Ingredient
25 Greek Recipes with Tomato
Tomatoes arrived late and took over completely. Fresh in salads, grated raw into sauces, or cooked down for hours in the ladera dishes.
Tomatoes arrived late in Greece and took over completely. They are eaten fresh in salads, grated raw into sauces, or cooked down for hours.
Raw, they have to be good: sliced with oil, cut up with cucumber, grated over a rusk for dakos. Santorini makes fritters from its small sweet ones. Scrambled eggs with tomato and feta starts with grated tomato cooked down hard.
Cooked, they are the sauce in pastitsio, giouvetsi, the cumin meatballs of Smyrna, beef braised in tomato and the pastitsada of Corfu. If you learn one thing here, learn the basic tomato sauce.
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. 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 Pastitsio2. Cretan Dakos
Dakos · Ντάκος · DAH-kos
Barley rusk was baked twice to last months at sea, and it comes out rock hard. Dakos is how Crete brings it back, with water and olive oil. The tomato is grated so its pulp soaks down, and the cheese is soft, mild mizithra. It is no Greek salad on a rusk.
Yiayia’s tip: Buy real barley rusks. Wheat rusks and dried bread are not the same. Barley paximadi has a nuttier, denser quality and holds up under the tomato. Greek delis and larger supermarkets stock them.
Make Cretan Dakos3. 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 Gemista4. 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. Stifado
Στιφάδο · stee-FAH-thoh
A stew defined by its onions. They go in whole, a kilo of them to a kilo of meat, and come out sweet and translucent. Red wine vinegar gives it a sharpness no other Greek stew has, with cinnamon, clove and bay behind it. Beef is usual. Rabbit is arguably the more traditional choice.
Yiayia’s tip: Blanch the onions to peel them. One minute in boiling water then into cold, and the skins slip off. Saves half an hour and a lot of unpleasantness.
Make Stifado6. 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 Macaroni7. Corfu Beef and Pasta in Spiced Tomato Sauce
Pastitsada · Παστιτσάδα · pah-stee-TSAH-thah
Corfu spent centuries under Venice, and this is where it shows. Beef braises for close to three hours in tomato with cinnamon, cloves, allspice and bay, nothing like the oregano and lemon of the mainland, then goes onto thick tubular pasta under grated hard cheese. Make it a day ahead, because the sauce deepens overnight.
Yiayia’s tip: Brown the beef properly first. This step builds much of the sauce's depth over what is otherwise a long, gentle braise. Do not rush or skip it.
Make Corfu Beef and Pasta in Spiced Tomato Sauce8. 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 Giouvetsi9. Peloponnese Egg Pasta with Chicken
Hylopites · Χυλοπίτες · hee-loh-PEE-tes
Squares of egg pasta that Peloponnese households once rolled, cut and dried in the sun to keep for months. Most now buy them. They simmer in a broth of chicken and tomato, not in water, and their starch thickens the pot into something like a rustic risotto. Watch the liquid in the last ten minutes.
Yiayia’s tip: Brown the chicken properly first. This single step builds most of the sauce's depth. Do not rush past it to get to the simmering stage.
Make Peloponnese Egg Pasta with Chicken10. Dodecanese Orzo-Style Pasta with Tomato
Sitaraki · Σιταράκι · see-tah-RAH-kee
A small pasta of the Dodecanese, the size and shape of orzo, named from sitari, wheat. It cooks in the tomato and onion sauce itself, not in separate water, and its starch thickens everything into a one-pot meal in half an hour. Orzo or kritharaki behave almost identically if sitaraki cannot be found.
Yiayia’s tip: Cook the onions properly first. A genuine ten to twelve minutes over low heat builds real sweetness that carries the whole dish alongside the tomato.
Make Dodecanese Orzo-Style Pasta with Tomato11. Smyrna-Style Cumin Meatballs in Tomato Sauce
Soutzoukakia · Σουτζουκάκια · soo-joo-KAH-kyah
Refugees from Smyrna and the Asia Minor coast brought these after 1922, and Greece has long since made them everyday food. They are oval, not round, which browns them more evenly. Sear them hard, then let them finish in the tomato sauce so the inside stays moist. Rice or mashed potato goes with them.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not skip the cumin. It is genuinely the flavour that defines soutzoukakia and separates it from a standard Greek keftes. Use a generous amount.
Make Smyrna-Style Cumin Meatballs in Tomato Sauce12. 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 Fritters13. Basic Greek Tomato Sauce
Saltsa domatas · Σάλτσα ντομάτας · SAHL-tsah doh-MAH-tas
Not a dish, but the thing under dozens of them: soutzoukakia, giouvetsi, papoutsakia. Onion, garlic, olive oil, tomato and a bay leaf. The spicing is plain on purpose, with cinnamon or cumin added only when a dish wants it. It makes more than one meal needs, because it freezes for up to three months.
Yiayia’s tip: Do not rush the onion. A genuine eight minutes over medium-low heat softens it properly. High heat browns rather than softens, giving a sharper flavour.
