Chhath Puja 2026 Prasad Recipes — Thekua, Bhusawa, Fruits & Complete Bihar Tradition Food Guide

Quick Answer: Chhath Puja 2026 runs from Friday 13 to Monday 16 November 2026 (Drik Panchang), the four-day tradition of Sun (Surya) worship from Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and Nepal's Terai. Its prasad is simple and traditional: thekua (wheat flour, jaggery and ghee, moulded and fried), the Kharna prasad of rasiao kheer and roti, kasar (a rice-flour and jaggery laddoo), and whole seasonal fruit: sugarcane, bananas, coconut, citron, water chestnut and more. Below are the recipes, the fruit list and tips for NRI kitchens.

Last updated: 21 October 2026. Dates are from the Drik Panchang Chhath Puja calendar 2026. An earlier version of this page gave October dates; they were wrong and have been corrected. For arghya times by city, the vrat rules and the katha, see our Chhath Puja 2026 guide: dates, arghya timings and full vidhi.

Chhath Puja 2026 — Four-Day Schedule (and what is cooked each day)

Sunset on Sunday 15 November is 5:01 PM in Patna and sunrise on Monday 16 November is 6:07 AM (Drik Panchang). For other cities, see the Chhath Puja 2026 arghya time city-wise table for Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and Delhi.

The fast is among the most austere in Hindu tradition — 36 hours without water (nirjala) for the strict observance.

Cultural Significance of Chhath Prasad

Each prasad item has deep meaning:

• Thekua — the supreme Chhath sweet; in many homes made by the vratin, or under the vratin's eye, in a kitchen kept pure for the festival
• Kasar / rice laddoo — roasted rice flour and jaggery; in some homes a simple offering of rice cooked with ghee is also made
• Sugarcane — the offering of growth and sweetness, also used for the kosi canopy
• Coconut — purity and completeness
• Banana — a whole bunch is common in the daura
• Seasonal produce — citron or large lemon, sweet lime, orange, water chestnut (singhara), sweet potato, radish and fresh turmeric and ginger with leaves

Customs differ between Bhojpur, Magadh, Mithila and Nepal and between families: follow what your elders do where it differs from these recipes.

Recipe 1 — Thekua (ठेकुआ), the Supreme Chhath Prasad

Time: 1.5 hours · Yield: 30–40 thekua

Ingredients

• 4 cups whole-wheat flour (atta)
• 1 cup jaggery (gud), grated
• 1/2 cup ghee, plus ghee or oil for frying
• 1/2 cup grated dry coconut (optional but traditional)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds (saunf), lightly crushed
• 1/2 tsp cardamom powder (optional)
• About 1/2 to 3/4 cup water for the jaggery

Method

1. Jaggery syrup: warm the jaggery with the water on low heat, stirring until it dissolves. Strain out any grit and let it cool until just warm.
2. Dough: mix the flour, coconut, fennel and cardamom. Rub in the ghee until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs, then add the jaggery water a little at a time to make a stiff dough, much stiffer than chapati dough. Rest 15–20 minutes.
3. Shaping: take a lime-sized piece, press it into a wooden thekua mould (saancha) or press it flat in your palm and mark a pattern with a fork. About 1 cm thick is usual.
4. Frying: heat ghee or oil to low-medium (about 140–150 °C / 280–300 °F). Fry a few at a time for 8–10 minutes, turning, until deep golden and hard. Slow frying gives the crisp bite; hot oil leaves the centre soft.
5. Cooling and storage: drain and cool completely. Thekua keeps for about a week in an airtight tin.

NRI tips

• Use whole-wheat atta, not all-purpose flour.
• If your stove runs hot, fry in a heavy pan and keep the flame low.
• Make the thekua on Sunday morning if your family offers fresh prasad; otherwise a day or two before is fine for sharing batches.
• Children can help with pressing patterns, away from the hot oil.

Recipe 2 — Rasiao Kheer and Roti (खरना प्रसाद), for Kharna on Saturday 14 November

After the day-long fast on Kharna, the vratin offers and then eats this prasad after sunset (5:01 PM in Patna on 14 November). It is traditionally cooked with jaggery, not sugar, often on a clay chulha with mango wood, and usually without salt.

Rasiao kheer

• 1 litre full-fat milk
• 1/3 cup short-grain rice, washed and soaked 20 minutes
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup jaggery, grated
• A few cardamom pods (optional)

1. Bring the milk to the boil in a heavy pan and add the drained rice.
2. Simmer, stirring often, for 30–40 minutes until the rice is very soft and the milk has thickened.
3. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool for a few minutes before stirring in the jaggery; adding jaggery to boiling milk can split it.
4. Offer first, then serve warm.

Roti or puri

• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• Water to knead
• Ghee to brush

Knead a soft dough, roll chapatis and cook on a tawa, brushing with ghee. Some families make puris instead. The kheer and roti are what the vratin eats before the nirjala fast begins.

Recipe 3 — Kasar (Rice-Flour and Jaggery Laddoo)

Time: 40 minutes · Yield: about 20 laddoos

• 2 cups rice, washed, soaked 2–3 hours, drained and dried on a cloth, then ground to a coarse flour (or 2 cups ready rice flour)
• 1 cup jaggery, grated
• 3–4 tbsp ghee
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds or chopped dry coconut (optional)

1. Dry-roast the rice flour in a heavy pan on low heat, stirring, until it smells nutty and turns a shade darker. Cool slightly.
2. Melt the jaggery with a splash of water to a thick syrup, or simply mix the grated jaggery into the warm flour.
3. Add the ghee and the sesame or coconut, mix well and shape firm laddoos while warm.

