Muhallebi (Persian: مهلبی or محالبی; Arabic: مهلبية; Hebrew: מלבי) is a milk pudding commonly made with rice, sugar, milk and either rice flour, starch or semolina, popular as a dessert in the Middle East. While the dessert is called muhallebi in Syria and Iraq, in other countries in the region (Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, and Israel) it is called malabi, mahalabiyeh or mehalabiya.

Muhallebi likely dates back to Sasanian Persia and according to a legend, it was introduced into Arab cuisine in the late seventh century by a Persian (Iranian) cook from what was then the Sasanian Empire (224–651), who served it to an Arab general by the name of Al-Muhallab ibn Abi Sufra. He liked it so much, he named it after himself. The earliest recipes, dating to the 10th century, featured three versions: milk thickened with ground rice, milk with rice grains and chicken, and an egg custard without rice. Early recipes for muhallabiyya include a work attributed to Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq of Baghdad 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.

In the Middle Ages, muhallebi and its European counterpart blancmange were made with shredded chicken. There are records from the Ottoman Empire for two versions of muhallebi: a version with shredded chicken (tavuk göğsü) served during the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror, and a later recipe dating to 1530 for a meatless version flavored with rose water.

One 19th-century, English cookbook that gives a recipe for muhallebi calls it "Ramazan cakes". The recipe calls for boiling milk together with rice flour and sugar until the mixture reduces. The pudding is flavored with rose or jasmine extract, and allowed to cool before it is sprinkled with powdered sugar.

In the modern era the traditional tavuk göğsü is no longer widely available, except in Turkey. This pudding does not taste like chicken but the shredded meat gives it a distinctive texture. 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". 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. The finished pudding is served upside down with the caramelized side on top. Also available at the muhallebici shops of Istanbul are the almond based keşkül, Noah's Pudding, and baked rice pudding called "fırın sütlaç" or "fırında sütlaç".

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. Other flavours of the jelly layer can be used, like rose syrup. Mahalayeh sold in restaurants in Syria is always served with three striped toppings of slivered almonds, cream, sliced pistachios, and a maraschino cherry. The famous booza shop, Bakdash, in Damascus, serves mahalayeh as well as booza.

In Lebanon, versions of balouza that are flavored with orange blossom water are served in restaurants.

In Palestine, variations of muhallabia and balouza can be found in Hebron, they are made with pasteurized milk, starch, and are topped with qatir. In the Gaza Strip, pudding layers flavored with sour plum jam or orange juice are added to it, like a parfait.