Method
25 Fried Greek Recipes
Tiganita. Fritters, croquettes, calamari and cheese, fried in good oil and hit with lemon while still too hot to eat comfortably.
Tiganita. Fritters, squid and cheese, fried in good oil and hit with lemon while still too hot to eat comfortably.
The fritters are where Greek frying is most itself: courgette with feta, tomato from Santorini, chickpea and tomato from Rhodes. The courgette ones depend on salting and squeezing first. Small fish go into the oil whole: whitebait and red mullet. Baby squid is cut into rings first. Saganaki is a slab of cheese with a crisp crust and a molten middle.
Sweet things are fried too. Loukoumades are honey puffs that have to be served within minutes. The fried honey pastry is thin dough that curls in the oil. Pancakes and fried bread get honey.
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. Loukoumades
Λουκουμάδες · loo-koo-MAH-des
Possibly the oldest dessert Europe still eats: honey tokens much like them went to the winners of the ancient games. The batter is wetter than any dough you could handle, and that water becomes the steam that blows the middle hollow. They do not keep. Within twenty minutes of the fryer they are soft.
Yiayia’s tip: Keep the spoons wet. The batter sticks ferociously to anything dry. A bowl of water beside the pan, and dipping the spoons between every single puff, is the difference between this being easy and being maddening.
Make Loukoumades2. Keftedes
Κεφτέδες · kef-TEH-des
Lighter than most meatballs, and the bread does it: stale bread, wetted and wrung out, holds water inside where breadcrumbs would tighten the mix. They taste of mint and oregano, not garlic and parsley, which separates them from Italian polpette. More often a meze than a main, and good cold the next day.
Yiayia’s tip: Wet your hands to shape. Damp palms stop the mixture sticking and give a smoother surface that browns more evenly.
Make Keftedes3. Saganaki
Σαγανάκι · sah-ghah-NAH-kee
The name is the pan's, not the cheese's. A small two-handled frying pan is a sagani, and anything cooked in one is a saganaki, prawns and mussels included. The cheese must be firm and low in moisture, usually kefalotyri or graviera, or it runs into a puddle. Three minutes, then straight to the table.
Yiayia’s tip: Thick slices only. Under about 1.5 cm the cheese has melted through before the outside has coloured. Thickness is what buys you the contrast between crust and molten centre.
Make Saganaki4. Scrambled Eggs with Tomato and Feta
Strapatsada · Στραπατσάδα · strah-pah-TSAH-thah
August food, for the weeks when tomatoes peak and the oven stays off. The Peloponnese calls it kagianas, and some households will argue that is another dish. It is not. The tomato has to cook down to a thick, jammy paste before any egg goes in, or the scramble sits in pink liquid.
Yiayia’s tip: Low heat for the eggs. The tomato wants high heat and the eggs want low. Turning the heat down between the two stages is the single most useful thing you can do here.
Make Scrambled Eggs with Tomato and Feta5. Courgette Fritters with Feta
Kolokithokeftedes · Κολοκυθοκεφτέδες · ko-lo-kee-tho-kef-TEH-des
Every Greek island has its own version: grated courgette, feta and herbs, fried crisp and eaten hot with tzatziki and lemon. A courgette is over ninety percent water. The whole method is a fight against that, because water left in the mix means more flour, and more flour means a heavy fritter.
Yiayia’s tip: Squeeze twice. Once after the salting, then again just before mixing. Courgettes keep releasing water and the second squeeze always yields more.
Make Courgette Fritters with Feta6. Rhodes Chickpea and Tomato Fritters
Pitaroudia · Πιταρούδια · pee-tah-ROO-thee-ah
A Rhodes fritter that hardly leaves Rhodes. Ask for one on the mainland and expect a blank look. The chickpeas are crushed, not pureed, so the texture is coarse and nutty where falafel is smooth, with grated tomato, onion and plenty of mint. Cumin goes in too, because the Anatolian coast is close.
Yiayia’s tip: Never use tinned chickpeas. They are already cooked and far too wet. The dish depends on raw soaked chickpeas cooking through during the fry.
