This easy Homemade Baklava recipe serves up flaky, moist, and perfectly sweet morsels of joy. It’s a classic dessert that you have to try, and it’s easier to make at home than you’d think!
Baklava Dessert
Delectably sweet layers of nuts and honey syrup are nestled between crisp sheets of phyllo pastry. This Baklava Dessert is a must-have for Christmas, Easter, or any occasion!
Learning how to make this delicious treat at home will change the game. Those flaky layers will leave you addicted!
Why You’ll Love this Easy Baklava Recipe:
- Sweet: Loaded with honey for an addictively sweet hit in every bite.
- Flaky: The phyllo pastry provides a perfect crispness, creating a nice texture when you bite in.
- Moist: The layers of nuts and honey syrup give this homemade baklava a moist filling, perfect between layers of melt-in-your-mouth phyllo.
Looking for more holiday recipes? Why not also try my King Cake for Mardi Gras and my4th of July Bundt Cake!
How to Make Baklava at Home
Be sure to see the recipe card below for full ingredients & instructions!
- In a medium bowl, combine your nut filling.
- Layer your phyllo sheets and nut mixture into a prepped baking dish, brushing the layers with butter.
- Score the top of the baklava in the final shape you’ll want to cut them and bake for 45 mins.
- Place the syrup ingredients into a medium saucepan to melt together.
- Pour the syrup over the baklava and allow to soak for 30 mins.
- Serve and enjoy!
Baklava is a dessert made of layers of phyllo pastry filled with chopped nuts and sweetened with syrup or honey. It has ancient roots in both Iran and Turkey.
Unfortunately, baklava is not vegan due mainly to the use of butter and honey. Some variations of baklava use sugar syrup instead of honey, but this recipe includes honey. To make vegan baklava, use the sugar syrup variation and vegan butter.
Baklava is not as time-consuming as it may seem! This recipe only takes about an hour to prepare. For a richer flavor, I suggest letting the baklava sit for 8-24 hours before enjoying it, which makes it a great make-ahead dessert!
Yes! There are many varieties of baklava from all over the world, and they all use slightly different fillings. You can use pecans or pistachios in place of the walnuts in this recipe.
The best way to keep baklava from getting soggy is to avoid adding too much butter. You want light coatings of butter on the layers; otherwise, the butter will seep out and create a soggy bottom. You also want to make sure that you do not slice all the way through the baklava until after you have poured the syrup on. Slicing before could cause residual butter and syrup to pool in the bottom of the pan. If you’ve followed those steps and are still getting a soggy bottom, try letting the pastry fully cool before pouring hot syrup over the top.
Once you make this easy homemade baklava you’ll never want to go back to store-bought!
Baklava may look very intricate but it’s actually easy to make! Store-bought phyllo pastry layered with an easy walnut filling and topped with simple honey syrup – done!
Make Ahead Instructions
Baklava has a long shelf life and can be made up to 5 days in advance of serving. In fact, I recommend letting baklava sit for 8-24 hours before enjoying to let the flavors mingle.
Storage Instructions
Store leftover baklava in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Freezing Instructions
Freeze baklava in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator or at room temperature before enjoying.
Baklava Substitutions
- Walnuts: You can use pecans or even pistachios in place of the walnuts.
- Allspice: If you do not have allspice for the syrup, simply add in ⅛ teaspoon cloves and ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg.
- Honey: If you’d prefer not to use honey, replace the sugar, water, and honey with 3 cups of sugar and 1½ cups of water.
Baklava Tips
- Defrost the phyllo dough in the original packaging in the refrigerator for 12 hours before use.
- The easiest way to finely chop the walnuts is to grind them in a food processor. Add them in batches and not all at once, as placing too many walnuts in at one time will cause the ones at the bottom to become like paste and the ones at the top to not get chopped.
- Be sure to cover the phyllo dough back up after each time you remove some to keep it from drying out.
- To cut the phyllo into diamond shapes, cut lines about 2 inches apart, parallel to the long sides of the baking dish. Next, cut lines about 2 inches apart, diagonally this time.
- Remember to not cut all the way down through all of the dough layers until the baklava is soaked in the syrup.
