16 Passover Recipes for a Delicious Seder

For a special Passover menu she used to serve at Vic's in New York City, chef Hillary Sterling (now at Ci Siamo) served a blistered wood-oven-baked matzo with Horseradish Butter (you can use pareve margarine instead of unsalted butter to make it if you wish). These crispy, golden brown, bubbly homemade matzo may not conform to the most stringent religious standards, but they definitely beat store-bought. Crumble leftovers over soup, or use them to whip up a quick matzo brei.

Haroset, a condiment made with fruits and nuts, is traditionally served with matzo during the Passover Seder to represent the mortar enslaved Jews used to build the pyramids. Though the ingredients vary depending on the region from which it evolved, it can be made with dried fruit, nuts, and seeds, as well as fresh fruit like apples and pomegranate seeds, plus a little sweet wine and honey. This version is inspired by Ashkenazi traditions and made with fresh apples, walnuts, sweet wine, honey, and cinnamon. Leftovers would be delicious mixed into your morning yogurt.

This non-traditional farinata recipe, a cross between traditional stewed carrot tzimmes and Italian chickpea flour pancakes, personifies the beautiful blending of cultures at the heart of the Seder dinners chef Hillary Sterling used to host at Vic's in New York City. Sterling, who herself is Jewish and grew up in Brooklyn, found inspiration for that menu in Italian-Jewish gastronomy. In 2019, when creating this menu, she focused on Ferrara, a city in Emilia-Romagna with a rich Jewish history that dates back to the early Middle Ages. This is how tzimmes, an Ashkenazi Jewish dish of cooked carrots with prunes, became a farinata, a chickpea flour pancake typical of Ferrara, enriched with carrot juice, roasted carrots, prunes, and chile butter.

This gorgeous, colorful salad takes late-winter produce like thinly shaved beets, carrot ribbons, and rounds of juicy clementine and dresses them up for spring with a citrus-scallion vinaigrette so delicious, recipe creator Leah Koenig says, "I sneak it straight from a spoon."  Crisp arugula serves as the base for this bright, earthy salad. Topped with nutty almonds and a citrus-scallion dressing balanced with honey, this salad is special enough to serve at a holiday meal (Koenig includes it on her table for Passover, alongside her Chicken, Potatoes, and Leeks with Pine Nut Gremolata) but it is just as delicious as a quick, light lunch.

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. To get a head-start on holiday cooking, you can make this brisket a few days in advance — cool it to room temperature and refrigerate it in its sauce for up to five days. When it's time to serve, gently reheat the brisket either in a 350-degree oven or on the stovetop.

At Vic's, Hillary Sterling leaned on high-quality schmaltz to crisp up these kugel wedges; we opted for rich duck fat which is easier to source. A drizzle of vincotto, made from simmered grape must that's aged in oak barrels, punctuates the rich kugel with its sweet and tangy bite. If you like, do as Sterling does, and serve them with Saffron-Soaked Golden Raisins and Vic's Chicken Liver Mousse or our Kosher Chicken Liver Mousse. This recipe gives you the option to either use white rice flour, or substitute in some finely ground matzo meal if avoiding rice.

Using both pistachio oil and roasted pistachios in the yogurt creates a rich, nutty flavor that pairs well with roasted beets. Serve leftover yogurt with crispy chicken thighs or roasted sweet potatoes. If keeping kosher, swap in coconut yogurt or another vegan yogurt for the Greek yogurt.

Gefilte Fish is a dish made from a poached seasoned ground fish and served as an appetizer in Ashkenazi Jewish households, most traditionally during Passover. This recipe starts with a whole whitefish, turning the fillets into flavorful gefilte fish, and the trimmings into stock. You can find whole whitefish at some supermarkets and delis, and can ask your fishmonger to grind the fish for you at the store — just make sure to ask them to reserve the bones, head, skin, etc. for making stock.

Matzo ball soup gets a glow-up in this version by cookbook author Leah Koenig, with fresh parsley, dill, chives, and fennel fronds in the matzo balls themselves, plus more herbs, lemon zest, and edible flowers adding color and bright, spring flavors to each finished bowl of soup.

Whipping boiled sweet potatoes in a food processor incorporates tons of air, resulting in a lighter-than-ever texture. These ultra-silky, three-ingredient potatoes are lightly sweet and extra creamy thanks to vegan coconut yogurt, which can be found in the yogurt section of most grocery stores.

Chef Hillary Sterling shared her recipe for oven-fried artichokes with us, which deliver all of the crispness of deep-fried with a fraction of the mess. You'll need fresh baby artichokes to make this dish, which you can find in well-stocked grocery stores.

A glaze made with a pinch of cayenne, tart pomegranate molasses, cumin, and savory-sweet date syrup gives this gently roasted salmon layers of flavor and a gorgeous bronzed exterior. Choose higher-fat king or Atlantic salmon for best results; if using a skinless fillet, spray the baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray first.

2021 F&W Best New Chef Gaby Maeda's method for making these flavorful, buttery roasted carrots starts with briefly cooking whole carrots in an ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat and sautéing them in a little olive oil until they are browned in spots. She then tosses them with butter — sub in pareve margarine here, if keeping kosher — thyme sprigs, and garlic, and seasons them with salt. The carrots are finally briefly roasted in a hot oven, where the high heat creates caramelized edges that add texture to their outsides, while their interior turns soft and creamy, but not mushy. The entire process takes just 20 minutes, and yields fork-tender carrots with satisfying flavor.

A showstopper, these crisp, smoky potatoes are actually super-easy to make. Once you cut the new fingerling potatoes, drizzle them with a combination of extra-virgin olive oil and pimentón de la Vera, season them with kosher salt and black pepper, and roast them. Then, insert a bay leaf into each potato and roast them again until they're crisp and golden. Discard the bay leaves once done, drizzle with a bit more oil, and you're all set.

Chef Hillary Sterling also made this extra-crispy turkey schnitzel for a Passover feast at Vic's. Keep lean turkey breast moist and flavorful by giving it the cutlet treatment. A meat mallet makes pounding thin cutlets easy, but a rolling pin is a fine substitute. Pound gently to avoid tearing. If you plan to make this recipe as part of your own Passover meal, substitute matzo meal for the rice flour to keep the recipe kosher.

For the crispiest skin and most flavorful meat, roast bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs and legs over a bed of leeks and potatoes, where they render fat and absorb flavor. A quick turn under the broiler imparts a golden finish to the chicken before they're basted in pan juices and dressed with a zippy gremolata made from toasted pine nuts, garlic, and parsley. Cookbook author Leah Koenig loves to serve these during the Passover holiday, but they're a special dinner any night of the year.