🍢 SNACK
Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts)
Slices of bread spread with minced beef seasoned with onion, savory and cumin, topped with yellow kashkaval cheese and baked until the meat is browned, the quick Bulgarian snack sold as fast food and made at home.
Bulgarian · easy · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~419 cal · 34g protein · 4g carbs · 29g fat · 1g fiber · 2g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Princesi, princesses, are Bulgaria's open-faced baked sandwiches: a slice of bread spread with a thin layer of seasoned minced meat and baked until the meat is cooked and browned at the edges. They are made at home for breakfast or a quick bite, and sold as fast food, where the street version is a whole loaf split lengthwise and often grilled over charcoal.
They are thought to date from the socialist years, most likely the 1960s, as a clever way to make a filling snack from a small amount of meat. The grand name is said to come from a brand, Thracian princess, in the habit of the time of naming foods after famous places and finds.
The meat is minced beef, or beef and pork, bound with an egg and seasoned with finely chopped onion, black pepper, savory and cumin. Many cooks add grated kashkaval, the yellow cheese, on top. They are eaten hot with a sprinkle of sharena sol, the Bulgarian herb salt, or a spoonful of lyutenitsa, and versions topped with egg and white sirene cheese, or with ham and kashkaval, go by the same name.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
- 400 g minced beef, many Bulgarian cooks use a mix of beef and pork
- 1 egg
- 1 small onion, very finely chopped
- 1 tsp dried savory (chubritsa), or dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
- 8 slices of firm white bread
- 20 g butter, soft
- 100 g kashkaval (Bulgarian yellow cheese), grated, optionalHard to find? 100 g grated mild Cheddar or Edam - melts the same way, a little less tangy than kashkaval
- a few spoonfuls lyutenitsa, to serve, or sharena sol (Bulgarian herb salt)
Instructions
- 1Heat the oven to 200C (400F). Put the minced meat, egg, onion, savory, cumin, pepper and salt in a bowl and knead with your hand for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth and soft enough to spread.✎ Chef’s noteIf the mixture is stiff, add a spoonful of water. Softer is better here: it has to spread thinly.
- 2Lay the bread on a baking tray lined with parchment and spread each slice with a thin layer of butter.
- 3Spread the meat over the bread in an even layer about 1 cm thick, right to the edges, so the bread does not burn at the sides.
- 4Bake for 15 minutes, then scatter over the grated kashkaval and bake for about 5 minutes more, until the meat is cooked through and browned and the cheese has melted.
- 5Serve hot, with lyutenitsa or a sprinkle of sharena sol.
Bulgarian home and fast-food tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sofia. Sofia bakes banitsa, coiled filo layered with white cheese and egg, and hides a fortune inside it at new year. Bulgarian cooking leans on yogurt and sirene cheese, in cold tarator soup, shopska salad, and slow-cooked clay-pot dishes.
🗺️
Bulgaria. Shopska salad is a modern invention with a good story attached. It was created for the state tourism agency Balkantourist and named in 1956 at a Black Sea resort near Varna, a Bulgarian answer to the Greek salad, and only later became a national symbol. That its colours match the flag was noticed afterwards and used, which is more interesting than a peasant origin would have been.
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Europe. European cooking is built on the land and the seasons, wheat, butter, and cured pork in the north; olive oil, tomatoes, and seafood around the Mediterranean; preserved vegetables and hearty stews through long winters. Centuries of peasant tradition, guild craft, and royal courts refined techniques from French mother sauces to Italian fresh pasta and Central European baking. Regional identity runs remarkably deep, with a single dish often changing from one valley to the next.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bulgaria
Tarator (Cold Yogurt and Cucumber Soup)A chilled Bulgarian summer soup of thinned yogurt, grated cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts, finished with a drizzle of oil.
BanitsaCoiled phyllo layered with tangy white cheese and egg, baked into a golden spiral, Bulgaria’s breakfast and New Year charm.
KavarmaA slow-cooked Bulgarian clay-pot stew of meat, peppers, onions, and mushrooms in a savory sauce.
Browse all Bulgaria recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Oven.
Storing it: Keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and reheats covered in the oven. Most bakes can be assembled a day ahead and baked when needed.
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Cuisine
Frequently asked questions
What is Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts)?
Slices of bread spread with minced beef seasoned with onion, savory and cumin, topped with yellow kashkaval cheese and baked until the meat is browned, the quick Bulgarian snack sold as fast food and made at home.
Where does Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts) come from?
Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts) is a Bulgarian dish from Sofia, Bulgaria.
Can Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Princesi (Bulgarian Baked Minced Meat Toasts) take to make?
About 35 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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