35+ Best Hanukkah Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is a good Hanukkah menu? ›

Sephardic Hanukkah dishes include cassola (sweet cheese pancakes), bimuelos (puffed fritters with an orange glaze), keftes de espinaka (spinach patties), keftes de prasa (leek patties) and shamlias (fried pastry frills).

Fried foods, like potato pancakes and jelly doughnuts, are prepared and eaten throughout the holiday to celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah: oil that kept the menorah (an ancient lamp) lit for 8 days instead of the 1 day it was supposed to last.

You could say Sephardic food is the original Mediterranean fusion cuisine. The kosher laws also impact what Jews eat. There is no pork or shellfish allowed, and Jews will not mix meat and dairy in the same meal, so if a chicken is on the table, you won't find butter or cheese.

In honor of Judith, many Jews will dine on cheesy foods, like cheese pancakes, blintzes, or cheese danishes during Hanukkah.

Your host might appreciate gifts of chocolate, gourmet applesauce, candles, books or board games.

So many traditional Jewish foods double as brunch favorites, from potato latkes (hash browns, anyone?) to doughnuts and challah. Fried foods are a given, so don't be shy with the olive oil. And no brunch is complete without a champagne co*cktail — we recommend pretty pink cranberry mimosas.

As Jews live all over the world, from Italy and Morocco to Colombia and India, each community has their own way of celebrating Hanukkah. In Italy, you'll find fried chicken and in Colombia, it's fried plantains. In Spain it's fried eggplants, while Syrians love fried leek fritters.

"By the 14th century, there's quite a strong tradition that people eat cheese on Hanukkah and it's associated with Judith giving cheese to the enemy to make him drunk," Weingarten says.

What is forbidden in Hanukkah? ›

It is customary for women not to work for at least the first half-hour of the candles' burning, and some have the custom not to work for the entire time of burning. It is also forbidden to fast or to eulogize during Hanukkah.

Smoked Salmon and Latkes

As fried foods are often the theme during Hanukkah, latkes represent a classic. Already an Acme Smoked Fish Hanukkah favorite, the addition of smoked salmon, crème fraiche, red onion, and capers make this Hanukkah dish feel like the holiday on a plate.

Fried potato pancakes, called latkes in Yiddish and levivot in Hebrew, are the most popular Hanukkah food. They are shredded potatoes mixed with onion, egg, flour and seasonings, then formed into small pancakes and fried in oil. The crispy latkes are served with sour cream and applesauce on the side.

Two specific fried foods are popular during the weeks leading up to Hanukkah: fancy donuts and potato latkes. Latkes are typically prepared and eaten at home with family, but donuts are sold everywhere in Israel starting in mid-November.

Unlike Christmas presents, Chanukah gifts, traditionally, are really just for children. 'Gelt'—shiny silver or gold-covered chocolate coins are traditional, as is 'gelt'—that is, money—in multiples of eighteen ('chai' means 'life' in Hebrew; the numerical value of 'chai' is 18).

Traditional foods include potato latkes, applesauce and brisket. Spinning the dreidel (a four-sided top) for “Hanukkah gelt” (gold-wrapped chocolate coins) is another part of the celebration. Your host might appreciate gifts of chocolate, gourmet applesauce, candles, books or board games.