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    Home » Recipes » Collections

    Diwali recipes, Indian Diwali recipes

    October 26, 2013 by Raks Anand 36 Comments / Jump to Recipe

    Diwali recipes, here are 100+ Indian Diwali recipes for the Hindu festival of lights. From popular Gulab jamun to traditional sweets prepared with cardamom, jaggery and ghee.

    Looking for mouth-watering snacks that are addictive? Discover addictive murukku recipes and snacks like samosa for the celebration.

    Diwali recipes

    Check out my Diwali recipe index page to browse more. Also see Easy Diwali sweets collection.

    Jump to:
    • About
    • List of Indian Sweets for Diwali
    • Diwali sweets South Indian
    • Famous Diwali sweets
    • Halwa
    • Burfi
    • Ladoos
    • Other snacks
    • Murukku
    • Kesari
    • Videos
    • Milk based sweets
    • Nostalgia
    • Recipe card
    • Diwali recipes

    About

    What is Diwali?

    Diwali is Indian festival of lights celebrated by Hindu across the country. It is considered as a festival to celebrate victory of Good over the Evil. Diwali also coincides with Harvest festival as per old texts.

    When is Diwali 2023?

    Usually falls on the month October or November. This year it is Sunday, 12th of November.

    How to celebrate Diwali?

    Diwali usually means meeting friends and family. Getting blessing from elders at home and among relatives.

    Usually even before a month, Diwali shopping starts. All family members get new dress to wear on Diwali day.

    Sweets and snacks are mostly prepared at home prior the festival in bulk for family to enjoy as well as to distribute to friends, family and relatives.

    The house is cleaned, decorated with flowers and lights for Diwali.

    On Diwali days, family members get up early. Elder at home apply oil on head to the family members.

    Everyone takes shower (Oil bath) and wear new clothes.

    Sweets, snacks, new clothes, jewelry and special menu is prepared to offer in front of God. Children burst crackers.

    List of Indian Sweets for Diwali

    For the festival of light, many sweets are prepared at home especially to share with friends, family and relatives.

    Jamun Recipes

    Gulab jamun is one of the most prepared sweets across India. We get Instant Jamun mix to prepare quick and easily.

    Otherwise, you can also prepare it from scratch and make few variations when it comes to Gulab jamun.

    Below are different types of gulab Jamun recipes:

    Gulab jamun with khoya

    5 from 3 votes
    Gulab jamun with khoya/ kova, we can prepare from scratch at home for the festival of lights. In sticky sugar syrup it tastes delicious.
    20 mins
    gulab jamun with khoya

    Sweet potato gulab jamun recipe

    5 from 2 votes
    Sweet potato gulab jamun recipe, easy to make with simple ingredients - No khoya no milk powder. With step by step pictures for easy learning
    30 mins
    sweet potato gulab jamun

    Makkan peda recipe

    4.50 from 4 votes
    Makkan peda recipe is similar to gubab jamun, but with dry fruits stuffing. Made using khoya, maida as main ingredients. Full video, step by step photos.
    20 mins
    Arcot makkan peda recipe

    Bread gulab jamun recipe

    5 from 1 vote
    Bread gulab jamun is an easy version of jamun, which is usually made with either khoya or milk powder as main ingredient.
    25 mins
    bread gulab jamun

    Gulab jamun recipe using Instant Jamun mix

    5 from 1 vote
    Instant Gulab jamun recipe with store bought Jamun mix. Learn how to to make a perfect gulab jamun every time with the instant jamun mix.
    30 mins
    gulab jamun sweet

    Kala jamun recipe

    5 from 3 votes
    Kala jamun, easy version with instant gulab jamun mix. Easy sweet yet special version for Diwali. Full video post.
    25 mins
    kala-jamun-recipe

    Milk powder gulab jamun

    5 from 2 votes
    Homemade gulab Jamun from scratch with milk powder as main ingredient. Simple recipe with easily available ingredients.
    30 mins
    gulab jamun with milk powder

    Gulkand gulab jamun recipe

    5 from 1 vote
    Gulkand gulab jamun, when you want to make the gulab jamun extra special. If you have gulkand, you can try this simple twist to the regular gulab jamun.
    30 mins
    gulkand gulab jamun

    Diwali sweets South Indian

    From jaggery based adhirasam, suzhiyan to ever green classic recipes like jangri, laddu, mysore pak!

