Shahi Tukda | Shahi Tukra

Updated: August 28, 2022, By Swasthi

Shahi tukda is a rich & festive dessert made with bread, ghee, sugar, milk and nuts. It is a very popular classic royal dessert and is said to have originated during the Mughal reign. There are different stories which relate to the origin of this delicious dessert. It is said that shahi tukda also known as shahi tukra was a favourite of the Mughal emperors and was enjoyed with their festive iftar meals during the month of Ramadan.

Shahi tukda also known as shahi tukra served in a white plate

Recipe Comments

About Shahi Tukda

Shahi tukda is a Mughlai dessert made with ghee fried bread, thickened sweetened milk, saffron and nuts. Shahi is a Persian word meaning Royal and tukda or tukra is a hindi & urdu term meaning a piece. Shahi tukda literally translates to a royal piece of dessert. This delicious dessert is the star at most iftar gatherings, parties & celebrations. It is served as an after meal dessert.

Shahi tukda is much similar to the hyderabadi double ka meeta. Traditionally shahi tukda is made by deep frying bread pieces in ghee until golden and crisp. Then they are dipped in sugar syrup.

To finish off, a generous amount of thickened creamy saffron milk known as Rabri is poured over them. Lastly shahi tukda is topped with mawa & roasted nuts like cashews, almonds and pistachios.

This delicious dessert is high in calories so it is usually eaten in small portions.

For more Sweets recipes, you can check
Double ka Meetha

Sheer Khurma
Rasgulla
Carrot halwa
Anjeer barfi

Shahi tukda recipe made with bread, milk, sugar and nuts

Photo Guide

How to Make Shahi tukda (Stepwise Photos)

Make Rabri

Firstly air dry or sun dry bread for 3 hours. This helps bread not to soak up ghee when fried. You can also pan toast it first and then use to deep fry.

1. Bring milk to a boil in a heavy bottom pot.

boiling milk in a pot to make shahi tukda recipe

2. This one and the next 3 steps are optional. If you want your condensed milk to be ready under 5 minutes, follow these steps. Soak almonds for 4 to 5 hours. Then remove the skin. Blend them with 2 green cardamoms, little milk, sugar and a generous pinch of saffron/ kesar. I added sugar later to the milk directly.

Blending soaked almonds saffron for double ka meetha recipe

3. The almond paste must be very smooth.

blended smooth almond paste to make shahi tukda recipe

4. When the milk comes to a boil, then add this paste.

making homemade condensed milk for shahi tukda recipe

5. Stir and cook on a medium flame.

condensing almond milk to make double ka meetha

6. Under 4 minutes, milk thickens and begins to smell aromatic. Switch off and set aside. Aromatic condensed rich milk is ready. If you have not used almonds, condense the milk until it thickens and reduces to half.

milk thickens and begins to smell aromatic

7. Trim the brown sides of the bread. Cut to triangles as well. Deep fry or tawa fry or bake the bread triangles. If tawa frying, smear ghee all over the bread and toast on a medium heat. Set aside.

If making for festive occasions, i suggest deep frying. We need to fry bread to golden.

frying bread to golden to make double ka meetha

Make sugar syrup

8. Add 1/3 cup sugar and little water to a wide pan to make sugar syrup.

making the sugar syrup for shahi tukda recipe

9. Next simmer it until it comes to a one string consistency. If you are a beginner, don’t worry much about the string. But make sure the syrup is a bit thick and not very thick. Switch off the stove. If you like you can add rose essence now.

one string consistency for sugar syrup in shahi tukda recipe

10. Cool it a bit. Add bread slices and make sure syrup is coated well over the bread.

coating bread with sugar syrup for double ka meetha

Assemble shahi tukda

11. Place them on a serving dish. Any left over sugar syrup can be poured to the serving dish.

arranging sugared fried bread for double ka meetha recipe

12. Lastly pour the condensed milk all over the bread. Garnish with pistachios, almonds, nuts, saffron.

addition of milk over the bread for double ka meetha

To make shahi tukda, do add some crumbled khoya/ mawa over the bread. Allow it to absorb for a while and serve.

hyderabadi double ka meetha

You can also make individual servings by arranging bread in a deep plate. Add rabri to a small cup and nuts to a small bowl.

shahi tukda recipe

Pro Tips

Bread: You can use any kind of bread but white bread tastes the best. The dessert made with whole grain bread will have a strong nutty aroma. However I always use whole grain bread as we don’t eat the white one.

