Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Boortsog
Simple fried dough biscuits eaten with milky, lightly salted tea across the Mongolian steppe.
Mongolian · easy · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~413 cal · 7g protein · 60g carbs · 16g fat · 2g fiber · 12g sugars · 10g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Boortsog are Mongolia's simple fried dough biscuits, pieces of lightly sweetened dough cut into shapes and deep-fried until golden, eaten with milky, lightly salted tea. A staple of the nomadic table, they keep well and travel easily across the steppe.
The biscuits are dense and only mildly sweet, made to be dipped in tea or eaten with butter, clotted cream ('urum'), or jam. They reflect the practical, dairy-and-flour cooking of Mongolian herding life, where portable, keeping foods are essential.
Served with the ubiquitous milk tea and dairy spread of the Mongolian table, boortsog are everyday and celebration food alike, piled high at holidays.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 cups flour
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
as needed warm water
as needed oil for frying
Instructions
1
Dissolve the sugar, salt, and butter in warm water, then work in the flour and knead hard into a firm, dense dough; rest it, then knead again until no air bubbles remain.
✎ Chef’s note
The long kneading is the whole craft of boortsog. Cut through the rested dough and the face should be perfectly smooth, with no holes or bubbles anywhere.
2
Roll out and cut into small diamonds or rectangles.
3
Fry in hot oil, turning, until golden all over.
4
Drain on paper towels.
5
Serve with milk tea for dunking.
Ulaanbaatar tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Ulaanbaatar. Buuz get counted in the hundreds. Families fold them in batches ahead of Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year, and set them outside where the weather does a freezer's work, then steam them for every guest through the holiday beside a built-up tower of fried biscuits.
🗺️
Mongolia. Meat is cooked with hot stones as often as with fire. Khorkhog puts mutton and river stones together in a sealed metal churn; boodog cooks the animal from the inside, stones packed into the cavity. Buuz, the steamed dumplings, belong above all to Tsagaan Sar, the lunar new year, when households make them by the hundred and stack them for arriving guests.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Mongolia
Khuushuur (Fried Meat Pastry)Crisp deep-fried half-moon pastries filled with minced mutton, onion, and garlic, the taste of the Naadam festival.
TsuivanSteppe-style fried noodles steamed over a mutton and vegetable braise, Mongolia’s one-pan answer to a cold night.
BuuzJuicy steamed dumplings of minced mutton and onion, the dumpling Mongolia eats by the dozen, above all at Tsagaan Sar.
Browse all Mongolia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Rolling pin.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Mongolia meal
Suutei TsaiDrink
Khailmag (Caramelized Clotted Cream)Dessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Boortsog?
Simple fried dough biscuits eaten with milky, lightly salted tea across the Mongolian steppe.
Where does Boortsog come from?
Boortsog is a Mongolian dish from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Can Boortsog be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Boortsog recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Boortsog safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Boortsog take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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