25 Best Purim Recipes

Purim may not be the biggest Jewish holiday, but it's certainly one of the most fun to celebrate. It's meant as a time to commemorate the heroic exploits of Queen Esther, a nice Jewish girl who became Queen of Persia and thwarted a plot by biblical bad guy Haman to make away with her co-religionists. On Purim, people will often gather in synagogues to hear the Book of Esther read aloud, but it's hardly a solemn occasion. If you think about it in terms of viewer participation, Purim services may have been the original "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Not only do some audience members dress up in costumes, but they also employ props such as the noisemakers (called "groggers") used to drown out Haman's name whenever it comes up in the narrative.

Food, of course, also plays a major part in Purim festivities. The typical menu at a Purim seder may vary by location, but will often include such traditional Jewish and/or Eastern European dishes as challah bread, cabbage rolls, and the ubiquitous brisket. Purim is also a time for eating beans, nuts, and seeds as these were the only foods Queen Esther could eat in order to could keep kosher in ancient Persia. If there's one single food that symbolizes Purim, though, that would be the triangle-shaped cookies known as hamantaschen. Of course, we have a recipe for these, as well as for everything else you'll need to throw an epic Purim feast.

Cabbage rolls are a popular dish throughout Eastern Europe, but in Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania they are considered a must-have for the Purim spread. They may even have symbolic value, as the filling inside the rolls is seen by some as a metaphor for God's undercover miracles (working in mysterious ways and all that). Our recipe is a fairly traditional one as it uses a mixture of ground beef, pork, and rice to stuff boiled cabbage leaves. It then bakes the rolls in a sweet and tangy tomato sauce. If you have leftover cabbage, you can always use it to make the cabbage and noodle dish known as haluski (see below).

Recipe: Cabbage Rolls

You simply can't have a Jewish holiday meal without brisket ... well, unless the rest of the menu involves a lot of dairy products and you're keeping kosher, since the laws of kashrut forbid eating both meat and milk products in the same meal. Assuming you're going the fleishig route with a meat-centric meal, though, or else you adhere to a reform doctrine without strict dietary laws, this slow-roasted brisket in onion gravy will make the perfect centerpiece for your Purim seder.

Recipe: Beef Brisket

Back during the time of Christ (who was, as you will recall, a Jew), one popular sabbath meal was a slow-cooked bean dish known as cholent. In fact, some speculate that cholent could have been featured on the menu at the Last Supper and if it had only been around in ancient Persia, we feel sure that Queen Esther would have been a fan. Boston baked beans, believe it or not, may be a somewhat more modern descendant of this ancient dish. One theory behind their origin is that they were adapted from a recipe that the Pilgrims learned from Sephardic Jews during their mutual exile in The Netherlands. Venerable as these smoky-sweet baked beans may be, you won't need an old-timey beanpot to make our 21st-century version as we're opting for a slow cooker, instead.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Boston Baked Beans

As the primary ingredient in these falafel balls is chickpeas and they also contain sesame seeds, they'd probably have fit quite nicely into Queen Esther's diet plan. You can eat the falafel fresh out of the fryer with a drizzle of tahini sauce or a schmear of hummus – stick toothpicks into them if you're making up a party platter. Another way to eat them is to sandwich them in a pita pocket or a flour tortilla and top them with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and maybe some pepperoncini. 

Recipe: Simple Falafel

Lentils, an often underrated but nevertheless laudable legume, are here being used to top a tasty spinach salad in combination with feta cheese, black olives, and both raw and fried onions. While you could serve it as a side dish for your Purim dinner (omitting the cheese, of course, if you're keeping kosher), it's got plenty of protein and could be paired with the bean and kale soup above to make for a vegetarian entrée.

Recipe: Lentil And Spinach Salad

Rice pilaf is a dish that may have originated in Asia, but variants have long since spread throughout the Middle East and Europe. This veggie-enhanced rice dish makes a great side for brisket, turkey, or any other Purim entrée. What we like best about this easy recipe, though, is that the rice bakes in the oven so there's no need to keep a close eye on a steaming pot on the stove.

Recipe: Easy Baked Rice Pilaf

While the main Purim seder is likely to be a sit-down meal with a roast and all manner of sides, the holiday lasts all day, or rather from one sundown to the next. This means you may find yourself in need of a Purim-appropriate lunch, as well and these falafel sandwiches will fit the bill nicely. The falafel in this recipe is shaped into patties before baking, the easier to fit into pita pockets and have room left over for plenty of lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and tahini sauce.

Recipe: Classic Falafel Sandwiches

Sesame seed-based tahini and chickpeas are two of the main ingredients in hummus, but both have a flavor that is somewhat bland so there's also a need for additional flavoring agents. While hummus these days comes in many flavors, including fruit and chocolate, traditional hummus is usually made with garlic and lemon juice. In this particular recipe, we're sticking close to the classic version but doubling down on the lemony flavor with both zest and juice to make for an extra-tangy dip.

Recipe: Lemon Hummus

Homemade lentil soup simmering in a slow cooker is a great dish to have on hand if you've got a houseful of guests for your Purim seder. If you start the soup in the morning, you'll have something to offer anyone who gets hungry a few hours before the evening meal. This specific recipe is vegan, too, so it's great for anyone who shares Queen Esther's penchant for plant-based eating.

Recipe: Slow Cooker Lentil Soup

Tabbouleh is a Middle Eastern dish that combines both starch and salad. This version is made with the traditional cooked bulgur wheat, with chopped mint and parsley. green onions, cherry tomatoes, green onions, and cucumbers adding the salad-like element. The resulting mélange is topped with a zingy dressing of lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil. The best part of this great-tasting dish is that you can make it well in advance of your holiday meal since the flavor will only improve after a day or so in the refrigerator.

Recipe: Tabbouleh

Purim celebrations often include triangular-shaped foods reminiscent of the pointy little hat said to have been worn by Haman, the Book of Esther's pointy-headed villain. Hamantaschen are a prime example, as are kreplach, but for a slightly different spin on the tradition, these triangular samosas will also work quite nicely. They are really quite easy to put together as the wrappers are made from frozen phyllo dough, while the filling consists of curry-spiced boiled potatoes and peas.

Recipe: Easy Baked Samosas

Poppy seeds are often used in baked goods like hamantaschen, muffins, breads and bagels, but in recent years, everything bagel seasoning has helped to make the poppy seed even more popular by introducing this versatile ingredient to dips and main dishes, as well. Here a homemade version of this versatile seed and spice blend is used to make a deliciously crunchy coating for sauteed chicken breasts. These could be an appropriate entrée for a single-family Purim seder, although you'll need to skip the cream cheese filling if you're keeping kosher.

Recipe: Everything Bagel Chicken