard this phrase before, don’t worry, there’s good reason. It’s actually an antiquated term, a 19th century nickname for rhubarb. This plant is often used in pies, sauces and tarts, and is versatile enough to be in either sweet or savory dishes.
#82 – Pretzel
A famed kind of baked pastry, one made from dough shaped into a knot. That knot is then baked or fried and often heavily salted or doused with sesame seeds.
#83 – Popover
A light roll, one very close to a Yorkshire pudding. Made from egg batter, popover is ordinarily cooked in muffin tins, in lieu of proper popover pans. Said pans have straight sides rather than angled sides.
#84 – Pilaf
Aka pilau, pilaf is among the more well-known rice dishes. The recipe sees the rice get cooked in broth or stock, with added meat, veggies and spice. Proper rice pilaf is sautéed with fragrant aromatics prior to their cooking, so as to enrich the rice with flavor.
#85 – Pineapple
A tropical fruit, most famously known for spurring on an eternal debate as to whether or not it belongs on pizza. Beyond this, pineapple is very recognizable for it’s distinct shape, and is incredibly sweet and tangy in flavor. It grows with spikes on the exterior which need to be cut away first.
#86 – Popcorn
A famous food, used for snacking and meals alike, popcorn is made by cooking corn kernels until they expand and puff up. It’s often spiced and salted and can also be served sweetened.
#87 – Pierogi
A dumpling, filled up with sweet or savory ingredients. Pierogi is made by wrapping unleavened dough around these sweet or savory ingredients, then boiling.
#88 – Pork
Pork refers to a category of food. Every meat product made from domesticated pigs is called pork. It is an extremely popular meat all around the globe.
#89 – Potato
A root vegetable, deeply starchy. They’re deeply tied to Ireland but they’re eaten all over the world and prepared in a countless number of ways. Baked potato, french fries, cooked into hash browns, mashed potatoes and more!
#90 – Pecan
A rather small, smooth, brown nut that shares many traits with walnuts. Pecans are frequently used in desserts, most famously in pecan pies which really do a lot to bring out the nuts’ strengths.
#91 – Penne
A type of pasta, one that we mentioned earlier in the list, but one you may not be familiar with. It is a cylindrical tube, one that is very easy to serve with tons of sauces since the tubes do an excellent job at holding it, a practical use for the shape.
#92 – Páté
A type of paste that contains what is known as forcemeat. It usually includes liver and other ground meat like pork, poultry, fish and beef as well as veggies, herbs and spices in addition to brandy or wine. It is quite the combination of diverse flavors and textures at play there.
#93 – Partridge
A small game bird, not unlike a pheasant, you may have heard of their apparent tendency to end up in pear trees. Compared to pheasant, partridge meat is sweeter and gamier and the taste is more than strong enough to hold its own with other hearty flavors. As long as it’s properly prepared, the meat should be very tender.
#94 – Peppers
Also known as bell peppers, which come in a variety of colors such as red, yellow, green, purple, white or orange. These are sweet and not really spicy, in contrast to most peppers out there. These can be eaten by themselves or sliced and diced to be used in a multitude of dishes.
#95 – Pastil
A popular and affordable breakfast item, pastil is a packed rice meal of Filipino origin. The rice is steamed and wrapped in banana leaves. Shredded beef, chicken or fish can be added inside as well.
#96 – Pea
A staple vegetable, a pea refers to the tiny, spherical seed found in pea pods. They are among the many vegetables argued to be a fruit and vice versa, but as far as eating goes, they’re lumped in with veggies. Peas can be boiled and fried and eaten on their own, or used to bolster stews and soups.
#97 – Porterhouse
As in porterhouse steak, an alternative name for T-bone steaks. This refers to a cut of meat taken from the short loin of beef, which typically includes a T-shaped bone, the lumbar vertebra. Since the cut comes from the back side of the short loin, they naturally include some tenderloin steak.
#98 – Parsnip
A lengthy, tubular root vegetable that shares much of its DNA with carrots and parsley. It has a distinct, arguably off-putting cream-colored skin to it. It is known to become sweeter as the cold of winter fades.
#99 – Pop-Tarts
The most famous brand name for a toaster pastry. These are generally both filled and frosted with something sugary and are extremely sweet. Two pastry crusts keep it all together. Generally Pop-Tarts are sold in a box already prepared, but homemade ones can be made with a toaster oven.
#100 – Pork Chop
Finally our one hundredth food that starts with the letter ‘P’, and it is none other than pork chops! This refers to a loin taken perpendicular to the spine of a pig, and while they might be deboned, typically they still have a rib or some small part of the vertebra kept inside them. Unprocessed, these are generally leaner than other cuts.
In Conclusion
We could’ve gone on and on, but one hundred entries should be more than enough to get the point across. For the most part we tried to stick to vaguely recognizable foods and that wasn’t even too difficult in this case, which again speaks to how many options we had.
There’s no grand meaning here of course, the same can be true of other letters, most of them really. What it speaks to most of all is how large and diverse the world of food really is. And to assemble such a big list of food from all over the globe, it’s a bit mind-blowing isn’t it? Inspirational, really, and that’s what we hope to provide for you.
Have fun cooking of course, and see if you can think of more foods that start with the letter ‘P’ that we may have overlooked!
