Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, is a time to reflect on the past year—and look forward to the coming one.
The holiday's celebratory meal can include favorites like yeasty challah, matzo ball soup, and apples dipped in honey. What do these things have in common? Their friendly circular shape, which symbolizes the ongoing nature of time, the round-and-round-ness of the year. Similarly, sweet foods are favored for a sweet new year.
Here are 46 of our favorite Rosh Hashanah recipes to check out as you plan your own feast.
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Appetizers
1. Pickled Deviled Eggs With Smoked Salmon
Deviled eggs are wonderful, and pickled deviled eggs? Even more so. Add smoked salmon and dill on top for bonus points.
2. Anchovy Puffs
A bite-size nod to the traditional fish head, which symbolizes being on top of things in the new year. A cream cheese dough makes these extra flaky.
3. Crudités With Feta-Pistachio Dip
This dip gets its bright green color from pistachios and fresh dill. Feta and Greek yogurt keep it creamy, perfect for snappy raw vegetables.
4. Sautéed Dates
Plump, sweet dates are a popular ingredient at Rosh Hashanah—and this is one of our favorite preparations. Just sauté in olive oil and sprinkle with a big pinch of flaky salt. Done.
5. Fig & Blue Cheese Savories
Savory cookies? They're a thing. These feature fig preserves and funky blue cheese—and we can never eat just one.
6. Basic Hummus
It's hard to beat a perfect hummus—and this is just that. Serve with crispy pita chips, oven-toasted challah slices, or a bunch of fresh vegetables.
7. Romanian Eggplant Spread
A classic Romanian spread. All you have to do is roast an eggplant and bell pepper until they're soft and caramelized, then mix with olive oil, red wine vinegar, and raw onion and garlic.
8. Ricotta With Honeyed Grapes
Instead of honey and apples: honey and grapes. This jammy mixture is perfect to spoon on ricotta toasts.
Meat &Fish
9. Milk-Braised Brisket With Potato & Onion
Note: This milk-braised brisket is not kosher by any means. But it is incredibly tender, with a hearty, dreamy sauce perfect for challah-dunking.
10. Sweet & Smoky Brisket
This brisket by cookbook author Leah Koenig is a nod to Texas BBQ. It's sweet, smoky, and very saucy thanks to tomato sauce, brown sugar, and smoked paprika.
11. Simplest Roast Chicken
A fuss-free roast chicken that's sure to deliver crispy skin. Estimate 10 minutes per pound at 500°F, untrussed.
12. Pomegranate-Braised Lamb Shanks
Pomegranates are an especially beloved fruit during Rosh Hashanah. This lamb shank recipe uses the juice with balsamic vinegar and rosemary sprigs.
13. Quick-Braised Fish With Baby Potatoes & Greens
Anchovies, garlic, and toasted almonds are the power trio behind this sauce—wonderful for firm fish like halibut. Throw in some tiny potatoes and whatever greens grab your attention.
14. Gefilte Fish
Our test kitchen director Josh Cohen's take on classic gefilte fish. Serve with plenty of spicy horseradish.
15. Ruth's Brisket
This brisket recipe was passed down to longtime Food52er Marian by her mother, who typically served it with green peas, freshly made rye bread, butter, and sliced kosher pickles. The stovetop method calls for a Dutch oven, but commenters have noted it can easily be made in the oven, too.
Vegetables &Salads
16. Yogurt & Beet Salad
Beets, yogurt, olive oil, and fresh mint. Look at that—you just memorized the ingredient list.
17. Broccoli Salad With Pesto, Apples & Walnuts
Apples don't have to be dipped in honey for Rosh Hashanah. Here, they shine in a broccoli-pesto slaw with toasted walnuts.
18. Roasted Apple & Fennel Salad With Toasted Hazelnuts & Goat Cheese
Another apple salad. This time, it gets roasted with fennel, then topped with hazelnuts and soft, tangy goat cheese.
19. Pomegranate-Roasted Carrots
Cookbook author Melissa Clark's roasted carrots stand out thanks to a special ingredient: sweet, tangy pomegranate molasses. You can find it at many supermarkets, or learn how to make your own here.
20. Brussels Sprouts & Apple Salad With Cheddar & Rye Bread Crumbs
Brussels sprouts, apples, and cheddar are all great in a salad. But it's the rye bread crumbs that really send this one over the top.
21. Lentil Salad With Mint, Roasted Peppers & Feta Cheese
"By chopping your vegetables up finely before throwing them into the pot, they cook just as quickly as the lentils do (about 20 minutes), without turning to mush," Kristen Miglore writes. "This means they also get to stay put to become part of the salad."
