Vegan Persian Baklava with Rosewater Syrup and Pistachios

Name: Vegan Persian Baklava with Rosewater Syrup and Pistachios
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: 1 lb phyllo dough; 1 cup sugar (my preference is evaporated cane juice); ⅔ cup water; ⅓ cup maple syrup; 1 ½ teaspoons rosewater; ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; ¼ teaspoon salt; ¼ cup dried rose petals; 1 lb. unsalted shelled pistachios (about 3 ¼ cups); ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom; ¾ cup vegan butter, room temperature

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Ready to baklava good time? Indulge in the flaky layers of our vegan Persian Baklava dripping with rosewater syrup and topped with pistachios.

a serving of baklava on a small plate on a wooden board.

This baklava makes the perfect dessert to serve after a meal of my vegan shawarma, vegan kofta on freshly grilled pita bread, and taboule (with or without a drizzle of Lebanese Tarator)!

Each layer of crispy, golden pastry is delicately layered with a nutty mixture of ground pistachios, cinnamon, and a hint of cardamom. As you sink your teeth into the flaky texture, you'll be hit with the sweet, floral notes of the rosewater syrup, elevating your senses to the zeta-level where you dance at a disco party with talking dogs who wear hats.

Grab your baking pan and let’s get this baby into the oven!

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Jump to:

🥰Why you are going to adore the ever-loving heck outta this recipe
🎥Learn how to make vegan baklava perfectly in a fun online cooking class!
🧈Some of the notable ingredients for making baklava
📖A Flaky and Fabulous Guide to Making Perfectly Plant-Based Baklava Every Time
🤯Baklava variations and tweaks
👩‍🔬Take these tips from a vegan baklava mad scientist!
🍽️Serving Ideas
🔪Equipment
🫙Storage
❗️Important tip
🤷‍♀️FAQ
✌️You might really wanna make these too.
❤️More freaking veggies you are going to love.
Vegan Persian Baklava with Rosewater Syrup and Pistachios

🥰Why you are going to adore the ever-loving heck outta this recipe

For a fancy-feeling dessert, this is effortless to make. It’s a great project for beginners or to make with your kids.

This recipe is packed with pistachios, which, face it, you don’t eat enough of! They are packed with protein, healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats, potassium, thiamine, B6, and phosphorus. If you don’t know what any of that stuff is, suffice it to say, it’s all stuff that is great for ya!

If stored properly, baklava stays good for weeks! You can be set with teatime treats without much effort.

Closeup of a Vegan Baklava full tray. You can see the flaky layers of one piece sticking up.

🎥Learn how to make vegan baklava perfectly in a fun online cooking class!

I taught a falafel and vegan meze cooking class that featured this rosewater baklava recipe as a dessert.

Watch me make it, answer students' questions, and also demonstrate also how to make some of the best falafel you can possibly make in your home kitchen! I also tell some pretty bad dad jokes during the class. Sorry in advance about that.

a juicy looking falafel, overlaid with the text "The best falafel and vegan meme in the galaxy"

🧈Some of the notable ingredients for making baklava

Vegan Baklava ingredients are measured out in bowls and cups on a concrete countertop.

Phyllo dough: Phyllo dough is a thin, unleavened pastry that is commonly used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine. It is made by rolling out very thin layers of dough and stacking them on top of each other. Almost no one in their right mind makes phyllo dough from scratch. It is available frozen in most supermarkets. By default, it is usually vegan, but it’s always a good idea to check the ingredients when buying anything premade.

Pistachios: Packed with protein, fiber, and healthy fats, these little green gems are a surefire way to “shell” out some delicious nutrition. For this recipe, get unsalted shelled pistachios. You can also substitute them with walnuts, which are another popular option for baklava making.

Vegan butter: Vegan butter is a plant-based alternative to traditional butter that is made without any animal products. It is typically made from oils like coconut, olive, or sunflower oil, along with other ingredients like soy or plant-based emulsifiers. The vegan butter that is available in block form is handier to work with than the plastic tubs of margarine are, because the paper wrappers are marked with measurement indications.

