Method
25 Baked Greek Recipes
Sto fourno, in the oven. Greek home cooking sends an extraordinary amount of food to the oven in one large dish, often to a bakery down the road in the old days.
Sto fourno, in the oven. Greek home cooking sends an extraordinary amount of food to the oven in one large dish, and in the old days that often meant the bakery down the road.
The savoury side is trays: moussaka, pastitsio, gemista, briam, giant beans, kleftiko, giouvetsi, lemon chicken with its potatoes. They go in and are left alone. Pastitsio has to rest before it is cut, and the beans are better the next day.
The sweet side is phyllo, cookies, sweet bread and cakes: baklava, galaktoboureko, bougatsa, melomakarona, kourabiedes, tsoureki, portokalopita. The pies sit between the two. Spanakopita and tiropita are the ones to learn phyllo on.
Every recipe on Kalliopi's Kitchen carries the dish's Greek name and a pronunciation, its region where that is meaningful, ingredient quantities in both metric and imperial, and an honest note on what commonly goes wrong. Nutrition figures are calculated estimates and are labelled as such.
1. Moussaka
Mousakas · Μουσακάς · moo-sah-KAHS
When people say Greek food, this is usually what they mean, and it is also the dish that gets ruined most. Water does it, not bad ingredients. Cook the meat sauce drier than looks right and keep the bechamel thick. It is no weeknight dinner, but nearly all of it can be made ahead.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt the aubergines even if the packet says you do not need to. Modern aubergines are far less bitter than they used to be, so salting is often called unnecessary. That misses the point. Salting collapses the cell structure and drives out water, which means the slices absorb less oil and hold their shape in the bake.
Make Moussaka2. Spanakopita
Σπανακόπιτα · spah-nah-KOH-pee-tah
Pies are the centre of Greek home baking, and this is the one that left the country. Greens and cheese in quantity, almost nothing else, inside pastry thin enough to read through. Every sheet has to be brushed with fat. Dry phyllo fuses into one papery slab, and the separate leaves are the point.
Yiayia’s tip: Squeeze harder than you think necessary. If any liquid at all comes out when you press the filling in the bowl, go back and squeeze again. This one step decides the pie.
Make Spanakopita3. Pastitsio
Παστίτσιο · pah-STEE-tsee-oh
The baked pasta Greek families make more often than moussaka, because it costs less, forgives more and nobody at the table refuses it. Two things make it Greek and not Italian: cinnamon in the meat sauce, and a bechamel layer as deep as the pasta underneath it.
Yiayia’s tip: Lay the pasta the same way. If you are using long tubes, lay them all running in one direction. Cutting across the grain afterwards gives clean square portions rather than ragged ones.
Make Pastitsio4. Baklava
Baklavas · Μπακλαβάς · bahk-lah-VAHS
The one everybody thinks they know. The Greek version is walnuts, not pistachios, with a heavy hand of cinnamon and clove and a syrup built on honey. Nothing in it is difficult. The layering takes as long as it takes, and the syrup decides whether you end up with crisp or soggy.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not stir the syrup once it boils. Stirring a boiling sugar syrup encourages crystallisation. Dissolve the sugar as it heats, then leave it alone.
Make Baklava5. Baked Giant Beans in Tomato
Gigantes plaki · Γίγαντες πλακί · YEE-ghan-des plah-KEE
The beans come mainly from Kastoria and Prespes in northern Greece. They are larger and creamier than a butter bean and drink up sauce without collapsing. This is a ladera dish: the olive oil is the sauce, not a mistake in the recipe. It is vegan as it stands, and on every Greek fasting table.
Yiayia’s tip: Old beans never soften. Dried beans more than a year or so old can refuse to cook properly no matter what you do. If a batch is still hard after an hour of simmering, the beans are the problem, not your method.
Make Baked Giant Beans in Tomato6. Galaktoboureko
Γαλακτομπούρεκο · gha-lahk-toh-BOO-reh-koh
Baklava is more famous. This is the one that people raised on both ask for: a thick custard scented with lemon, shut inside phyllo, with cold syrup poured over the hot pie. Semolina sets the custard firm enough to cut clean. The phyllo is simpler than baklava, only two blocks of layers.
