18 Greek Appetizers From Stuffed Grape Leaves to Saganaki and Spanakopita
Use fragrant herbs, tangy feta, and crisp phyllo to make an assortment of starters that taste like Greece.
Morgan Hunt Glaze / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle
Whether you're planning an all-out Greek feast or just looking for fresh and tasty pre-meal noshes to entice your guests, you can't go wrong with any of our favorite Greek appetizers. Called mezedes in Greece, these dishes deliver big flavor in small bites. Go for creamy dips like tzatziki and taramosalata, phyllo-wrapped delights, saganaki, and the most delicious ways to showcase tangy, briny feta cheese — your biggest challenge will be leaving room for the main event.
Cucumber-Dill Tzatziki
Julia Hartbeck
Made from just a handful of ingredients, this creamy yogurt dip comes together in minutes. Pair tzatziki with toasted pita wedges or a crudités platter for an instant appetizer; drizzle it with olive oil just before serving for extra richness.
Spanakopita Pie
Food & Wine
Whether folded into triangles, rolled into logs, or layered in a pan, spanakopita is a classic Greek appetizer. This crunchy, cheesy pie is packed with earthy greens and tangy feta cheese and topped with store-bought phyllo dough.
Saganaki Halloumi (Cypriot Fried Halloumi)
Cheese saganaki is one of Greece's most popular starters. Here, halloumi is fried in clarified butter, then brushed with spiced honey and served with lemon yogurt, brandy-basted nectarines, and fresh tomatoes in this sweet and savory appetizer from Houston chef Christian Hernandez.
Dolmas (Stuffed Grape Leaves with Lamb, Rice, and Herbs)
Morgan Hunt Glaze / Food Styling by Jennifer Wendorf / Prop Styling by Josh Hoggle
Stuffed grape leaves can be found across the Mediterranean, from Greek dolmades to Lebanese warak enab. These dolmas feature earthy grape leaves hugged around an ultra-savory lamb, herb, and rice filling.
Marinated Feta with Lemony Herb “Jam” Balls
A bounty of fresh herbs is put to a tasty new use for these green jam balls studded with preserved lemon and currants. Steaming basil, mint, and cilantro tenderizes the herbs by exposing them to gentle heat, helping preserve their flavor and color; submerging the mixture in olive oil with cubed feta infuses everything with a hint of brininess.
Roasted Red Pepper Feta Dip
Matt Taylor-Gross
For this easy version of tirokafteri, a jar of roasted red peppers is combined with a package of feta cheese to make a tangy, smoky dip in just five minutes.
Roasted Baby Artichokes with Parsley and Mint
Called aginares in Greece, these baby artichoke hearts are plunged into a bath of lemon water before they're browned on the stovetop, briefly roasted until crispy, then cooked with garlic, crushed red pepper, and dry white wine until tender. To finish, they're showered with fresh parsley and mint, seasoned with flaky sea salt, and drizzled with olive oil.
Avgolemono Chicken Soup with Rice
Diana Chistruga
Silky avgolemono soup is a Greek classic — and a sensational way to start your meal. Made with lemon juice, egg yolks, and hearty chunks of shredded chicken and rice, this soup is satisfying any time of year.
Greek Salad of Sorts
Crisp pita chips, briny bits of feta, mildly spicy peperoncini, and a sprinkling of fresh herbs mingle with juicy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and kalamata olives for a fresh and flavorful crowd-pleasing Greek salad that hits all the right notes.
Tirokroketes (Greek Fried Goat Cheese Balls) with Honey
Golden fried tirokroketes are sweet-savory balls that can be served as an appetizer or dessert. For this variation, club soda lightens the egg batter that coats the cheese, and a double coating of panko crumbs amplifies the crunch.
Mushroom and Goat Cheese Phyllo Triangles
Paper-thin phyllo dough is folded around a buttery mixed-mushroom filling flavored with garlic, shallot, and fresh herbs. The mushroom mixture is pureed with mild and creamy goat cheese, then the stuffed triangles are baked until golden and crispy.
Taramosalata
© Guy Ambrosino
This creamy, briny dip made with jarred tarama (carp roe) belongs in the pantheon of classic Greek meze dips, alongside hummus, melitzanosalata, and skordalia.
Chicken Souvlaki
Souvlaki — which means "small skewer" in Greek — is often rolled to eat in your hand as a snack. Serving it on a plate with pita and veggies transforms the skewers into a proper meal, but you can also serve it simply with tzatziki for a fantastic appetizer.
Shrimp Saganaki
Saganaki is named for the vessel it's cooked in — "little frying pan." Here, we sauté shrimp with tomatoes, olives, and feta cheese, then serve it right out of the skillet with bread to soak up all the delicious juices.
Greek Hand Pies with Greens, Dill, Mint, and Feta
This recipe from chef Jacques Pépin was inspired by a turnover he enjoyed at Marianthi tavern in the Greek village of Monemvasía. The olive oil in the dough makes the crust extraordinarily flaky.
Herbed Zucchini Feta Fritters
Laced with fresh dill, parsley, and mint, these zucchini fritters get a touch of tang from the addition of feta cheese. Serve them hot alongside the chilled yogurt-cucumber sauce for dipping.
Grilled Manouri Cheese with Caramelized Plums
Chef Michael Psilakis riffs on halloumi saganaki by swapping in manouri, a fresh, milky white cheese made from the whey drained off during feta production. Plum wedges are caramelized in honey for an extra-special accompaniment.
Thrace-Style Spicy Mussels
Award-winning cookbook author Paula Wolfert's mussels are first steamed with butter, cinnamon, and white wine, then seasoned with pepper and lemon juice and tossed in an herbed chile-tomato broth swirled with feta cheese.
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