Halloumi Souvlaki

This Halloumi Souvlaki is my meat-free take on a Greek favourite: golden grilled halloumi wrapped in soft flatbread with tzatziki, sun-dried tomato tapenade and roasted aubergine. Souvlaki simply means small skewers, and swapping in halloumi makes it just as satisfying as the classic pork or chicken version.

It is an easy one to put together. Use shop-bought flatbread to keep things quick, or make my Greek Flatbread from scratch. I will also show you how I prepare the halloumi before it goes near the heat, so it chars on the outside and stays soft in the middle rather than turning tough.

Turning it into a bigger spread? Serve it alongside my Greek Moussaka.

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What is Greek Souvlaki?

Souvlaki means little skewer, and that is the whole definition. Small pieces of something are threaded onto a skewer and grilled hard over a flame, then either eaten straight off the stick or pulled into warm flatbread with tzatziki, onion, tomato and, in Athens, a few hot chips.

Because the name describes the method and not the filling, it travels. Chicken, pork, lamb and beef are the usual ones, and halloumi works for the same reason they do: it takes fierce heat, colours properly and holds its shape on a skewer. Halloumi souvlaki is a grilled halloumi wrap built the same way a meat souvlaki is, and in Greece a meat-free one is sold quite happily under the same name.

Classic Varieties of Greek Souvlaki

Because the name is about the skewer, the filling changes from shop to shop and the marinade changes with it. Pork, hirino, is the one you meet most often in Greece, usually oregano, lemon and olive oil. Chicken, kotopoulo, gets much the same treatment with a heavier hand on the lemon. Lamb, arni, turns up more in the north and takes garlic and rosemary well.

Halloumi belongs in that list rather than beside it. It needs no marinade at all, because the cheese is already brined, which is the whole reason a quarter teaspoon of salt is enough seasoning for the entire wrap.

Souvlaki or Gyros? They Are Not the Same Thing

The two turn up side by side on the same menus, wrapped in the same pita with the same tzatziki, onion and chips, which is exactly why people mix them up. The difference is not what is in the wrap. It is how the filling was cooked.

• Souvlaki is small pieces threaded onto a skewer and grilled over charcoal. The word means little skewer, and in much of Greece the skewer itself is called a kalamaki.
• Gyros is meat stacked in a cone on a vertical rotisserie and shaved off in strips as it turns. The name comes from the Greek for turn, which is the same root as gyroscope.

So a halloumi version can really only be a souvlaki. You cannot stack cheese on a rotisserie and shave it, but you can absolutely thread it onto a skewer and grill it. If you have seen a halloumi gyros on a menu, what you are being sold is grilled halloumi in a pita, which is this recipe under a name borrowed from its neighbour.

What is Halloumi Cheese?

Halloumi is a semi-hard brined cheese, traditionally made from a mix of sheep and goat milk. What makes it useful is that it does not melt the way other cheeses do: heat it and the curd tightens instead of running, so it browns and holds a slice. That is why it can go on a skewer at all, and why it stands in for meat in a souvlaki rather than disappearing into the bread.

Written references to it in Cyprus go back to at least the sixteenth century, and from there it spread across the Mediterranean into Greek, Turkish and Middle Eastern cooking. The squeak is the giveaway: that is the tightened curd rubbing against your teeth, and a cheese that does not squeak is usually one that will slump in the pan.

Is Halloumi Greek or Cypriot?

Cypriot, and it is worth being straight about that, because Greek halloumi is what most people type into a search box. Halloumi is a Cypriot cheese with centuries of history on the island, and since 2021 it has held protected status in the EU, which means cheese sold there as halloumi has to be made in Cyprus to a set recipe.

What makes this dish Greek is everything around the cheese. The souvlaki format, the flatbread, the tzatziki, the red onion and the char off a hot grill are all Greek, and halloumi has been eaten across Greece for so long that nobody there treats it as a foreign ingredient. Calling it a Greek halloumi souvlaki is fair. Calling halloumi a Greek cheese is not quite.

It matters at the shelf, too. Anything labelled grilling cheese, halloumi-style or Cypriot-style is usually made outside Cyprus, often from cow’s milk alone, and it behaves differently: softer, blander, and more inclined to slump than to squeak. It will still cook, but if a halloumi has ever disappointed you, the label is the first place to look.

