Cheese sandwich
Sausage, ham, gammon
As Deutsche Welle notes, Germans are renowned lovers and connoisseurs of sausage products. Dinner is that very opportunity to eat a sandwich with a favorite type of sausage, ham, gammon, and other smoked meats. Accompaniments to the sandwich include pickled cucumbers (often gherkins), olives, or tomatoes.
Bavarian Obatzda
No traditional dinner in Bavaria is complete without a snack made from soft cheese, butter, onion, and caraway called 'Obazda' or 'Obatzda'. This regional delicacy is eaten with rye bread or a pretzel.
Sausage salad
Another dish from Bavaria is a lifesaver for all occasions, including dinner. The salad is usually made from boiled sausage (frankfurters or ham), onions marinated in vinegar, vegetable oil, and a bunch of finely chopped green onions. It's delicious just with bread.
Pasta salad
A favorite dinner dish is pasta salad. It is often made from leftover lunchtime side dishes. Fresh cucumbers, peas, and finely chopped herbs (green version) or sweet peppers, tomatoes (can be pickled), and corn (red version) provide the flavor nuances.
Swabian potato salad
Potato salad is another regular on the German table. In different regions of Germany, it is prepared differently and, most often, in advance. Meticulous Swabians, for example, peel potatoes boiled in their skins and then cut them into small cubes while still hot. Then they add finely chopped onions (preferably green), vinegar, vegetable oil, and pepper.
Herring salad
Various spreads on bread – in the form of meat or vegetable pâtés or salads – are also popular. In northern Germany, for dinner, a slice of whole-grain bread is topped with a salad of herring (or crab), beets, chopped fresh onion, capers, and a tangy mayonnaise sauce.
Cheese 'with music'
In Frankfurt, a special type of cheese is eaten for dinner – Handkäse made from sour milk. Hesse is one of the regions where it is made by hand and with the addition of caraway. It is served at the table 'with music', after being soaked for a couple of hours in a marinade of vinegar, vegetable oil, and chopped onions.
Hawaiian toast
Another common dinner dish is Hawaiian toast. On a toast or dried slice of bread, place a piece of boiled ham, a ring of canned pineapple, and cheese. Then bake in the oven at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes. After cooking, a fried egg can be placed on the toast.
Vegetable variety
Vegetable lovers place thin slices of cucumber, tomato, radish, onion rings, and julienned sweet pepper in a creative disorder on slices of bread spread with a thin layer of butter (or cottage cheese).
Cottage cheese and radish
A lighter option is a slice of bread (preferably dark) spread with a delicate curd cheese (Frischkäse) mixed, for example, with chopped green onions. Eaten with it is a crunchy radish.