The 15 Best Hanukkah Recipes for Your Celebration

Gail Simmons's Horseradish Brisket

Rubbing prepared horseradish on the brisket and whisking it into the meaty sauce punches up the rich flavors here. Like most braised dishes, this brisket tastes better on the second or even third day.

Kate's Supercrispy Potato Latkes

Jessamyn's Sephardic Challah

Jessamyn Waldman grew up in Canada eating challah, the Jewish Sabbath bread. Unlike the eggy challahs of the Ashkenazi Jews of Eastern Europe, this version comes from the Sephardic Jews of the Mediterranean, who flavored their challahs with caraway and anise. Many challahs are braided, but this one is twisted into a round, turban-shaped loaf.

Roasted Carrot and Cumin Puree

Roasting carrots until they are golden brown brings out their sweetness and provides a perfect foil for tart lemon juice and musky cumin. Our silken puree is a particularly good side dish for lamb and also for roasted chicken.

Herb-and-Lemon-Roasted Chicken

This roast chicken is foolproof and fantastic. Plus, it's versatile enough for a weeknight dinner or weekend dinner party.

Doughnuts in Cardamom Syrup

These doughnuts, from Esther Sabach, Rachel Klein's boyfriend's mother, are a nod to Sephardic Jewish tradition.

Zucchini Latkes with Red Pepper Jelly and Smoked Trout

"My mom used to make zucchini fritters on the Jewish holidays," says Rachel Klein. Klein's latke version is unexpected and delicious, especially with red pepper jelly and smoked trout.

Vanilla Raised Doughnuts

According to writer and recipe developer Jess Thomson, it's best to weigh flour on a kitchen scale instead of using measuring cups. "When we tested the recipes for the book, that seemed to make a big difference," she says.

Sweet Potato Latkes with Wasabi and Wasabi Tobiko

Rachel Klein mixes sweet and spicy flavors in this whimsical recipe, stirring pungent wasabi paste into crème fraîche to top the slightly sweet latkes and garnishing them with wasabi tobiko (flying fish roe) and peppery radish sprouts.

Easy Short Ribs Braised in Red Wine

"A good sauce is the bridge between the meat and the wine," says Ken Frank. When pairing beef with Cabernet, he usually serves a hearty red-wine sauce, like the one on these short ribs. Veal stock gives the dish extra-deep flavor, but chicken stock (preferably homemade) works well, too.

Hanukkah Doughnuts

Hebrew for "doughnuts," sufganiyot are the most popular Hanukkah food in Israel. These fried treats are simply made from balls of yeast dough and filled with chocolate, creams, curd, or jam, as here. Bakeries and markets start frying them weeks before the actual holiday and keep going until the week after. With TV chef Andrew Zimmern's recipe, you can prepare them year-round.

Brisket with Sweet-and-Sour Onions

This brisket recipe is from Jessamyn Rodriguez, the founder and CEO of Hot Bread Kitchen, the New York-based social enterprise that helps immigrant women and others launch careers and food businesses. She calls the brisket her "crowning glory," and says the secret is cooking it low and slow.

Brisket with Apricots and Prunes

For extra-tender brisket, cookbook author Julia Turshen cleverly uses a damp piece of crumpled parchment as a protective blanket for the meat to prevent it from drying out while it roasts. "In this case, a wet blanket is a good thing!" she says.

Hanukkah Brisket

Andrew Zimmern likes to roast his brisket whole because the fatty nose of the wide end will help to keep the roast moist. This juicy brisket also freezes well when cooked and bagged with the vegetables and liquid, so even a small family can make it.

Best-Ever Potato Latkes

Niki Russ Federman makes the tastiest, crispiest latkes with both scallions and onion.