Ghee: I highly suggest making shahi tukda with the best quality ghee and not oil. You will get a very good flavour with ghee but not with oil.

Rabdi is thickened milk. Making rabdi is the main laborious task in this recipe as you need to keep stirring the milk for long hours until it reduces and thickens. So you can make quick instant rabdi by following my instructions below.

If you are making shahi tukda for a festive occasion then make it the authentic way as mentioned below.

To make the dish authentic

  • Air dry the bread for a day or at least for few hours. This avoids the bread from soaking up too much ghee when you fry.
  • Fry the bread in pure desi ghee.
  • Make the rabdi following the traditional method & no short cuts like using condensed milk. You can find the rabri recipe here.
  • Garnish the finished shahi tukda with rabdi, mawa and lots of nuts just before serving. This prevents the bread from turning too soggy.

How to make this recipe easy & healthier

If you are health conscious and do not prefer to use a lot of ghee & sugar in your shahi tukda then follow my easy steps:

  • Toasting bread: Smear ghee over the bread and toast them on a pan or grill them until golden and crisp. I went ahead by following this method.
  • Making rabdi: Many a times I make rabri with ground almonds. This is an amazing way to thicken the milk quickly. This is the easier way but will taste different from the authentic rabdi.
  • Skip making the sugar syrup: If you are not deep frying the bread in ghee, then I would also suggest you to skip the sugar syrup. Just pour the rabdi over the toasted bread.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card

shahi tukda

Shahi Tukda | Shahi Tukra Recipe

5 from 63 votes
Shahi Tukda is a delicious royal dessert made with bread, ghee, sugar, milk and nuts. It's made for special occasions and is served as a after meal dessert in a biryani meal.
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For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card

Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Servings6
AuthorSwasthi

Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )

  • 6 slices bread
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons ghee or ¾ cup ghee (for deep frying)

For sugar syrup

  • cup sugar
  • ½ cup water
  • ½ teaspoon cardamom powder
  • ½ teaspoon rose water

For rabdi

  • cups milk (or use condensed milk)
  • 4 tablespoons sugar (for making the Rabri)
  • 1 Pinch saffron ( kesar)
  • 20 Almonds (soaked for 4 hrs, optional, refer notes)

For garnish

  • ¼ cup pistas or mixed nuts
  • 3 tablespoons khoya /mawa (optional)


Instructions

Preparation

  • Air dry or sundry the bread for 3 to 4 hours. You can also toast them on a pan.  Do not use moist bread or bread from the fridge directly as they tend to absorb lot of ghee and have to fry longer to make crispier.
  • Soak saffron in 2 tbsps hot milk.

Making Rabri

  • Method – 1 Bring milk to a boil in a wide pot. Reduce the flame to low and continue to boil until the milk reduces to half. Then add sugar and saffron. Boil for another 5 mins. Set aside & cool this.
  • Method – 2 Grind peeled almonds with 3 tbsps. Sugar, cardamom powder and ¼ cup milk to a very smooth paste.  Pour  to the 3 ½ cups milk and boil on a low flame till it reduces to almost 2 cups. Set aside to cool.
  • You can also chill the rabdi until you serve.

Making sugar syrup for shahi tukda

  • Mix sugar with water. Boil and bring to a 1 string consistency. Switch off the flame. Add rose essence.
  • Remove the brown edges and cut the bread diagonally. Each slice into 2 or 4 as you desire. 
  • On a low flame deep fry the bread evenly till they turn golden and crispy. Alternately you can smear ghee over the bread and pan till they turn crispy. Set aside.

How to make Shahi Tukda

  • Immerse these bread slices in the sugar syrup one after the other and place them in a serving plate.
  • Just before serving pour the cooled rabri over the bread slices and garnish with toasted pistas. You can also sprinkle koya over it.
  • Serve shahi tukda warm or chilled.


NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)

Nutrition Facts
Shahi Tukda | Shahi Tukra Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 308 Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 6g38%
Cholesterol 27mg9%
Sodium 206mg9%
Potassium 269mg8%
Carbohydrates 42g14%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 29g32%
Protein 8g16%
Vitamin A 230IU5%
Vitamin C 0.2mg0%
Calcium 211mg21%
Iron 1.2mg7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
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Iโ€™m Swasthi Shreekanth, the recipe developer, food photographer & food writer behind Swasthi’s Recipes. My aim is to help you cook great Indian food with my time-tested recipes. After 2 decades of experience in practical Indian cooking I started this blog to help people cook better & more often at home. Whether you are a novice or an experienced cook I am sure Swasthiโ€™s Recipes will assist you to enhance your cooking skills. More about me

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I fried the bread in ghee and transferred to airtight box than also it was soggy after 2 hours can u advice on it

I fried bread in ghee and it became hard. After putting the rabri also, it remained hard like rusk texture . Can you please let me know why.

5 stars
Hello Swasthi,
Awesome receipe of Shahi Tukda. Whenever I want to make or try new receipe, you are always there and it has never failed. Your detailed descriptive steps, pro tips and photos are of always great help. Thank you so much.
Swasthi, I want to prepare this dish for around 40 guest . What could be the measurements of all ingredients ?

Thank you so much for quick reply. Lets see how it turns out, I am making it for the first time for 40 people. I will let you know. Thanks a ton.

5 stars
Hello Swasthi,
Thank you for such a detailed and delicious recipe.
I’m planning to prepare it next week for around 40 guests. Please let me know what can be prepared ahead of time. It is extremely hot here so I would like to keep myself away from frying on the day of my dawat ๐Ÿ™‚
TIA

5 stars
This method of making rabdi for shahi tukda sounds so easy and delicious. I’m going to try it soon but with a bit of khoya for the texture.

5 stars
Awesome recipe and specially love the detailing …jazak ALLAH

5 stars
SHARE ME SOME QUICK HEALTHER LUNCH..

5 stars
Wow so nicely explain Yammy recipe to all Ur viewer …now add me also thank you so much

5 stars
That was a detailed description. Thank you so much. I tried it and it turned out to be so delicious.

5 stars
Thank you Swathi for this amazing recipe… Healthy rabri, I need to say. I tried today.. and it came out well…
I have been trying many recipes of yours and never once it has failed… Thanks a ton..
Carry on…

5 stars
Hi Swasthi,
I have tried almost all your recipes and all have turned very good. Thank you so much for posting such wonderful recipes with so accurate measurements. Whenever I try any of your recipes, I rest assure that it will turn out super delicious. Swasthi can you please post the recipe of Arabian sweet dish Kunafa (with vermicelli). Although many recipes of Kunafa are available on net but I’m not convinced with any of them. It will be a great help if you post me the recipe of Kunafa…waiting for your reply…thanks in advance

Tukra is also a Bengali word meaning piece. I love how the language of Bengali and Bangladeshi people are almost always excluded when it comes to talking about south Asian cuisine and culture as if they donโ€™t exist.

5 stars
Hi mam,
I have tried all your recipes regularly… The taste, colour very thing come perfect to your measurements given..
This Shahi tukda was really tastes amazing everyone in my house liked very much and appreciated..
Thank you for the wonderful recipes mam.

Just tried this recipe. Your instructions are spot on and even though I am an absolute amateur I could follow the instructions very easily. Many thanks.
Regards,
Dr. Ian D’Souza

Thanks a lot,
Can I bake after adding condensed milk.Thanks for replying so soon.And when used condensed milk there is no need to use sugar.

Hi Swasthi,
Can I use condensed milk in milk and skip sugar syrup and at last can I bake

Thanks for replying so soon

Hi, if we have to serve it to guests, can we prepare it before hand and arrange it? Or bread will get soggy with rabri and syrup for long time? How can we make it work so that it remains crispy and doesnโ€™t have to assemble or fry bread at last time?

Thanks in advance.

5 stars
Thanks for the tip Ma’am

5 stars
Maโ€™m I made this last year during Ramadan and turned out very good. Can you pls tell me how to make this for 25 people. Thanks in advance

5 stars
Delicious

Ma’am
1. What do u mean by air drying bread ? How to do that?
2. Can i use multigrain white bread or will it not br that gud as plain white bread?
3. For syrup how much water needed?

Really appreciable that you reply so quickly.
Thank u

5 stars
Thank you for the recepie….. It came out superb…….