How to Make a Dubai Chocolate Bar at Home

You’ve seen it snapped in half on your feed: a thick chocolate bar, a crunchy green centre and that sound. The Dubai chocolate bar started at a small Dubai chocolatier and became the most copied dessert on the internet. The good news? It’s surprisingly easy to make at home, and you only need a few ingredients.

What’s inside a Dubai chocolate bar?

Three things: a chocolate shell, sweet pistachio cream, and toasted kataifi (shredded filo pastry). The kataifi is what gives it that famous crunch. Use a pistachio cream with a high pistachio content and real flavour. We use GIMA Pistachio Cream, made in Australia with 50% roasted pistachios.

Dubai chocolate bar recipe

Makes 2 large bars or about 16 squares. Prep 30 minutes, plus setting.

You’ll need

• A chocolate bar mould, silicone mould or small loaf tin lined with baking paper

Ingredients

• 100g kataifi pastry
• 40g unsalted butter
• 200g GIMA Pistachio Cream
• 1 tbsp GIMA Pistachio Butter (optional, for deeper pistachio flavour)
• Pinch of sea salt
• 350g good-quality milk or dark chocolate, chopped
• Chopped pistachios, to decorate (optional)

Method

1. Toast the kataifi. Roughly chop or snip the kataifi into 1–2cm lengths. Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat, add the kataifi and toss constantly for 6–8 minutes until deep golden and crisp. Tip onto a plate and cool completely. Warm kataifi turns soggy once mixed.
2. Make the filling. Stir the cooled kataifi into the pistachio cream with the pistachio butter and salt. It should be thick and crunchy, not runny.
3. Melt the chocolate. Melt the chocolate gently in a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water, or in 20-second bursts in the microwave, stirring each time. For a snappy, glossy finish, temper it (see tips below).
4. Make the shell. Spoon chocolate into your moulds and brush or tilt it up the sides. Freeze for 5 minutes until set. Add a second coat if any spots look thin.
5. Fill. Press the pistachio filling firmly into the shells, leaving a few millimetres at the top.
6. Seal. Pour over the remaining chocolate to cover and smooth with a spatula. Scatter with chopped pistachios if using.
7. Set. Refrigerate for 1–2 hours until completely firm, then unmould.

Tips for the perfect crunch

• Toast darker than you think. Pale kataifi goes chewy. You want a deep golden colour.
• Cool it completely. Mixing warm kataifi into the cream softens the strands.
• Quick temper: melt two-thirds of the chocolate, then stir in the remaining third off the heat until smooth. This gives a much better snap and shine than simply melted chocolate.
• Eat within a few days. The kataifi slowly softens as it absorbs moisture from the cream. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Variations

• Dubai chocolate tart: press the filling into a chocolate biscuit base and top with ganache.
• Dubai chocolate strawberries: spoon the filling into a glass, top with strawberries and pour over melted chocolate.
• Hazelnut version: swap in GIMA Hazelnut Cream with dark chocolate.
• Dubai chocolate gelato: fold the crunchy filling through our homemade pistachio gelato.

FAQs

What is kataifi?

Kataifi is finely shredded filo pastry, used across the Middle East and Greece in desserts like knafeh. In a Dubai chocolate bar, it’s toasted in butter to make the crunchy layer. Read more in our kataifi pastry guide.

Can I use pistachio butter instead of pistachio cream?

Pistachio butter is unsweetened, so on its own the filling will taste savoury. Use pistachio cream as the base, and add a spoonful of pistachio butter if you want a deeper pistachio hit.

Is a Dubai chocolate bar halal?

GIMA Pistachio Cream is halal certified. Check the labels of your chocolate, kataifi and butter if you need the whole bar to be halal.

Where can I buy Dubai chocolate?

If you’d rather skip the kitchen, we stock ready-made Beyoğlu Dubaco Dubai chocolate bars.

More pistachio ideas: see all our pistachio recipes.

Contains pistachio (tree nut), milk, soy and gluten (kataifi). Check all labels for allergens.