Yom Kippur might be a fast day, but that doesn’t mean food isn’t a part of it in some way. When it comes to the pre and post-fast meals, there’s a lot to consider.

For the pre-fast meals, it’s important to choose recipes that are nourishing, not too salty, and keep you full for a while. Recipes like Kasha Varnishkes, Classic Kreplach, and Nourishing Vegetable Soup are some of our best Yom Kippur recipes you can choose from.

For post-fast meals, foods that are satisfying, not too heavy, and typically dairy recipes are the way to go. We love Faked Ziti, Pizza Quiche and a big Lox Board to help us bounce back.

Whichever Yom Kippur recipes you choose below, know that they’re all the best Yom Kippur recipes out there and will surely create the best Yom Kippur meals you and your family have every had!

Pre-Fast Recipes

1. Nourishing Vegetable Soup by Rorie Weisberg

Fasting can take a lot of you. So refuel with this nourishing and restorative soup. It’s hearty and filling and will also help you rehydrate after fasting!

2. Lemony Sheet Pan Chicken Dinner by Molly Hagler

There is nothing better than a sheet pan dinner. This is perfect for a weeknight dinner. It comes together quickly and comes out delicious!

3. Classic Kreplach by Carol Ungar

Kreplach aren’t Jewish wontons. The traditional dumplings are a kabbalistic food expressing the nature of Divine judgement. The white dough covering stands for Divine mercy, while the red meat filling stands for Divine justice. In Jewish mysticism, red, the color of blood, represents strict justice while white, the color of milk, represents mercy and love. Kreplach incorporate both, and on Yom Kippur, when G-d inscribes the judgement, we want the justice to be covered with mercy, like the meat of the kreplach encased in its blanket of white dough. Chickens are used during the pre-Yom Kippur atonement ritual of kaparot, which can be performed by swinging a live chicken over one’s head and reciting a prayer that declares that the chicken is going to its death in place of the person performing the ritual (traditionally, the chicken used for the ritual is slaughtered and donated to the poor for the pre-Yom Kippur meal). The stark drama of the kaparot ritual demonstrates the fragility of our existence and inspires us toward repentance. For this reason, it’s an ancient tradition to float kreplach in chicken soup eaten at the pre-fast meal.

4. Onion and Potato Blintzes by Sina Mizrahi

Blintzes are a summer meal your entire family will enjoy: light, yet satisfying. And they come in different flavors and variations — with these six delicious recipes, you will have a great deal of variety for several milchig meals. Start with the basic blintz recipe.

5. Best-Ever Baked Rice with Crispy Crumbs by Esther Ottensoser

Although the ingredients in this recipe are pretty basic, the combination of flavors brings out a delicious savory taste.

6. Celebration Chicken with Sweet Potatoes and Dates by Julia Turshen

Rosh Hashanah celebrates the Jewish New Year. There are a lot of symbolic foods associated with the holiday, most of them sweet to help usher in a sweet new year. This chicken is a bit of a Rosh Hashanah riff on the famous Chicken Marbella from The Silver Palate Cookbook by Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso. Just like that extremely popular recipe, this chicken doesn’t require much work and yields a crowd-pleasing, highly flavorful result. It calls for just one roasting pan, in which you both mix everything and cook. There are no extra bowls or pans, no browning chicken in batches, and definitely no fuss. You also get a two-for-one moment: the sweet potatoes and dates (sweet for Rosh Hashanah!) give you an instant side dish.

7. Fluffy Oat Challah Rolls by Yael Goldberg

If you have gluten free people in your family, you’ll love this always flavorful challah. We love these rolls warmed up on the blech, served with dips. Each roll is a kzayis, and you can say birkas hamazon on it. Enjoy!

8. Meaty Potato Soup by Fleishigs Magazine

A delicious meat and potatoes soup that is hearty and filling and perfect for any night of Passover!

9. Simple and Colorful Quinoa Salad by Mali Baer

A full, flavorful, and unfussy quinoa salad you’ll want to make again and again. This dish goes great as a side dish for any meal.

10. Bubby’s Succulent Stuffed Cabbage by Elky Friedman

No need for the frozen variety. Follow these simple instructions to make my grandmother’s delicious stuffed cabbage.

11. Sweet Potato Apple Mini Loaves by Brynie Greisman

If you’re debating whether to serve a carbohydrate, a vegetable, or a fruit for a side dish, this dish solves the problem, as it has all three! Served in mini loaves, and drizzled with a cinnamon glaze, these are an elegant and classy choice for your Purim seuda. They freeze beautifully too.

12. Best Ever Crispy Sweet Potatoes by Rorie Weisberg

Rorie shares her favorite way to prepare her most favorite starchy vegetable and achieve that mouthwatering crispy exterior, creamy interior combination. Learn Rorie’s favorite tip that will take your roast potatoes to perfection on Living Full ‘n Free!

13. Oven Crisp Marinated Chicken from the Dining In Cookbook

This dish screams “meal-prep.” Marinate it overnight and cook the next day, or freeze ahead of time and the chicken will marinate as it defrosts.

14. Shallot and Fennel Chicken by Rorie Weisberg

When creating a healthy main, avoiding sugary sauces is a must. This recipe is unique and elegant without excess sugar.

15. Whole Wheat Oatmeal Muffins by Elky Friedman

These wholesome oatmeal muffins make an ideal breakfast or afternoon pick-me-up.

16. Fragrant Roasted Veggie Blend by Rorie Weisberg

We all want to capture the color and variety of various foods to make our menus Yom Tov-worthy. One way I do this is by harvesting the full potential of roasted veggies! This unique blend combines the tastes and textures of all sorts of vegetables and herbs into one special dish. Enjoy!

17. Baked Sweet ‘n Sour Meatballs by Chaya Ruchie Schwartz

I’ve been making this meatball recipe for years. My sister-in-law included it in the original stovetop version in the cookbook she made for me when I was engaged. I recently started baking it instead; it definitely requires less babysitting, and the results are just as good!

18. Bubby Czarna’s Soup by Erin Grunstein

When Kosher.com reached out to me to develop a recipe using the Manishewitz cello packets, I immediately smiled and thought of my Bubby, who would always use them in her soup. She was famous for her soup – I would go to her home every Thursday night and it was always part of our meal. When I was a child, she would blend it for me because I didn’t like all the pieces. I am so happy to be able to share my Bubby’s delicious and hearty soup – I hope it warms your family as much as it has mine.

19. Best Challah Ever by Esty Wolbe

Thousands of women swear by this challah recipe and make it for Shabbat every week. It’s just the right amount of sweetness, a soft and doughy consistency, with a rich flavor. The dough rises well and is easy to work with, not too sticky to braid. The recipe is very versatile and you can easily adapt it to your own taste and it will still come out great.

20. Kasha Varnishkes by The Taste of Kosher

Kasha Varnishkes is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish side dish which remains very popular among American Jews.

Post-Fast Recipes

21. Spinach-Cheese Cannelloni by Brynie Greisman

This garnered raves from everyone who tasted it. The sauces and cheeses are not too heavy, and it uses readily available ingredients. It has a few steps but isn’t complicated at all. You can swap the cannelloni for regular pasta if you wish.

22. When Greek Meets Caesar Salad by Victoria Dwek

Salad dressings are supposed to add flavor, but this one also adds nutritional content. Most of us can eat a Caesar-style salad any day with any dairy meal. Now, with no mayo or egg yolks and very minimal oil, it’s actually a healthful side. This dressing is also a great option for those who are allergic to eggs. Now that I’m using Greek on my Caesar, I ought to try using Greek on my Greek.

23. Rorie’s Famous Banana Nut Muffins 2.0 by Rorie Weisberg

Presenting… my all-time favorite macro snack, improved. I featured this recipe five years ago, soon after I first started writing for Family Table. Since then, I’ve made it even fluffier and more filling. These muffins freeze beautifully, and they’re a great snack to have at home or on the go.

24. Pizza Quiche by Chayie Schlisselfeld

Who says being a grown-up means you can never eat pizza? Enjoy this delicious “crossover” dish guilt-free, as it is also low in fat.

25. Best Cinnamon Buns by Faigy Grossmann

If you’ve ever strolled through your neighborhood mall, chances are you’ve inhaled the scent of some freshly baked cinnamon buns. It’s absolutely intoxicating! There’s just something so satisfying about a hot drink and a warm cinnamon bun. Cinnamon buns sound like something only a professional baker can whip up, but with this fairly simple recipe, even novice cooks can impress their friends and family. This dough can be made in a mixer or by hand. Since it’s not overly sweet, it’s not over-powered by the sweet filling and frosting.

26. Faked Ziti by Esty Wolbe

This is my Faked Ziti (“Baked Ziti”). There’s no draining and no baking and the easiest thing to make for dinner. It’s super quick and you can do it all with one hand, because when it’s supper-o’clock you’re probably doing something else with the other. Watch the video!

27. Lox Platter with Whitefish Salad and Chive-Dill Cream Cheese by Adina Schlass

Everyone needs a signature, and this one is mine. I’m all about aesthetics, and this is just one of those dishes you can serve that presents beautifully, with hardly any effort and zero cooking necessary. After slaving away making those homemade blintzes, we always need a few of these recipes!

28. Grain Free Wild Blueberry Muffins by Chay Wike

With barely six grams of sugar each, these muffins are a lovely warm and nourishing treat in the morning if you’re looking for something to grab and go. They are grain-free and full of healthy fats. Perfectly sweet and bright thanks to a squeeze of citrus juice, they bake up with a slightly crunchy exterior and tender crumb.