Make Basic Greek Tomato Sauce14. Simple Greek Sliced Tomato Salad
Ntomatosalata · Ντοματοσαλάτα · doh-mah-toh-sah-LAH-tah
Horiatiki with everything taken away except the tomato. No cucumber, no onion, no feta: only olive oil, dried oregano and salt. It is on Greek tables all through high summer. Be generous with the oregano, which stands in for all that is missing, and give it ten minutes so the juice runs into the oil.
Yiayia’s tip: Use only properly ripe tomatoes. This dish has nowhere to hide a bland or underripe one. It is genuinely not worth making outside tomato season.
Make Simple Greek Sliced Tomato Salad15. Courgette in Tomato Sauce
Kolokithakia yiahni · Κολοκυθάκια γιαχνί · koh-loh-kee-THAH-kyah yah-NEE
The onion and tomato braise Greeks give to green beans and aubergine, applied to courgette. Courgette cooks much faster than either, so few ladera dishes are ready sooner, and few are easier to overcook: check early and often. It is eaten warm or cooled, with feta and bread.
Yiayia’s tip: Cut thick, not thin. Thin slices disintegrate too quickly in the sauce. Thick chunks hold their shape through the simmer.
Make Courgette in Tomato Sauce16. Orzo Soup
Soupa kritharaki · Σούπα κριθαράκι · SOO-pah kree-thah-RAH-kee
Ordinary weeknight food: orzo cooked in a thin broth of tomato and vegetables, without the meat or long bake of giouvetsi, its richer relative. Made without meat or stock, it is vegan. The pasta goes in only after the vegetable base has simmered. Stir it now and then, or it sticks.
Yiayia’s tip: Watch the orzo closely. It cooks through fast and keeps absorbing liquid even once tender. Check from eight minutes rather than trusting a fixed time.
Make Orzo Soup17. Simple Greek Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Angourodomata · Αγγουροντομάτα · ahn-goo-roh-doh-MAH-tah
Cucumber and tomato, as the name says: angouri and domata. It is what a Greek household makes on an ordinary day, when horiatiki, with feta, green pepper and olives, is more than the meal needs. Oil, vinegar and oregano are enough. Dress it late, because both vegetables give up water once cut.
Yiayia’s tip: Dice small and even. This suits the salad's role as a quick, everyday side, distinct from the larger wedges used in a full horiatiki.
Make Simple Greek Cucumber and Tomato Salad18. Sausage Braised in Wine
Loukaniko krasato · Λουκάνικο κρασάτο · loo-KAH-nee-koh krah-SAH-toh
Loukaniko fried with eggs is breakfast. Simmered in red wine with bay and some orange peel, it is dinner. The orange is not a whim: good loukaniko is already seasoned with citrus and fennel, and the peel picks that up. Keep the simmer gentle, because a hard boil splits the casing.
Yiayia’s tip: Brown the sausage properly first. This step builds real depth into the sauce and should not be skipped or rushed.
Make Sausage Braised in Wine19. Beef Braised in Tomato
Moschari kokkinisto · Μοσχάρι κοκκινιστό · moh-SHAH-ree koh-kee-nee-STOH
Say kokkinisto in a Greek house and this is the version people picture: beef or veal, not lamb. The sauce is plain and red, with bay and a touch of cinnamon, made to go over pasta or rice. Beef needs longer than lamb, at least two hours, and is better made a day ahead.
Yiayia’s tip: Choose a cut with real connective tissue. Chuck, shin or shoulder become genuinely tender over a long braise. A leaner cut like sirloin dries out rather than softening properly.
Make Beef Braised in Tomato20. Baked Chicken with Orzo
Kotopoulo giouvetsi · Κοτόπουλο γιουβέτσι · koh-TOH-poo-loh yoo-VEHT-see
Classic giouvetsi is beef, and beef means hours of braising before the orzo goes in. Chicken brings it down to about an hour and a lighter dish, with the same cinnamon in the tomato sauce and the orzo still baked in it. Keep hot water to hand: the orzo dries it out faster than expected.
Yiayia’s tip: Use bone-in chicken thighs. They stay moist and flavourful over the braise, unlike leaner chicken breast, which can dry out.
Make Baked Chicken with Orzo21. Sausage and Pepper Stew
Spetzofai · Σπετζοφάι · speh-tzoh-FAH-ee
This comes from Pilio, a mountain and forest peninsula in Thessaly with an old reputation for sausage. Sliced sausage, plenty of red and green peppers, onion and tomato cook down in one pan until thick and sticky. There is no long braise and no careful technique. Taste before salting: the sausage is already seasoned.
Yiayia’s tip: Use a proper coarse Greek country sausage. Its specific spicing, often orange zest and fennel or coriander, is what genuinely defines this dish. A bland substitute gives a flatter result.