Yiayia’s tip: Rain the semolina, do not dump it. Adding it all at once guarantees lumps. A thin steady stream with constant whisking gives a smooth custard first time.
Make Galaktoboureko7. Pork Gyros
Gyros · Γύρος · YEE-ros
Nobody has a vertical rotisserie at home and nobody needs one. Marinated pork slices are pressed onto an upright skewer in a tin and roasted as one piece, so the fat runs down and bastes what is below. Then the meat is sliced thin and crisped in a hot pan. Most home versions skip that.
Yiayia’s tip: Freeze briefly before slicing. Forty minutes in the freezer firms the joint enough to slice thin and evenly. Trying to slice soft pork shoulder thinly is genuinely difficult.
Make Pork Gyros8. Gemista
Γεμιστά · yeh-mee-STAH
Stuffed tomatoes and peppers, and two rules govern them. The rice is raw when it goes in, and nothing is filled past two thirds, because rice cooked first goes to paste and a full tomato bursts. The potatoes wedged in the gaps catch the juices. Many Greeks think them the best thing in the tray.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt and drain the tomato shells. Ten minutes upside down removes excess water that would otherwise make the rice sloppy.
Make Gemista9. Melomakarona
Μελομακάρονα · meh-lo-mah-KAH-ro-nah
Every Greek household bakes these at Christmas and every household argues about them: how much orange, brandy or no brandy, soft all the way through or a little bite left in the middle. They have no butter and no eggs, and they are better on day three than on day one, so make them ahead.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not knead. Fold the dough until it just holds together and stop. Kneaded dough makes tough cookies that will not absorb syrup.
Make Melomakarona10. Briam
Μπριάμ · bree-AHM
It looks like ratatouille and works the opposite way. Ratatouille keeps each vegetable separate. Here courgette, aubergine, pepper, potato and tomato all go in one tray and cook until they stop being separate things, their water and the olive oil turning to sauce. Forty minutes gives roasted vegetables. Ninety gives briam.
Yiayia’s tip: Use a big tray. A deep pile takes far longer and steams rather than browning. A large shallow layer is what you want, even if it means using two tins.
Make Briam11. Tiropita
Τυρόπιτα · tee-ROH-pee-tah
The pie Greeks eat most, usually standing up, before ten in the morning, from a bakery window. With no spinach to hide behind, the cheese has to be right. Feta alone bakes dense, rubbery and too salty, so a soft mild cheese goes in with it: anthotyro, mizithra or ricotta, two parts feta to one.
Yiayia’s tip: Soak the feta if it is very salty. Twenty minutes in fresh water or milk before crumbling takes the edge off without losing the character of the cheese.
Make Tiropita12. Kleftiko
Κλέφτικο · KLEF-tee-koh
Kleftis means thief. The klefts were mountain fighters under Ottoman rule who stole a sheep and had to cook it with no smoke to give them away, so it went into a closed pit over embers. A sealed parcel does the pit's job now. Twenty-five minutes of work, then four hours unopened in the oven.
Yiayia’s tip: Two layers, paper inside foil. Foil alone can react with the lemon and leave a metallic edge on the meat. Baking paper next to the food and foil outside it gives you a reliable seal without that risk.
Make Kleftiko13. Prawns with Feta and Tomato
Garides saganaki · Γαρίδες σαγανάκι · ghah-REE-des sah-ghah-NAH-kee
Prawns in sharp tomato sauce with feta on top, finished under the grill or in the oven. Saganaki is the pan, not a cheese. Timing is the only way to spoil it: the sauce needs twenty minutes and the prawns three or four. A splash of ouzo flamed in the pan gives the taverna taste.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not let the feta fully melt. Feta softens and browns rather than melting smoothly. Pull it out while there are still distinct pieces, which is the texture you want against the sauce.
