7 Foods We Didn't Expect To Get The Dubai Chocolate Treatment But Aren't Complaining About

Will Dubai chocolate go the way of salted caramel or pumpkin spice, flavors that have become so ubiquitous they've inspired air fresheners and shampoos in matching scents? In early 2025, the confection was hard to find in the United States amidst a global pistachio shortage. Fast forward to summer 2025, and it seems to be everywhere – not just as a viral sensation, but also on the menus of fast food restaurants, on the shelves of retailers like Trader Joe's, and in the test kitchens of bakery chains like Crumbl.

There are three ingredients in a Dubai chocolate bar – pistachio cream, tahini, and kataifi. These classic Middle Eastern flavors are combined into a crunchy, creamy, sweet, and somewhat savory cream enrobed in rich dark or milk chocolate. If you are not familiar with kataifi, it is a dough spun into fine strands, widely used throughout the Middle East and Mediterranean, particularly for a pastry called knafeh. Knafeh is a dessert similar to baklava but made with cheese. Often, people making Dubai chocolate-inspired products will use kataifi and knafeh interchangeably. They also describe kataifi as shredded phyllo dough, but, unlike phyllo, which is made into sheets, kataifi dough is spun into strands that resemble vermicelli. Regardless of the terminology, content creators, independent bakeries and ice cream shops, and national chains are now taking those unique flavors and turning them into everything from pizza to bagels to packaged goods.

Krave It, a small chain of pizza and sandwich shops that started in Bayside, Queens, has never shied away from making interesting pizzas. For instance, the Homer Simpson pie features meatballs, bacon, glazed donuts, cheddar cheese, and maple syrup. So, it should have been no surprise when the chain introduced a Dubai chocolate pizza made with chocolate, a layer of kataifi, pistachio cream, and pistachio pieces. Although not listed on the regular menu online, Krave It's website says the pie costs $55 and a slice $8.

Caffè Panna is another small New York City enterprise that likes to experiment with flavor. The Italian-inspired ice cream and coffee shop, with locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn, continually offers new mash-ups in its sundaes and pints. The brand's Dubai chocolate pint combines shards of dark chocolate stracciatella, milk chocolate ice cream, Sicilian pistachio ganache, and what it describes as twice-baked knafeh crunch.

Given the likelihood of all things Dubai chocolate going viral, it makes sense that food purveyors have posted reels and posts featuring their specialty items in various combinations of pistachio, chocolate, and kataifi. Two bagel shops that specialize in stuffed bagels – O'Bagel of New Jersey and Moonrise Bagels in Upstate New York — were inspired by the trend, but it's unclear whether either has put its version on its permanent menus.

Shoppers shouldn't be shocked if they start seeing more Dubai chocolate products on grocery store shelves — and not just in the chocolate aisle. One place to start looking is the snack aisle, where Belle's Gourmet Popcorn hopes to place its premium kettle corn, which has been coated with pistachio butter, drizzled with chocolate, and sprinkled with kataifi. The product was such a hit at the 2025 Sweets & Snacks Expo that it won the Salty Snacks category.

For its Dubai chocolate peanut butter treat, Nerdy Nuts swirls "smunchy" — not quite smooth, not quite crunchy — milk chocolate peanut butter with crunchy kataifi and tops it with pistachio cream and chocolate chips. And if that isn't enough of a treat, the brand also offers a Dubai Tella Brownie version that adds swirls of chocolate hazelnut spread, brownies, and mini peanut butter cups. You may want to skip the bread altogether and tackle these spreads directly with a spoon.

Small independent shops aren't the only ones experimenting with Dubai chocolate flavors. National chain Crave Cookies started with a chocolate cookie filled with pistachio cream, topped with kataifi, and drizzled with chocolate. The chain jumped on another trending version of Dubai chocolate by adding a little fruit to the mix and drizzling strawberries with pistachio cream, milk chocolate ganache, crushed pistachios, kataifi dough, and crushed chocolate chip cookies.

After its limited-edition Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake sold out in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami in January 2025, Shake Shack launched it nationwide a few months later. Based on Chowhound's review of the dessert, the blend of pistachio frozen custard and toasted kataifi coated in a crackable dark chocolate shell, sprinkled with chopped pistachios and more kataifi, tastes even better than it sounds. The shake is available until it sells out.