Brian Nagele
I don’t know about you, but breakfast has always been my favorite meal of the day. A quiet breakfast on a peaceful morning is my ideal way to start the day, especially when the day is free and you have no obligations.
My recent trip to Greece opened a whole new world of breakfast foods. Enjoying a popular Greek breakfast while overlooking the Mediterranean Sea was my most memorable moment of the trip.
Sure, we saw all sorts of historical markers and places, but enjoying the ocean breeze and morning sun for breakfast was unforgettable.
There is something about food that brings people together. There is so much of the culture you learn from their food. Listening to our chef talk about the food he had just prepared for you shows the passion Greeks have for their cuisine.
Enjoy the list of Greek breakfast food I have gathered for you, and go out and try some yourself!
1. Sfakianopita
Sfakianopita is a traditional Greek dish from Crete. It is a cheese and honey tortilla-like pie.
The unleavened dough uses flour, water, olive oil, salt, and raki. Raki is an alcohol made of twice-distilled grapes and anise.
Myzithra cheese is kneaded into the dough to create a tasty treat. The mixture is flattened into a circle and fried on a griddle until golden.
It is served warm, drizzled with thyme honey to give it both savory and sweet flavors.
Sfakianopita comes from Cretan shepherds that used their fresh sheep milk to create the soft whey cheese. These shepherds were from Sfakia, giving Sfakianpito its name.
2. Yogurt with Honey
Traditionally called Yiaourti Me Meli, yogurt with honey is what it sounds like; yogurt and honey.
Fine Greek yogurt is topped with sweet honey to give this quick dessert a great flavor.
This dish is one of the most simple and quick breakfasts in Greece. Most of their food take skill and technique to perfect, but yogurt with honey celebrates the delicious simplicity of these ingredients.
You trust that the products used will give you the dish you want.
The yogurt bar I experienced did have more toppings if you wanted to add some texture to your yogurt.
My favorite was to add crunchy walnuts and a dash of cinnamon to bring out the flavors. This dish became a staple in my diet even after coming home from my trip!
3. Koulouri Thessalonikis
This dish is a mouthful! Both literally and figuratively. Koulouri Thessalonikis is a Greek sesame bread ring.
These crunchy delights are great all on their own or dipped in a sauce.
The best way I can describe Koulouri Thessalonikis is that it is a pretzel with a very crunchy outside and a soft and chewy inside. They are then coated in sesame seeds to give them more texture and taste.
Koulouri Thessalonikis was at breakfast with sweet jams or honey. They could also be in almost every street corner vendor.
Later in the day, Koulouri Thessalonikis was served with savory accompaniments like feta cheese or Kalamata olives.
4. Ladenia
Ladenia is a Greek pizza. A soft, fluffy flatbread topped with heirloom tomatoes and your choice of spices.
Like focaccia bread, this light and airy bread is easy to prepare and disappears fast! It comes from the Greek island of Kimolos where they have some of the best Greek olive oil.
This olive oil drizzles atop the soft flatbread, heirloom tomatoes, sliced onions, and chopped Greek oregano.
Ladenia can be a breakfast or lunch item. You can even make it a quick snack to eat at whatever time of day!
It was one of my favorite things to try at different restaurants to see the variations of this simple dish.
5. Rizogalo
Rizogalo is a Greek rice pudding. It is comparable to eating oatmeal in the morning here in the United States.
It is thick and creamy, prepared with rice and milk. It is a sweet pudding that has notes of citrus due to a lemon rind that is added to the water when the rice is cooking.
Short, round grain rice is used to make this sweet comfort food. This rich dessert is prepared with butter, milk, salt, rice, lemon rind, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and ground cinnamon for a garnish on top.
This was my favorite breakfast to enjoy on the chilly mornings when I wanted something warm to cozy up to. It is true comfort food, and I am trying my hand at making it myself!
6. Staka with Eggs
Staka is a traditional buttery cream mixed with flour from Greece. This creamy mixture is combined with fried or poached eggs to create a delicious, protein-packed Greek breakfast.
It is served hot and simply seasoned with salt and pepper.
Apaki is a traditional smoked pork dish in Greece. Staka with eggs is often accompanied by apaki and can be spread atop a slice of bread to create a type of breakfast sandwich.
I only had Staka with eggs one time on our month-long trip to Greece. They did not serve it at our hotel, but we found it at an out-of-the-way restaurant a couple of miles down the road.
Next time I go back to Greece, I will be stopping in to have another serving of this delicious breakfast!
7. Greek Omelette
A Greek omelet is exactly what you might expect it to be. An egg dish filled with the best Greek ingredients available.
My husband and I were able to pick our fillings for custom omelets every morning from an array of fresh ingredients.
My favorite combination was farm-fresh eggs, Kalamata olives, Feta cheese, and freshly chopped tomatoes topped with Greek oregano.
My husband enjoyed extra protein from the meat table. This was one of our favorite dishes because it could become so personalized that we could both get exactly what we wanted.
Some days I would add fresh spinach to get a little more greens in my diet.
8. Spoon Sweets
Spoon sweets are traditionally called Stafyli Gliko. They are essentially sweet jams made from every fruit imaginable, served in a large spoon.
Everything from sour cherry spoon sweets to pistachio spoon sweets can be found. Many spoon sweets use underripe fruit that gives them a sour twinge to offset the amount of sugar put into the preserves.
Spoon sweets are simple to make, but the process takes a couple of days. You layer your fruit and sugar in a pan and let it just sit for 12 hours.
You bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer. You wait 24 hours and repeat the process. The fruit then candies and sweetens, and your spoon sweet is ready to enjoy!
9. Strapatsada
Fresh summer tomatoes and soft feta cheese is combined with eggs to make Strapatsada.
There are many variations to this dish, allowing for creativity to run free.
This scramble can be eaten on its own, or atop a crispy bread. It is a popular breakfast food but can be eaten as a snack or meal any time of the day.
My favorite version had eggs, feta cheese, tomatoes, and Kalamata olives. The Kalamata olives added a distinctly Greek flavor that made me feel like I was on the Mediterranean coast, even after I got home from the trip!