A Closer Look at the Ingredients

• Halloumi A firm brined cheese that browns instead of melting. Buy a genuine Cypriot block if you can, because it is firmer than the cow’s-milk grilling cheeses and holds a slice far better. Slice it a centimetre thick: thinner and it dries out before it colours.
• Aubergine Roasted hot until the edges caramelise, which is where the sweetness comes from. It is the counterweight to the salt in the cheese, so do not let it steam pale.
• Sun-dried tomatoes The ones in oil, drained. They bring concentrated sweetness and acidity, and the oil clinging to them is worth keeping for the tapenade.
• Capers Small, sharp and salty. Two teaspoons is plenty: they are there to cut the sweetness of the tomatoes, not to take over the tapenade.
• Greek flatbread or pita Warmed on both sides in a dry pan first. Cold bread splits along the fold as soon as you roll it.
• Tzatziki Cold, thick and garlicky, spooned on last. Thin tzatziki soaks straight into the bread, so squeeze the cucumber out properly if you are making your own.

Halloumi Cheese Soaking Technique

Soaking draws salt out of the cheese and softens it slightly, and it is worth thinking of as a dial rather than a rule. Five or ten minutes softens the cheese and takes the edge off. Twenty to thirty minutes, which is what I use in the recipe below, gives you a noticeably milder slice. If your halloumi is a really salty one and you want it properly toned down, it needs a few hours in cold water, changed once. Whichever you pick, drain it and pat it properly dry afterwards, because a wet slice steams in the pan instead of browning.

When I visited Cyprus, I noticed that the fresh halloumi served there was much less salty than many of the packaged varieties I buy in the UK. Fresh halloumi is generally milder, whereas halloumi stored or matured in salted whey develops a stronger, saltier flavour. Brining also helps preserve the cheese and extend its shelf life.

Greek Flatbread or Pita Bread

I always recommend making your own flatbread for the best flavour and freshness, but if you can find a high-quality pre-made option, feel free to use it. My recipe for Greek Flatbread is simple and requires minimal effort - it can be prepared right in a pan on the stove. It is worth it here because a fresh flatbread folds around a hot filling without cracking, which is the thing shop-bought pitas most often get wrong.

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Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki was on our table long before I ever set foot in Greece. My mum made it, and it is still the version I go back to: cucumber, thick yoghurt, garlic and dill, nothing clever. These days I make it with cucumbers from my own allotment, which is when you really notice the difference, because a cucumber picked that morning has flavour where a shop one mostly has water.

How to use Tzatziki

In this wrap it does a specific job: the halloumi is salty and the aubergine is sweet, and the cold garlicky yoghurt cuts straight through both. That is why it goes on last, so it stays cool against the hot cheese. My recipe for homemade tzatziki takes about ten minutes, and the one step worth not skipping is salting and squeezing the grated cucumber, or the sauce turns watery in the wrap.

What Is Tapenade?

Tapenade comes from Provence, and the name is a clue to what matters in it: tapeno is the Provençal word for caper, so the capers are the point rather than the garnish. Classically it is olives, capers, olive oil and anchovy, pounded rough.

The version in this recipe is not the classic one. I use sun-dried tomatoes and capers with no olives and no anchovy, which makes it sweeter, keeps it vegetarian, and gives the wrap something to push back against the salt of the cheese.

Keep it rough rather than smooth. You want to meet pieces of tomato and caper as you eat, not a paste spread thinly under everything else. It keeps a week in the fridge under a film of oil, so a double batch is never wasted.

Ingredient Substitutions

• Halloumi Anything sold as grilling cheese or Cypriot-style cheese will work, though most of it is cow’s milk only and softer. Do not reach for saganaki cheese: kefalotyri and graviera are meant to melt, which is the whole point of saganaki, and they will spread across the pan rather than hold a slice. Firm smoked tofu works for a vegan version and takes char just as well, though it needs a little more oil.
• Aubergine Courgette cut into long strips roasts in about half the time. Roasted red pepper or portobello mushroom both give you the same soft, savoury layer against the salty cheese.
• Sun-dried tomato and caper tapenade A classic black olive tapenade is the obvious swap, or use red pepper hummus if you want something milder. Shop-bought sun-dried tomato pesto does the job on a weeknight.
• Greek flatbread Pita, naan, a tortilla or any soft flatbread. Warm whatever you use in a dry pan first, or it will crack when you fold it.
• Tzatziki Thick Greek yoghurt with grated garlic and a squeeze of lemon gets you most of the way there. Dairy-free yoghurt works for a vegan build.
• Balsamic glaze Two teaspoons of brown sugar dissolved in two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, which is what the recipe card tells you to do anyway if you have no glaze in the cupboard.

