Ring in the High Holidays with These 21 Jewish Recipes
Whether you’re in charge of brisket, matzo ball soup, or honey cake, we’ve got you covered.
The High Holidays are all about preserving tradition through ancient rites of passage, but they’re also about the food: Pass the brisket and chopped liver, please. Over the centuries, the Jewish diaspora has enriched food the world over—and we’re not just talking matzo ball soup and deli sandwiches, but also chreime, lekash, poike, and so much more. Even if you can’t tell a knish from challah, we have you covered with a wealth of Jewish recipes that would give any Bubbe nachas.
After a long braise in an aromatic tomato broth, this brisket develops even more flavor if you can resist temptation and let it rest overnight. Get the recipe >
Save the skin from leftover roast chicken to make gribenes, crispy cracklings and onions fried in schmaltz. Spoon it on rye bread and top it with peppery radish slices to make what one California deli calls shtetl toast. Get the recipe >
In this robust recipe from Edith’s Eatery & Grocery in Brooklyn, a whole chicken simmers with parsnips, kombu, and roasted bones to make a belly-warming broth. Matzo meal dumplings get a surprising, unconventional hug of heat from dried ginger. Get the recipe >
At Montreal’s Arthurs Nosh Bar, buttermilk fried chicken cutlets are seasoned with the peppery local steak spice and stacked high on challah toast. Add go-to toppings like honey, crunchy kosher dills, and iceberg lettuce slaw. Get the recipe >
For his Israeli-style rugelach, Eitan Bernath rolls rich yeasted babka dough around a sweetly spiced pistachio-date filling, then gilds the lily with a drizzle of rosewater honey. Get the recipe >
Donuts aren’t just for Hanukkah—consider breaking the fast (or ringing in the New Year) with this adult-only riff from Kentucky, drizzled with orange marmalade glaze laced with a healthy slug of bourbon. Get the recipe >
These triangular pastries always appear on dessert trays at Purim, or the Feast of Lots, which commemorates a biblical heroine named Esther. Our version replaces the more traditional prune and poppy seed filling with a sweeter apple butter in honor of Rosh Hashana. Get the recipe >
Shared by Brooklyn’s The Gefilteria, this grated carrot-fresh horseradish relish is usually paired with poached gefilte fish, but we also love it with scrambled eggs or gooey grilled cheese. Get the recipe >
Who says Ashkenazi-style kugel has to be plain mashed potatoes or egg noodles? The quintessential Bubbe meal gets a meaty makeover in this updated recipe. Get the recipe >
Don’t knock this Mexican fusion fritter from Toloache until you try it: We think you’ll love the combination of jalapeños and horseradish crema. Complete the feast with some smoky whitefish guacamole or brisket tacos. Get the recipe >
These flaky cream cheese pastries fuse Jewish and Chinese traditions that cross-pollinated on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Chinese five spice replaces the traditional cinnamon, while puréed chestnuts and goji berries simmered in ginger liqueur stand in for fruit preserves. Get the recipe >
Crumbly cookies dabbed with chocolate sprinkles are a staple of deli counters everywhere, but this buttery version, adapted from The 100 Most Jewish Foods, turns out cakey with a kiss of almond. Go wild with the unicorn sprinkles. Get the recipe >
For a side dish to cut the richness of brisket or chicken, roasted carrots tossed with bitter radicchio, salty nuts, and sweet figs do the trick. Get the recipe >
On Rosh Hashana, apples and honey symbolize the sweetness of a new year. This cake marries Granny Smiths and plump raisins with a streusel topping and pie-like dough. Get the recipe >
A verdant soup of puréed parsley blended into chicken stock and cream makes a refreshing starter for multicourse holiday feasts. Get the recipe >
This quick stew, brightened with chiles and lemon juice, is a Tunisian Jewish specialty. Some recipes call for caraway, harissa, or paprika, but we like the clean taste of sea bass or grouper swimming in minimally seasoned tomato purée. Get the recipe >
Chremsel matzo-meal fritters are Passover staples, but tart chunks of fresh rhubarb can be swapped in for dried fruit and nut fillings to extend the season. Serve them with a ruby red beet-and-citrus eingemachtes, or conserve. Get the recipe >
Speaking of beets, this traditional Iraqi-Jewish vegetable stew hits complex spice notes, thanks to cumin, coriander, cayenne, and paprika. It’s all spooned over turmeric-infused rice and ground lamb meatballs. Get the recipe >
Everything but the feathers winds up in this homey braise, brimming with pan-seared offal and matzo-meal meatballs and tempered by a sweet-and-sour tomato sauce. Get the recipe >
Adapted from Arthur Schwartz's Jewish Home Cooking: Yiddish Recipes Revisited, these “potted,” or covered, rice-and-beef chuck meatballs simmer in a citrusy tomato gravy. Get the recipe >
Too much matzo in the cupboard? Use it up in this unorthodox brittle drizzled with caramel, chocolate, and crushed pistachios. Get the recipe >
Keep Reading
Continue to Next Story