Rose water: Rose water is made by steeping rose petals in water. It has been used for centuries in Middle Eastern, Indian, and Mediterranean cuisines as a flavoring for desserts. Rose water is also used in body care products, so when selecting/ordering rose water, make sure it is food-grade and safe for consumption.

See the recipe card at the bottom of this page for the complete list of ingredients and their quantities.

📖A Flaky and Fabulous Guide to Making Perfectly Plant-Based Baklava Every Time

You wanna see how this tray of golden, flaky heaven gets made? I will grab you by the hand and walk you up the baklava success mountain! Or you can follow along with the easy-to-print recipe card towards the bottom of this page.

a whisk stirring a pot os rosewater syrup over a medium flame on a stovetop.

In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, maple syrup, rose water, vanilla, and salt. Heat the mixture on a high flame until it boils, then turn off the flame and let it cool to room temperature.

spices sitting on top of vibrant-looking pistachios in a food processor bowl.

Add the pistachios (or walnuts if you are using them instead), cinnamon, and cardamom to a food processor fitted with an S blade.

Ground pistachios and spices in a food processor.

Process the nuts and spices for about 60 seconds until coarsely ground. Set aside ¼ cup of the ground pistachios for garnishing the baklava with after it is baked.

a generously buttered pan sitting on a concrete countertop.

So phyllo comes already cut in 9X13 size, and some is twice as wide as that. Iff you have the larger half sheet-pan size phyllo, cut it in half into two short rectangles. Grease a quarter sheet size baking pan or 9X13 baking dish with melted vegan butter.

Phyllo dough being brushed with melted vegan butter on the bottom of a baking pan.

Layer two sheets of phyllo dough on the bottom of the pan, brush with vegan butter, and repeat the process until there are 8 sheets on the bottom.

The first Pistachio layer is spread out on the bottom layers of phyllo dough. Brush and bowl with melted vegan butter on the side.

Sprinkle ⅓ of the ground pistachios over the phyllo base, then layer two sheets of phyllo on top, brush with vegan butter, and add another ⅓ of the ground pistachios. Repeat until all the filling is used up. Add the final sheets of phyllo dough to the top, brushing every two layers with vegan butter.

A sharp knife cutting the assembled baklava before it goes in the oven.

Butter the top sheet of phyllo well. Cut the baklava into 6X4 rows (either square or diamond shaped) with a sharp knife, making sure to cut through to the bottom with every cut.

Cut, freshly syruped vegan Baklava awaiting toppings.

Bake the baklava in the oven for 30-35 minutes until it becomes golden brown and crisp.

Syrup being poured onto hot Vegan Baklava from a saucepan.

While the baklava is piping hot and just freshly removed from the oven, pour the sugar syrup over it.

Ground pistachios and dried rose petals have been sprinkled onto the freshly baked, still sticky and hot baklava.

Use a sharp knife to recut the baklava and ensure the syrup penetrates all the layers.

While still hot and sticky, sprinkle each piece with ground pistachios and dried rose petals. Let the baklava cool to room temperature before serving.

🤯Baklava variations and tweaks

Here are a couple good twists you can try out with this recipe:

Refined sugar free- You can substitute the sugar for an equal amount of coconut sugar in this recipe if you are looking to avoid cane sugar. I have made it that way a bunch and it works out great!
Walnut filling- In Turkey, Greece, Syria, and Lebanon, walnuts are almost as popular as pistachios for making baklava. Simply substitute an equal amount of raw walnut pieces in place of the pistachios.
Gluten-Free Vegan Baklava- Yes. This is real life! It’s not going to be 100% the same, but my recommendation is to use gluten-free vegan puff pastry dough for this hack. Use two layers of puff pastry dough on the bottom of the pan, with vegan butter brushed in between. Then use a single layer of puff pastry between each of the 3 layers of pistachio filling. Another two layers on top with butter brushed in between. You will probably need to use 2 packages of gluten-free vegan puff pastry dough to make the same number of servings as you would from one package of phyllo dough.
Instead of vegan butter- Many regions traditionally make baklava with olive oil instead of butter. So if you would like to make it with that instead, it's absolutely no problem. I suggest adding a ¼ teaspoon of salt to the rosewater syrup to make up for the slight difference in flavor.
Agave nectar 'stedda maple- If you don't have maple syrup, you can use agave syrup in its place. It is a little sweeter than maple syrup, so I would recommend cutting back on the sugar in the syrup by 1 ½ teaspoons.

👩‍🔬Take these tips from a vegan baklava mad scientist!

If you live in or near New Jersey, you probably already know and love Naciye Ferhat Emren, who runs The Baklava Lady, a vegan Turkish cafe in Englishtown NJ. If you don’t know her, well, she’s a freaking gem, and a nice reason to think about moving to NJ!

She’s someone I really admire for creating a vegan business with personality and an authentic vibe.

Here’s how Naciye got into making vegan baklava:

“I grew up enjoying delicious Turkish/Middle Eastern foods. Both my Anne (mom) and Baba (dad) were excellent cooks. I also had a lot of aunts and uncles that were excellent cooks/bakers. My Anne made such delicious baklava. I was always watching and paying attention and wanting to help with whatever they were preparing.

After going vegan over 10 years ago, I tested and tested over and over again until I found the perfect ingredients for my baklava.

I needed it to taste exactly like the way it did when I wasn’t vegan and I achieved that after so many tries. My point is, don’t give up on recipe testing. Don’t stop until your recipe is perfected. There is always a way.”

Naciye churns out massive amounts of extraordinary vegan baklava (as one would expect with a name like the Baklava Lady). So I thought it would be nice for you to hear some tips from her to help you in your baklava adventures.

Naciye “Sütlu Baklava (milky/creamy baklava) is a delicious variation that I enjoy making and indulging in sometimes. Instead of using water for your syrup, use oat or soy milk. You can add rose water to the syrup and it goes perfectly with pistachios. So yum”

Naciye-“The Fillo Factory is a good brand to use for baklava and is easy to find in stores such as Whole Foods, ShopRite, and your local Middle Eastern store.”

Naciye- "Turkish baklava is special and unique in flavor because we do not ever use honey in our baklava. Traditionally, Turkish baklava is made using a simple thick syrup which in my opinion is less sweet than others and is so much better.”

Naciye- “Don’t be afraid of handling the fillo dough. If it tears, use it anyway. Be sure to butter (using vegan butter or oil) each layer.”

Naciye- “The perfect baklava is flaky and a little crunchy. Using too much syrup will make it soggy. So go easy on the syrup.”

You folks reading this should note that this recipe is exactly like that. It’s not cloyingly sweet and doesn't have too much liquid in the syrup. I think you will find it works great out of the gate, with no modification.

🍽️Serving Ideas

Vegan baklava makes a wonderful partner in crime to good quality black tea in the afternoon as a pick-me-up. I also serve it as the obvious dessert of choice when I make vegan shawarma, seitan kofta with tzatziki, or a meal served with my crazy-fresh tabo ule.

Vegan Shawarma Sandwich being held in brown craft paper. Tahini in a cup in the background — This is vegan shawarma, and you are going to love it on freshly baked kuboos with my fast and easy tahini sauce!

🔪Equipment

All you need to make baklava is a saucepan for making the syrup, a food processor for grinding the pistachios, and a baking pan with sides. Do not try to use a flat one with no rim or you will make a mess, and everyone will yell, and most of the rosewater syrup will not get absorbed. I know you don’t want to cause a gaggle of ponies to cry all night. So please just use a pan with some sides to it, ok?