Make Sausage and Pepper Stew22. Cypriot Jute Mallow Stew
Molehiya · Μολόχα · moh-leh-HEE-yah
This reached Cyprus from elsewhere in the eastern Mediterranean and stayed, as a village favourite. Dried jute mallow leaves, left whole, cook gently with onion, tomato and either chicken or pork. Lemon is the thing to understand. It goes in during cooking and in quantity, so the meat never makes the stew heavy.
Yiayia’s tip: Stir as little as possible. The Cypriot version prizes whole, separate leaves rather than a smooth slippery sauce. Too much stirring breaks them down and changes the texture entirely.
Make Cypriot Jute Mallow Stew23. Corfu Vegetable and Pasta Soup
Bourou bourou · Μπουρού μπουρού · boo-ROO boo-ROO
The name is the noise of the pot when everything goes in together. Corfu's household soup takes whatever the garden has in surplus, onion, carrot, potato, courgette and tomato, and cooks it down in a lot of olive oil. Small pasta is added late, and its starch thickens the soup into a meal.
Yiayia’s tip: Grate the tomatoes, do not chop them. Halving a ripe tomato and grating it against the coarse holes leaves the skin in your hand and puts the pulp in the pot. It dissolves into the soup instead of sitting in it as lumps.
Make Corfu Vegetable and Pasta Soup24. Ionian Rusk with Tomato and Oregano
Riganada · Ριγανάδα · ree-gha-NAH-tha
Oregano, rigani, gives this its name, and it is the main flavour, not a finishing pinch. On Kefalonia and Lefkada a barley rusk is moistened, then loaded with olive oil, grated tomato and dried oregano. Cretan dakos is its nearest relative. It is best five minutes after assembly, before the rusk goes soggy.
Yiayia’s tip: Salt the tomato, not the rusk. Barley rusks are already salty. Season the grated tomato instead and taste before adding more, or the finished plate can be overwhelming.
Make Ionian Rusk with Tomato and Oregano25. Politiko Spiced Beef Stew
Tas kebap · Τας κεμπάπ · TAS keh-BAP
Nothing is grilled, whatever the name suggests. Tas is the pot, and this is a slow stew from the Greeks of Constantinople. Onion goes in at half the meat's weight or more and melts into the sauce, spiced with cumin and allspice. That sauce is kept thin so it soaks into rice pilaf.
Yiayia’s tip: Bloom the ground spices in fat. One minute in the hot onions before liquid goes in transforms cumin and allspice. Added to a wet pot they stay raw and dusty for the whole two hours.
Make Politiko Spiced Beef Stew
More Greek Recipes with Tomato
35 more, 60 in all.
Greek SaladHoriatiki salata Χωριάτικη σαλάταSalads · 12m · serves 4
Baked Giant Beans in TomatoGigantes plaki Γίγαντες πλακίMain Courses · 2h 5m · serves 6
FasoladaFasolada ΦασολάδαSoups · 1h 45m · serves 6
BriamBriam ΜπριάμMain Courses · 2h · serves 6
Prawns with Feta and TomatoGarides saganaki Γαρίδες σαγανάκιMain Courses · 37m · serves 4
Rhodes Chickpea and Tomato FrittersPitaroudia ΠιταρούδιαMeze and Appetisers · 45m · serves 6
Green Beans in Tomato and Olive OilFasolakia lathera Φασολάκια λαδεράSide Dishes · 1h · serves 4
Stuffed Aubergine "Little Shoes"Papoutsakia ΠαπουτσάκιαMain Courses · 1h 30m · serves 6
Baked Aubergine with Feta and TomatoMelitzanes me feta Μελιτζάνες με φέταMain Courses · 1h 5m · serves 4
Okra in Tomato and Olive OilBamies latheres Μπάμιες λαδερέςSide Dishes · 1h · serves 4
Vegan Stuffed Aubergine with RiceMelitzanes gemistes Μελιτζάνες γεμιστέςMain Courses · 1h 40m · serves 6
Lamb Braised in TomatoArni kokkinisto Αρνί κοκκινιστόMain Courses · 2h 5m · serves 6
Chunky Aubergine and Tomato StewMelitzanes yahni Μελιτζάνες γιαχνίMain Courses · 1h 10m · serves 4
Orzo Pasta SaladKritharosalata ΚριθαρόσαλαταSalads · 32m · serves 6
Lobster with PastaAstakomakaronada ΑστακομακαρονάδαMain Courses · 1h 15m · serves 4
Aubergine-Wrapped Rice RollsDolmades me melitzana Ντολμάδες με μελιτζάναMain Courses · 1h 30m · serves 6
Mussels in Tomato and Feta SauceMydia saganaki Μύδια σαγανάκιMeze and Appetisers · 40m · serves 4
Stuffed Whole SquidKalamari gemisto Καλαμάρι γεμιστόMain Courses · 1h 20m · serves 4
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
Lamb on Smoked Aubergine PureeHounkiar begienti Χουνκιάρ μπεγιεντίMain Courses · 2h 20m · serves 6Browse other ingredients
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