Equipment You Will Need

How to Make Halloumi Souvlaki, Step by Step

Full quantities are in the recipe card below. Nothing here takes long, but the soak at the start is what decides whether the halloumi tastes seasoned or simply salty.

1. Soak the halloumi if it is a salty block. Slice it into centimetre pieces and give it twenty to thirty minutes in cold water, then drain and pat it thoroughly dry. Twenty to thirty minutes noticeably softens the salt without washing out the flavour; five or ten barely touches it, and a few hours will actually de-salt it if that is what you want. Drying matters just as much, because wet halloumi will not char.
2. Roast the aubergine hot. Oven to 240°C. Toss the slices with a tablespoon of the olive oil, the balsamic glaze, salt, pepper and oregano, and spread them out in a single layer. That quarter teaspoon of salt is all the seasoning this wrap needs, because the halloumi is brined, the capers are brined and the sun-dried tomatoes are salted. A hot oven and space around each slice is what gives you caramelised edges rather than something pale and steamed.
3. Grill the halloumi until it chars. Brush with the remaining oil and give it eight to ten minutes at 240°C, until golden with dark edges. Those charred spots are most of the flavour, so take it further than feels comfortable, but go by colour rather than the clock: left too long the cheese tightens past squeaky and turns tough, and there is no coming back from that. A hot dry frying pan is just as good and arguably better, two to three minutes a side, and it is how most people cook halloumi at home. Do not move it for the first minute, because halloumi grips the pan while it is pale and releases itself once a crust has formed, so an early poke tears the surface you are trying to build. Squeeze the lemon over it the moment it comes off the heat, while it is hot enough to take the juice in. Barbecuing instead? Cut 2 cm chunks rather than slices, and thread two skewers through each piece so they cannot spin when you turn them.
4. Blitz the tapenade. Sun-dried tomatoes and capers into a rough, spreadable paste. Rough rather than smooth: you want texture in the wrap, not a puree.
5. Build the wrap. Warm the flatbreads on both sides in a dry pan, spread each with the tapenade, then layer on the roasted aubergine, the grilled halloumi, the red onion rings and a generous spoon of tzatziki. Warming the bread first is what stops it cracking when you fold it, and the tzatziki goes on last so it stays cool against the hot cheese. Have all of this ready before the halloumi comes off the heat, because that is the one rule that matters most here: hot halloumi is soft with a gentle squeak, and ten minutes later it has firmed up and turned rubbery with no way back.

Recipe Card for Halloumi Souvlaki

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Storing, Freezing and Reheating

• Uncooked halloumi keeps for months unopened. Once the packet is open, keep it submerged in its own brine in a sealed tub in the fridge and use it within a week or so. If the brine has gone, salted water does the same job.
• Freezing halloumi works well, which surprises people. Slice it first, layer the slices with parchment so they do not weld together, and freeze for up to three months. Thaw it in the fridge overnight. It comes out very slightly firmer, which makes no difference at all once it is grilled.
• Cooked halloumi does not keep, and this is the honest answer rather than the convenient one. Chilled and reheated it goes tough and squeaky. If you have leftovers, chop them cold into a salad rather than trying to bring them back. A quick blast in a hot dry pan is the least bad option.
• The components keep far better than the finished wrap. Tapenade lasts a week in the fridge under a film of oil, tzatziki two to three days, and the roasted aubergine three days. Grill the cheese fresh and you have a five-minute assembly.
• Do not build the wraps ahead. Tzatziki against warm flatbread turns it soggy within the hour. Lay everything out and let people roll their own.

What to Serve With Halloumi Souvlaki

🍽 Pile the grilled halloumi into warm Greek flatbread or pita with a generous spoonful of cool homemade tzatziki, plus a crisp Greek salad and some lemony roasted potatoes for a proper mezze-style spread. For a bigger Greek feast, serve it alongside a rich Greek Moussaka.

FAQ for Halloumi Souvlaki

Is halloumi souvlaki vegetarian?

Yes, grilled halloumi takes the place of the meat and does the same job on the plate. One thing worth checking, though: halloumi is not automatically vegetarian. Some producers still set it with animal rennet, and the packet is the only way to tell. Most of the big Cypriot brands on UK shelves use a non-animal rennet and say so on the label, but it varies by brand, so look before you buy if it matters to you.

Does halloumi melt when you grill it?

No. Halloumi has a high melting point, so instead of running it tightens, browns on the outside and stays soft and squeaky in the middle. That is what makes it the one cheese you can put straight on a grill or a skewer.

Can I make it ahead?

Make the tzatziki and roast the vegetables ahead, then grill the halloumi fresh just before serving so it stays golden and soft - halloumi is best eaten hot.

