These kept showing up on my feed until I gave in and made them. Crushed pastry, pistachio cream, strawberries, chocolate, all layered in a glass so you can see it.
The bar that started this costs around thirty dollars. What's in it is toasted shredded pastry, pistachio cream, and milk chocolate, none of which are expensive on their own.
A note on the strawberries: the ones from Costco run really sweet. Between those, the pistachio cream, and the chocolate, this can tip into too much. That's why I salt the kataifi while it's toasting. A pinch of flaky salt in the buttery pastry is what keeps the whole cup from going flat by the third spoonful.
No baking, no tempering, about 20 minutes. I use my homemade pistachio cream but store-bought works, and kataifi lives in the freezer section at most Middle Eastern and international markets.
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What Is Dubai Chocolate?
It's a milk chocolate bar filled with pistachio cream and kataifi, shredded phyllo pastry toasted in butter until crisp. A chocolatier in Dubai made it, someone posted a video of it snapping open on TikTok in 2024, and it went from there.
The bar itself runs around thirty dollars, which is why it turned into a recipe trend as fast as it turned into a product. People wanted the flavor without the price.
Kataifi is the part most people haven't cooked with. It's sold frozen in long fine strands, mostly at Middle Eastern and international markets, and it's used in desserts like knafeh and baklava. Toasted in butter it goes golden and shatters, which is the texture doing all the work inside the bar.
This recipe takes those three things and layers them in a glass with strawberries instead.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- No baking, no tempering. Toast the kataifi in a pan, melt chocolate in the microwave, layer it in a glass. The hardest part is chopping the pastry.
- Salted kataifi. A pinch of flaky salt in the buttery pastry cuts through everything else. Without it this is sweet on sweet on sweet.
- Cheaper than the bar. A package of kataifi and a jar of pistachio cream cost less than one thirty dollar chocolate bar and make several batches of these.
- You get the crunch. Sealed inside a chocolate bar the pastry softens. Layered in a glass and eaten right away, it stays crisp.
- About 20 minutes. Most of that is toasting the kataifi, and you can do that part days ahead.
Ingredients
Here's what you'll need. Exact amounts are in the recipe card.
- Strawberries: Fresh, sliced. If you have a choice, berries with a bit of tartness make a better cup. The very sweet ones tip the whole thing one-note once the pistachio cream and chocolate go in.
- Kataifi: Freezer section at Middle Eastern and international markets, or online. Chop it fine, shorter than an inch, or the strands tangle and a spoon can't get through the layers.
- Butter: For toasting the kataifi. It's what takes the pastry from dry to golden and crisp.
- Flaky sea salt: Stirred into the kataifi while it's still hot in the pan. Most versions of this recipe skip it, and it's the difference between a cup you finish and one you put down halfway.
- Pistachio cream: Binds the toasted kataifi into a filling. I use my homemade version. Store-bought works and most jars run sweeter, so taste before deciding how much salt the kataifi needs.
- Milk chocolate: Matches the original bar. Dark works too and is the better call if your strawberries are on the sweet side.
- Coconut oil: A teaspoon into the melted chocolate keeps the drizzle fluid. Plain melted chocolate hits cold strawberries and sets into a hard shell almost instantly.
- Pistachios: Chopped, over the top. Crunch and color.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions and Add-Ins
- No kataifi? Regular phyllo sheets, sliced as thin as you can get them, then toasted the same way. Not identical, since kataifi strands are finer and crisp more evenly, but close. Skip puff pastry. It puffs rather than crisps and you end up with soft flakes instead of crunch.
- Pistachio butter instead of pistachio cream. Butter is less sweet, which helps here. If you use it, taste before adding salt to the kataifi, since you'll need less.
- Dark chocolate instead of milk. Worth considering given how sweet everything else is. Milk chocolate is what the original bar uses, but dark is the better balance if your strawberries are on the sweet side.
- No pistachio cream at all? Nutella works and turns it into a different dessert, chocolate on chocolate. Almond butter is closer texturally but much less sweet, so you'd want a spoonful of honey with it.
