This recipe for Greek pan fried feta with honey and herbs makes feta saganaki. Fried until crispy and golden brown, the feta cheese is soft inside and gently flavoured and fragrant with Mediterranean herbs. It’s a fantastic snack eaten with warm bread or toasted sourdough, is wonderful with a Greek salad, or served as part of a Greek feast.
If you’re a fan of Greek feta cheese and you’re looking for more things to make with feta cheese than a Greek salad – not that there’s anything wrong with that, we adore a great Greek salad – then try this recipe for Greek pan-fried feta cheese with honey and herbs for feta saganaki. It’s one of the best Greek recipes. It’s so quick and easy that you’ll be eating it in 20 minutes or less.
You can serve this pan fried feta as a snack – my mother and I have been happily eating it with warmed Turkish bread, but if I was home in Siem Reap with my husband we’d be eating into it with Terence’s sourdough. If you cut thin slices you could eat it with crackers. We also love sharing it with a Greek salad on the side.
If you’re cooking up a Greek feast – always a good idea for a weekend lunch in the sun with loved-ones – you could serve this pan-fried feta as a meze (appetiser) with an array of mezedes, such as taramosalata (fish roe dip), tzatziki (yoghurt cucumber dip), this eggplant dip, or roasted cherry tomatoes on goat’s cheese. Or just serve it with a Greek salad and a couple of mains, such as keftedes (meatballs) or chicken souvlaki, char-grilled Greek chicken skewers.
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Greek Pan Fried Feta Recipe with Honey and Herbs for Feta Saganaki
I’ve been cooking a lot of Greek food this year, partly because we love Greek cuisine and I’ve been longing to return to Greece. Terence and I spent a lot of time in Greece over the years, initially on holiday with friends (Greek friends!) and later we updated the Lonely Planet Greece guidebook twice, so we’ve driven all over the mainland and been to many Greek islands.
I also took my mum to Greece following dad’s death many years ago, as part of a grand European adventure, partly so we could grieve together, as much as heal together. We have so much fond shared memories from that trip, particularly from Greece, so I’ve been using Greek meals to ignite some of those memories.
This pan fried Greek feta recipe is another recipe that I’ve adapted (ever so slightly) from Philoxenia, A Seat at My Table by Kon and Sia Karapanagiotidis. I’ve been cooking from their beautiful cookbook of vegetarian and vegan Greek kitchen recipes a lot this year and their recipes are often super simple yet incredibly delicious. I highly recommend the book.
Like a classic Greek salad, this recipe for Greek pan fried feta with honey and herbs for feta saganaki couldn’t be easier. It’s one of those recipes that you won’t need to look at again after making this once or twice.
All you’ll be doing is dredging the block of Greek feta in water, a beaten egg and flour, then frying it over high heat in a pan in extra virgin olive oil and herbs, just five minutes or so a side, and you’ll have crunchy golden-brown feta that’s soft and warm inside.
Drizzled in honey, you have the wonderful contrast of sweet and salty. Sprinkled with more herbs and dukkah – which is not traditional, but my tweak – you have the added bonus of texture, spice and aroma. So just a few quick tips to making this pan fried feta.
Tips to Making this Greek Pan Fried Feta Recipe with Honey and Herbs
My first tip to making this pan fried feta recipe is to buy the best quality ingredients you can afford and can source, especially when it comes to Greek feta cheese – and you do want Greek feta or Cypriot style feta, not the northern European style white cheeses often labelled as ‘feta’.
The same goes for the olive oil. While you don’t have to use a Greek extra virgin olive oil necessarily (any Mediterranean style olive oil will work), you do want to use a good quality extra virgin olive oil. It makes such a difference, as you’re frying the cheese in it and the flavour is everything.
I tested this recipe a few times and found that the olive oil has to be really hot, so as soon as it’s shimmering, carefully drop the cheese in using tongs. Kon and Sia’s recipe recommended 3-4 minutes a side, but that wasn’t long enough on our stove.
I found 5 minutes a side is optimum, even 5-6 minutes the first side, and 5 minutes on the other side, for a crunchy golden-brown exterior and soft inside. The first time I tested the recipe the interior of the feta wasn’t soft or warm at 3-4 minutes.
Kon and Sia’s recipe calls for pistachios and sesame seeds, which I tried the first time and they were delish. But I love sprinkling on some dukkah, the Middle Eastern pounded nut, seed and spice condiment, onto the pan fried feta even more! I always have dukkah on hand.
If you don’t, try my dukkah recipe, but add poppy seeds, which is what I’ve been doing. Completely different to black sesame seeds, of course, but when I couldn’t find black sesame I spotted the poppy seeds and spontaneously bought them, and they’re fantastic in the dukkah.
You’ll need a mortar and pestle to make the dukkah. (My favourite is this beautiful hand-crafted KROK mortar and pestle.)
Make sure to serve the pan fried feta with good quality bread. We’ve been eating it with warmed Turkish bread but toasted sourdough would be wonderful. Terence’s Mediterranean inspired olive sourdough bread with rosemary, thyme and red capsicum would be perfect.
Greek Pan Fried Feta Recipe with Honey and Herbs for Feta Saganaki
Ingredients
- 1 egg - beaten
- 2 tbsp plain flour
- 200 g Greek feta - a whole thick block
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil - or more if needed
- 1 tsp lemon thyme - leaves only
- 1 tsp rosemary - chopped
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp dukkah - see recipe, or crushed mixed nuts and sesame seeds
Instructions
- Prepare three shallow dishes large enough to fit the block of Greek feta, including a dish full of cold water, a dish to hold the beaten egg, and a dish for the flour.
- Dip the block of feta into the dish of cold water, then into the beaten egg so it’s fully immersed, and then into the plain flour so it’s fully coated.
- To a small frying pan that’s large enough to hold the block of feta, heat the extra virgin olive oil over medium-high until hot and shimmering – you’ll need enough oil to reach halfway up the block of cheese – then add the thyme and rosemary, and using tongs place the block of feta in the pan.
- Fry the feta on one side for 4-5 minutes or until crispy and golden-brown, then carefully turn the block of feta over and fry the other side for another 4-5 minutes.
- Using the tongs, transfer the fried feta to a serving plate, drizzle on the honey, sprinkle on the dukkah or a mix of crushed mixed nuts and sesame seeds, and garnish the plate with more herbs.
- Serve the feta with lemon wedges for squeezing on the cheese, and warm bread, toasted sourdough, or crackers.
Notes
Nutrition
Please do let us know in the Comments section below if you make this Greek pan-fried feta cheese with honey and herbs for feta saganaki, as we love to hear how our recipes turn out for our readers.
