Welcome to Greece, the land of ancient history, breathtaking landscapes, and mouth-watering cuisine! The ultimate guide with every Halal Greek Food option, from the famous Greek salads to the delicious seafood and vegetarian dishes, Greek cuisine has something for everyone.
Muslim travellers know that finding halal food in non-Muslim countries can be a challenge. But fret not, Greece and Athens are becoming increasingly halal and Muslim-friendly destinations, with a growing Muslim population and more and more halal restaurants popping up to cater to Indian, Indo-Pak, and Middle Eastern tastes.
There are plenty of opportunities to find Halal food in Greece, and most of the popular destinations in the country, like Athens and the Greek islands, do offer options for Muslim tourists.
If you are travelling to Athens, you will also have the opportunity to enjoy a delicious halal souvlaki as well during your holiday to Greece.
The Mediterranean diet is one of the healthiest in the world, with so much choice and variety since it features a lot of vegetables and fish. There are many food options for those who are vegetarian, vegan, or Muslims who prefer to have halal meat.
In this guide, we are sharing with you all the top must-try Greek foods that, as a Muslim, you can enjoy during your holidays in Greece.
One of the best ways to connect with a new culture is also through tasting the delicious cuisine of the country, and even though halal is important we encourage you to try several of the dishes we recommend below and make the most of your trip.
So whether you’re a Muslim traveller or a non-Muslim looking for some delicious Greek dishes to check off your bucket list, there is something for everyone.
Halal Food Guide to Greece :
If you want to visit the relevant part or Halal Greek dish in this article, click the links below.
- Greek halal vegetarian dishes
- Greek halal seafood dishes
- Greek coffee and halal desserts
- Greek halal meat dishes
- Dishes to avoid: pork and alcohol
Delicious vegetarian Greek dishes that are also halal
Greek cuisine boasts a wide variety of scrumptious vegetarian dishes that are sure to satisfy your taste buds. From the famous Greek salad to stuffed grape leaves and savoury spanakopita, there is no shortage of mouth-watering options to choose from.
As a Muslim traveller, many traditional Greek vegetarian dishes are also hala by default, giving you the option to try them.
Some of our most favourite dishes are included below for you to try and decide which one is your most favourite.
Many Muslims avoid vegetarian options when travelling, but trust us when we say that these dishes are filling, delicious, and a taste of Greece.
Nothing beats sitting in a taverna on your holidays and enjoying the sea breeze with some of the options below.
Greek salad
(Horiátiki salata)
Authentic and fresh, with tomatoes, cucumbers, olive oil, and feta cheese.
Spinach pie
(Spanakopita)
Usually with feta cheese included
Vegetarian grape leaves
(Vegetarian dolmades)
With rice inside
(Ask for vegetarian dolmades instead of meat dolmades.)
Fries
(Patates tiganites)
Often included as a side with a fresh fish or meat dish. You can also order roasted lemon potatoes (patates lemonates sto fourno). Or also ask for Feta cheese on top.
Vegetarian stuffed tomatoes
(Vegetarian yemista)
Stuffed tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, and eggplant with rice inside.
Ask for the vegetarian yemista instead of the meat yemista.)
Vegetarian eggplant casserole
(Vegetarian moussaka)
Eggplant casserole, sometimes with zucchini and/or potatoes.
Ask for the vegetarian yemista instead of the meat yemista.)
Cheese pie
(Tyropita)
Usually with feta cheese.
Meze
(Small appetizers)
A variety of small appetizer plates consisting of olives, cheeses, breads, dips, and vegetables.
Bread with sesame
(Koulouri)
Fresh bread rings with sesame topping, often sold at street stalls and eaten for breakfast.
White bean soup
(Fasolada)
Traditional white bean and tomato soup, often includes carrot and potato.
Large beans dish
(Gigantes)
Baked in the oven with carrots in a tomato sauce
Spinach and rice stew
(Spanakorizo)
A soupy mix of spinach and rice in tomato sauce.
Okra in tomato sauce
(Bamies me domata)
A stew including okra, tomato sauce, and olive oil.
Roasted beet salad
(Salata me pantzaria)
Beets cooked, including olive oil and lemon.
Cooked dandelion leaves
(Horta)
Cooked down, adding olive oil, lemon and salt.
The most delicious halal Greek seafood dishes to try
As a Mediterranean country, Greece has a plethora of seafood dishes for you as a Muslim traveller to try. Most of the Greek islands offer fresh seafood options in their tavernas with a daily catch and a suggested meal; these are normally posted on the blackboard outside the taverna.
I would suggest you try those dishes first as they are normally fresh and they want to sell them on the day they are made.
Depending on your seafood tolerance, you will find Halal Greek seafood options for every taste. My favourite by far is mpakaliaro with skordalia, but below, we have listed the most delicious and popular choices.
Fried squid
(Calamari)
Battered in flour and fried. Delicious with a squeeze of lemon, and fries.
Octopus
(Htapodi)
Grilled and drizzled with olive oil and lemon.
Small fried fish
(Marides)
Small-sized whitebait fish that are lightly dusted with flour, then fried until golden and crispy. Staple meze dish often served with other appetizers.
Any fresh fish
(E.g. Bakaliaros)
Cod fish, often served with garlic sauce, or any fresh fish dish of the day, especially on the Greek islands.
Fish roe
(Taramosalata)
A creamy dip made of fish, olive oil, lemon, and mashed and served with bread.
Shrimp
(Saganaki Garides)
A classic Greek dish, often cooked in tomato, garlic, and herb sauce. (Ask if wine was added to the sauce.)
Greek halal meat dishes to try
If you have read through this website, you know that not every city of the Greek islands offers halal food options. Of course, many of the most popular places do, and we have guides for those at the end of the post.
