Custom dictates that Hanukkah is celebrated with a spread of fried foods, in commemoration of the miraculous oil that provided the victorious Maccabees with eight days of light. From classic potato latkes and spiced homemade applesauce, to sweet, flaky rugelach and more, these 16 decadent recipes make the Festival of Lights a tradition worth celebrating—no matter your religion.
Applesauce is the perfect foil for these savory, golden fried pancakes, a mix of starchy potatoes, flour, and eggs. Get the recipe for Potato Pancakes »
These potato pancakes, Bubbe’s original recipe from Avram Honig’s cookbook Feed Me Bubbe, taste just as good right out of the frying pan as they do reheated from the freezer.
A mix of baking apples, such as Cortland and Macintosh, and eating apples like Honeycrisp and Golden Delicious, provides a texture of plump, soft apple chunks suspended in a rich, satiny sauce. Try a mix of varieties such as Fuji, Gala, Jonagold, Braeburn or whatever you find.
A creamy mashed potato filling is coated in instant mashed potato flakes and potato starch before being pan-fried to a flawless golden crust. Get the recipe for Modernist Latkes »
Kugel—the creamy egg noodle casserole that’s a staple of Jewish holiday cooking&dmash;gets a Midwestern topping of cornflakes in this Thanksgiving side dish.
These lacy doughnut-like treats, which one makes by pouring batter through a funnel into hot oil, were once known as “plow lines” and were served as a snack to field-workers. It’s believed that the old moniker may refer to the cake’s squiggly lines, which were thought to resemble the reins of a horse-drawn plow.
Buttermilk gives these old-fashioned cake doughnuts their tangy appeal; a dusting of sugar and freshly grated nutmeg adds a spicy crunch. Get the recipe for Nutmeg Doughnuts »
Author Joan Nathan likes her latkes with applesauce; we find them equally delectable with sour cream. Alternating between onion and potatoes when grating keeps the potatoes from darkening. See the recipe for Classic Latkes »
Fresh horseradish, grated just before using, is essential in this dish; bottled versions won’t give the sauce its assertive heat. Homemade applesauce is most effective for this recipe, though good prepared applesauce will do as well. See the recipe for Horseradish Applesauce »
