The Dubai-style chocolate craze has died down a considerable amount since it took the world of candy by storm. (A source tells me that Tokyo Style Chocolate is the next big thing.) The good thing about the buzz fading away is that candy companies can now experiment with ways to bring Dubai-style chocolate to a much wider audience.
Hershey gave us a taste of this last December, releasing a mere 10,000 of its Dubai-Inspired Chocolate Bars. But now you can buy an entire bag of Ghirardelli Dubai Style Chocolate Squares.
“Consumers continue to be drawn to the rich pistachio filling and crispy kataifi texture that define Dubai-style chocolate,” Bobby Oliver, vice president, head of marketing at Ghirardelli, said in the company’s announcement. “With our new Dubai Style Chocolate Squares, we’ve brought that experience into Ghirardelli’s iconic format while delivering the premium quality that consumers expect from our brand.”
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The cost
A 4.4 oz. bag of Ghirardelli Dubai Style Chocolate Squares should run you $10.99.
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One of the original elements that made Dubai-style chocolate exclusive was that it wasn’t easy to produce at large scale.
“Why?” Alon Chen, chief executive of food trend analysts Tastewise, asked The Guardianin April 2025. “Because the knafeh is very crispy and fragile, and it takes a lot of technology on a large production line to be able to cover the knafeh and add the cream, and still keep the crunchiness. Without the crunchiness, it’s just another pistachio-flavoured chocolate bar.”
I dunno about that in 2026.
Ghirardelli Dubai Style Chocolate Squares are a pretty excellent reproduction of everything that made the trend a hit. Maybe these chocolate squares aren’t as crispy as the original versions, but all those elements — “smooth pistachio filling, crispy kataifi pastry and rich milk chocolate” — are present.
The square form factor works extremely well too, packaging the pistachio and kataifi filling inside a layer of milk chocolate that delivers a fantastic bite.
With Ghirardelli cracking the code of how to mass-produce Dubai-style chocolate, what’s next? Crispy M&M’s with kataifi centers? I’d absolutely buy those.
snack score
Ghirardelli Dubai Style Chocolate Squares Snack score: 4 out of 5
The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
