19 Delicious Greek Desserts to Order

Of all the Greek desserts out there, Baklava might be the best-known. Its blend of honey, nuts, and pastry is a signature of Greek bakeries everywhere.  When making Baklava, never underestimate the importance of Greek honey. It’s not just about the quality, it’s also about the complex blend of flavors at play. It gives your Baklava a more complex taste than ordinary honey.

Bougatsa is another of my favorite Greek desserts. We like it because it’s versatile. You can fill the pastry with almost anything. So, even the pickiest eater can’t resist these sweet treats.  My preferred filling is semolina. But you can also use cheese to produce a more savory snack.

Diples are an incredibly moreish Greek dessert. They look like nothing so much as a brittle cigar, but they taste of honey, citrus, cinnamon, and a touch of lemon. To achieve better pastry consistency, run your dough through a pasta maker if you have one. This helps produce the uniform shape characteristic of Diples.

Galaktoboureko is another classic Greek dessert. It’s a custard pudding wrapped in pastry. Once it bakes, drizzle honey overtop. The result is a rich, creamy, and sweet Greek dessert designed to satisfy any sweet tooth.

Like so many Greek desserts, honey is essential to Loukoumades. To create these sweets, prepare and fry dough balls. Then, roll them in honey.  We love making Loukoumades because it relies on ingredients I always keep on hand. It’s no more complicated than your average enriched dough and tastes even better. The key is not to scrimp on the honey. The more you use, the more indulgent they taste.

Karithopita is part of a family of Greek desserts that needs you to soak it in syrup. Primarily this is a walnut cake that makes diligent use of spices. It’s distinctive from more traditional cakes because it calls for breadcrumbs instead of flour. It’s more involved to make than some desserts on this list, but not complicated. And it’s worth it for the taste of a slice of Karithopita paired with vanilla ice cream.

If you need Greek desserts for Christmas, Melomakarona will solve your problem. These honey-soaked cakes are full of classically Christmassy spices like cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. We love these holiday treats because they take minutes to make. That leaves you free to visit with your guests, something not true of all deserts.

Not everyone has a sweet tooth, and if that’s true of you or your family, Kourabiedes are the Greek dessert for you. 

Once dusted with sugar, they dress up many occasions, from weddings and christenings to Easter lunches.

We love this Greek orange cake because it requires so few ingredients. Portokalopita is technically a cake, but a lot of the preparation process involves layering sheets of phyllo pastry. It’s flourless, too, making the preparation that much easier.

Rizogalo is the Greek answer to rice pudding. It’s another Greek dessert that, while sweet, isn’t overwhelmingly so. Instead, it’s rich and creamy. One of my favorite things about this dish is its versatility. You can eat it hot, but it’s equally good chilled, taking some of the stress out of timing a meal.

Tsoureki is sometimes called Easter Bread and is a vital part of Greek Orthodox Easter celebrations.  The trickiest part of making it is finding the Greek spice mahlepi. If you can’t get hold of it, almond extract works but sacrifices some of the flavors. It’s another Greek dessert that strikes a balance between being sweet and not too sweet. If you find yourself with left-over Easter Bread, turn it into French toast for an extravagant breakfast the next day.

Kataifi is one of the more involved Greek desserts to prepare, especially when it comes to making the syrup. When I make Kantaifi, I cheat and simplify some of the steps to save time. You still get the quintessential Greek blend of almonds, cinnamon, and lemons, but without the extra steps.  

Kokakia takes the profiterole and soaks it in syrup to excellent effect. Chocolate and rich cream cut the sweetness of the syrup. And what they don’t cut through, the pastry soaks up. It’s a decadent treat, perfect for festive occasions like Christmas and New Year.  

The English for Stafyli Gliko is ‘Spoon Sweets.’ Many Greek islands have a variation of this desert. It involves sweetening and preserving anything from sour cherries to oranges or vegetables. The sugared fruit sits on a spoon, and you wash it down with water or something stronger. We love preparing it because it’s another Greek dessert you can make a lot of quickly and allows for tremendous variety.

Ekmek Kataifi is one of the more complicated Greek desserts I chose for this list. So, when I make it, it's usually for special occasions. It shares commonalities with Baklava, except you top the finely shredded pastry with thick custard and whipped cream. It looks impressive, tastes wonderful, and is the perfect way to impress colleagues, friends, and partners.

Melopita is for anyone too nervous to attempt homemade cheesecake. It has the same creaminess, but with only five ingredients, there’s none of the fussiness of cheesecake. It translates roughly to ‘Honey pie’ in English and that’s what it is, a honey-rich pie with a smooth and creamy texture.

Koulourakia are butter cookies at their simplest. When I went to Greece, they were a staple of breakfast. They’re crumbly biscuits that taste like orange and vanilla. If you want to make them festive, throw some brandy into the dough before baking.

It’s hard to get simpler than Galatopita. It’s a custard pie that shares similarities with galaktoboureko but lacks culinary complications. We love it because it’s an easy recipe to dress up for special occasions. And I appreciate that it only calls for the kind of ingredients even an inexperienced cook keeps in stock, like milk, sugar, and butter.

Let’s end this list of Greek desserts on an appropriately light note. A well-made Revani is frothy and airy, like a sponge. You sprinkle it with coconut, fill it with semolina and use enough lemon to give it zest. Done well, it melts on the tongue and doesn’t take long to bake.