Make Prawns with Feta and Tomato14. Bougatsa
Μπουγάτσα · boo-GHAH-tsah
Thessaloniki's breakfast, eaten standing at a counter, cut into squares with scissors and passed across in paper. Refugees from Asia Minor brought it in the 1920s. People confuse it with galaktoboureko, which is firm and drenched in syrup. This one is softer and never sees syrup, only icing sugar and cinnamon.
Yiayia’s tip: Err on the loose side. The custard thickens as it cools and again in the oven. If it looks right in the pan it will be stodgy on the plate.
Make Bougatsa15. Kourabiedes
Κουραμπιέδες · koo-rah-bee-EH-des
The other Christmas cookie, and the opposite of melomakarona in every way: almost pure butter and almond, baked pale, then buried in icing sugar. There is so little else in them that the butter you buy is the cookie you get. Nobody has ever eaten one tidily.
Yiayia’s tip: Pale, not golden. A browned kourabies is overbaked. They should look almost underdone when they come out, set but barely coloured.
Make Kourabiedes16. Cypriot Easter Cheese Pastries
Flaounes · Φλαούνες · flah-OO-nes
Easter baking in Cyprus, done once a year and in huge batches, because every relative expects a share. A yeasted dough scented with mahlepi and mastic is folded around grated hard cheeses, egg, dried mint and often raisins, then topped with sesame. It is a project that fills most of a day.
Yiayia’s tip: Make the filling a day ahead. It firms up overnight in the fridge, which makes shaping far easier and lets the mint and cheese flavours settle together.
Make Cypriot Easter Cheese Pastries17. Cypriot Baked Macaroni
Makaronia tou fournou · Μακαρόνια του φούρνου · mah-kah-ROH-nyah too FOOR-noo
Cyprus's version of pastitsio, and the difference is on top. There is no bechamel. Halloumi is grated into beaten egg and poured over the pasta, where it sets like a savoury custard, salty and springy. The meat sauce underneath has the same cinnamon. With no roux to go wrong, it is the easier dish.
Yiayia’s tip: Grate the halloumi coarsely. A fine grate disappears into the egg. Coarse shreds keep some texture in the finished topping.
Make Cypriot Baked Macaroni18. Cypriot Lenten Tahini Spiral Bread
Tahinopita · Ταχινόπιτα · tah-hee-NOH-pee-tah
Baked for Lent, when butter, milk and eggs are not allowed, and it does not taste like going without. The dough is only flour, oil, sugar and yeast. It is spread with tahini, sugar and cinnamon, rolled, then wound into a coil, much as a cinnamon roll is built. It keeps well.
Yiayia’s tip: Stir the tahini well first. It separates in the jar, with the oil rising to the top. Mix it back together before measuring, or the filling will be uneven.
Make Cypriot Lenten Tahini Spiral Bread19. Lemon Roast Chicken and Potatoes
Kotopoulo lemonato · Κοτόπουλο λεμονάτο · koh-TOH-poo-loh leh-moh-NAH-toh
The tray tied most closely to Sunday lunch in Greece. Chicken joints and potato wedges roast together in lemon, oregano, garlic and olive oil, and the potatoes come out tasting of the chicken as much as of the lemon. Use bone-in pieces with the skin on. After the marinating it mostly looks after itself.
Yiayia’s tip: Give the potatoes a head start. Twenty minutes alone in the oven before the chicken joins them is what lets both finish tender and golden at the same time.
Make Lemon Roast Chicken and Potatoes20. Giouvetsi
Γιουβέτσι · yoo-VEHT-see
Named for its pot, an individual clay dish traditionally used for cooking and serving. Beef braises in a tomato sauce warmed with cinnamon, then orzo, kritharaki in Greek, goes into the same dish and drinks the sauce as it bakes. The sauce should look too loose at that point. The orzo takes a lot.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not rush the beef stage. The braise needs its full two hours to reach the fall-apart tenderness that makes this dish worth the effort. The orzo stage is quick by comparison.