    Suzhiyan recipe

    5 from 3 votes
    Suzhiyan is a traditional sweet made in our home, a must for our Deepavali celebration. Full video, step by step pictures with kadalai paruppu pooranam recipe.
    40 mins
    Suzhiyan recipe

    Adhirasam recipe

    5 from 7 votes
    Adhirasam is a traditional Deepavali snack made in Tamil Nadu. Learn how to make adhirasam with quick video and step by step photos.
    30 mins
    adhirasam

    Thengai therattipal

    5 from 4 votes
    Thengai therattipal is a super easy and quick coconut based sweet. Super quick and simple recipe.
    15 mins
    coconut-therattipal

    Soft Mysore pak | Traditional soft ghee mysore pak

    4.88 from 8 votes
    Mysore pak recipe with step by step pictures Soft, melt in mouth mysore pak recipe with loads of ghee, traditionally made for Diwali.
    30 mins
    mysore pak recipe

    Badusha recipe | Balushahi

    4.89 from 9 votes
    Badusha or Balushahi, a flaky, soft Indian dessert with full video and step by step pictures. Maida, ghee or butter and sugar are the three main ingredients.
    20 mins
    badusha recipe

    Kaju strawberry

    5 from 4 votes
    Kaju strawberry, a latest sweet I tasted when I visited Chennai this year. Learn how to make this fancy sweet with full video, stepwise pictures.
    20 mins
    kaju strawberry | Diwali sweets

    Achu murukku recipe

    4.73 from 11 votes
    Achu murukku recipe, an eggless version with full video, step by step pictures. Rice flour, maida, coconut milk and sugar just 4 ingredients
    25 mins
    achu murukku recipe

    Thengai therattipal

    5 from 4 votes
    Thengai therattipal is a super easy and quick coconut based sweet. Super quick and simple recipe.
    15 mins
    coconut-therattipal

    Famous Diwali sweets

    Other classics for the festival below:

    jangri | Diwali recipes
    Jangri
    Diwali recipes - Jalebi
    Jalebi
    apple jalebi
    Apple Jalebi
    Diwali recipes Sweet boondi
    Sweet boondi

    Ashirasam

    Poli
    Diwali recipes - Somas
    Somas
    Diwali recipes Sweet diamond cuts
    Diamond cuts
    Diwali recipes - Sweet potato poli
    Sweet potato poli

    Sojji appam
    Diwali recipes | Almond kheer
    Badam kheer
    Diwali sweet recipes
    Sweet mixture
    seeni sev | Diwali recipes
    Sweet sev
    Diwali sweets recipes

    Halwa

    Easy halwa recipes that you can choose ingredient and prepare it with ghee for Diwali. Fruits, dals, vegetables, flours.... what's your choice?

    • Sooji Ka Halwa Recipe
    • Moong dal halwa, Diwali sweets recipes
    • Lauki halwa recipe, bottle gourd halwa
    • Apple halwa recipe, Without milk | Glossy, tangy
    • Banana halwa recipe, with jaggery
    • Sweet potato halwa recipe, sakkaraivalli kizhangu halwa
    • Dry fruits halwa , Dry fruits nuts halwa recipe
    • Chana dal halwa recipe, Festival recipes
    • Kasi Halwa recipe | Poosanikai halwa
    • Ashoka halwa recipe | Diwali Video recipes
    • Bread halwa recipe | How to make Bread halwa
    • Godhumai Halwa recipe, Wheat halwa | Tirunelveli halwa
    • Easy Atta halwa recipe (Atta kesari)
    • Badam halwa recipe | Indian sweet recipes
    • Microwave corn flour halwa recipe, Easy Diwali sweets
    • Beetroot halwa recipe | Indian sweets

    Burfi

    Burfis are super quick to prepare (Under 30 mins). Here are some easy burfi recipes for Diwali from my website.