Make Rhodes Chickpea and Tomato Fritters7. Cypriot Bulgur Shells Stuffed with Meat
Koupes · Κούπες · KOO-pes
Cyprus sits between Greece, Turkey and the Levant, and here it shows. These are close relatives of Middle Eastern kibbeh: a thin bulgur and semolina shell around spiced minced meat, shaped into small torpedoes and fried. The shell has to be kneaded hard, like a dough. They freeze well, so cooks make a large batch.
Yiayia’s tip: Squeeze the bulgur properly. Excess water in the shell mixture makes it impossible to shape thin without tearing. Wring it out hard in a tea towel before kneading.
Make Cypriot Bulgur Shells Stuffed with Meat8. Fried Salt Cod with Garlic Dip
Bakaliaros skordalia · Μπακαλιάρος σκορδαλιά · bah-kah-lee-AH-ros skor-dah-lee-AH
The dish of Greek Independence Day, March 25th, a date inside Lent. Salted, dried fish is allowed under the stricter fasting rules where fresh is not, which is how salt cod became the fish of the day. The skordalia is no side dish. It is half of the plate and deserves equal care.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not rush the soak. Twenty four to forty eight hours with regular water changes is what draws out the curing salt properly. Taste a piece before frying to check.
Make Fried Salt Cod with Garlic Dip9. Fried Honey Pastry
Diples · Δίπλες · THEE-ples
The name means folds. Paper-thin egg dough is twisted on a fork as it hits the oil, so it curls into a crisp ribbon, then it goes into honey syrup under walnuts and cinnamon. No single step is complicated. The rolling takes practice, and the frying leaves no time to hesitate.
Yiayia’s tip: Roll it thinner than feels right. Diples should be nearly translucent before frying. A thick sheet fries chewy rather than light and crisp.
Make Fried Honey Pastry10. Chickpea Fritters
Revithokeftedes · Ρεβιθοκεφτέδες · reh-vee-thoh-kef-TEH-thes
A keftes rebuilt around chickpeas, with onion, herbs and cumin, and no mere stand-in for the meat one. They belong most to the Cyclades, where chickpeas are an old staple crop, and to Lent on the mainland. Chickpeas hold more water than people expect, so the mixture must be dry. Chill the patties before frying.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook dried chickpeas until very soft. Well beyond salad tenderness. A proper long simmer softens them enough to mash easily without extra binders.
Make Chickpea Fritters11. Cretan Sweet Cheese Hand Pies
Kalitsounia · Καλιτσούνια · kah-lee-TSOO-nyah
Hand pies from Crete filled with mizithra, a fresh, soft whey cheese, lightly sweetened. They are an Easter food that households make all year. Fried or baked is a family matter, not a rule: fried gives a richer crust with crisp edges, baked is lighter and keeps better. Honey goes on at the table.
Yiayia’s tip: Drain the cheese properly. A wet filling steams the dough apart from the inside. Twenty minutes minimum in a sieve or tea towel is worth the wait.
Make Cretan Sweet Cheese Hand Pies12. Cretan Fried Snails
Hochlioi boubouristi · Χοχλιοί μπουμπουριστοί · hoh-hlee-EE boo-boo-ree-STEE
Snails are ordinary food on Crete, eaten in tavernas across the island, and this is the plainest, best known way with them. They go into hot olive oil alive and the heat pops them partly out of the shell, the boubourizoun of the name. Vinegar, salt and rosemary finish it, and the vinegar matters most.
Yiayia’s tip: Only use properly purged snails. This is a genuine food safety requirement, not a traditional flourish. Buy from a specialist supplier if you are not experienced in purging them yourself.
Make Cretan Fried Snails13. Cretan Clarified Cream with Eggs
Staka me avga · Στάκα με αυγά · STAH-kah meh av-GHAH
Barely a recipe. Staka is a Cretan dairy fat rendered from the cream of sheep or goat milk, tangy and faintly cheesy where butter is not, and eggs are fried straight in it for breakfast. Baste the whites with the hot fat as they cook. Without it, ghee is the nearest thing, though milder.
Yiayia’s tip: Keep the heat moderate. Staka has a lower smoke point than plain oil. Too fierce a heat browns it unpleasantly before the eggs are done.
