13 Sweet and Savory Eid Recipes to Celebrate With Family and Friends

Stack of baklava — Serious Eats / Mai Kakish

Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, and it’s a time of festivity and celebration for Muslims around the globe. While my own celebrations have always looked small, normally just with immediate family and occasionally some family friends, it’s common for these gatherings to involve a large group of people. My own family in the Middle East spends the day of Eid going from house to house, visiting relatives and neighbors and indulging in a elaborate spread of traditional foods. While Eid looks different around the world, each culture celebrating with their own customs, food is always the centerpiece. So whether you’re preparing a main dish for a small get-together or looking for sweet treat to bring to a larger celebration, you’re sure to find something to please with these Eid recipes.

Mains

Shurabet el Eid (Holiday Soup)

Turn simple chicken broth into a full meal with the addition of white rice and easy meatballs.

Lamb Biryani With Saffron, Yogurt, and Caramelized Onions

Overhead view of lamb biryani — Serious Eats / Qi Ai

Biryani is a celebration of aroma, color, and flavor, with perfectly cooked, fluffy grains of scented basmati rice and tender chunks of spiced lamb.

Vegetable Biryani

A plated portain of Biryani on a pale purple plate on a bright blue background — Serious Eats / Amanda Suarez

A celebratory meal of aromatic and spiced rice and tender braised vegetables.

Dawali (Palestinian Stuffed Grape Leaves)

Overhead view of finished dawali — Serious Eats / Mai Kakish

No celebratory table is complete without a pot of stuffed grape leaves, often lined at the bottom with lamb ribs.

Hashweh (Palestinian Spiced Rice and Meat)

Hashweh with chicken served with a bowl of yogurt and farmers salad. — Serious Eats / Mai Kakish

Spices bloomed in ghee add complexity to this celebratory Palestinian dish.

North African Tuna and Rice Salad

North African Tuna Rice Salad — Jillian Atkinson

Preserved lemons and tuna transform leftover white rice into the perfect salad meal.

Desserts

Pistachio Baklava

With layers of buttery phyllo dough and nuts drenched in simple syrup or honey, homemade baklava—or bak-la-wa in Arabic—is the ultimate sweet treat.

Basbousa Bel Ashta (Semolina Cake With Ashta Cream Filling)

Overhead view of Basbousa Bel Ashta — Serious Eats / Fred Hardy

This version of basbousa is filled with a rich clotted cream and drenched in a rose-scented syrup.

Kanafeh (Middle Eastern Cheese and Phyllo Dessert)

20180622-knafeh-vicky-wasik-15 — Vicky Wasik

Filled with salty cheese and drenched in a floral syrup, kanafeh—a phyllo dessert found throughout the Middle East—is a study in contrasts.

Sholeh-Zard (Persian Saffron Rice Pudding)

Overhead view of intricately decorated Sholeh Zard — Serious Eats / Nader Mehravari

This rich and creamy rice pudding is subtly flavored with saffron and rosewater then finished with decorations fit for royalty.

Halva With Spice Dried Fruit and Nuts

Bowl of semolina halva topped with spiced nuts and dried fruit — Vicky Wasik

This classic Indian dessert made from semolina comes together in minutes.

Rasgulla (Indian Milk Dumplings in Sweet Syrup)

Overhead view of Rasgulla — Serious Eats / Kanika and Jatin Sharma

These cardamom-scented milk-based sweets are popular in sweet shops all over India—and are surprisingly easy to make at home.

Gulab Jamun

For this classic dessert, fried dough balls made from milk solids and semolina are soaked in a syrup flavored with cardamom, rose water, saffron, and cloves.