Make Giouvetsi21. Tsoureki
Τσουρέκι · tsoo-REH-kee
The Easter bread: three braided strands under egg wash, often with a red-dyed egg set into it. Torn open, it pulls into long feathery threads where a brioche would be dense. Two aromatics set it apart from any plain enriched dough: mastic, a tree resin from Chios, and mahlepi, the ground kernels of cherry pits.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skimp on the kneading time. Ten to fifteen minutes of proper kneading is what develops the gluten structure behind tsoureki's characteristic pull-apart, stringy crumb.
Make Tsoureki22. Koulourakia
Κουλουράκια · koo-loo-RAH-kee-ah
Baked in enormous batches before Easter, because they keep well and get eaten all through Easter week. The dough is a plain butter one with vanilla and orange zest, and baking it is the easy part. The time goes on shaping: ropes rolled by hand and twisted into spirals, braids and figure-eights, one by one.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not overwork the flour. Fold it in only until the dough comes together. Overworking it gives a tough, chewy cookie rather than a tender, short one.
Make Koulourakia23. New Year Cake with the Hidden Coin
Vasilopita · Βασιλόπιτα · vah-see-LOH-pee-tah
Named for Saint Basil and cut at New Year in a fixed order, with the first slices set aside before anyone eats. A coin is hidden inside, and whoever finds it is said to have the luck for the year. The cake itself is plain on purpose: orange-scented and only lightly sweet.
Yiayia’s tip: Tell everyone about the coin before cutting. It is essential both for the fun of the tradition and, more practically, so nobody bites down on it by surprise.
Make New Year Cake with the Hidden Coin24. Walnut Spice Cake
Karydopita · Καρυδόπιτα · kah-ree-THOH-pee-tah
A cake made mostly of ground walnuts, with only enough flour to hold it together, spiced with cinnamon and clove and soaked in syrup the moment it leaves the oven. It comes out dense, nutty and moist all the way through. Of the Greek syrup cakes, this is one of the hardest to get wrong.
Yiayia’s tip: Hot cake, cold syrup. One side hot and the other cold is the rule for every baked Greek syrup sweet. Make the syrup first and let it cool completely. Hot syrup on a hot cake leaves the crumb heavy and wet.
Make Walnut Spice Cake25. Portokalopita
Πορτοκαλόπιτα · por-toh-kah-LOH-pee-tah
A cake that does to phyllo everything phyllo is never supposed to suffer. The sheets are left out to dry, torn by hand into rough pieces and folded into a wet orange batter, where they soften and puff. Then orange syrup goes over. No rolling, no layering, and the pieces should be coin-sized, not crumbs.
Yiayia’s tip: Really let the phyllo dry out fully. Sheets that are still even slightly pliable do not shred properly and give a denser, less characteristic texture.
Make Portokalopita
More Baked Greek Recipes
67 more, 92 in all.
Eggless Spice Cake for Saint FanouriosFanouropita ΦανουρόπιταDesserts · 1h 5m · serves 12
Epirus Cornbread with GreensBatzina ΜπατζίναBreads and Pies · 55m · serves 8
Pontic Boat-Shaped Cheese BreadPeinirli ΠεϊνιρλίBreads and Pies · 2h · serves 4
Beetroot Salad with Garlic YogurtPantzarosalata ΠαντζαροσαλάταSalads · 1h 20m · serves 6
Sesame Bread RingKoulouri Thessalonikis Κουλούρι ΘεσσαλονίκηςBreakfast Recipes · 2h · serves 8
