Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Sfinz
Stretchy, lacy fried dough eaten warm with honey or date syrup, a Libyan weekend breakfast.
Libyan · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~351 cal · 10g protein · 74g carbs · 1g fat · 3g fiber · 1g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Sfinz is a Libyan fried dough made for weekend and holiday breakfasts, a wet, stretchy yeasted dough pulled thin and fried until lacy, chewy, and golden, then eaten warm with honey, date syrup, or a sprinkle of sugar. Its irregular, airy holes and slightly crisp edges are its signature.
The dough is deliberately loose and sticky, requiring a deft hand to stretch and fry, and the result is quite distinct from denser fried breads, light, chewy, and made for soaking up sweet toppings. It is close kin to the sfenj found across the Maghreb.
In Tripoli, sfinz is associated with leisurely weekend mornings and festive occasions, often bought fresh from a specialist fryer. Warm, sweet, and indulgent, it is the kind of breakfast treat that turns a morning into an occasion.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and dairy-, 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 4
3 cups flour
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
as needed warm water
to taste honey or date syrup, to serve
as needed oil for frying
1 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, and enough warm water into a very soft, wet dough.
2
Cover and let it rise until bubbly and slack.
3
With oiled hands, stretch pieces thin and lower into hot oil.
4
Fry until lacy, golden, and crisp at the edges.
5
Drain and serve warm, drizzled with honey or date syrup.
Tripoli tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Tripoli. Tripoli opens Ramadan nights with shorba, a mint-sharp lamb and chickpea soup thickened with orzo. Libyan cooking joins North African spice to Italian influence, in couscous, bazin barley dough, and pasta dishes seasoned with tomato and hot red pepper.
🗺️
Libya. The Libyan spice base is bzaar, built on caraway and turmeric rather than on the chilli-forward blends further west, and it is what makes a Libyan tomato sauce taste Libyan. Sharba, the soup that opens the meal in Ramadan, is finished off the heat with dried mint rubbed between the palms, which is the step that gives it away.
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Africa. Much of what reads as timeless African cooking is younger than the Atlantic crossings. Maize, cassava, groundnut, chilli and tomato all arrived from the Americas after 1500 and pushed older crops aside; millet, sorghum, teff, yam and fonio are the ones that were already here, and the map still shows the join.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Libya
BazinA firm barley-flour dome served in a spiced lamb-and-tomato sauce with a hard-boiled egg.
Macaroni ImbakbakaPasta simmered in a spiced lamb-and-tomato sauce until it absorbs it all, Libya's signature everyday pasta.
GhraybahMelt-in-the-mouth buttery shortbread scented with a hint of cardamom, a Libyan and Maghrebi celebration cookie.
Browse all Libya recipes →
Good to know
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.
Make it a Libya meal
Shahi bil Ful (Libyan Tea)Drink
GhraybahDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Sfinz?
Stretchy, lacy fried dough eaten warm with honey or date syrup, a Libyan weekend breakfast.
Where does Sfinz come from?
Sfinz is a Libyan dish from Tripoli, Libya.
Can Sfinz be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sfinz 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 Sfinz 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 Sfinz take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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