🍯 Kadayif with walnuts
This kadayif dessert is a tray of crisp shredded phyllo threads baked with butter around a generous walnut filling, then soaked in sugar syrup. The contrast is the point: crunchy, buttery strands on the outside and a sweet, nutty, syrup-soaked centre. It is served in squares or rolls, often with tea or Turkish coffee.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 400 g kadayif (shredded pastry)
- 150 g butter, melted
- 200 g walnuts, chopped
- For the syrup: 400 g sugar, 350 ml water, 1 tsp lemon juice
Method
- Boil the sugar and water for 10 minutes, add the lemon juice and let the syrup cool.
- Pull the pastry threads apart and toss them with the melted butter.
- Press half the pastry into a baking tray, spread the walnuts over it and cover with the rest.
- Bake at 180 °C for 40–45 minutes until golden and crisp.
- Pour the cool syrup over the hot pastry and let it soak for at least 1 hour before cutting.
How to make it lighter
- A square of about 100 g is a full dessert — cut small pieces and share the tray.
- Use less syrup; the pastry stays crisp and noticeably less sweet.
- Pair it with unsweetened tea or coffee rather than a sweet drink.
History
Kadayif belongs to the family of shredded-pastry sweets of the former Ottoman lands, closely related to the Arab kunafa. Thin pastry threads were traditionally made by pouring batter through a perforated vessel onto a hot round griddle, and the dessert remains a favourite in Turkey, the Balkans and the Middle East.
Count it in one photo
Point your camera at the table — Me Nutrition recognises Kadayif with walnuts and every other dish, with calories and macros for each. Ate only half? Slide it.
Download on the App StoreSimilar dishes
Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →