The Atlas · India's Sweet Tooth

Indian Desserts & Sweets

50 of India's 416 ranked dishes are sweets, 12.0% of the whole cuisine. By our raters the best is Aamras, Maharashtra's pured summer mango, Nº 633 in the world.

50 dishes ranked·12.0% of the cuisine·1,005 diner ratings·Top rank Nº 633

India's sweets run on milk and sugar, not butter and flour. Its 50 ranked desserts lean on paneer and reduced milk, on syrup and ghee and cardamom, rather than the baked layer cakes of Europe. This is the land of mithai, the boxed sweets carried to every festival and wedding, and of the frozen kulfi sold from summer carts.

The best-rated is a seasonal outlier: Indian raters put Aamras, nothing but ripe mango pured with a little saffron, at Nº 633, ahead of the richer showpieces. Fame runs elsewhere, on the milk sweets of Bengal and the syrup-soaked gulab jamun of any celebration. West Bengal and Gujarat field the deepest benches, six ranked sweets each. Read them below: the signature sweets, by region, or the complete list of all 50.

The Signature Sweets

Twelve signature sweets in rank order, four told in full, then eight more from the sweet-shop tray.

Aamras, dessert from India
Plate IDessert · Maharashtra

1Nº 633 worldwide

Aamras

Dessert · Maharashtra

Ripe Indian mangoes pured to a smooth, fragrant pulp, sometimes lifted with saffron, cardamom or a pinch of dry ginger. Eaten through the short summer mango season across Maharashtra and Gujarat, usually spooned over rice or scooped up with hot puris.

★ 4.1|15 ratings

Kulfi falooda, frozen dessert from India

2Kulfi faloodaNº 823

Frozen Dessert · Northern India

A northern summer cooler pairing kulfi, dense slow-cooked Indian ice cream, with slippery falooda vermicelli. Rose syrup, sweet basil seeds and crushed nuts go on top, so each glass mixes cold, chewy and crunchy in one spoon.

★ 4.1|32 ratings

Kulfi, ice cream from India

3KulfiNº 974

Ice Cream · India

India's ice cream, made by simmering whole milk down for hours until it turns nutty and caramelized, then freezing it in conical molds. Denser and less airy than the Western kind, it comes flavored with pistachio, saffron, cardamom or mango.

★ 4.0|95 ratings

Ras malai, cheese dessert from India

4Ras malaiNº 981

Cheese Dessert · West Bengal

Soft paneer dumplings, called chhana, gently poached and then steeped in sweetened milk thickened with cream and cardamom. A Bengali festival sweet, served well chilled and scattered with slivered pistachios, almonds and a thread or two of saffron.

★ 4.0|68 ratings

  1. Achappam, cookie from India5

    Achappam

    Nº 1,039

    Cookie · Kerala★ 4.0

  2. Mysore pak, dessert from India6

    Mysore pak

    Nº 1,202

    Dessert · Mysore★ 4.0

  3. Shrikhand, dessert from India7

    Shrikhand

    Nº 1,275

    Dessert · Maharashtra★ 4.0

  4. Kaju katli, dessert from India8

    Kaju katli

    Nº 1,347

    Dessert · India★ 3.9

  5. Baked Cheese (Chhena poda), cheese dessert from India9

    Baked Cheese (Chhena poda)

    Nº 1,687

    Cheese Dessert · Odisha★ 3.9

  6. Rasgulla, dessert from India10

    Rasgulla

    Nº 1,772

    Dessert · West Bengal★ 3.9

  7. Sandesh, dessert from India11

    Sandesh

    Nº 1,843

    Dessert · West Bengal★ 3.9

  8. Mishti doi, dessert from India12

    Mishti doi

    Nº 2,073

    Dessert · West Bengal★ 3.8

The Gazetteer

Where India's sweets are made

The states with the deepest mithai traditions. Choose one to filter the complete ledger below.

Placed dishes only · top 6 regions

  7. Another 10 ranked dishes are logged simply as pan-Indian, with no single regional home.

The Complete Ledger

All 50 Indian desserts & sweets in the world ranking, every entry.

50 entries
  1. 633 Aamras Dessert Maharashtra ★ 4.1
  2. 823 Kulfi falooda Frozen Dessert Northern India ★ 4.1
  3. 974 Kulfi Ice Cream India ★ 4.0
  4. 981 Ras malai Cheese Dessert West Bengal ★ 4.0
  5. 1,039 Achappam Cookie Kerala ★ 4.0
  6. 1,202 Mysore pak Dessert Mysore ★ 4.0
  7. 1,275 Shrikhand Dessert Maharashtra ★ 4.0
  8. 1,347 Kaju katli Dessert India ★ 3.9
  9. 1,687 Baked Cheese (Chhena poda) Cheese Dessert Odisha ★ 3.9
  10. 1,772 Rasgulla Dessert West Bengal ★ 3.9
  11. 1,843 Sandesh Dessert West Bengal ★ 3.9
  12. 2,073 Mishti doi Dessert West Bengal ★ 3.8
  13. 2,156 Pinni Dessert Northern India ★ 3.8
  14. 2,285 Karanji Sweet Pastry Maharashtra ★ 3.8
  15. 2,329 Rabri Dessert India ★ 3.8
  16. 2,468 Panjiri Dessert Punjab ★ 3.8
  17. 2,470 Basundi Dessert Maharashtra ★ 3.8
  18. 2,841 Laddu Dessert India ★ 3.8
  19. 2,901 Phirni Pudding Punjab ★ 3.8
  20. 3,213 Doodhpak Dessert Gujarat ★ 3.8
  21. 3,231 Chiroti Deep-fried Dessert Southern India ★ 3.8
  22. 3,375 Mohanthal Dessert Gujarat ★ 3.8
  23. 3,450 Pantua Deep-fried Dessert West Bengal ★ 3.8
  24. 3,651 Sutarfeni Dessert Gujarat ★ 3.7
  25. 3,954 Sukhdi Dessert Gujarat ★ 3.7
  26. 4,096 Rajbhog Dessert West Bengal ★ 3.7
  27. 4,528 Barfi Dessert India ★ 3.7
  28. 4,759 Kalakand Cheese Dessert India ★ 3.7
  29. 4,806 Agra petha Dessert Agra ★ 3.7
  30. 5,608 Kheer Pudding Odisha ★ 3.6
  31. 6,065 Matka kulfi Frozen Dessert India ★ 3.6
  32. 6,268 Bebinca Cake Goa ★ 3.5
  33. 6,489 Ghevar Dessert Rajasthan ★ 0.0
  34. 6,609 Peda Dessert Mathura ★ 3.5
  35. 7,380 Gujiya Sweet Pastry Northern India ★ 3.4
  36. 7,494 Gajar ka halwa Pudding Northern India ★ 3.4
  37. 7,526 Gulab jamun Deep-fried Dessert India ★ 3.4
  38. 7,723 Chandrakanthalu Deep-fried Dessert Andhra Pradesh ★ 3.3
  39. 8,147 Khaja Sweet Pastry Odisha ★ 3.2
  40. 8,498 Falooda Dessert India ★ 3.0
  41. 8,592 P Phalon ki chaat Fruit Salad Delhi ★ 0.0
  42. 8,788 Nimish Dessert Lucknow ★ 0.0
  43. 8,941 Ice halwa Dessert Mumbai ★ 0.0
  44. 8,942 Magaj Dessert Gujarat ★ 0.0
  45. 9,058 J Jhajariya Dessert Rajasthan ★ 0.0
  46. 9,068 Kansar Dessert Gujarat ★ 0.0
  47. 9,894 M Mawa cake Dessert India ★ 0.0
  48. 10,122 K Karachi biscuits Cookie Hyderabad ★ 0.0
  49. 10,420 Chavde Deep-fried Dessert Maharashtra ★ 0.0
  50. 10,674 Qubani ka meetha Dessert Hyderabad ★ 0.0

Questions, Answered

Indian desserts & sweets, frequently asked, answered from 1,005 ratings.

What is the best Indian dessert?
By our diners' ratings it's aamras, ripe mango pured with a little saffron and cardamom, at Nº 633 worldwide. Behind it come the northern kulfi falooda at Nº 823, the slow-churned kulfi itself, and Bengal's cheese-and-cream ras malai.
What is India known for in desserts?
Milk, not flour. Indian sweets, collectively called mithai, are built on paneer and slowly reduced milk, sweetened with sugar or jaggery and scented with cardamom, saffron and rose. Think ras malai, gulab jamun and kulfi rather than the baked cakes of Europe.
What is the most famous Indian sweet?
The most famous abroad is gulab jamun, the deep-fried milk-solid dumplings soaked in rose syrup, poured at nearly every wedding and Diwali. It rarely tops the ratings, though: by score, the seasonal aamras and the frozen kulfi falooda lead. Fame and rank rarely align.
What is ras malai?
Ras malai is a Bengali sweet of soft paneer dumplings, called chhana, soaked in sweetened, cardamom-scented cream. The name pairs ras, juice, with malai, cream. Served chilled and strewn with pistachio and saffron, it ranks Nº 981 among Indian sweets.
Which region of India has the best sweets?
Among sweets with a named home, West Bengal and Gujarat tie deepest with six ranked entries apiece, Bengal on its milk sweets like ras malai and sandesh. Maharashtra follows with five, led by aamras, then Northern India with four.
Where else should I look for great desserts?
Especially the pastry nations: worldwide the department runs to 2,151 sweets from 154 countries, topped not by India but by Algeria's almond makroud at Nº 8. Italy fields 305 ranked desserts, the United States 155. See Desserts & Sweets worldwide.

This Department, Elsewhere

Desserts & sweets from India's neighbours and beyond, ranked the same way.

Sri LankanDesserts & Sweets11AfghanDesserts & Sweets8PakistaniDesserts & Sweets5BangladeshiDesserts & Sweets2NepaleseDesserts & Sweets1MaldivianDesserts & Sweets1
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