Nuts, honey, and flaky pastry – Baklava is one of those timeless desserts that makes so much out of so few ingredients. Perfect for any holiday season, it’s a crowd pleaser that’ll become a festive favorite!
If you make this recipe be sure to leave us a comment or rating. Enjoy!
Homemade Baklava Recipe
Ingredients
For the Baklava
- 16 ounces phyllo dough 454 grams (1 package)
- 1 pound finely chopped walnuts 452 grams
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 6 grams
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2⅓ cups unsalted butter 527 grams, melted and slightly cooled (4⅔ sticks)
For the Syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar 200 grams
- 1 cup water 227 grams
- 10 tablespoons honey 219 grams
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 4 grams
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3 grams
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Unwrap the phyllo dough and wrap it with a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out. Set aside.16 ounces phyllo dough
- In a medium-sized bowl, combine the walnuts, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.1 pound finely chopped walnuts, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Using a pastry brush, coat the bottom and sides of a deep 9×13-inch baking dish with butter.2⅓ cups unsalted butter
- Place 2 sheets of phyllo dough into the bottom of the pan. Brush with butter. Place 2 sheets of phyllo dough on top and brush with butter. Repeat these steps until you have 8 sheets of phyllo dough in a stack. Brush with butter before sprinkling about 2-3 tablespoons of the walnut mixture over the surface of the dough. The entire surface of the phyllo dough will not be covered with the mixture. That is fine, as with the amount of layers that there will be, there will be plenty of walnut mixture in every bite.
- Place 2 sheets of phyllo dough on top of the walnut mixture. Brush with butter. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of the walnut mixture over the surface. Continue this same process until you have about 6 sheets of phyllo dough remaining and no walnut mixture. A few of my sheets got sticky from the damp cloth (I only had 5 sheets remaining). Place 2 sheets of dough on top and brush with butter. Repeat until you have used all of the phyllo dough. Brush the top with butter. At this point, you may have extra butter, which is fine. If at any point you run out of butter, simply melt another tablespoon and continue.
- Score the top 6 layers of dough in the final shape that you want to cut them (see notes), but do not cut completely through to the bottom of the dough. The dough at the bottom of the pan should remain uncut so as to prevent the syrup from soaking through and making it soggy.
- Place the baklava into the preheated oven to bake for 45 minutes.
- While the baklava is baking, make the syrup. Place all of the syrup ingredients into a large saucepan set over medium heat. Whisk constantly for the first minute while everything is melting together. Once the mixture has melted together, leave to reach a boil. Once it begins to boil, reduce to medium-low heat to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until it has thickened significantly. The mixture should coat the back of a wooden spoon. Be sure to whisk intermittently while it simmers as it could scorch or boil over. Once thickened, remove from the heat for a moment or two while the baklava finishes baking.1 cup granulated sugar, 1 cup water, 10 tablespoons honey, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon allspice
- Once the baklava has finished baking, remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack. Pour the hot syrup over the entire surface of the baklava immediately. Let set for about 30 minutes to fully soak in and cool down.
- Once cooled sufficiently, use a sharp knife to finish cutting all the way down through the baklava. Serve immediately, or allow the syrup to continue to soak for 8-24 hours.
Notes
- You can use pecans or even pistachios in place of the walnuts.
- If you do not have allspice for the syrup, simply add in ⅛ teaspoon cloves and ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg.
- If you’d prefer not to use honey, replace the sugar, water, and honey with 3 cups of sugar and 1½ cups of water.
- Be sure to defrost the phyllo dough in the original packaging in the refrigerator for 12 hours before use.
- The easiest way to finely chop the walnuts is to grind them in a food processor. Add them in batches and not all at once, as placing too many walnuts in at one time will cause the ones at the bottom to become like paste and the ones at the top to not get chopped.
- Be sure to cover the phyllo dough back up after each time you remove some to keep it from drying out.
- To cut the phyllo into diamond shapes, cut lines about 2 inches apart, parallel to the long sides of the baking dish. Next, cut lines about 2 inches apart, diagonally this time.
- Remember to not cut all the way down through all of the dough layers until the baklava is soaked in the syrup.
Leave a Review