Saganaki - Easy 10 Minute Greek Appetiser!

Recipe: Saganaki Recipe »

This easy saganaki recipe is the ultimate quick appetiser. Crispy golden Greek fried cheese is served with a smoky, sweet ajvar sauce and a squeeze of lemon. Ready in just 10 minutes!

About Saganaki Cheese

Saganaki cheese is one of the most delicious Greek dishes. Fried cheese is cooked and served in a small frying pan. This version is served with a delicious capsicum and eggplant sauce called Ajvar and is one of the most popular appetisers at Blanca Honeysuckle restaurant in Newcastle. They were kind enough to share the recipe with me and that means you can make it at home too!

Why You'll Love This Saganaki Recipe

Pan fried melty cheese? What's not to love? Haha! But seriously, this makes the best, easiest appetiser that is designed to share.

Saganaki is super quick and takes less than 3 minutes prep. The cheese takes 6 minutes to cook so you'll be done and dusted in 10 minutes!

Serve this with Greek pita bread. Or this also goes well with puffy bread too!

Video How To Make Saganaki Cheese

Ingredients For Saganaki

Cheese - Which cheese to use for saganaki? It depends on how salty or intense you want the end result to be. Kefalotyri is a strongly flavoured, hard and more intense sheep and goat's milk cheese while Kefalograviera is a milder, more gooey cheese also made of sheep and goat's milk. If you want it to be creamy try Graviera cheese (closer to a Gruyere cheese).

Flour - Plain all purpose flour.

Olive oil - Extra virgin olive oil.

Ajvar - This is a Balkan capsicum and eggplant condiment. It's slightly sweet, smokey with a rich flavour to it. Ajvar is vegan and we use the mild version in this recipe but you can also use the hot version. Available at the supermarket.

Honey - To sweeten the sauce to contrast with the salty cheese.

Chilli powder and flakes - For spice, mild or hot depending on your taste.

Oregano - Dried oregano is perfect but you can also use fresh.

Lemon - I love this dish served with lemon. Slice off the cheeks from the sides of a lemon for easy squeezing.

Tips For Making Saganaki

1 - Blanca's recipe didn't dredge the cheese in flour but I like the extra crust. But if you are keeping everything gluten free, by all means omit the flour step completely.

2 - The cheese will start to firm up when it comes off the heat so serve immediately if you want it to be gooey. Kefalotyri is a harder cheese so it is less gooey than Kefalograviera or Graviera cheese so if you want to get a crazy cheese pull go for Kefalotyri over Kefalotyri.

Other delicious cheese recipes to try next: Baked Ricotta in Vine Leaves, Chickle (cheese wrapped pickle) or a Pan Fried Feta with Grapes.

Saganaki Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott, adapted from Blanca Honeysuckle

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Cooking time: 6 minutes

Serves: 2 as an appetiser (or 1 because it's that good!)

Ingredients Needed

For Cheese

• 170g/6oz - 230g/8oz Kefalograviera or Kefalotyri cheese
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

For Sauce

• 200g/7oz ajvar (mild)
• 1-2 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
• 3 tablespoons water
• Salt and pepper

To Serve

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 2 lemon cheeks

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1 SAUCE - Blend the ajvar, honey, chilli and water together until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

Step 2 FRY - Place the flour in a shallow bowl. Rinse the cheese under cold water and dredge in the flour coating well on both sides. Heat a cast iron frying pan on medium heat and add oil. Fry cheese for 2.5 minutes or until golden and then turn over and fry for another 1.5 minutes. Add the ajvar mixture around the cheese and allow to heat up in the pan for a minute or two. Sprinkle oregano and chilli flakes over and serve with lemon cheeks.

Personal Note

This Saganaki is done in no time. I had put aside an hour to shoot it from beginning to end but that morning I thought about it. In reality it could be done in 15 minutes!

You see we had a noon appointment with our favourite pest control gal Nathaly from Pesty Girls. She is the clever pest controller that solved our year long mystery of the moth invasion that all of the other pest controllers couldn't figure out. I couldn't remember if I could cook while she was here doing her annual pest treatment so I decided to see if I could get this done quickly before she arrived in an hour's time.

Even with shooting prep and process photos it was 15 minutes tops which means 10 minutes for everyone else that doesn't have to set up shots and lighting!

So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever made saganaki at home? Do you have a favourite Greek cheese?