Recipe
🍰 DESSERT
Jalebi
Crisp fermented-batter spirals deep-fried and soaked in warm saffron-cardamom syrup, the bright coils shared at Diwali and celebrations across North India.
Indian · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 30 min
~393 cal · 4g protein · 94g carbs · 1g fat · 1g fiber · 69g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Jalebi are among India's most recognisable sweets: lacy coils of a lightly flour batter, piped straight into hot oil, fried crisp, then plunged into a fragrant sugar syrup so the brittle spiral drinks up sweetness while staying crunchy at the edge. They are sold hot from halwai (sweet-shop) pans and street stalls, and are a fixture of festival trays, above all at Diwali, when boxes of mithai pass between homes.
The batter is the making of it: maida loosened with a little besan and set to for several hours, which gives jalebi their faint tang and open, crackly texture. The syrup is scented with and and brought to a sticky one-thread consistency so it clings without turning the coils soggy.
Timing and oil temperature are everything, and Indian cooks judge both by eye, piping tight spirals and lifting them into the syrup the instant they turn deep gold.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and egg-, nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
1.5 cups all-purpose flour (maida)
2 tbsp besan ()
3 tbsp plain yogurt
about 3/4 cup warm water
2 cups sugar
a pinch threads
1/2 tsp ground
1 tsp lemon juice
as needed , for deep-frying
Instructions
1
Whisk the maida, besan and yogurt with enough warm water to make a smooth, thick but pourable batter. Cover and leave in a warm place to ferment 6 to 8 hours, until slightly bubbly and faintly sour.
✎ Chef’s note
The ferment is what makes jalebi light and crisp; for a same-day batter use 1/4 tsp citric acid in place of the yogurt.
2
Make the syrup: simmer the sugar with 1 1/3 cups water, the saffron, cardamom and lemon juice until it reaches a sticky one-thread consistency, then keep it warm and fluid.
3
Heat about 2.5 cm of oil in a wide pan to a medium 330F. Pour the batter into a piping bag or squeeze bottle with a small round tip.
4
Pipe tight spirals directly into the oil, working from the centre outwards, a few at a time. Fry, flipping once, until deep gold and crisp, about 2 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the oil steady at medium: too hot and they brown before crisping, too cool and they soak up oil.
5
Lift out, let the oil drip off for a second, then drop the hot jalebi into the warm syrup for 30 to 60 seconds. Remove to a rack and serve warm.
North Indian halwai and Diwali tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Punjab. India's Punjab is the land of the tandoor, five rivers, and generous vegetarian tables, buttery dals, sarson ka saag with makki roti, and rich paneer dishes. Ghee, dairy, and wheat define its hearty north-Indian cooking.
🗺️
India. Almost every savoury Indian pot passes through a tempering: whole spices dropped into hot fat until mustard seeds pop and curry leaves crackle, then either built on or poured over the finished dish. It is tadka in the north and chaunk, baghaar or oggarane elsewhere, and the spice box that lives beside the stove exists so it can be done in seconds.
🌍
Asia. A grain line runs across the continent. Rice dominates the wet south and east, wheat the drier north and west, and the tools follow it: the wok and the steamer where rice is milled, the tandoor and the griddle where wheat is ground. Tea travels the other way, drunk green, black, salted, buttered or with milk depending how far it got from China.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
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Good to know
You’ll need: Whisk.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Jalebi?
Crisp fermented-batter spirals deep-fried and soaked in warm saffron-cardamom syrup, the bright coils shared at Diwali and celebrations across North India.
Where does Jalebi come from?
Jalebi is a Indian dish from Punjab, India.
Can Jalebi be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Jalebi recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Jalebi safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Jalebi take to make?
About 50 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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