Raclette sides: the Swiss list, with amounts per person

Updated: 1 November 2026

In short: a classic raclette needs Gschwellti (Swiss German for potatoes boiled in their skins), silverskin onions and gherkins, plus a pepper mill [1]. Everything else is optional. For those extras, allow 150–200 g per person on top of potatoes and cheese [2].

Amounts per person

Worked example for 6 people (our own sum using the figures above): 1.2–1.5 kg potatoes, just under 500 g gherkins, 360 g silverskin onions, 300 g bread (if you want it), 480 g salad.

For the cheese itself, see our guide Raclette: how much cheese and how many potatoes per person?.

Getting the potatoes right

• Boil small to medium potatoes in their skins for about 35 minutes, until they are only just tender, then keep them warm [3].
• For a classic raclette, Spar uses a waxy variety (1 kg for 4 people) [6].
• Pressure cooker and other methods are covered in our guide Raclette potatoes.

Something sour: gherkins, silverskin onions and more

Raclette Suisse lists pickles, silverskin onions and baby corn as the traditional trio [3]. The Valais cheese dairy Walker Delicia says the mild acidity of such pickles goes well with the creamy cheese [9].

Other pickled sides named by Swiss sources:

• Mustard fruits (Senffrüchte) [1][3][5]
• Dried or pickled tomatoes [1][3]
• pickled artichoke hearts, pickled peppercorns from a jar, sauerkraut, pickled plums, sweet-and-sour courgettes [5]
• Chutneys; Schweizer Käse singles out mango, fig or raisin versions [1]

Quick pickles to make yourself (Swissmilk recipe [5]):

1. Bring 5 dl herb vinegar, 5 dl water and 400 g sugar to the boil. Add 3 bay leaves and 15 peppercorns.
2. Cut a swede (Bodenkohlrabi; the French version of the recipe says «chou-rave») and a small pumpkin into strips about 1 cm wide, and 2 red onions into thin strips. Add 12 whole radishes.
3. Pack the vegetables into sterilised jars (about 2 litres in total) and pour the hot liquid over them.
4. Close the jars and let them cool upside down. Serve after 48 hours.

Meat: Bündnerfleisch, raw ham, bacon

• Bündnerfleisch (air-dried beef from Graubünden) or raw ham, ham or bacon in cubes or strips, also smoked trout [5].
• On the grill plate of the raclette oven: sliced Cervelat (a Swiss sausage) or other sausage, small sausages, bacon rashers, meatballs and thinly cut meat [5]. Schweizer Käse also mentions chicken, beef and lamb [1].
• In autumn, on the table grill: thinly cut game, for example venison escalope or wild boar sausage [6].
• Walker Delicia lists Valais dried meat among the popular meat sides, along with raw ham, bacon cubes, chicken, prawns and smoked salmon [9].
• A Valais platter as a starter: Valais dried meat IGP, raw ham IGP, dried bacon IGP and dried sausage, with rye bread AOP, pieces of Raclette AOP, gherkins, silverskin onions, tomatoes and butter. Valais Tourism suggests Gamay or Fendant (a Valais white wine) with it [10]. For a «Walliser Teller Marke Wallis», a main-course portion has at least 40 g dried meat, 40 g raw ham and 20 g dried bacon; a half portion as a starter has 25 g, 20 g and 10 g [11].

Vegetables and mushrooms

• Mushrooms in the pan (Spar [6]): slice button mushrooms, brush them with a little oil and fry them in the raclette pan. Put cheese on top, season with pepper and thyme and let it melt. For the grill in autumn, Spar names chanterelles (Eierschwämmli) as well as button mushrooms [6].
• On the grill plate: mushrooms, courgettes, aubergines [1].
• Pumpkin: Swissmilk counts it among the seasonal vegetables that go into the pan pre-cooked [5]. You can blanch it [1] or follow Spar [6]: peel and dice a Hokkaido or butternut, brush with olive oil and bake at 200 °C top and bottom heat for about 15 minutes. Then put it in the pan with pear slices, onion strips and a little rosemary, and melt cheese over it.
• Also mentioned: leek in strips, beetroot (pre-cooked) [5][6], peppers [1], steamed leaf spinach, briefly sautéed broccoli florets, onion salad [1], onion strips and garlic slices [5], sweetcorn [5].