- Dairy-free: Coconut oil in place of the butter for toasting, and a dairy-free chocolate. The kataifi itself is usually vegan, but check the package.
- Other fruit: Raspberries work and bring more tartness, which suits this. Sliced bananas are too soft and go brown in the glass.
- Tahini: A teaspoon stirred into the pistachio mixture cuts the sweetness from a different direction.
How to Make Dubai Chocolate Strawberry Cups
- Toast the kataifi. Chop the kataifi fine, shorter than an inch, so the strands don't tangle. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat, add the kataifi, and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until golden and crisp. Stir in the flaky salt while it's still hot. Take it off the heat and let it cool completely, since warm kataifi will loosen the pistachio cream.
- Fold in the pistachio cream. Once the kataifi is cool, stir it into the pistachio cream until every strand is coated. Taste it. This is where you find out whether it needs more salt.
- Melt the chocolate. Microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each, until smooth. Stir in the coconut oil. It keeps the chocolate pourable when it hits cold strawberries instead of seizing into a shell.
- Layer the cups. Sliced strawberries in the bottom of a clear glass, then a spoonful of the kataifi mixture, then a drizzle of chocolate. Repeat all three. Two layers is what makes it look like the photos.
- Finish. Chopped pistachios over the top and serve. The kataifi starts softening once it's in the glass, so these are best eaten within the hour.
How to Keep the Kataifi Crisp
The crunch is the whole point of this dessert, and it's the part that goes first.
Toasted kataifi starts softening the moment it meets pistachio cream, and faster once it's sitting against sliced strawberries. Assembled cups are best within the hour.
Three things help:
- Cool the kataifi completely before it goes into the pistachio cream. Warm pastry steams inside the cream and softens itself.
- Assemble right before serving. Not an hour early, not the night before. This is the one that matters most.
- Keep a spoonful of plain toasted kataifi aside and scatter it over the top with the pistachios. Even if the layers inside have gone soft, the top still crunches.
If you're making these for people, toast the kataifi and slice the strawberries ahead, then keep everything in separate containers and build the cups when you're ready to serve.
Storage and Make Ahead
Toasted kataifi: Cool it completely, then keep it in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Don't refrigerate it, the moisture softens it. This is the piece worth making ahead.
Pistachio cream: In the fridge, and it keeps far longer than you'll need. Fold it into the kataifi on the day, not before.
Strawberries: Slice them the morning of. Sliced berries release liquid as they sit, and that liquid is what turns the layers to mush.
Melted chocolate: Melt it fresh. It takes two minutes and remelting it once it's set is more trouble than doing it new.
Assembled cups: Eat them within the hour. These aren't a make-ahead dessert once they're built, whatever the components can do individually.
For a party: Toast the kataifi a day or two before, slice the strawberries in the morning, and set everything out with the melted chocolate so people can build their own. That's the version I'd do for a crowd.
Rose's Top Tips
- Chop the kataifi before it goes anywhere near the pan. Shorter than an inch. Long strands tangle into a nest, and a nest doesn't layer or spoon.
- Don't rush the toasting. Eight to ten minutes over medium, stirring. Pull it early and it's chewy rather than crisp, and chewy pastry in the middle of this is worse than none.
- Salt while it's hot. The salt clings to the buttery pastry when it goes in straight off the heat. Sprinkled on after it cools, it just falls to the bottom of the bowl.
- Taste the filling before you build. Pistachio creams vary a lot in sweetness between brands, and a fixed amount of salt can't be right for all of them.
- Use clear glasses. The layers are the whole appeal. In an opaque cup this is just a bowl of brown and green.
Recipe FAQs
Freezer section at Middle Eastern and international markets, usually near the phyllo. It's also sold online. One package makes several batches, and it keeps frozen for months.
Yes, sliced as thin as you can get it, then toasted the same way. The strands won't be as fine so it crisps less evenly, but it works. Puff pastry doesn't. It puffs instead of crisping and you get soft flakes.
