Name: How to make Fried Feta Cheese with Honey
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Ingredients: 1 lb feta cheese (sharp, hard feta, in one block); 3–4 sheets thick filo dough; olive oil (for frying, 1–2 inches deep in the pan); 5 tbsp honey; sliced roasted almonds or sesame seeds (optional)

Today I will show you how to make fried feta cheese with honey. Fried feta is definitely one of my favorite recipes, because it is very simple to make and super delicious. In today’s recipe, we will be spicing the classic up by adding honey and filo dough, just like the Greeks make it. Feta cheese and honey are also on my list of things to eat petulla with.

Where feta comes from

Cheese in Greece goes back a long way. In Greece, the earliest written mention of cheese making is from the 8th century B.C. Shepherds made it from sheep’s and goat’s milk, in a way that’s similar to how feta is made today. It is believed that cheese itself was an accidental discovery, when milk was carried in containers made from animals’ stomachs and curdled. Feta nowadays is one of the most popular cheeses in the Mediterranean, and it’s essential in hundreds of recipes. In Greece, it’s the cheese people eat the most.

Fun fact: in 2005, the European Union’s highest court decided that feta should only be called feta if it’s made in Epirus, Macedonia, Thessaly, Thrace, Central Greece, the Peloponnese or the island of Lesbos (Mytilini). In the EU, cheese made in other regions can’t be called feta, even though the recipe might be identical. Also, true feta is made with sheep’s milk, or sheep’s milk with up to 30% goat’s milk. In the US the name isn’t protected, so you’ll also find feta made from cow’s milk.

Cubes of white feta with green olives, olive oil and dried herbs on a small wooden board, with a fork

The filo dough

Now here is where it becomes tricky. Do not use regular filo dough that you usually get in your supermarket freezer. When you go to the freezer, try to look for thick filo dough sheets. We need a little bit of thickness so that the cheese doesn’t fall out. I found my filo sheets in a Middle Eastern store.

If you would like to make your own sheets, just follow the same process as my baklava from scratch, but let the sheets be 3 times as thick as usual. You can use the rest of the filo sheets to make Pistachio Baklava Fingers.

Appetizer GreekAlbanian

How to make Fried Feta Cheese with Honey

Fried feta with honey is sharp, hard feta folded in thick filo, fried in olive oil until golden and topped with honey. One of my favorite recipes, because it’s very simple to make. About an hour, start to finish.

Written by Xhulio Tested in my own kitchen

Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 hr
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 215 kcal
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Greek, Albanian

Cooking for

8 people

Units

As written.

Ingredients

0 of 5 ticked

1 lb feta cheese (sharp, hard feta, in one block)
3–4 sheets thick filo dough
Only have regular, thin filo?
It’s too thin for this, and the cheese can fall out. Look for thick filo sheets in a Middle Eastern store, or make your own sheets three times as thick as usual.
olive oil (for frying, 1–2 inches deep in the pan)
5 tbsp honey
sliced roasted almonds or sesame seeds (optional)

You'll need

Knife
Paper towels (for drying the feta and draining it after frying)
Damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap (to keep the filo from drying out)
Frying pan (deep enough for 1–2 inches of oil)
Wooden stick or wooden spoon (to test the oil)
Bowl (lined with paper towel)
Serving plate

Instructions

Cut the feta
- Get a big chunk of feta cheese.
- It is very important to get sharp hard feta.
- Cut the big block of feta cheese into small rectangles of about 2–3 inches in size.
- Make sure to dry the feta and take as much of its brine juice out.
- If the cheese is too wet, it will ruin the recipe.
- You need
- 1 lb feta cheese
Dry it well.
Fold it in filo
- Next, we are going to fold the cheese in the thick filo dough.
- Cut the sheets of filo into rectangles about 2.5 to 3 times bigger than the area of the cheese.
- Put the cheese into the middle of it, and start folding so that the cheese is fully covered.
- We are pretty much creating an envelope for the cheese.
- If your filo is dry, you might need to use a little bit of brine water to wet the edges of the sheet, so that it sticks together.
- Do not wet the dough too much.
- Put the filo cheese aside, and make sure not to leave them in the open air, since it will dry the filo.
- Cover them with a soft, wet cooking cloth or saran wrap.
- You need
- 3–4 sheets thick filo dough
Heat the oil
- Now comes the fun part.
- In a pan, add enough olive oil so that it’s about 1–2 inches thick.
- Heat the oil up just as much as you do when you make fries.
- To test if the oil is hot enough, you might use a wooden stick.
- Press the wooden stick to the pan and see if it makes bubbles.
- If it does, the oil is good to go.
- You need
- olive oil
Fry
- Add the folded cheese one at a time.
- Fry it until golden on one side, then flip it and fry it until golden on the other side as well.
- Make sure to put the fried feta into a bowl with paper towel in it, so that it soaks up all the unnecessary oil.
Top with honey
- When all your feta is fried, transfer it onto a plate and top it off with 5 tbsp honey.
- A great addition to this dish is also sliced roasted almonds or sesame seeds.
- Do not let the dish sit for too long, because it will start to get soggy and inedible.
- You need
- 5 tbsp honey
- sliced roasted almonds or sesame seeds
Eat it right away.

Nutrition per serving

Calories: 215 kcal
Protein: 9 g
Fat: 13 g
Carbs: 17 g
Fiber: 0 g
Sugar: 11 g
Sodium: 685 mg

Estimated from USDA FoodData Central, without olive oil (for frying, 1–2 inches deep in the pan), sliced roasted almonds or sesame seeds (optional).

Questions

Questions about how to make fried feta cheese with honey

What is fried feta with honey called in Greek?

Feta me meli (φέτα με μέλι), which just means feta with honey. It’s a popular Greek meze, and the wrapped feta is fried or baked. Plain fried cheese, without the filo, is called saganaki, after the small two-handled pan it’s fried in.

Can you fry feta cheese?

Yes, but it isn’t like halloumi, which keeps its shape in a hot pan. Feta softens and crumbles, so here it fries inside a filo envelope that holds it together.

What kind of feta is best for frying?

Sharp, hard feta, in one block. I usually go for barrel feta, which is aged in wooden barrels and comes out sharper and a little harder. I wouldn’t use Bulgarian or French feta for this one.

Can you make fried feta ahead of time?

Fry it right before you eat it, because if it sits, it gets soggy. You can fold the envelopes a little earlier. Just keep them covered, so the filo doesn’t dry out.

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How to make Fried Feta Cheese with Honey

Where feta comes from

The filo dough

Ingredients

You'll need

Instructions

Cut the feta

Fold it in filo

Heat the oil

Fry

Top with honey

Nutrition per serving

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