Dubai chocolate is a recent viral creation that originated in Dubai around 2021, not a traditional old-style chocolate from the city.

Quick Scoop

  • The best-known origin story credits British-Egyptian engineer Sarah Hamouda, who was living in Dubai and pregnant in 2021, with inventing the bar after craving a dessert that combined chocolate, pistachio, tahini, and knafeh.
  • She partnered with pastry consultant Nouel Catis Omamalin, and together they developed the bar and launched it through their brand Fix Dessert Chocolatier under the flavor name ā€œCanā€™t Get Knafeh of It.ā€
  • The barā€™s filling and texture are inspired by the long-standing Middle Eastern dessert knafeh/kunafa, which uses shredded pastry (kataifi/kadayif), syrup, and soft cheese with nuts like pistachios.

From Dubai to ā€œDubai chocolateā€

  • The name ā€œDubai chocolateā€ is more of a catchy viral label than a protected traditional product, and different makers now sell their own versions using similar pistachioā€“knafeh-style fillings.
  • Its global popularity came through social media (especially TikTok and Instagram), where videos of cracking open thick chocolate bars with bright green pistachio filling turned it into a trend and boosted demand for pistachios.

Deeper roots in dessert history

  • While the specific bar is new, the idea behind it draws on centuries of Middle Eastern dessert tradition, especially knafeh, which has documented recipes going back to medieval Arab cookbooks and later Ottoman adaptations.
  • Modern pastry chefs and brands now use this heritage angle in storytelling and marketing, presenting Dubai chocolate as a blend of contemporary Instagram-ready design with classic regional flavors and textures.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.