22. Braised Leeks
Leeks are another symbolic ingredient often found on Rosh Hashanah tables. Here, they're simply braised with broth, butter, and thyme.
Soups
23. Matzo Ball Soup
The secret to this super-comforting matzo ball soup: the matzo balls are made with drippings from a roast chicken.
24. Chosen Matzo Ball Soup
Joan Nathan's matzo ball soup is as minimalist as it gets—full-flavored chicken broth, fluffy matzo balls, and an optional sprinkle of fresh herbs on top.
Potatoes, Noodles &Breads
25. Parsnip Latkes With Apple Chutney & Horseradish Yogurt
While potato latkes often show up at Hanukkah, these parsnip ones are wonderful all fall and winter. You can serve with apple chutney or horseradish yogurt, but they're best with both.
26. Beet & Carrot Fritters With Dill & Yogurt Sauce
These vegetable fritters get their bright color from beets. Serve with a no-fuss yogurt sauce, or even this lemony tahini one.
27. Roasted Potatoes With Za'atar & Aleppo Pepper
Za'atar is a traditional Middle Eastern spice mixture; this version includes thyme, sesame seeds, and sumac. Combine with olive oil for dipping challah, or use as a zesty coating for these roasted potatoes.
28. Kasha Varnishkes
This Jewish comfort-food dish features pasta tossed with nutty buckwheat, caramelized onions, and mushrooms. Don't skimp on the parsley.
29. Noodle Kugel With Caramelized Onions & Brown Butter
Many noodle kugels are dessert-sweet, with sugar and raisins, but this one takes a savory path instead: caramelized onions, brown butter, and sage.
30. Five-Fold Challah
If you find making challah from scratch intimidating, this is the recipe that will hold your hand and tell you everything is going to be okay.
31. Scallion Pancake Challah
Molly Yeh introduces challah to scallion pancakes, and the holidays become even happier.
32. Savory Potato & Onion Knishes
These savory knishes (with potatoes and onions!) boast a topping inspired by an everything bagel: sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and onion flakes.
33. My Great-Grandmother's Challah
This beloved challah recipe is all about the texture: soft and light, yet with a structurally sound crumb that holds up to slicing well (it's also great for French toast, egg-in-the-hole, stuffing, and the like). Plus the taste is worth writing home about: not too sweet but with the honey clearly shining through.
Desserts!
34. Heavenly Apple Cake
This apple cake stays moist and tender for days, so feel free to bake it in advance, wrap it well, and check one more thing off your list in advance. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, Greek yogurt, or crème fraîche.
35. Lemon, Poppy Seed & Olive Oil Cake
Olive oil cake gets the lemon–poppy seed treatment. Use a dramatic Bundt pan that will make everyone ooh and aah when you carry it out.
36. Pomegranate Passion Cake
A sticky almond cake becomes even more addictive, thanks to pomegranate molasses, with a yogurty frosting and fresh pomegranate seeds on top.
37. Babka Au Chocolat Brioche
For a never-dry chocolate babka, do as Alice Medrich does, and start with a brioche dough.
38. Apple Dumplings
Honeycrisp apples get swaddled in flaky, buttery pie dough, baked until tender, then doused in cider caramel.
39. Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake With Apples
This tangy chocolate chip cake has a layer of spiced apples running through the middle, which amps up the flavor while keeping everything extra moist.
40. Fennel Honey Cake
This fennel seed–speckled layer cake gets doused in a honey syrup, then slathered in cream cheese frosting.
41. New Classic Coconut Macaroons
Sweetened, shredded coconut—move over for unsweetened coconut flakes. As Alice Medrich figured out, these make for an even better macaroon.
42. Prune & Chocolate Rugelach
Get ready for the inevitable "Hey, can I have another?" reactions to these pretty pinwheel rugelach, featuring prune jam and fudge sauce. Oh yeah.
43. Cinnamon-Raisin Rugelach
Just like cinnamon-raisin bread, but—dare we say it?—even better. The result is flaky, sweet, and perfect for celebrating the holiday.
44. Cider Caramel Apple Pie
This tart, caramelly tart twist on classic apple pie has a lot going for it: a bright, apple-forward flavor; a dreamy crust that's both flaky and tender; and a creamy richness to the filling (thanks, butter).
45. Rustic French Honey Cake
This just-the-right-amount-of-sweet honey cake keeps exceptionally well wrapped up for a few days, and it actually gets even better over time (if you can keep it around).
46. Rosh Hashanah Apple Cake
This Rosh Hashanah cake is a consistent hit with our community. Peruse the comments section and you'll find words like "great," "perfect," and "amazingly easy" throughout.
