Easy Homemade Baklava Recipe

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This easy baklava recipe has layers of buttery, crispy phyllo pastry filled with pistachios and walnuts, baked until golden, and drenched in a sweet honey-cinnamon syrup. It's flaky, nutty, and surprisingly simple to make with store-bought phyllo pastry!

Prep Time50

Cook Time45

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Servings: pieces

Calories: 148kcal

Author: Natasha Minocha

Ingredients

16 oz Phyllo pastry package, thawed
1/2 cup Butter, melted
1.5 cups Pistachios
2 cups Walnuts
2 tsp Cinnamon powder

Syrup

1 cup Water
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Honey
2 tbsp Lemon juice
1 small Cinnamon stick

Garnish

Dried rose petals and Finely chopped pistachios

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Syrup

In a saucepan, heat water, sugar, honey, a cinnamon stick, and some lemon juice. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Continue simmering for 8 to 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool.

Nuts

Finely chop the pistachios and walnuts in your food processor.
Combine both the nuts in a bowl and mix in the cinnamon powder.

Phyllo Pastry

Preheat your oven to 180 C / 350 F. Butter your baking dish well with butter.
Trim your phyllo sheets to fit the size of your pan. I used 2 pans - 7"x10" and 5" x7".
9"x 13" is a good size for making baklava, but you can use any size pans you want.
Keep the phyllo sheets covered with a damp kitchen towel to prevent them from drying out.

Assembly

Layer 8 leaves of phyllo pastry, brushing each sheet with melted butter before you add the next.
Spread 1/3rd of the nut mixture evenly on top.
Layer 6 phyllo sheets, again buttering each one.
Spread 1/3rd of the nuts mixture.
Stack 6 more buttered phyllo sheets. Spread the remaining 1/3rd of the nuts mixture on top.
Place the final 8 layers of buttered phyllo pastry sheets on top.
Brush the top with more butter and cut the baklava.
Starting vertically, make long parallel lines. Then, cut diagonally to get diamond-shaped baklava.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 180 C/ 350 F or until the baklava is golden and crisp on top.
Pour the cooled syrup over the baklava the minute you take it out of the oven.
Let the baklava steep in syrup at room temperature (no need to refrigerate) for at least 4 to 6 hours.
I like to keep it overnight so the syrup permeates every layer and the flavor is at its best.
Garnish with dried rose petals and finely chopped pistachios. Serve and enjoy!

Video

Notes

The process feels challenging, but while testing different recipes, I realized that getting the phyllo-to-pan size ratio right is the only tedious part.
Keep all the baklava ingredients ready and handy– melted butter, pastry brush, phyllo, and nut mixture and assembly is super-fast.
A 9 by 13" pan is a popular size for baklava. I didn't have one, so I baked it in 2 separate pans. You can use a 9 by 9 square or even a round tin.
To thaw the phyllo pastry, transfer the phyllo sheets to the fridge the night before or leave them on the countertop for 3 to 4 hours.
Phyllo dries in a snap, and then they tear easily, so keep the sheets under a damp towel when layering the baklava.
Be generous with the butter to get golden, crispy layers.

Nutrition