Kadayif

Fine shredded strands of dough used in Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern pastries, and the syrup-soaked sweets made from them.

Kadayif: A tray of golden baked kadayif shredded pastry rolls soaked in syrup, garnished with crushed pistachios
  • Traditional and regional desserts

Also called: Engelshaar, Kadayifi, Kadayıf

Kadayif dough, also called kataifi, is made by drizzling a thin batter through tiny holes onto a hot spinning plate, where it sets into fine threads. The strands are sold fresh or frozen. They are loosened, mixed with melted butter and baked around fillings of walnuts, pistachios or cheese until golden and crisp.

After baking, the pastry is soaked with lemon-scented sugar syrup. It is used in knafeh and in rolled or nested pastries, and toasted kadayif is the crunchy filling in viral pistachio chocolate bars.

Bake it at VanillaGoods

Related entries

Sources

Written by VanillaGoods in our own words from these sources. Last reviewed October 15, 2026.

  1. 10 Turkish Desserts You Need to Try, Go Türkiye (Turkish Tourism Promotion and Development Agency)