Fruit by season

Valais apricots (serves 4, Raclette du Valais [7]):

1. Bring 3 dl cider and 2 tbsp sugar to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Add 500 g halved, stoned Valais apricots and leave them in the liquid for about 5–10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and let them cool in the liquid.
3. Lift the apricots out onto a plate, season with lemon pepper and scatter lemon balm over them.
4. Serve with 800 g sliced Raclette du Valais AOP. If you like, add a spoonful of Abricotine (Valais apricot brandy) to the apricots.

Spices

• Purists leave it out. Traditional raclette experts skip seasoning so the cheese stays in front [1].
• Classic: freshly and coarsely ground pepper, and paprika [5]. Raclette Suisse suggests a raclette spice or plain pepper [3].
• To try: saffron, thyme, nutmeg, caraway, chilli, smoked salt [1]. Swissmilk adds curry, rosemary, garlic and different kinds of pepper [5].
• Ready-made raclette spice blends are often a mix of these [1].

Crunchy things and nuts

Swissmilk mentions crisps, tacos, nachos, chopped walnuts and a seed crunch [5]. Raclette Suisse [3] and Spar [6] also suggest nuts.

Drinks and dessert

• Drinks: herbal or black tea, dry white wine, rosé, light red wine or sparkling apple juice [3]. Swissmilk adds water, sparkling wine, beer and apple spritzer [5]. For the original Valais recipe, the Raclette du Valais organisation recommends Fendant [8].
• Dessert: Raclette Suisse suggests fruit salad or fruit sorbet rather than a rich cake [3].

Leftovers

Leftover Gschwellti can become a gratin or Rösti. Potato, side and cheese leftovers can be baked together as a gratin-style bake [6]. Raclette cheese keeps for about two months in the freezer [6]. Raclette Suisse suggests wrapping the slices separately in greaseproof paper and freezing them in a resealable bag [12]. Thaw it slowly overnight in the fridge [6]. More in our guide Freezing raclette cheese and using leftovers.

The whole evening, from shopping to dessert: How a raclette night works, step by step

What else can go on the grill plate: Raclette grill ideas: what to cook on the grill plate

Sources

All accessed on 1.11.2026; amounts, times and temperatures checked against the sources on that day.

1. Schweizer Käse (Switzerland Cheese Marketing): «Raclette-Beilagen» (in German) – https://www.schweizerkaese.ch/inspirationen/raclette/raclette-beilagen
2. Swissmilk: «Raclette pro Person?» (in German) – https://www.swissmilk.ch/de/rezepte-kochideen/tipps-tricks/raclette-pro-person/
3. Raclette Suisse: «Preparation» – https://www.raclette-suisse.ch/en/raclette/preparation
4. Raclette du Valais: raclette calculator (values in the site's script, /js/app.js; in German/French) – https://www.raclette-du-valais.ch/
5. Swissmilk: «Raclette-Ideen: Beilagen, Tipps & Rezepte» (in German) – https://www.swissmilk.ch/de/rezepte-kochideen/raclette-ideen-beilagen-tipps-rezepte/
6. Spar Schweiz blog: «Raclette in allen Variationen» (in German) – https://www.spar.ch/blog/detail/raclette-in-allen-variationen
7. Raclette du Valais: «Trendrezept» (in German) – https://www.raclette-du-valais.ch/rezepte/trendrezept
8. Raclette du Valais: «Originalrezept» (in German) – https://www.raclette-du-valais.ch/rezepte/originalrezept
9. Walker Delicia (Bergkäserei Walker, Bitsch VS): «Raclette Beilagen» (in German) – https://www.walkerdelicia.ch/pages/raclette-beilagen
10. Valais Tourism: recipe «Walliser Teller» (in German) – https://www.valais.ch/de/geniessen/walliser-spezialitaeten/rezepte/walliser-teller
11. Wikipedia (de): «Walliser Teller» (minimum amounts «Marke Wallis») – https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walliser_Teller
12. Raclette Suisse: «No-Food-Waste-Ideen mit Raclettekäse» (in German) – https://www.raclette-suisse.ch/de/aktuell/no-food-waste-ideen-mit-raclettekaese