If you follow the opinion of eating the meat of Christians, these dishes are simply irresistible! (Keep in mind that Greece is a Christian country with church and state together.)
If you don’t, then you will find the opportunity to try Greek halal food meat dishes on several islands like Santorini, Rhodes, Zakyntho, and the mainland cities of Athens and Thessaloniki, which have the majority of halal food restaurants in Greece.
From juicy lamb chops to succulent souvlaki, here’s a list of some delicious Greek meat dishes that you should definitely try while in Greece.
Get ready to indulge in some scrumptious food that’ll leave you wanting more!
Lamb, beef, or chicken sandwich
(Lamb, beef, or chicken gyro)
Grilled meat shaved off a vertical rotisserie, much like shawarma or kebab. Served with tomato, onion, yoghurt sauce in pita bread.
Ask if the gyro has pork in it, which it often does. Try beef or lamb gyro, or chicken souvlaki.
Chicken sandwich
(Chicken souvlaki)
Small pieces of chicken grilled on skewers. Served with tomato, onion, and yoghurt sauce in pita bread.
Stuffed grape leaves
(Dolmades)
With rice and meat inside, and drizzled with lemon and olive oil.
Stuffed tomatoes
(Yemista)
Stuffed tomatoes, green peppers, zucchini, and eggplant with rice and meat stuffed inside.
Eggplant casserole
(Moussaka)
Eggplant and meat casserole, sometimes with zucchini and/or potatoes.
“Greek lasagna” with bechamel
(Pastitsio)
A Greek baked casserole pasta dish with ground meat and béchamel sauce.
Meatballs
(Keftethes)
Greek meatballs can be eaten with rice, bread with dips, or salad.
Greek lamb with orzo
(Youvetsi me arni)
Roasted lamb or beef in tomato sauce. Orzo pasta added at the end.
Lemon chicken
(Kotopoulo riganato)
Chicken marinated with lemon, olive oil, and oregano.
Best Greek coffee and desserts to try in Greece
OK, there is no complete trip to Greece unless you have tried some Greek desserts, which I swear are the best in the world!
Greeks have a sweet tooth, so you will find plenty of opportunities to try their sweets from them, giving them out as a gift at the end of a meal in a taverna to the plethora of bakeries available pretty much everywhere.
Greeks love to spend time on a plateia ( town square) enjoying a Frappe with a dessert of their choice. Most of the Greek deserts are halal, making them the perfect choice for Muslims to try. Just know you might get addicted.
Below are some of the most famous Greek pastries and sweets Muslim tourists should try. You will also find that many of them, like loukoumades (louqimat in Arabic), are very similar to Arab and Turkish sweets thanks to the centuries of travelling through the lands. Though I might be biased, they do taste better in the Greek versions.
Greek ice coffee
(Frappe)
Famous cold coffee drink commonly ordered by locals.
Greek coffee
(Elliniko Kafe)
Traditional strong coffee, which is served with foam on the top and the grounds at the bottom of the cup
Tea
(Tsai)
Greek mountain tea
Sweet phyllo dessert
(Baklava)
Phyllo pastry consists of phyllo sheets, honey, nuts, and syrup.
Custard phyllo dessert
(Galaktoboureko)
Custard-based dessert in filo dough.
Almond butter cookies
(Kourabiedes)
Almond butter cookies, coated in sugar powder
Honey balls
(Loukoumades)
Bite-sized honey dough balls (donuts), fried and drenched in honey syrup.
Shredded phyllo dessert
(Kataifi)
Pastry from shredded filo dough, drenched in syrup and rolled up with nuts in the center.
Folded phyllo dessert
(Diples)
Folded sheets of pastry with honey, and fried.
Custard pie
(Bougatsa)
Creamy custard pie in light phyllo dough sprinkled with cinnamon.
Semolina pudding
(Halva)
Made with semolina, sugar, and water.
Honey and cinnamon cookies
(Melomakarona)
Made from flour, olive oil, sugar, cinnamon, and orange juice, drenched in honey and topped with walnuts.
Dishes to avoid: Pork and alcohol
As with any cuisine, there are a few famous dishes that may contain pork or alcohol. Your best option is to ask your waiter before ordering to clarify if there is any pork or alcohol. In some cases, they might cook the meat with wine, and some are okay to eat that because of the alcohol evaporations. But if you are not make sure you ask how the dish is prepared.
Also, at the end of the meal, some might bring you a sweet or a drink with compliments. Most of the time, the drink is alcohol, so make sure you ask before drinking it.
We’ve put together a handy list for you to make sure you’re fully informed and can enjoy your meals to the fullest!
Pork souvlaki sandwich
Ask if the meat in the sandwich contains pork. You could try the chicken souvlaki sandwich instead.
Pork gyro sandwich
Ask if the gyro has pork in it, which it often does. If available, try lamb or beef gyro or just chicken souvlaki instead.
Alcohol drinks
(E.g, Ouzo, raki)
Some food or drinks could contain ouzo, raki, or other alcohol. Avoid any ouzo candies or drinks.
Popular Greek pork or other dishes that may contain alcohol
Desserts
Ask if wine or alcohol was added to the making of the dessert. Be assured that most of the time it is not, but a few bakeries may add alcohol for an extra twist of flavor.
Sauces
Most of the time, wine or alcohol is not added to sauces, but you can ask to be sure. For example for the shrimp sauce,
There you have a full list of the best Halal Food options in Greece that you can enjoy as a Muslim traveller. We will keep adding to the list, but of course, if you have encountered a halal, veggie, or seafood option we have missed, please let us know in the comments so we can add it.
Kali Oreksi (Enjoy Your Meal)!
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