Make Cretan Clarified Cream with Eggs14. Thessaloniki Custard Triangles
Trigona Panoramatos · Τρίγωνα Πανοράματος · TREE-goh-nah pah-noh-RAH-mah-tos
Named for Panorama, the hillside suburb above Thessaloniki where a few patisseries made their name on it and people still cross the city for it. Phyllo cones are fried crisp, dipped for seconds in light syrup and filled with vanilla custard. Fill them close to serving. The shell goes soft inside an hour or two.
Yiayia’s tip: Chill the custard properly. It needs to be genuinely thick and cold before filling, or it will soak straight through the fried shell rather than sitting inside it.
Make Thessaloniki Custard Triangles15. Fried Courgette Slices
Kolokithakia tiganita · Κολοκυθάκια τηγανητά · koh-loh-kee-THAH-kyah tee-gah-nee-TAH
About as plain as Greek cooking gets, and on nearly every taverna table. Thin courgette, a light dusting of flour, hot oil, then tzatziki and lemon alongside. The oil has to be hot enough to crisp the slices, or they drink it and go soggy. They soften fast once they sit, so serve at once.
Yiayia’s tip: Slice evenly. Uneven thickness means some pieces finish frying before others. A mandoline gives the most consistent results.
Make Fried Courgette Slices16. Santorini Tomato Fritters
Ntomatokeftedes Santorinis · Ντοματοκεφτέδες Σαντορίνης · doh-mah-toh-kef-TEH-thes san-doh-REE-nees
Santorini's tomatoes grow in volcanic ash and get almost no rain or irrigation, so the fruit is small, sweet and concentrated. These fritters exist to show it off. There is barely any flour, only onion and mint, the traditional herb where other Greek fritters take parsley or dill. Do not press them as they fry.
Yiayia’s tip: Use the ripest, most flavourful tomatoes you can find. There is very little else in this dish. A bland tomato gives a bland fritter.
Make Santorini Tomato Fritters17. Fried Aubergine Slices
Melitzanes tiganites · Μελιτζάνες τηγανητές · meh-leed-ZAH-nes tee-gah-nee-TES
One of the two simplest things on a Greek meze table, the other being fried courgette. Aubergine is the richer of the pair, with a slightly smoky depth once fried. The slices are thin, lightly floured and served with tzatziki and lemon. They soften within minutes, so they go straight to the table.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt properly and for long enough. This draws out the bitter liquid aubergine holds and is what lets the slices crisp rather than absorb oil and turn soggy.
Make Fried Aubergine Slices18. Fried Baby Squid
Kalamarakia tiganita · Καλαμαράκια τηγανητά · kah-lah-mah-RAH-kyah tee-gah-nee-TAH
Squid can be cooked well two ways: for a minute or two, or for an hour or more. Anything in between turns it to rubber. Frying is the fast way, so sixty to ninety seconds in hot oil is enough. Few plates are ordered more at a Greek seaside taverna.
Yiayia’s tip: Flour it only right before frying. Squid releases moisture as it sits, and a coating applied too early turns gluey rather than staying light.
Make Fried Baby Squid19. Pancakes with Honey
Tiganites me meli · Τηγανίτες με μέλι · tee-gah-NEE-tes meh meh-LEE
Thick Greek pancakes, neither a thin crepe nor a fluffy American one, eaten with honey, cinnamon and walnuts. They are an everyday breakfast. At the start of Lent, on Clean Monday, they are made with no egg: flour, water, salt and a raising agent. That version holds together well.
Yiayia’s tip: Use a shallow pool of oil, not a dry pan. This is what gives tiganites their characteristic slightly crisp edge, distinct from a Western-style dry-griddled pancake.
Make Pancakes with Honey20. Fried Bread with Honey
Friganya · Φρυγανιά · free-gah-NYAH
Greece's French toast, and it exists for the same reason: bread too old to eat plain should not go in the bin. The slices get a few seconds a side in egg and milk, then they are fried and finished with honey and a proper dusting of cinnamon. More dessert than breakfast.
Yiayia’s tip: Use bread that is a day or two old. Very fresh bread falls apart in the egg mixture. Slightly stale bread with a firm crumb holds together far better.
Make Fried Bread with Honey21. Aubergine in Yogurt Sauce
Melitzanes se saltsa giaourtiou · Μελιτζάνες σε σάλτσα γιαουρτιού · meh-leed-ZAH-nes seh SAHL-tsah yah-oor-TYOO
Aubergine and yogurt on one plate, a crossover between Greek cooking and the wider eastern Mediterranean, as manti and imam bayildi are. Fried slices, crisp at the edge and soft inside, go under thick garlic yogurt, and paprika butter is poured over last. Serve with bread, or as part of a meze.
