Short answer
The main sunnahs are: wash your hands, say bismillah, eat with your right hand from what is in front of you, sit humbly rather than reclining, pick up and eat a fallen morsel, lick your fingers and clean the plate, never criticise food, and praise Allah when you finish. The four schools agree on these manners.
Washing the hands before and after eating, saying bismillah at the start and praising Allah at the end are sunnah. Leaving them is not sinful but loses the reward. Eating with the left hand without need, reclining while eating and wasting food are disliked.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ turned an ordinary meal into worship through a few small habits. The four schools agree on them, and children can learn them early:
- Wash your hands before eating and after.
- Say bismillah. If you forget, say bismillahi awwalahu wa akhirahu (in the name of Allah at its start and its end) when you remember. See the dua before eating.
- Eat with your right hand, and from the side of the plate nearest you.
- Sit humbly. The Prophet ﷺ did not eat reclining. Sitting on the floor on a cloth is the sunnah form, but a table is permitted.
- Eat together rather than alone where you can; food shared is blessed.
- Pick up a fallen morsel, wipe it and eat it rather than leaving it.
- Lick your fingers and clean your plate before wiping your hands, since you do not know which part holds the blessing.
- Do not criticise food. If you like it, eat; if not, leave it quietly.
- Do not overfill your stomach.
- Praise Allah when you finish. See the dua after eating.
None of these is fard, and missing one does not make the food haram. But they are easy, they cost nothing, and each brings reward when done to follow the Prophet ﷺ.
Related answers cover eating with the left hand, eating while standing and eating with your hands. For the wider picture, see the sunnahs of daily life.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-A'raaf 7:31
۞ يَٰبَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ خُذُوا۟ زِينَتَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍۢ وَكُلُوا۟ وَٱشْرَبُوا۟ وَلَا تُسْرِفُوٓا۟ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُسْرِفِينَ ﴿٣١﴾
O children of Adam, take your adornment at every masjid, and eat and drink, but be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.
Eating is lawful, and excess is not.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5376
Sahih... يا غلام سم الله وكل بيمينك وكل مما يليك ...
"Young man, say Allah's name, eat with your right hand, and eat from what is in front of you."
Three sunnahs of eating in one instruction.
Sahih Muslim 2034
Sahih... إذا سقطت لقمة أحدكم فليمط عنها الأذى وليأكلها ...
"If one of you drops a morsel, let him remove any dirt from it and eat it."
Teaches respect for food and avoiding waste.
Sahih al-Bukhari 5398
Sahih... لا آكل متكئا ...
"I do not eat while reclining."
The sunnah of sitting humbly to eat.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, Kitab al-Karahiyya, chapter on eating. The sunnahs and disliked acts of eating.
- Sharh Sahih Muslim (Nawawi), Kitab al-Ashriba, chapter on the etiquette of food and drink. Explains these hadith and their rulings.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.