Kefalonia Spiced Meat PieKefalonitiki kreatopita Κεφαλονίτικη κρεατόπιταBreads and Pies · 2h · serves 8
Stuffed Aubergine "Little Shoes"Papoutsakia ΠαπουτσάκιαMain Courses · 1h 30m · serves 6
Aubergine Baked with Onion and TomatoMelitzanes imam Μελιτζάνες ιμάμMain Courses · 1h 20m · serves 4
Baked Aubergine with Feta and TomatoMelitzanes me feta Μελιτζάνες με φέταMain Courses · 1h 5m · serves 4
Yogurt CakeYiaourtopita ΓιαουρτόπιταDesserts · 1h · serves 10
Epirus Hand-Rolled Cheese PieTyropita Ipirou Τυρόπιτα ΗπείρουBreads and Pies · 1h 45m · serves 8
Vegan Stuffed Aubergine with RiceMelitzanes gemistes Μελιτζάνες γεμιστέςMain Courses · 1h 40m · serves 6
Leek PiePrasopita ΠρασόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 30m · serves 8
Meat Pie in PhylloKreatopita ΚρεατόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 50m · serves 8
Cheese Triangle PastriesTiropitakia trigona Τυροπιτάκια τρίγωναMeze and Appetisers · 1h 10m · serves 8
Apple Pie in PhylloMilopita ΜηλόπιταDesserts · 1h 20m · serves 10
Spinach and Cheese PieSpanakotyropita ΣπανακοτυρόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 25m · serves 8
Chicken Pie in PhylloKotopita ΚοτόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 30m · serves 8
Wild Greens PieHortopita ΧορτόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 25m · serves 8
Aubergine and Feta PieMelitzanopita ΜελιτζανόπιταBreads and Pies · 1h 35m · serves 8
Roast Lamb Leg with LemonArnaki lemonato Αρνάκι λεμονάτοMain Courses · 3h 40m · serves 6
Kalymnos Courgette and Herb FrittataSfougato Kalymnou Σφουγγάτο ΚαλύμνουMain Courses · 1h · serves 6
Turkey Stuffed with ChestnutsGalopoula gemisti me kastana Γαλοπούλα γεμιστή με κάσταναMain Courses · 5h · serves 12
Vegan Olive Oil CookiesLadokouloura ΛαδοκούλουραDesserts · 50m · serves 10
Semolina Syrup CakeRavani ΡαβανίDesserts · 1h 5m · serves 12
Sifnos Honey CheesecakeMelopita Sifnou Μελόπιτα ΣίφνουDesserts · 55m · serves 8
Baked Feta with Honey and SesameFeta psiti me meli Φέτα ψητή με μέλιMeze and Appetisers · 17m · serves 4
LaganaLagana ΛαγάναBreads and Pies · 1h · serves 8
Christmas BreadChristopsomo ΧριστόψωμοBreads and Pies · 1h 45m · serves 12
Aubergine-Wrapped Rice RollsDolmades me melitzana Ντολμάδες με μελιτζάναMain Courses · 1h 30m · serves 6
Roast Goat with LemonKatsikaki lemonato Κατσικάκι λεμονάτοMain Courses · 3h 40m · serves 6
Almond MacaroonsAmygdalota ΑμυγδαλωτάDesserts · 50m · serves 12
Grape Must CookiesMoustokouloura ΜουστοκούλουραDesserts · 50m · serves 16
Custard Pie Without PhylloGalatopita ΓαλατόπιταDesserts · 1h · serves 8
Baked Chicken with OrzoKotopoulo giouvetsi Κοτόπουλο γιουβέτσιMain Courses · 1h 20m · serves 4
BobotaBobota ΜπομπόταBreads and Pies · 55m · serves 8
Olive BreadElioti (Eliopsomo) ΕλιόψωμοBreads and Pies · 1h 5m · serves 10
KataifiKataifi ΚανταΐφιDesserts · 1h 15m · serves 12
Custard and Cream Kataifi CakeEkmek kataifi Έκμεκ κανταΐφιDesserts · 1h 15m · serves 10
Whole Baked Sea BreamTsipoura psiti Τσιπούρα ψητήMain Courses · 40m · serves 2
Baked Feta with TomatoFeta psiti me ntomata Φέτα ψητή με ντομάταMeze and Appetisers · 35m · serves 4
Thessaloniki Baked Feta with PeppersBougiourdi ΜπουγιουρντίMeze and Appetisers · 35m · serves 4
Cretan Sweet Cheese Hand PiesKalitsounia ΚαλιτσούνιαDesserts · 1h 10m · serves 8Get one proper Greek recipe a week
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