Hanukkah Menu: Recipes for All Eight Nights

Happy Hanukkah! Eight nights, one miracle about oil, and a cultural mandate to fry everything in sight. I am not going to argue with tradition. Whether you are hosting the whole mishpacha on the first night or just trying to get dinner on the table between candle lightings, I pulled together a complete Hanukkah menu from my favorite recipes on the blog.

Think of this as build-your-own. Pick your latke (non-negotiable), an appetizer or two, a main, a couple of sides, and something fried and covered in sugar for dessert (yes, please). Eight nights means eight chances to try something new, so there is no pressure to cook all of it at once. Just click any recipe for the full instructions.

When is Hanukkah in 2026?

Hanukkah 5787 begins at sundown on Friday, December 4, 2026, and runs through nightfall on Saturday, December 12, 2026. The first night falls on Shabbat this year, so you are really cooking for two occasions at once, and Thanksgiving is only eight days earlier on November 26. Busy time! Make-ahead dishes are going to be your best friend, and so is a freezer full of latkes.

Hanukkah always starts on the 25th of Kislev, which moves around the Gregorian calendar. Here is when it falls for the next five years, so you can plan ahead:

Year	Hanukkah begins	Ends
2026 (5787)	Sundown, Friday, December 4	Nightfall, Saturday, December 12
2027 (5788)	Sundown, Friday, December 24	Nightfall, Saturday, January 1, 2028
2028 (5789)	Sundown, Tuesday, December 12	Nightfall, Wednesday, December 20
2029 (5790)	Sundown, Saturday, December 1	Nightfall, Sunday, December 9
2030 (5791)	Sundown, Friday, December 20	Nightfall, Saturday, December 28

What is Hanukkah?

Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah and about a million other ways, and pronounced with a throat-clearing sound no transliteration has ever captured) means “dedication.” It is the Festival of Lights, an eight-night celebration of the Maccabees reclaiming and rededicating the Temple in Jerusalem after driving out the Seleucid army. The story everyone remembers is the oil: there was one day’s worth left for the Temple’s menorah, and it burned for eight. So we light an additional candle each night, we play dreidel for chocolate coins, and we eat an unreasonable amount of food fried in oil. It is not one of the High Holy Days and there is no fasting or synagogue marathon. It is just eight nights of light, gelt and latkes, which is my favorite kind of holiday (okay I also really love Passover).

How to plan your Hanukkah menu

A good Hanukkah menu is mostly about timing, because the signature dish is at its best right out of the pan. Here is my formula:

Pick one great latke and make a double batch. Not four kinds. One. Okay maybe two. Fry them up to an hour ahead and re-crisp for five minutes in a 425°F oven or a la minute.
Build the rest of the table from make-ahead things so you are not standing at the stove while your guests eat. Dips, braises and anything you can bake from frozen.
Honor the oil and the dairy. Something fried, something cheesy. Both are traditional, and there is a good story behind each one.
Do not skip the sufganiyot. Or the gelt. Eight nights is a long time to go without a jelly doughnut.

Build your plate from the courses below, or read on for why the table looks the way it does.

The traditions behind the Hanukkah table

Almost everything on a Hanukkah menu traces back to one of three traditions. Here is what is behind them, and a recipe for each.

Food fried in oil to remember the one day’s worth of lamp oil that burned for eight nights in the rededicated Temple. This is why the holiday runs on latkes and sufganiyot.

Dairy, for Judith who gets far less airtime than she deserves. In the story she feeds the Assyrian general Holofernes salty cheese, keeps the wine coming until he passes out, and then beheads him and saves her town. Eating cheese on Hanukkah is a nod to her, so serve the everything bagel dip with a clear conscience.

Gelt and dreidel from the tradition of giving children small gifts of money, which became chocolate coins. Lean into the chocolate with Manischewitz chocolate truffles or a shortbread cake ball menorah.

Not a High Holy Day which matters for planning. There is no fasting, no long service and no formal seder, so the meal can be as casual as you want. A latke bar and a pile of napkins is a completely legitimate Hanukkah dinner.

The complete Hanukkah menu

Amy Kritzer Becker

Amy Kritzer Becker is a Jewish food expert, cookbook author of Sweet Noshings, owner of ModernTribe, and culinary-school-trained chef behind What Jew Wanna Eat — a modern Jewish food blog redefining heritage recipes since 2010. Her recipes have been featured in Food Network, Bon Appétit, Forbes, Good Morning America, and the New York Times.

Latkes, obviously

Appetizers and party bites

Soups and salads

The main event

Sides

Sufganiyot and fried sweets

Cookies, gelt and showstoppers

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