This Pakistani Meethi Tikiyan recipe is a traditional sweet snack made with flour, semolina, and sugar, deep-fried until golden and crisp. Known for its irresistible crunchy texture and delightful cardamom aroma, these sweet tikki cookies are a must during Eid, festive seasons, and winter tea time. Follow this easy step-by-step recipe with video to make perfect crispy tikiyan at home — just like the ones made by our mothers and grandmothers.
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I still remember the cozy winter evenings when my mother used to make meethi tikiyan a few days before Eid. The sweet aroma of frying these cute little discs would fill the entire house. We couldn’t resist sneaking a few right after frying — warm, crisp, and coated with that signature sweetness. Making them now brings back those beautiful family memories of tea, laughter, and the sound of tikiyan sizzling in hot oil.
About Recipe
Meethi Tikiyan (or Sweet Tikki) is a traditional Pakistani deep-fried cookie made with a blend of flour, semolina (sooji), sugar, and ghee. The dough is shaped into small flat discs and fried until golden brown. The result is a perfectly crisp yet slightly soft cookie that stays fresh for days — making it a popular choice for travel snacks, festive treats, and Eid celebrations.
Why Do You'll Love This Recipe
- ✅ Made with simple pantry ingredients — no fancy tools required.
- 🕒 Quick to make — just mix, shape, and fry!
- 🍪 Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.
- ☕ Perfect for tea-time or as a travel snack.
- 🌿 Long shelf life — stays fresh for 5 to 7 days.
- 👩🍳 Step-by-step video for beginners.
Ingredients
Milk - 100 ml
Sugar - ½ cup
All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 Cup
Semolina (Sooji) - ½ Cup
Melted butter - ½ Cup (Ghee can be used)
Salt - ⅓ Tsp
Green Cardamom Powder - ⅓ Tsp
Sesame Seeds (Til) - 2 Tsp
Oil For deep frying
How to Make Meethi Tikiyan
- In a bowl, add milk and sugar and mix well.
- Now in another bowl, add All purpose flour (Maida), semolina (sooji), melted butter, salt and green cardamom powder and mix well.
- Gradually add milk and make a semi-soft dough. (Watch the video to follow steps)
- Cover the dough for 30 minutes to get set.
- After 30 minutes, roll the dough on rolling board and make a big roti. Try to make it thick.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds after rolling and set it using rolling pin or hands.
- Then using the cutter, cut into circular shape.
- Heat the oil for frying Tikiyan.
- Add Tikiyan one by one on medium temperature.
- As the light golden colour comes up. Take it out on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.
- Serve it!! or store in airtight container for 1 or 2 weeks.
Quick Tips
- Use the proper ratio of all purpose flour and semolina otherwise, the tikiya may break.
- The quality of good tikiya depends upon the dough. If it's extremely hard then you will get hard tikiya. If the dough is soft then the tikiya may break. Make sure the dough should be firm (a little hard) to get best result.
- Ghee can be used on place of butter.
- To make it tastier, use desiccated coconut.
- To stand out, try different shapes using cookies cutter.
- Never fry tikiya on high flame.
What To Serve With Meethi Tikiyan
Serve meethi tikiyan warm with a cup of karak chai, doodh patti, or kehwa. You can also share it with chilled Rooh afza milkshake or drink. Kids will surely love this combo.
As it's a traditional cookie, so best to add in Eid menu to pair with Sheer khurma, phirni, or samosa to make a festive snack platter.
You can also drizzle honey or dust with powdered sugar for a dessert twist.
How to Store
- Once cooled completely, store meethi tikiyan in an airtight glass jar at room temperature for up to 7 days.
- If you want to keep them longer, store them in the refrigerator for up to 15 days.
- Just reheat for 10 seconds in the microwave or air fryer to make them crispy again.
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Best to serve as a snack with tea or coffee.
Frequently Asked Questions
Traditionally, it's made from all purpose flour, roasted semolina, desiccated coconut(optional) and sugar. Loaded with the flavor of cardamom and deep fried in oil/ghee.
There are several reason of soft tikiyan.
1) unproportional ingredients like more semolina can break it.
2) dough is too soft.
3) Oil temperature while frying. May be the oil was too cold while frying. Always fry on medium-high heat to keep them crispy.
Yes, you can bake at 180°C (350°F) for 15–20 minutes, but the texture will be slightly softer than deep-fried.
Up to 7 days at room temperature or 15 days in the fridge.
Yes! Skip the coconut and add a tablespoon of extra flour or sooji to balance the dough.
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Meethi Tikiyan Recipe - Crispy Pakistani Sweet Snack
Ingredients
- 100 ml Milk
- ½ cup Sugar
- 1 cup All purpose flour Maida
- ½ cup Semolina Sooji
- ½ cup Melted butter or Ghee (for dough binding)
- ⅓ teaspoon Salt
- ⅓ teaspoon Green Cardamom Powder
- 2 teaspoon Sesame Seeds Til
Instructions
- In a bowl, add milk and sugar and mix well.
- Now in another bowl, add All purpose flour (Maida), semolina (sooji), melted butter, salt and green cardamom powder and mix well.
- Gradually add milk and make a semi-soft dough. (Watch the video to follow steps)
- Cover the dough for 30 minutes to get set.
- After 30 minutes, roll the dough on rolling board and make a big roti. Try to make it thick.
- Sprinkle sesame seeds after rolling and set it using rolling pin or hands.
- Then using the cutter, cut into circular shape.
- Heat the oil for frying Tikiyan.
- Add Tikiyan one by one on medium temperature.
- As the light golden colour comes up. Take it out on kitchen paper to absorb excess oil.
- Serve it!! or store in airtight container for 1 or 2 weeks.
Video
Notes
- Use the proper quantity of all ingredients to make the perfect tikiya.
- If the quantity of semolina will increases the tikiya may break during or after frying.
- Never fry on high heat.
- Fry on medium heat until getting an evenly brown color.
- Never cover right after frying.
- Place on absorbent paper after frying as tikiya absorb oil.
Leena Hossain
Hello, I added 1/2 cup melted butter but the dough became really soft and sticky while adding milk. I had to add more flour, semolina and sugar.
Anyway the tikyas turned out good.
Thanks for the recipe
🙂
Sham
Can I use whole wheat flour for tikiyan? Looks good 😊
Hinz
You can but the result will be different.. Let me know if you try.
Sahr
Can I bake the tikkiyan? What are the baking instructions?
Hinz
Yes, you can bake at 180°C (350°F) for 15–20 minutes, but the texture will be slightly softer than deep-fried.