    • Atta burfi recipe | Diwali sweets recipes
    • Bournvita burfi recipe, Bournvita besan burfi
    • Rava burfi recipe, rava coconut burfi
    • Besan coconut burfi recipe
    • How to make Gur papdi, Gujarati Gol papdi recipe
    • 7 cups burfi recipe, 7 cup cake, Easy Diwali recipes
    • Carrot burfi recipe | Easy Diwali sweets
    • Badam Burfi recipe, almond burfi
    • Chocolate burfi recipe | Diwali recipes for kids
    • Coconut burfi recipe, Thengai burfi
    • Khoya kesar burfi, khoya burfi, Easy Diwali sweet recipes

    Ladoos

    Mom makes perfect boondi ladoo just like how they serve in weddings & sweet shops. Below you can find all ladoo recipes:

    • Gond ke laddu recipe | Winter special recipes
    • Thinai laddu Recipe | Thinai urundai
    • Ulundu Urundai Recipe, Urad dal ladoo
    • Malai ladoo recipe, milk powder malai ladoo
    • Dry fruits laddu recipe, no sugar Diwali recipes
    • Peanut sesame jaggery ladoo recipe
    • Sattu ladoo recipe | Healthy Indian snack for kids
    • Ellu urundai recipe, sesame jaggery ladoo
    • Motichoor ladoo recipe, How to make perfect motichoor ladoo
    • Khoya Rava coconut ladoo recipe | Sooji mava laddu
    • Maa ladoo recipe / Maa laddu | Easy Diwali sweets
    • Boondi ladoo recipe, Boondi Laddu
    • Besan ladoo recipe
    • Nei urundai recipe, Pasi paruppu laddu,Easy Diwali sweets

    Other snacks

    Murukku

    Diwali means murukku when it comes to south India. Being a south Indian, I have tasted all sort of murukku. Here are different varieties of murukku recipes in my website.

    • Moong dal chakli recipe | Pasi paruppu murukku
    • Curd murukku recipe | Thayir murukku
    • Arisi murukku,  Rice murukku (Manapparai style)
    • Ragi murukku recipe, finger millet flour murukku

    Browse 20+ more murukku recipes➡

    Other snacks

    • Karasev recipe, how to make karasev
    • Garlic Karasev recipe | Diwali snacks
    • Sattu sev recipe, sattu garlic sev, sattu recipes
    • Omapodi recipe | Plain sev | Diwali snack recipes
    • Aloo bhujia recipe, Potato sev, Diwali snacks
    • Spicy mixture recipe - South Indian style | Deepavali recipes
    • Chivda recipe | Easy Diwali Snacks
    • Kara boondi recipe | Easy Diwali snacks recipes
    • Spicy diamond cuts recipe, Maida khara biscuits
    • Maida seedai recipe | Easy Krishna Jayanthi recipes
    • Seepu seedai recipe | Krishna jayanthi recipes
    • Thattai recipe, How to make thattai, Gokulashtami recipes
    • Milagai bajji recipe | Chilli bajji
    • Masala vada, Masal vadai step by step recipe
    • Dahi vada recipe | Dahi bhalla
    • Samosa recipe, How to make samosa full video

    Kesari

    Kesari are quick & easy to prepare, beginner friendly and handy when you have not planned anything.

    • Mango kesari recipe | Mango sheera
    • Milk kesari recipe, Paal kesari, Kesari with milk
    • Rava kesari recipe, How to make rava kesari without lumps
    • Easy thin semiya kesari recipe, fine vermicelli kesari
    • Aval kesari recipe, Poha sheera
    • Fruit kesari recipe, fresh fruit kesari
    • Semiya Kesari Recipe
    • Sooji Ka Halwa Recipe

    Videos

    Here is the playlist in my Youtube channel where you can watch all the videos in one place.

