This Jamaican Festival recipe is a homemade version of the popular Jamaican snack. Made with a few simple ingredients, this delicious fried sweet dough is the perfect side dish for your favorite Jamaican recipes.
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When I say festival, I don’t mean a party. But then again, it’s always a party when I show up with my homemade festival! Ha! All jokes aside, this Jamaican festival recipe is the truth and I worked on it to make sure it was as delicious as the ones I had as a child.
Jamaican festival is a sweet fried dough made with cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and milk. The dough comes together quite easily and all you have to do is deep fry it. It goes well with some of my favorite Jamaican recipes like rasta pasta, jerk chicken, ackee and saltfish, or escovitch fish.
How to make Jamaican Festival
First, gather your ingredients. You’ll want to start heating a heavy bottom pot of oil that has at least 3 inches of oil in it or use a deep fryer if you have one. Turn the heat over medium heat until the temperature reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Prepare your festival dough by adding the all-purpose flour, cornmeal, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and stirring to combine.
Add the vanilla extract and milk and stir until the dough comes together. Then use your hands to lightly form the mixture into a ball.
Pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into long oval shapes. Make about 12 dumplings.
Once the oil has reached the temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit, fry the dough on all sides, until golden brown. This should take about 4-6 minutes.
Remove dough and drain off any excess grease.
Serve and enjoy.
What does festival taste like?
Festival is like a combination of sweet cornbread and hushpuppies mixed together. It’s light and fluffy and sweetened to perfection.
Notes on Jamaican Festival
- Make sure your oil is set to the proper temperature for deep frying. I use a thermometer to ensure my oil is at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Festival is best eaten when it’s made. The dough can be made a day ahead.
- The amount of milk added may depend on the brand of flour used. You may need a little more or a little less. Slowly stir in the milk until the flour is moistened and can easily form into a ball of dough.
- I don’t recommend making festival in an air fryer. I tried and it was not as good.
Looking for other Jamaican recipes? Try these out:
Jamaican Festival (Sweet Dumpling) Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup fine cornmeal
- 6 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup milk a little less or more may be needed, see notes
- Oil for deep frying*
Instructions
- Heat a heavy bottom pot of oil that has at least 3 inches of oil in it or use a deep fryer if you have one. Turn the heat over medium heat until the temperature reaches 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add the all-purpose flour, cornmeal, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Add the vanilla extract and milk and stir until the dough comes together. Then use your hands to lightly form the mixture into a ball.
- Pinch off pieces of dough and roll them into long oval shapes. Make about 12 dumplings.
- Once the oil has reached the temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit, fry the dough on all sides, until golden brown. This should take about 4-6 minutes.
- Remove dough and drain off any excess grease. Serve and enjoy.
Notes
- Make sure your oil is set to the proper temperature for deep frying. I use a thermometer to ensure my oil is at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Festival is best eaten when it’s made. The dough can be made a day ahead.
- The amount of milk added may depend on the brand of flour used. You may need a little more or a little less. Slowly stir in the milk until the flour is moistened and can easily form into a ball of dough.
- I don’t recommend making festival in an air fryer. I tried and it was not as good.
erikah
Thursday 28th of March 2024
amazing recipe. used fructose sugar instead of sucrose white sugar (i am sucrose intolerant) and they turned out SOOOOO good and fluffy!
...yes i did roll a few in cinnamon and fructose sugar....
will make again!
Tanya
Thursday 28th of March 2024
Thanks so much for the feedback, Erikah! I love love love the idea of rolling them in cinnamon sugar. I'll have to try that.
PAUL DEABREU
Monday 25th of December 2023
Can I still make festivals without corn meal , should I substitute something in it’s place
Rachel
Thursday 18th of April 2024
@Tanya, I used cornflour as can’t get hold of cornmeal easily here and they were great
Tanya
Tuesday 26th of December 2023
Hey Paul, for the taste and texture, you'll want cornmeal in this recipe.
Dayle
Sunday 27th of August 2023
If I make the dough ahead of time can I leave it out or should I refrigerate it?
Tanya
Monday 28th of August 2023
Great question! I would refrigerate it until ready to fry.
Van Escobar
Monday 1st of May 2023
This recipe is a show stopper! So easy yet so delicious. I used my deep fryer and it had the person amount of crunch but delicious and soft on the inside! My goodness!!!
Tanya
Thursday 4th of May 2023
Thanks so much Van! So happy you liked the recipe.
Julie
Sunday 2nd of April 2023
I made this recipe for my Jamaican husband this morning to accompany our traditional Jamaican breakfast of ackee and salt fish. I usually use the mix from the market, but we were out. Now he wants me to make homemade all the time! They came out perfect!
Tanya
Tuesday 4th of April 2023
Thanks Julie! So happy you like the recipe :)