Some families make a plain offering of rice cooked soft and mixed with ghee, without spices or sugar, which this page's earlier version called bhusawa. Names and recipes vary from village to village; follow your family's version.

Fruits for the Chhath Soop and Daura

The traditional soop and daura carry whole produce, washed and dried:

• Sugarcane — long pieces with leaves
• A bunch of ripe bananas
• Coconut — whole, often with the husk
• Citron (gagal) or large lemon, sweet lime and orange
• Water chestnut (singhara), sweet potato and radish
• Fresh turmeric and ginger plants with leaves
• Apple, pomegranate and other seasonal fruit

Arrange them with the thekua and kasar, a diya and a little sindoor. The same soop is raised at the Sunday sunset arghya and the Monday dawn arghya.

NRI Sourcing Tips

• Flour, jaggery, ghee and fennel: available at Indian grocers in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and the Gulf; buy early, as stocks run low in the week of Chhath.
• Sugarcane: sometimes stocked by Indian, Latin American or Asian grocers in season; a few short pieces are enough if long stalks are hard to find.
• Soop and daura: Indian grocers and community groups often sell bamboo baskets before Chhath; a clean steel plate or wicker tray is a common substitute.
• Water chestnut, citron and fresh turmeric: try Asian and Indian grocers; leave out what you cannot find.

Chhath at Home for NRI Families

• Fri 13 Nov — Nahay Khay: bath, clean kitchen, one sattvic meal. Family members eat after the vratin.
• Sat 14 Nov — Kharna: fast through the day; rasiao kheer and roti after your local sunset.
• Sun 15 Nov — Sandhya Arghya: thekua in the morning, soop ready by afternoon, arghya at your local sunset. For NRIs without a riverbank, a clean water vessel or tub, facing the sun, works.
• Mon 16 Nov — Usha Arghya: arghya at your local sunrise, then parana and the family meal.

Times abroad are your own city's: see Chhath Puja 2026 in the USA, the UK and Canada, Australia and the UAE.

Health note: the 36-hour nirjala fast is demanding. Pregnant women, people with diabetes, older vratins and anyone on regular medication should talk to a doctor first; see the vrat rules and health note in our Chhath Puja 2026 guide. Cooks should keep children well away from the frying pan, and never leave hot ghee unattended.

Chhath Puja 2026 arghya times in India

• Chhath Puja 2026 arghya time city-wise (Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Delhi, Kolkata, Kathmandu)

Frequently asked questions

Thekua kaise banta hai (ठेकुआ कैसे बनता है)?

Thekua is made from whole-wheat flour, jaggery dissolved in a little water, ghee, fennel and often grated coconut. The stiff dough is pressed into a wooden mould and fried slowly on low-medium heat until deep golden and crisp. It keeps for about a week in an airtight tin.

When is Chhath Puja 2026 and when is each prasad made?

Drik Panchang gives Nahay Khay on Friday 13 November, Kharna on Saturday 14, Sandhya Arghya on Sunday 15 and Usha Arghya on Monday 16 November 2026. Kharna prasad (rasiao kheer and roti) is made on Saturday evening; thekua and the soop are prepared on Sunday for the evening arghya and the same offering is used again at dawn on Monday.

What is the Kharna prasad?

Rasiao kheer, rice cooked in milk with jaggery, with roti or puri, usually without salt. The vratin eats it after sunset on Kharna day and then it is shared with family and neighbours. The nirjala fast begins after this meal.

Do I have to fast for 36 hours?

The traditional Chhath fast is nirjala for about 36 hours, from after the Kharna prasad until parana on Monday morning. Pregnant women, people with diabetes or other health conditions, older people and anyone on regular medication should talk to a doctor first; a fruit-and-water fast, or joining the arghya while another family member keeps the vrat, is common and respected.

Without a river, how do I offer arghya abroad?

Use a clean pond or lake where permitted, a backyard pool or a large tub of clean water, facing the sun at your own city's sunset and sunrise. Many families abroad keep Chhath this way.

Can non-Bihari Hindus observe Chhath?

Yes. Chhath is open to anyone who keeps it with sincerity. Many families from other regions join neighbours at the ghat, help make thekua or keep the fast after learning the customs from a family that observes it.

Final Words

Chhath Puja 2026 represents one of Hindu civilisation's most physically and spiritually demanding observances. The four days of preparation, austerity, and devotion to the Sun deity are, for the families who keep them, among the most precious days of the year.

For NRI Bihari families across USA, UK, Canada, Singapore, Mumbai — preserving this tradition abroad is itself an act of cultural transmission. The thekua you make in San Francisco connects you to the riverbanks of Patna and Varanasi where countless generations have made the same biscuits.

Om Suryaaya Namah. Chhath Maiya Anugraha!

Jai Chhath Maiya! Jai Surya Bhagavan! Happy Chhath Puja 2026!

Editor's note (21 October 2026)

Editor's note (21 October 2026): This page was corrected and expanded. The earlier version listed the four days as 22–25 October, which was wrong; Drik Panchang gives 13–16 November 2026. The kasar recipe now describes the rice-flour laddoo, the Kharna kheer uses jaggery as is traditional, and store names that we could not verify were removed. Recipes are home-style and vary by family. The Patna sunset and sunrise are from Drik Panchang.

HinduTone Editorial Team · Tags: Chhath Puja 2026, Thekua Recipe, Bhusawa, Surya Devta Bhog, Bihar Festival, NRI Chhath, Hindu Festival Recipes