41 Passover Desserts to Impress Your Seder Guests
These Passover desserts are by the book: No chametz—wheat, oats, rye, barley, or spelt—here. Instead, choose from flourless chocolate cakes, crisp meringues, rich cheesecakes, and plenty of coconut.
If you’re overwhelmed from preparing the rest of the Passover seder and can’t think beyond brisket, there’s always a crowd-pleasing dessert to fall back on: a platter of fresh fruit. Drizzle some olive oil over it and finish it with flaky sea salt and lime zest. Totally acceptable.
The main rule of Passover is to abstain from leavened bread—but many also avoid kitniyot, skipping certain grains, seeds, and legumes. A few of these recipes include kitniyot, so swap, substitute, or skip as you please. In general, feel free to modify the following recipes according to how you observe. Now, let’s get to our Passover dessert recipes.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Micah Marie Morton, Prop Styling by Gerri Williams1/41Flourless Chocolate-Orange Cake
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Kat Boytsova4/41Chocolate-Filled Toasted Coconut Macaroons
You’ve never seen macaroons quite like this before. Filled with melty bittersweet chocolate, it’s like they took a trip to the doughnut shop and got inspired.
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Chris Morocco, prop styling by Emily Eisen8/41Gluten-Free Carrot Cake
Say yes to golden raisins. (We are pro-dried fruit over here.) Yes to cream cheese. Yes to almond flour, a wonderfully sweet, nutty complement to fresh carrot and walnuts. And yes to coconut oil and vanilla extract, which help the texture and flavors come together.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Emilie Fosnocht, prop styling by Sean Dooley9/41Brown Butter Chocolate Soufflé Fit for a Crowd
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Beth Pakradooni10/41Flourless Chocolate Meringue Cake
Photograph by Joe Lingeman, food styling by Shilpa Uskokovic, prop styling by Marina Bevilacqua11/41Tahini Hot Fudge Skillet Cake
This gluten-, dairy-, and mixer-free skillet cake is the ultimate people pleaser. Top with scoops of vanilla ice cream, then finish with a cascade of warm tahini hot fudge.
Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou12/41Heartbeet Chocolate Cake
Almond flour and cocoa powder may be expected ingredients in this Passover dessert, but the key to achieving buttery moistness in this dairy-free cake? Beet purée.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Kaitlin Wayne, Prop Styling by Sean Dooley13/41Super Seedy Power Cookies
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Pearl Jones, Prop Styling by Beth Pakradooni14/41Almond-Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
Photograph by Isa Zapata. Food Styling by Kat Boytsova. Prop Styling by Stephanie De Luca15/41Salted Coconut Ladoos
Photo by Alex Lau, food styling by Sue Li, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski17/41Salted Chocolate Halva
18/41Chocolate Brownie Cookies
If a fudgy dark chocolate brownie and chewy chocolate chip cookie had a baby, it would be this decadent (but flourless) creation. Bonus: It's portable.
19/41Matzo-Almond Croccante
You may have seen a number of Passover desserts that call for matzo meal, but in this recipe, you want to keep the matzo—or matzah, as some people spell it—whole. It serves as the base for layers of caramel and melted chocolate.
Peter Frank Edwards21/41Coconut Cream Pie With Macaroon Press-In Crust
This coconut macaroon crust is so much better than crushed graham crackers (which are not kosher for Passover).
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Spencer Richards, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua22/41Chocolate Paradis With Almond Praline
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Michelle Gatton, Prop Styling by Christine Keely23/41Strawberry-Rhubarb Cheesecake Bars
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Thu Buser24/41Brown Sugar and Espresso Panna Cotta
A syrupy brown sugar glaze gives this large-format panna cotta a sleek mirror finish. Make it a day ahead (again, with kosher gelatin) to cross one more thing off your to-do list.
Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott26/41Caramelized-Honey Brûlée
If you don’t have a kitchen torch, here’s your excuse to finally order one. This honeyed riff on crème brûlée will blow everyone away.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Sean Dooley, prop styling by Marina Bevilacqua27/41Blueberry Fool With Toasted Coconut
That container of Greek yogurt that’s always in your fridge? Turn it into a laid-back Passover dessert that’ll satisfy any sweet tooth.
Photo by Travis Rainey, Food Styling by Shilpa Uskokovic and Jesse Szewczyk, Prop Styling by Linden Elstran29/41Boozy Cherry and Chocolate Pavlova
You can easily use potato starch in place of the cornstarch for this fruit-filled meringue dessert that’s inspired by Black Forest cake.
Photograph by Rana Düzyol, food styling by Pearl Jones, prop styling by Beth Pakradooni30/41Strawberry and Campari Sorbet Sundae
Peden + Munk32/41Hazelnut Butter and Coffee Meringues
These marbled personal meringues—meringue cookies, really—are quite striking, if we do say so ourselves. For a high-contrast swirl, go easy when folding together the ingredients. (Two strokes of the spatula will suffice.)
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Sean Dooley, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua33/41The Strawberriest Pavlova
What do you want for dessert on Passover? Strawberries, strawberries, and more strawberries. Swap the cornstarch for potato starch in the meringue to keep this sweet treat kitniyot-free.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, Food Styling by Sean Dooley, Prop Styling by Marina Bevilacqua34/41Mango Mess
With the meringue broken into shards, this Passover dessert feels like an avant-garde take on the Eton Mess (a classic English dessert of whipped cream, juicy fruit, and crunchy meringue).
Photograph by Elliott Jerome Brown Jr., Prop Styling by Adrian Ababovic, Food Styling by Mieko Takahashi36/41Pear and Red Wine Sundae for Two
Photo by Alex Lau, Food Styling by Susie Theodorou, Prop Styling by Sophie Strangio37/41Chocolate Date-Caramel Cups
Peden + Munk38/41Grilled Apricots With Almond Cream and Fregolotta
To make it Passover-friendly, you have to tweak this dessert recipe slightly—but that tweak will also make it easier. Instead of making your own Italian cookie crumble, just break up your favorite store-bought kosher cookies and sprinkle them over the dish.
Photo by Emma Fishman, Food Styling by D'mytrek Brown40/41Peach Sorbet With Crushed Blackberries
Tart yogurt, juicy-sweet peaches, and...vodka? Just a splash helps prevent big ice crystals from forming, making the creamy sorbet easier to scoop. Oh, and you don’t need an ice cream maker.
Photograph by Isa Zapata, food styling by Micah Morton, prop styling by JoJo Li41/41Brown-Sugar-Braised Pineapple