Yiayia’s tip: Keep the yogurt properly cold. The contrast between cold sauce and hot aubergine and butter is exactly what this dish is built around.
Make Aubergine in Yogurt Sauce22. Fried Whitebait
Marides tiganites · Μαρίδες τηγανητές · mah-REE-thes tee-gah-nee-TES
Tiny fish, fried whole and eaten whole: head, tail and bones in one bite. Nothing to fillet, and nothing to clean beyond a rinse. The oil must be hot enough to crisp them in a couple of minutes, or they sit and drink it. Tavernas sell them constantly, with ouzo or cold white wine.
Yiayia’s tip: Dry the fish thoroughly before flouring. Any surface moisture stops the flour sticking properly and causes dangerous spitting in the hot oil.
Make Fried Whitebait23. Fried Red Mullet
Barbouni tiganito · Μπαρμπούνι τηγανητό · bar-BOO-nee tee-gah-nee-TOH
Often the most expensive fish on a taverna menu, and one that needs very little done to it. Whole red mullet is floured lightly and fried in a hot pan, and that is the classic preparation. The flesh is delicate and slightly sweet, nothing like common white fish. Turn it gently or it breaks.
Yiayia’s tip: Freshness is essential. Red mullet's delicate flavour and texture do not forgive a fish that has been sitting for days. Buy from a source you trust.
Make Fried Red Mullet24. Fried Smoked Cheese from Epirus
Saganaki Metsovone · Σαγανάκι μετσοβόνε · sah-gah-NAH-kee mets-oh-VOH-neh
Most saganaki is fried from whatever firm cheese is in the house. This one insists on Metsovone, the smoked cheese of Metsovo, a mountain town in Epirus, and frying concentrates both the smoke and the salt. The method is the usual one: flour, a hot pan, lemon at the end.
Yiayia’s tip: Watch the heat closely. The flour coating can burn quickly at the temperature this dish needs. Keep an eye on it rather than walking away.
Make Fried Smoked Cheese from Epirus25. Cretan Smoked Marinated Pork
Apaki Kritis · Απάκι Κρήτης · ah-PAH-kee KREE-tees
Cured pork the Cretan way: marinated, smoked over aromatic local wood and scented with oregano and wild herbs, where its island cousins use coriander seed or juniper. It is not eaten raw in thin slices as louza often is. Apaki is fried briefly or cooked into other dishes. Making it takes days.
Yiayia’s tip: The vinegar marinade is what defines apaki. It gives a tangier character than the wine-based cures used for lountza or louza, and is worth not substituting away.
Make Cretan Smoked Marinated Pork
More Fried Greek Recipes
31 more, 56 in all.
Fried Dogfish with Garlic Potato DipGaleos skordalia Γαλέος σκορδαλιάMain Courses · 40m · serves 4
Fried Green PeppersPiperies tiganites Πιπεριές τηγανητέςSide Dishes · 22m · serves 4
Pan-Fried Halloumi with Honey BreakfastHalloumi me meli Χαλούμι με μέλιBreakfast Recipes · 13m · serves 2
Potato FrittersPatatokeftedes ΠατατοκεφτέδεςSide Dishes · 50m · serves 6
Grilled Manouri Cheese with HoneyManouri me meli Μανούρι με μέλιMeze and Appetisers · 20m · serves 4
Corfu Fried Fish in Vinegar and RosemarySavoro ΣαβόροMeze and Appetisers · 40m · serves 4
Grilled HalloumiHalloumi ΧαλλούμιMeze and Appetisers · 11m · serves 4
BiftekiBifteki ΜπιφτέκιMain Courses · 40m · serves 4
Kalymnos Courgette and Herb FrittataSfougato Kalymnou Σφουγγάτο ΚαλύμνουMain Courses · 1h · serves 6
Stuffed Courgette FlowersKolokithoanthoi gemistoi Κολοκυθοανθοί γεμιστοίMeze and Appetisers · 1h 10m · serves 6Get one proper Greek recipe a week
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