[2] Early recipes for muhallabiyya include a work attributed to Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq of Baghdad[3] and two 13th-century Arab cookbooks, one by al-Baghdadi and another from Al Andalus that have a spiced pudding variation made with mutton instead of chicken.

George Coleman De Kay said the pudding "owes its peculiar excellent flavour to the presence of the breasts of very young chickens, which are by some means so intimately blended and incorporated with the custard as to be scarcely distinguishable".

[2][4] Kazandibi is the variation of classic tavuk göğsü where a thin layer of pudding is caramelized before the custard is poured over it and allowed to set.

[5] In Syria, there is a variation of محلاية ("mahalayeh") called بالوظة ("balouza") that is the classic milk pudding but with a layer of orange jelly on top.

Mahalayeh sold in restaurants in Syria is always served with three striped toppings of slivered almonds, cream, sliced pistachios, and a maraschino cherry.

Selanik tatlısı, attributed to the kitchens of historic Salonica, is made by thickening a basic stovetop muhallebi with eggs and baking it with a sweetened shortcrust pastry.