During my falafel cooking class where I made baklava, some people asked if I use parchment paper, and honey, as much as I swear by the stuff most of the time, I DO NOT in this case. The paper can easily blend in with the phyllo dough, and I don’t want to ever accidentally make someone eat paper. So this is a rare baking project where I make it right in the pan without a liner. I wouldn’t recommend using a silpat here either, as you will ruin it when you cut and portion the baklava.

🫙Storage

Baklava is a delicate pastry that needs to be stored properly to maintain its texture and flavor. Here's how you can store baklava after making it:

Cool the baklava completely: Allow the baklava to cool down to room temperature before storing it. This prevents condensation from forming inside the container.

Store in an airtight container: Transfer the baklava to an airtight container with a tight-fitting lid. This helps prevent moisture from getting in and making the pastry soggy.

Store at room temperature: Baklava can be stored at room temperature for up to two weeks. However, if you live in a humid environment, it's best to store it in the refrigerator to prevent it from getting moldy.

Do not stack the baklava: Do not stack the baklava on top of each other as this can cause the pastries to stick together and lose their crispiness.

Recrisp the baklava: If you find that the baklava has lost some of its crispiness, you can reheat it in the oven at 350°F for 5-10 minutes. This will make the pastry crispy and fresh again and restore its texture.

Remember to store the baklava in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight and heat sources. Properly stored baklava can last for up to two weeks, but I will be so shocked if you don't eat it all long before then! If that happens, you have wayyyyyy more self-control than me.

❄️Can baklava be frozen?

Believe it or not, baklava can be successfully frozen and thawed without ruining it, as long as it is stored properly. Here are some tips for freezing and thawing baklava:

Allow the baklava to cool completely before freezing it. If the baklava is still warm, it may create condensation in the packaging and become soggy.

Wrap the baklava tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn and protect it from odors.

Place the wrapped baklava in an airtight container or freezer bag, and label it with the date of freezing.

Store the baklava in the freezer for up to three months.

To thaw the baklava, remove it from the freezer and let it come to room temperature in the packaging. This should take about two hours.

Once the baklava has thawed, remove it from the packaging and reheat it in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 12-15 minutes, or until it is warmed through and crispy on top and around the edges.

It is important to note that while freezing and thawing baklava can preserve its flavor and texture, it may not be exactly the same as freshly made baklava. The rosewater syrup may be slightly absorbed into the phyllo dough layers, and the texture may be slightly softer. However, if you follow these tips, you can still enjoy delicious baklava even after it has been frozen and thawed.

A serving of baklava is being served with an ornate spatula.

❗️Important tip

Phyllo pastry dries out with remarkable speed due to being ultra-thin. To prevent the dough from becoming dry and brittle, I suggest placing it flat on a clean work surface and covering it with a slightly damp kitchen towel between uses. Despite the fact that you may only leave it unattended for brief periods, you will be amazed at how quickly it dries out if it is not protected in this manner.

🤷‍♀️FAQ

What country is baklava from?

Various nations lay claim to being the originator of baklava, similar to the debates over falafel, halvah, and many other dishes.

The origin of baklava is uncertain, but it is believed to have originated in the ancient Assyrian civilization, which spread throughout the Middle East and into the Mediterranean region. Another theory is that baklava may have been introduced to the region by the Ottoman Empire, which ruled much of the area for centuries.

The first recorded recipe for baklava is from a 10th-century Arabic cookbook called Kitab al-Tabikh (Book of Cookery). The recipe called for a simple dough made from flour, water, and vinegar, layered with chopped nuts, and sweetened with honey.

Baklava became a popular dessert throughout the Ottoman Empire, and variations of the recipe were created in different regions. In Greece, for example, the recipe often includes cinnamon and cloves, while in Turkey, it may be made with pistachios instead of walnuts.

✌️You might really wanna make these too.

These are some of my favey dishes to serve with Baklava:

❤️More freaking veggies you are going to love.

Looking for other vegan dessert recipes like this? Try these:

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