    Milk based sweets

    rasmalaikalakandmalpua with rabdiShahi tukda-recipesweet samosaShrikhandmicrowave therattipalTraditional palkova recipeChocolate peda reciperabribasundi-recipePaal poliTraditional Diwali recipes

    Nostalgia

    For me Diwali means thrill, joy, happiness😍. Who can ever forget the childhood days filled with all these mixed emotions.

    My joy starts even before 100 days from the festival. Yes! I take the calendar, mark the count down with a pencil in a corner of the daily sheet calendar😛.

    And every single day when I tear off the calendar sheets, I will get so excited and count my days for the big day of festival 😆.

    What made Deepavali so exciting those days and why its not now, I always ask myself🤨.

    Favorite part

    I still remember the cracker and firework stories in my childhood. Every single thing.

    We the kids in the street will be having competition, like in front of who's house there is more cracker papers.

    Burst crackers and sweep the papers in a corner to show how much we have burst. I love love to burst crackers.

    Right from oosi pattasu to Laksmi vedi. And the cape - dot cape, which we burst with a hammer, roll cape with the toy g*n. I am not big fan of 'at*m bom*'. It's too loud for me, no fun.

    But Laksmi vedi is class. It gives lots of paper kuppai, just what we want. And I have never burst 1000 walas. Only the 100s.

    And the Bijili crackers. How colorful were those bijilis used to be and sometimes, we even untie the saram red fort crackers to bijilis and burst for more time.

    We do lot of naughty things while bursting crackers, though not serious ones, it will be up to our range 😉

    Like gather all the leftover papers and dig the cracker inside it and make it burst. It will blow up all the papers up and we watch the fun.

    Diwali and rain comes together hand to hand. We will be so worried and our prayers to God will be only that it should not rain! How big our prayers, see, at that age. 😉

    Crackers 🧨

    And we don't even leave rainwater that is in the open fields opposite to our home.

    We quickly place the crackers inside it and make it burst, and it spills water all over. 😀 

    And all these things, I do these with my brother Sendhil Kumar Ramalingam .

    Not to forget the mini competitions that who wake up first and burst the first cracker in the street. We burst the loudest to make the point that we did it first.

    For me I wont get sleep at all on the eve of Diwali. Its pure excitement and nothing else.

    My brother will be equally excited, but he will sleep like anything in the morning. I will be waking him every time.

    Festival day

    Those days I don't even care about the Diwali works mom had. Only I used to do is enjoy with my brother. Until he went to hostel for his higher studies.

    Then the scenarios just changed. In those 4 years when he was in hostels, he will even sometimes not come home for Diwali.

    Me and mom used to shed tears for that too, which my dad always mocks at 🙂

    My brother loves wheat halwa and mom makes it at times for Diwali.

    But after he went to job, and though he will keep the suspense until last day whether he is coming or not, I had one more advantage, he will also buy crackers, dress for me.

    And mainly the salwars, chudidars from B'lore 😉

    Food

    The whole Diwali day will be full of eating sweets, snacks prepared for Diwali along with Idli, chutney, podi, suzhiyan, adhirasam, vadai.

    No cooking that day and we used to eat all these and get heart burn of course because of all those oily goodies!

    Celebration at home

    Who cared, we totally enjoyed the food and time. We wake up like around 3.00 am and mom will lit lamp in the pooja room, keep sheekai / arappu thool in a bowl, and sesame oil in another bowl.

    Elder in the house will apply those two in the head for sastra and we take oil bath, come back and wear some other new dress, not the diwali dress and eagerly wait for the pooja to get over.

    After the pooja is over, we fall on the elders foot and get our dresses and rush to wear the dress. The smell of the new dress, how exciting it will be! 🙂

    And not to forget to show off your dress to the friends and neighbors 😉 Now enough of my stories and here is the list of recipes for this Diwali.