Can I make halloumi souvlaki without a barbecue or skewers?

Absolutely. A hot griddle pan or frying pan on the stove gives you the same golden, crisp halloumi - just cook the pieces flat and turn them. You can also cook them under the grill or in an air fryer. The skewers are mostly to make them easy to flip on a BBQ, so skip them if you like.

Can I make it vegan?

Halloumi is a dairy cheese, so for a vegan version swap it for firm grilled tofu or a plant-based halloumi, and use a dairy-free yoghurt in the tzatziki. The marinade and vegetables stay exactly the same.

Is halloumi souvlaki keto or low-carb?

Halloumi is naturally low in carbs and high in protein, so it is great for keto and low-carb eating - just serve it over a Greek salad instead of in flatbread, and it becomes a satisfying low-carb meal.

Can I make halloumi souvlaki in the air fryer?

Yes. Slice the halloumi about 1 cm thick, brush or spray it lightly with oil, and air-fry at 200°C (400°F) for 8-10 minutes, turning once, until golden and crisp at the edges. The air fryer gives you that lovely golden crust with less oil - then pile it into warm flatbread with tzatziki as usual.

Is halloumi healthy? What is the nutrition like?

Halloumi is high in protein and calcium, which makes it a filling vegetarian centrepiece - but it is also salty and fairly high in fat, so it is best enjoyed in moderation. Soaking it in water before grilling (see above) draws out some of the salt, and serving it with fresh flatbread, tzatziki and a crisp salad keeps the whole plate balanced.

Do chips go inside a souvlaki?

In Athens, yes, and it surprises people the first time. The classic souvlaki wrap has a few hot chips tucked in alongside the meat, the tzatziki and the onion, and the contrast of crisp potato against soft flatbread is a big part of why it tastes the way it does at a proper souvlatzidiko. It works just as well with halloumi. Fry or bake a small handful, tuck them in last so they stay crisp, and go easy on the salt because the cheese is bringing plenty of its own.

Why did my halloumi crumble when I put it on the skewer?

Almost always because the slices were too thin, too cold, or both. For skewers, cut the block into chunks around 2 cm thick rather than the thinner slices you would use for the oven, and sit the block in warm water for five minutes first so it softens slightly. Twist the skewer through instead of pushing it straight in, and use two skewers side by side so the pieces cannot spin. Soak wooden skewers for half an hour before they go near a barbecue too, or they burn through and drop the cheese into the coals. It is also brand-dependent: a firm Cypriot halloumi takes a skewer far better than a soft supermarket grilling cheese.

Where do I buy halloumi, and is grilling cheese the same thing?

In UK supermarkets it sits with the speciality cheeses, usually near the feta, in a vacuum pack with brine. Elsewhere it is often sold as grilling cheese, which is the shelf name for the same style of cheese but not necessarily the same product. Genuine halloumi is made in Cyprus, traditionally with a mix of sheep and goat milk. Grilling cheese is often cow’s milk only, milder and softer, and it slumps more readily under heat. It will work here, it just will not squeak the same way.

Can I freeze halloumi?

Yes, and it is a good way to buy it when it is on offer. Slice it before freezing and layer the slices with parchment, otherwise you get one solid block. It keeps for around three months and should be thawed in the fridge overnight. The texture comes out a touch firmer, which disappears the moment it hits a hot pan. Cooked halloumi is the one thing not worth freezing.

What is the difference between souvlaki and gyros?

Souvlaki is cooked on a skewer over charcoal; gyros is shaved off a vertical rotisserie as it turns. The wrap around them is often identical, which is why the names get used interchangeably outside Greece. Halloumi can only really be souvlaki, since you cannot stack cheese on a rotisserie, though you will still see halloumi gyros on menus. There is more on this further up the page.

A Few Words from the Chef

I’m a big fan of souvlaki - I love those bright, charred flavours - and I love halloumi, so this recipe is a real favourite of mine. Grilled halloumi tucked into warm flatbread was one of the best quick bites I grabbed while I was in Cyprus, and this is my take on bringing it home. Give it a go - I think you’ll love it too. Kali orexi! - Chef Lukasz

More Greek & Halloumi Recipes to Try

If you love halloumi as much as I do, there is plenty more to explore. Try my Grilled Aubergine & Halloumi for a smoky, simple plate, or spoon golden halloumi into a spiced tomato base with my Halloumi & Aubergine Shakshouka. This one is a grilling-season favourite, too - it features in my 10 Best Summer Recipes and Top Street Food roundups.