Diwali Recipes: A Festive Dinner Menu, Snacks and Sweets
Easy Diwali Recipes for the Whole Table
Diwali, the festival of lights, is a celebration built around food. The sweets are the easy part, since plenty of people buy their mithai. The hard part is dinner: a table full of dishes that all need to be hot at the same time.
So these Diwali recipes are built around the table. The air fryer paneer tikka and air fryer tandoori chicken keep the stove free for everything else. Dal makhani can be made ahead, since it keeps in the fridge for a few days and freezes well. And the baked paneer jalfrezi samosas skip the deep fryer entirely.
To finish, there's gajar ka halwa, a Diwali classic of grated carrots cooked slowly in ghee and milk, and sooji ki kheer, which was my grandma's favorite sweet when I was growing up in Delhi.
Diwali Starters from the Air Fryer
Diwali Snacks and Samosas
Diwali Dinner Mains
Breads and Rice
Finish with Something Sweet
How to Get a Diwali Dinner on the Table
- The weekend before: cook a big batch of Dal Makhani. It keeps in the fridge for a few days and freezes well.
- In the air fryer: Paneer Tikka and Tandoori Chicken, so the stove stays free.
- On the stove: Butter Chicken and hot Puffy Poori. A stiff dough is what makes the poori puff.
- In the oven: Baked Paneer Samosas while guests arrive.
- To finish: warm Gajar Ka Halwa and a pot of masala chai.
Want more? Browse every recipe in the Diwali category, or my Indian street food and chaat and paneer recipes collections.
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