    Ingredients

    Diwali recipes - Preparation and cooking time varies from recipe to recipe. Please check the individual to know. Prep time varies from 12 hrs to 10 mins and cooking from 1 hr to 15 mins.

    And main ingredients in sweets are milk, khoya, sugar, besan/ kadalai maavu, maida, urad dal, badam, pista, cashew nuts, coconut, rava, jaggery, ghee, oil.

    For snacks, mainly rice flour, urad dal flour, gram flour, oil etc;  Click on the picture for the respective recipes.

    Recipe card

    Diwali-recipes
    Print Pin
    5 from 3 votes

    Diwali recipes

    Diwali recipes, more than 100 recipes including traditional Diwali sweets to fancy recipes. Browse the Snacks section for choosing.
    Course Snack
    Cuisine Indian
    Prep Time 30 minutes
    Cook Time 3 hours
    Servings 4
    Cup measurements

    Ingredients

    • Jaggery
    • Gram flour
    • Ghee Clarified butter
    • Sugar
    • Rice flour
    • Oil
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions

    • Please refer individual posts for the respective recipe instructions.
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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Hema

      October 26, 2013 at 2:31 am

      I enjoyed reading this, same thoughts here, those days will never come back, feeling nostalgic..

      Reply
    2. Kurinji

      October 26, 2013 at 3:04 am

      Mouth watering clicks.....

      Reply
      • Jayanthi

        October 31, 2021 at 12:58 am

        Amazing nostalgic memories beautifully penned ❤️ and woww watta a sweets and savouries collection...

        Reply
        • Raks Anand

          October 31, 2021 at 11:09 am

          Thanks a lot 🙂

          Reply
    3. Gayathri Ramanan

      October 26, 2013 at 4:05 am

      wow..Fabulous collection of diwali sweets and snacks.....

      Reply
    4. AparnaRajeshkumar

      October 26, 2013 at 5:33 am

      what a collection u have ? i agree with one point ... saying about dress .. omg how can i explain we too get only for diwali ! and now i am getting every month. old is gold is n't it ...

      Reply
    5. Shabitha Karthikeyan

      October 26, 2013 at 6:19 am

      Nice post !! Surely our kids miss all those excitement and fun.

      Reply
    6. Shobana Vijay

      October 26, 2013 at 11:13 am

      Delicious and mouth watering sweets and snacks

      Reply
    7. suganya ram

      October 26, 2013 at 11:46 am

      Awesome collections Rak's. U rock.

      Reply
    8. suganya ram

      October 26, 2013 at 11:47 am

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Reply
    9. Nivedhanams Sowmya

      October 26, 2013 at 12:35 pm

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Reply
    10. Nivedhanams Sowmya

      October 26, 2013 at 12:35 pm

      What a beautiful collection!!! drool worthy pictures!! very festive!!!

      Reply
    11. Srilakshmi

      October 27, 2013 at 4:05 am

      Hi what all i experienced in my childhood u mentioned here, my eyes shredded with tears recollecting the memories.
      Thank you raks for making me to recollect my childhood

      Reply
    12. Aruna Manikandan

      October 27, 2013 at 4:29 am

      wonderful collection raji 🙂

      Reply
    13. சாருஸ்ரீராஜ்

      October 30, 2013 at 11:57 am

      raji wht u told is the same of us too .but for me two brothers , they wont give big vedi only othai vedi ,and all the crackers will be given to me..

      Reply
    14. Karpagam Srinivasan

      October 31, 2013 at 8:05 am

      Wow, after reading your diwali story, I burst into tears....feeling very nostalgic...Wish those days come back again.....

      Reply
    15. Shaami (Shajitha Habeeb)

      November 02, 2013 at 7:51 am

      I enjoyed your childhood stories, very interesting ! ! want to try all ur diwali sweets recipes...following you, visit my space if you get time.

