- Country of origin
- 🇵🇸 Palestine
- Category
- Dessert
- Difficulty
- ●●○ Medium
- Preparation
- 30 min
- Cooking
- 30 min
- Servings
- 8 people
Nutrition, per serving
Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities, divided by eight servings.
Knafeh is a dessert built on three concentrated ingredients — butter, cheese, and sugar syrup — and the numbers reflect that directly. Carbohydrate (70 g per serving) comes almost entirely from the syrup poured over the pastry after baking, not from the kataifi itself, which contributes comparatively little sugar on its own. Saturated fat (17 g) is split between the butter used to coat the pastry and the cheese layer underneath it.
History
Knafeh is especially associated with the Palestinian city of Nablus, where “knafeh nabulsieh” (made with a stretchy white cheese called nabulsi cheese) is referenced throughout the region. The dish’s precise historical origins remain debated across the Levant, with Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan each holding strong culinary traditions and claims to knafeh.
Two textures distinguish preparation styles: knafeh na’ameh uses very fine, angel-hair-like pastry that turns delicately crisp, while knafeh khishneh uses a coarser semolina layer, closer to a dense cake. Both are generously soaked in sugar syrup (attar) after baking.
Ingredients — for 8 people
- 400 g (14 oz) kataifi pastry (shredded phyllo), thawed
- 400 g (14 oz) knafeh cheese (or low-salt mozzarella)
- 150 g (⅔ cup) melted butter
- Orange food coloring (optional, traditional)
- 300 g (1½ cups) sugar, lemon juice, orange blossom water for the syrup
- Crushed pistachios, for garnish
Step-by-step Palestinian knafeh recipe
- Make the syrup by boiling sugar, water, and lemon juice for a few minutes, flavor with orange blossom water, then let cool.
- Shred the kataifi pastry and mix it with melted butter and food coloring, if using.
- Spread half the pastry in a buttered pan, pressing down firmly.
- Scatter the crumbled cheese evenly over the surface.
- Cover with the remaining buttered kataifi, pressing down firmly.
- Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden, then immediately drizzle with cold syrup straight from the oven and garnish with pistachios.
Cooking method
Technique: buttered kataifi pastry baked until crisp, then soaked in cold syrup immediately after baking for a hot-cold contrast.
Traditional equipment: a large, shallow round tray (siniyyeh), traditional or home oven.
Key point: always pour cold syrup over hot knafeh straight from the oven, never the reverse, so the pastry stays crisp without turning soggy.
Economic context
Knafeh’s ingredients — cheese, butter, sugar — are all everyday staples rather than luxury imports, which is part of why it functions as an everyday sweet shop item across Palestinian cities, sold by the tray and by weight, rather than as an occasional special-occasion dessert only.
Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in Palestine generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.
Who this dish suits
Fits well with
- An occasional indulgent dessert rather than a daily one
- Sharing — knafeh is traditionally cut and served from one large tray
Worth knowing
- 70 g of carbohydrate per serving, almost all from the syrup
- 17 g saturated fat, from butter and cheese combined
- Contains dairy and gluten; garnish typically adds tree nuts (pistachios)
What about you?
In your opinion, where’s the best place or restaurant to enjoy good knafeh?