Either. Butter is less sweet, which suits this since everything else in the cup is sweet. If you use butter, you'll need less salt in the kataifi, so taste the filling before you build.
Toast the kataifi up to three days ahead and keep it in an airtight container. Slice the strawberries the morning of. Assemble right before serving, since the pastry starts softening once it's in the glass.
It went into the pistachio cream warm, or the cups sat too long before serving. Cool the toasted kataifi completely first, and build the cups when you're ready to eat them.
Yes, and it's worth considering. The original bar is milk chocolate, but between sweet strawberries and pistachio cream this can run one-note. Dark pulls it back.
Two cups. It doubles easily, and the kataifi is the only part that takes real time, so a bigger batch isn't much more work.
More Easy Dessert Ideas
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
- Dubai Hot Chocolate: The same pistachio and chocolate flavors in a mug, with the toasted kataifi on top instead of layered in.
- 10+ Dubai Chocolate Recipes: Every version I've made, in one place, if you bought a package of kataifi and need to use the rest of it.
- Ninja Creami Pistachio Ice Cream: Where the leftover pistachio cream goes next.
- Strawberry Sago: Another no-bake strawberry dessert in a glass, cold and much lighter than this one.
Did you try this recipe?
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Thank you!
Dubai Chocolate Strawberry Cups
Equipment
- 1 bowl for melting chocolate
- 1 skillet or small pan for toasting kataifi and butter
- 1 cup or dessert bowl
Ingredients
- 8 medium-sized Strawberries
- ½ cup Pistachio Cream
- ½ cup Kataifi Phyllo Dough chopped
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- ¾ cup Milk Chocolate melted
- ¼ cup Pistachio nuts
- ⅛ teaspoon flaky salt
Instructions
- Chop the kataifi into pieces shorter than an inch so the strands don't tangle.½ cup Kataifi Phyllo Dough
- Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add the kataifi and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring, until golden and crisp. Stir in the flaky salt while it's still hot, then remove from the heat and let it cool completely.½ cup Kataifi Phyllo Dough, 2 tablespoons Butter, ⅛ teaspoon flaky salt
- Fold the cooled kataifi into the pistachio cream until every strand is coated. Taste and add more salt if needed.½ cup Pistachio Cream
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring between each, until smooth. Stir in the coconut oil.¾ cup Milk Chocolate
- Layer sliced strawberries in the bottom of a clear glass, add a spoonful of the kataifi mixture, and drizzle with chocolate. Repeat all three layers.8 medium-sized Strawberries
- Top with chopped pistachios and serve. The kataifi softens as it sits, so these are best eaten within the hour.¼ cup Pistachio nuts
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Notes
- Chop the kataifi shorter than an inch. Long strands tangle into a nest and won't layer or spoon properly.
- Cool the kataifi completely before folding it into the pistachio cream. Warm pastry steams inside the cream and softens itself before it reaches the glass.
- Salt while it's hot. Straight off the heat it clings to the buttery pastry. Added after it cools, it falls to the bottom of the bowl.
- Taste after folding, not before. The pistachio cream dilutes the salt, so what tasted right in the pan will read flat once mixed. Store-bought creams run sweeter and usually need more.
- The coconut oil keeps the chocolate pourable. Plain melted chocolate hits cold strawberries and sets into a hard shell almost instantly.
- Use clear glasses. The layers are the point.
- Assemble right before serving. The kataifi starts softening on contact with the cream and the fruit. Within the hour is the window.
- Make ahead: toast the kataifi up to 3 days early and keep it airtight at room temperature. Don't refrigerate it. Slice the strawberries the morning of, and melt the chocolate fresh.
- Kataifi is in the freezer section at Middle Eastern and international markets, or online. One package makes several batches.
Rose Sioson says
This chocolate strawberry cup is such a fun, delicious treat! The mix of crispy, creamy, and chocolatey flavors is truly special. I hope you love it as much as I do—let me know if you try it!