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Dec 12 2025 08:59AM EST

What to cook for Hanukkah: Best latke, sufganiyot & dessert recipes to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Lights

Upgrade your Hanukkah menu with inventive latkes and sufganiyot, and festive sweets that bring together Jewish flavors from around the world.
(Image by Elizabeth Karpen)

Hanukkah is the rare holiday where “Sorry, it’s for religious reasons” applies to eating your body weight in fried food. Eight nights, countless ways to splash in oil: from classic potato latkes and powdered-sugar sufganiyot to everything-bagel latkes, ramen potato pancakes, and creme brulee–topped doughnuts that practically glow.

This roundup is your choose-your-own-Hanukkah-menu. In Latkes, you’ll find everything from old-school grated potato to caprese, sweet potato, dirty martini, and even scallion pancake riffs. Sufganiyot is your playground of jam-filled, custard-filled, and wildly over-the-top doughnuts, joined by global cousins like pączki, bomboloni, and Moroccan sfenj.

Read more: Don’t knock it till you fry it — Six traditional Hanukkah dishes from around the world that aren’t latkes or sufganiyot

For when you want something salty before (or instead of) dessert, savory is packed with oil-forward bites: fritters, keftes, sambousek, plantains, potato pancakes and more, inspired by Jewish communities from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, India and beyond. And if you’d rather finish the night with cookies cakes and creative projects, Sweets brings you everything from chocolate olive oil cake and loukoumades to “latke” cupcakes, melomakarona, and DIY gelt.

Whether you are a one-pan, one-latke purist or the kind of person who feels spiritually connected to the idea of a pickle latke, this list is designed to let you mix, match and fry your way through all eight nights… and maybe a few leftovers after.

For more information on Hanukkah, check out Unpacked’s Hanukkah guide.

Latkes

Sufganiyot

Sweets

Savory 

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Elizabeth Karpen

Elizabeth Karpen is a New York-based journalist who is the senior editor of Unpacked. Previously, she's written for the New York Post, New York Jewish Week, Tablet, Page Six, and Grammy.