      Reply
    16. Aps Prabhu

      October 10, 2014 at 1:32 pm

      Hats off to your sweet collection
      Each and every dish is super

      Reply
    17. Elizabeth Oommen

      October 12, 2014 at 2:01 am

      Lady . . . Hats off . . . Love u for making my life so tasty . .. I really enjoy cooking stealing all ur ideas .. Hehehheeh . . . U r just wonderful . . . My hubby has started appreciating my cooking after 3 yrs of marriage . . Hehhehe . .. God bless u darling ".

      Reply
    18. HEMA

      October 18, 2014 at 1:05 am

      Hi , raks i tried out badusha, boondhi laddu, pottukadalai murukku, mysore pak ,it came out very well . iam very pleased to share my heartfelt thanks to you ...and i have a request can u pls tell me measurent for milagaipodi (one which we use for daily samayal ). this is really gonna to be useful tip for all like your other posts ..thank u

      Reply
    19. HEMA

      October 18, 2014 at 1:05 am

      Hi
      Raks u r really ROCKING
      plzz continue the great job

      Reply
    20. HEMA

      October 18, 2014 at 1:05 am

      Hi Raks,

      you r ROCKING

      Plzzzzzz continue the great job

      HATS OFF

      Reply
    21. Raks anand

      October 18, 2014 at 1:07 am

      Thank you 🙂 You mean this? http://www.rakskitchen.net/2013/06/2-sambar-powder-recipe-homemade-sambar.html

      Reply
    22. Punitha

      October 20, 2014 at 9:43 am

      Mouth watering clicks..... 😛

      Reply
    23. Harshita Kapur

      November 02, 2014 at 10:53 am

      You can literally open up a sweet shop!! 😀 😀 I mean.......so many sweets!!! Yum Yum!

      Reply
    24. Vidya

      November 07, 2015 at 4:32 am

      Superb words... Me have the same feeling.. My kid misses all those fun we used to have...

      Reply
    25. Amudha Pragasam

      November 09, 2015 at 2:13 pm

      Hiii.. Raks.. Awesome collections of recipes.. Thanks for such great job.. Keep going.. RAKS.. 🙂

      Reply
    26. Vidya Ramesh

      November 09, 2015 at 2:16 pm

      Hi
      You are very good inspiration for all of us. Have a superb blog.. I should say that you are a very good cook without any doubt and at the sametime a good writer. I was taken back to my childhood days when I read you. Felt that you and I were staying on the same street. Whatever pranks you had done for Diwali, the same we also used to do, especially for the "Paper Kuppai", For this Diwali Iam making Badam Burfi and Moong Dal Laddu and karasev, from your recipes..Have a Happy Diwali and God Bles you and your family...

      Reply
    27. Rajee

      October 27, 2016 at 11:41 pm

      Finished making sweets and savoury. If you give idea for lunch on Diwali it will be nice. Confusing what to make.

      Reply
    28. Raks anand

      October 27, 2016 at 11:49 pm

      You can make something light and simple since there will be heavy sweets and snacks 🙂 May be mixed rice variety or simple thogayal, rasam, kootu.

      Reply
    29. Anil Sahu

      October 30, 2016 at 1:02 am

      Nice Post. Wonderful ideas to make sweet dishes.

      Reply
    30. Rajee

      October 30, 2016 at 1:04 am

      Thanks and wishes and congrats for the article in The Hindu

      Reply
    31. Raks Kitchen

      October 19, 2018 at 2:41 am

      Thank you all for your lovely comments

      Reply
    32. Kuzhali

      October 22, 2019 at 10:51 pm

      This write up took me to my childhood days.. am wiling g my tears now honestly

      Reply
    33. Kuzhali

      October 22, 2019 at 10:57 pm

      This write up took me to my childhood days.. am wilping my tears now honestly

      Reply
    34. Raks Anand

      October 24, 2019 at 2:52 pm

      Glad someone loved my write up even after these many year 🙂

      Reply

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    Raks anand

    Hi, I'm Rajeswari Vijayanand! I am the person behind Rakskitchen, sharing recipes with pictures & videos.

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