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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
7 min
08/01/2026
Makar Sankranti marks the end of winter. To celebrate it, households across states take on seasonal, warming ingredients and transform them into delicious Makar Sankranti food delicacies. From the Gujarati slow‑cooked undhiyu recipe featuring winter vegetables to Odisha's unique uncooked makara chaula dish mixed with fresh rice and jaggery, and the North’s simple khichdi for Makar Sankranti accompanied by four essential sides, this harvest festival reveals the country’s rich Makar Sankranti food traditions and diverse culinary heritage.
This harvest festival marks the day from which the sun makes its northward journey and the days start getting longer. Makar Sankranti is celebrated under many names with dishes prepared specially for the occasion. The dishes are influenced by local produce, climate, and history. Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Lohri, Uttarayan – the names change, but the essence remains – gratitude for harvest and the warmth of longer days ahead. It's about what grows where, what farmers store for this moment, and how kitchens across India use the freshly harvested rice, sesame seeds, jaggery, and winter vegetables into dishes that have fed communities for generations.
Odisha is defined by its pitha, devoid of overpowering sweetness and run by its temple traditions. Naturally, two dishes come to light, prepared especially during Sankaranti.
Perhaps the most unique among Makar Sankranti foods, makara chaula is a traditional preparation made with freshly harvested rice, banana, coconut, jaggery, and milk. The dish is never cooked; instead, it is mixed raw and offered to the sun as part of the harvest rituals. An offering made of Arua rice, new jaggery, chena, coconut, ripe banana, ghee, and milk. People believe new rice has more life energy, and the cold preparation honours this belief.
This sweet dish represents Odisha's extensive pitha tradition. A deep-fried rice pancake made by mixing rice flour with jaggery syrup, kneading the mixture into a dough, flattening it, and frying it until golden brown. The pancake is crispy outside and soft inside, making it a perfect festive snack. Pithas come in wide varieties across Odisha, whether steamed, fried, or roasted; each region has its own speciality.
In Gujarat, from December through to Makar Sankranti, people enjoy Uttarayana with undhiyu, a spicy baked mix of winter vegetables and sweets like chikkis.
This dish is Gujarat's signature one-pot winter vegetable dish that embodies the harvest season. Made with seasonal vegetables like potatoes, brinjals, green beans, yams, peas, raw bananas, and muthiya (gram flour chunks), the dish is cooked with aromatic spices. The slow-cooking process allows flavours to blossom, creating a dish that celebrates the bounty of Gujarat's fields. Traditionally, undhiyu was cooked upside down underground, though these days it is cooked like every other dish.
Made from the seasonal til (sesame seeds), peanuts and jaggery, this brittle sweet snack provides energy and warmth during winter. The combination of roasted nuts and melted jaggery, which tastes as good as an earthy caramel, creates a nice, crunchy, sweet treat that is the perfect snack to fuel kite-flying competitions throughout the day.
Perhaps the most famous sweets for Makar Sankranti come from the Western state of Maharashtra, with its sesame seeds, jaggery and ghee-rich goodness.
These are small laddoos made with just three ingredients: roasted sesame seeds, jaggery, and ghee. These sweet sesame-jaggery laddus are not just a festive treat but also a symbol of spreading warmth, unity, and sweetness in relationships. The ritual of exchanging tilgul with neighbours and family members while sharing kind words makes this sweet central to Maharashtra's Sankranti celebrations.
Maharashtra's beloved sweet flatbread, puran poli, is stuffed with a mixture of jaggery and lentils, signifying the joy of harvest and festivity. The filling, called puran, combines cooked chana dal with jaggery, cardamom, and nutmeg. It is wrapped in soft wheat flour dough (poli) and served with ghee.
For Northern India, the Makar Sankranti foods are much simpler and also use local and seasonal ingredients of dal, rice, yoghurt and more.
Not just any plain khichdi, the festive Makar Sankranti version is often made with moong dal and rice, which is a reflection of seasonal simplicity and nourishment. Traditionally enjoyed as a comforting lunch, it’s commonly served with rich ghee, papad, pickles (achaar) and sides like chokha or dahi, making the humble dish a beloved festive centrepiece across regions
A classic Makar Sankranti breakfast from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, this dish features soaked poha or chura mixed with chilled curd, gur (jaggery), ghee and some spices for a filling but refreshing treat. In Bihar, eating dahi chura in the morning is believed to attract good luck on this day. The dish requires no cooking – just soaking flattened rice and mixing it with sweetened yoghurt.
This eastern state celebrates Poush Sankranti, which coincides with the date palm jaggery season that is integral to the state’s sweets made during winters.
Showcasing Bengal's love for subtle sweetness, patishapta are delicate crepes made from rice flour and semolina. The thin pancakes are filled with freshly grated coconut mixed with the season's first date palm jaggery, then rolled and served warm.
A rice pudding elevated by winter's speciality ingredient, the decadent creamy pudding is made with fresh date palm jaggery and rice. Jaggery from date palm begins to flow in winter, so the sweets carry a deep, earthy sweetness. The date palm sap is collected only when temperatures fall, making this jaggery a true winter delicacy.
Makar Sankranti is a celebration of local flavours and produce, and each state’s ingenuity lies in cooking traditional Makar Sankranti food recipes that are not only delicious but also nourishing and warm the body from within. Whether you're eating tilgul in Mumbai, dahi chura in Patna, or makara chaula in Bhubaneswar, you're part of a nationwide feast that honours the sun, the soil, and the season.
